ProgressOhio

Another Big Win For Governor Strickland And Ohio's Sweeping Educational Reforms

The administration's proposed 2011 budget released today, includes the largest funding increase in the history of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, a $3 billion increase to $28 billion plus an additional $1 billion if Congress agrees to some major changes in the law.

The budget also provides an additional $1.35 billion for the president's Race to the Top challenge, a federal grant program in which 40 states are competing for $4 billion in education money included in last year's stimulus bill. Obama hailed the results of this effort in his State of the Union speech.

In concert with the budget release the New York Times reported Monday the administration is seeking a sweeping overhaul of the No Child Left Behind law that will call for broad changes in how schools are judged to be succeeding or failing.

State Representative Jennifer Garrison (D-Marietta) and State Senator Tom Sawyer (D-Akron) today introduced legislation that will bolster Ohio schools and promote student success. The companion bills in the House and Senate position Ohio to access a share of the $4 billion “Race to the Top” fund initiated by the federal government.

“The comprehensive education reforms we passed in this year’s state budget were the first step toward world-class education in Ohio,” Rep. Garrison said. “By competing for more resources through ‘Race to the Top,’ we will open the door to even more ways we can encourage successful schools and successful students – thus positioning our students and our state for leadership in the 21st-century economy.”

“Our bill will help aid Ohio in achieving 9 of the 10 ‘Race to the Top’ requirements. The longitudinal data system in particular places Ohio in a better position for this funding, as the program has emphasized preference for states with such a data system in place,” Senator Sawyer added. “Ohio already has an A; we want to make it an A+.”

Watch It:

The “Race to the Top” grant program is part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009. The program aims to encourage and reward states that are creating conditions for education innovation and achieving significant improvement in student outcomes. Outcomes are measured by criteria such as substantial gains in student achievement, improved high school graduation rates, and better student preparation for success in college and careers.

According to bios, Rep. Jean Schmidt is a member of the Clermony County Library Board of Trustees. Instead of quietly seeking to educate and enlighten the citizenry of Clermony County, Jean Schmidt and the library board are using their positions to score cheap political points in the press.

Today, Jean Schmidt is donating a copy of the House health care bill to the library system. While this is in itself fine, Schmidt then spewed forth a fountain of lies, claiming that  the bill would “increase the cost of health-care coverage, mandate a government takeover, force people out of their current coverage and lead to the loss of millions of jobs.” These points are so absurd they don't even deserve debunking.

The article then features a fellow board member echoing Republican talking points:

“The library board is excited that this branch will be one of the few places where the public will be able to come and read this proposed bill,” said Joe Braun, president of the board of trustees.

In reality, theres are tens of millions of places where the public can come and read the bill, as it is freely available online.

Earlier this year, Braun rejected federal stimulus funds for the library. He said he was "appalled" by the requests, which included a $10,000 grant for literacy programs. Another grant request which appalled Braun would have allowed for 20 public computers with internet access. That would have allowed for a lot more people to read the health care bill, but would have denied Schmidt and Braun two opportunities to grandstand.

**Update**

Jean Schmidt has served on the library board for approximately 32 years.

***UPDATED***

And who is Joe Braun? None other than Jean Schmidt's ex-campaign manager.

General

• Size of the Budget: $50.5 billion
• Size of Budget Cuts: $2.5 billion
• Revenue Lost per Day by Missing the June 30th Deadline: $2 million
• Pages: 1,800

• Staying: Public school funding reform, all-day kindergarten, reduced elementary class-size, ACT/SAT and senior thesis graduation requirements
• Going: Tuition freezes (3.5% approved), Charter school funding reform, Public service projects, 20 day school year extension

Hot Issues

• Staying: Slots at racetracks, Comm Care
• Going: Drilling in parks
• Proposed Library Funding Cuts: 50%
• Final Amount of Library Cuts: 31%

• Predicted State Job Losses: 2,000-3,000
• Predicted Local Job Losses: 30,000-40,000
• House Republicans Voting for the Budget: 1 out of 45
• Senate Republicans Voting for the Budget: 5 out of 20

Bill Harris is paralyzed by politics and therein lays the real budget stalemate.

In truth the old Marine, term-limited out after this session, is struggling to hold his troops with a fractionalized caucus divided among those more interested in political power, ideology and special interests than governance.

As a result, the congenial and devout old soldier has become the lamest of lame ducks.

• No taxes. Well what about stimulus from the federal government? Harris says stimulus money makes the budget “that much more difficult.”
• No slots. Well what about filling the new hole in Ohio’s budget. No says Harris, only if Strickland does it himself leaving investors wary.
• Cut government. Well what about the Governor’s continued cuts? Silence from Harris, who will not put forward his own cuts to offset the slots proposal.

The whole thing brings to mind another old soldier turned politician, named George McClellan who eventually ran against Lincoln. The President was continually perplexed that the Union Army McClellan led never fought – resulting in this famous quip:

My Dear McClellan:

If you are not using the army, I should like to borrow it for a short while.

Yours respectfully,
Abraham Lincoln

(Lincoln of course clobbered McClelland in the election of 1864 – long after he gave way to Ohio’s U.S. Grant, who had no compunction in using the Army.)

The reality is that Mr. Harris is not using the Ohio Senate to right the Ohio budget.

Reality check here: the Governor only has a veto pen. House Speaker Armand Budish is dancing a nifty tango without a partner, pirouetting through the thin air to the tune of Pari Sabety’s tin chorus.

The only way a budget can be reached – with cuts or revenue items – is if Bill Harris picks up his dance card, gives Budish a little balance and takes the lead.

Truth is only two short years ago, Mr. Harris and his Ohio Senate colleagues passed similar gambling legislation for different machines to be placed in Ohio without a vote of the people. It died in the Ohio House when a reluctant Governor, not facing the greatest budget challenge in 80 years, said he was not in favor of the proposal.

So why now such reluctance on Senator Harris and his minions -- politics what else.

For weeks in the weeds of the Statehouse, rumors have continued that this is about politics not people, and that the Machiavellian motivations of former Ohio House Speaker Jon Husted and ORP Chair Kevin DeWine had forced Mr. Harris into a corner, a risky gambit to score points against the Governor by bleeding bad headlines month after month after month. It’s a strategy the likes of which haven’t been seen since Newt Gingrich got shanghaied by Bill Clinton’s pizza and Monica’s blue-dress crowd. Risky – you bet. You could get Gingriched here.

Harris has been afforded plenty of cover.  Weirdly, social service lobbyists were lilting pianissimo during the first two rounds of the budget, only to reach a jarring aria of triple fortissimo protest, as this budget catastrophe hit a crescendo – suddenly those last lines of defense for defenseless Ohioans have awoken with a G-force some see as too little, too late.

Group after group has awoken from the personal charm of legislative friendships to understand that in crisis there is a limit between friendship and business. Protestors hastily flock daily at the Statehouse – librarians, historians, mental health advocates, advocates for the poor and hungry, advocates for underprivileged children programs and charter schools and public schools, retirees concerned about pensions, home health care advocates for the elderly, health care advocates concerned about people being cut from care and even higher education.

Perhaps most laughable of all was a protest by nursing home owners wanting more of the shrunken pie than they already have taken.

(According to a Columbus Dispatch editorial titled “No Special Treatment”:

“The Senate's version of the budget provided nursing homes with $13.7 billion over four years, $1.2 billion more than Gov. Ted Strickland had recommended in his plan. Plus, senators inserted an annual rate increase for nursing homes, starting in 2013 -- a guarantee enjoyed by no other provider of Medicaid services.

But when Strickland subsequently proposed cutting their funding back to his original $12.5 billion, the industry went ballistic. The Skilled Nursing Care Coalition, representing nursing homes, issued a press release yesterday that said Strickland's cuts will result in job losses and mass closures of facilities for "frail elderly and disabled Ohioans.")

So while the Ohio Senate silently watches as parades of protestors trample the vaunted pristine turf of Dick Finan’s Capitol Square, inside Mr. Harris and his minions strategize in silence.

And it’s not only well-heeled nursing homes that somehow broke through Marine lines in the Senate.

The Associated Press reported earlier this week the the petroleum industry – no stranger to large profits – lubricated the Senate budget by exempting fuel distributors from paying the CAT tax – at a cost of $20 million to the State budget when nearly all other sectors were getting substantial cuts.

The fact is Mr. Harris is faced in his final budget with an increasingly political caucus.

Former Speaker “Cactus” Jon Husted – he of the zero water consumption in his district home - is running for Secretary of State. Along with Kevin Coughlin, a zero chance gubernatorial candidate, and the hyper partisan Mr. DeWine who are all more focused on power and the apportionment board than unemployed Ohioans.

Not to be outdone John “we don’t need no money to govern” Kasich pushes to increase Ohio’s dissension into the pits of Bush “economism” by abolishing $10 billion more through the elimination of the income tax. Along with Rob Portman, former Bush budget director, these are the Bush bumper sticker Republicans – power for power’s sake – state and country economy be damned. They make you pine for the days of Blackwellian TELs.

Then there are the Bill Seitz and Tim Grendell’s of the world. Once both considered the Neanderthal progeny’s of Conservative Bill Batchelder’s brand of Goldwater ideology – they are pragmatic, business-oriented, and market driven. Seitz in fact is the major proponent of slots, persuading the Governor to embrace a plan his Caucus has abandoned.

Finally there is the erstwhile Marine Bill Harris and his loyal and able sidekick Tom Niehaus – Chamber of Commerce Republicans. They are the town leaders we all have in our Rotary Clubs, believing in deep prayer, and small town values - the progeny of Paul Gillmor, Stan Aronoff and even ‘ole cementhead Dick Finan who knew when to hold em’ and when to fold em’ when politics and services met revenue needs.

I wandered through the hurtful pride of protestors last week, watching the fear in the eyes of many haunted by the lack of political will in the “People’s House.” The looming seat of power never seemed far from their hearts and minds – you could look at the Statehouse and almost see the problem.

Lobbyists stream by in pressed suits, brows furrowed with worry. With little or no revenue to play with even friendly legislators are powerless to help. It is all too little, too late – the time for such discussions long since lost in the backslapping of Statehouse politics gone awry.

In the Governor’s office to the left and the Speaker’s office to the right, lights burn through the evening storm clouds. The Legislative Chambers are empty; for this is the inside game and only three people truly make these decisions: one who can only erase the ink, one who is writing and one, Mr. Harris, who can’t seem to find his pen.

Faced with a Senate that will not consider revenue and seems inclined to play politics with any revenue proposal – even their own Bill Seitz’s beloved slots – cuts are Ted Strickland’s only alternative, unless and until Mr. Harris exerts his leadership. For even if the Governor did propose revenue increases, the Husted crowd would drown it in cries before watering it to nothing. Mr. Husted has discovered not only the faucet but Ohio’s drain.

Like it or not, Mr. Harris is in W’s skewed parlance “The Decider.” If only the old Marine can corral his political troops to silence the frightened masses who encircle the Statehouse these days.

And so as crowds rail and suits wail, and lives trail in this ultimate game of budget “Russian roulette”, I can think of no better way to spur the old Marine to action than by offering a slightly modified version of the Marine Prayer:

Almighty Father, whose command is over all and whose love never fails, make me aware of Thy presence and obedient to Thy will. Keep Mr. Harris true to his best self, guarding him against dishonesty in purpose in deed and helping him to live so that he can face his fellow Ohioans, his loved ones and Thee without shame or fear.

Protect our Ohio family. Give him the will to do the work of a servant and leader of power and to accept his share of responsibilities with vigor and enthusiasm. Grant him the courage to be proficient in his daily performance. Keep him loyal and faithful to his superiors, all 11.5 million of them, and to the duties of his state, country and the leadership of the State Senate that have been entrusted to him. Make him considerate of those committed to his leadership out here on this lawn. Help him to wear his title of power with dignity, and let it remind him daily of the traditions which he must uphold.

If he is inclined to doubt; steady his faith; if he is tempted by partisan politics, make him strong to resist; if he should miss the mark, give him the courage to try again. Guide him with the light of truth and grant him the wisdom by which he may understand the answer to our prayers. Amen.

And if prayers don’t work then this political gimmick of a “silent Senate” has done what even Mr. Husted and Mr. Harris had once decried.  They were part of the Statehouse elite that so nobly rose in 2006 against Ken Blackwell’s TEL provision. Have you let Ken Blackwell win after all?

So if you want to do more than pray than call Mr. Harris. Tell him if he’s not using the Senate, the people of Ohio would sure like to borrow it for a while.

Yesterday's Dayton Daily News editorial offered a fair take on Jon Husted's "tantrum" during his scheduled meeting with Dayton school Superintendent Kurt Stanic and unannounced attendee, Dayton school board President Jeffrey Mims:

Sen. Husted’s temper tantrum was out of line and disrespectful to Mr. Mims. Regardless of the history between them, Mr. Husted has a responsibility to be cordial to Dayton’s school board president and attend to business that affects the Dayton region and Ohio taxpayers.

[...]It’s fair to ask why Mr. Mims, knowing full well that he and Sen. Husted aren’t exactly chummy and having been told Sen. Husted did not want him in the meeting, would insist on being present. But that doesn’t excuse Sen. Husted from putting personal grudges ahead of the people’s business.

No one is suggesting that Jeffrey Mims be appointed protocol officer, but as the paper points out, if Husted really thought Mims behavior was so improper as to trump dealing with the "people's business", there were other ways he could have handled the situation.

Columbus resident & Dayton-area senator, Jon Husted had Dayton school board President Jeffrey Mims, Jr. escorted from a meeting on Tuesday.

Mims stopped in a meeting Husted was having with the Dayton school superintendent to discuss the following project:

The proposed land swap with the Ohio Department of Mental Health would allow the district to build a $21 million new Belmont High School on the grounds of the former Twin Valley mental health hospital on Wayne Avenue.

An amendment permitting the swap was part of the original state budget bill, but Senate Republicans removed it last month.

Mims suspects Husted, a strong charter school proponent, was instrumental in pulling the amendment from the budget bill, a charge Husted denies.

The only outside witness quoted is the superintendent who said, “I thought Mr. Mims handled himself very well.”

The Dispatch reported today that Education Voters of Ohio, a group that backs Governor Ted Strickland’s  evidence-based school funding plan, has asked Republican Senator Jon Husted to provide evidence supporting the Senate Republicans’ alternative plan.

Last week, Republicans in the Ohio Senate scrapped the Governor’s evidence-based model, instead proposing a “per-pupil” funding plan that is very similar to Ohio’s current education funding system.

The proposal is included House Bill 1, the two-year state budget.

In a June 1 letter to Husted, Julian Rogers, Education Voters of Ohio’s executive director, requested “all the research the Senate used to develop the school funding plan in its version of House Bill 1."

"For example, what evidence suggests that a .25 per cent increase and .5 per cent increase in 2010-1011 will improve student success," he wrote.
"I would like a list of citations that suggest per-pupil funding does a better job than the evidence-based model in determining what an excellent education looks like," he added.

Governor Strickland introduced his evidence-based education proposal earlier this year. In response, Ohio House Republican Seth Morgan requested documentation. Strickland provided over 20,000 pages of documents, with references to dozens of reports. The governor’s plan came from those studies and from ideas offered by education groups and stakeholders over the previous 18 months.

A poll released this week found that an overwhelming 88% of Ohioans think Ohio’s education spending should be more equitable.

Governor Ted Strickland’s plan will make our state’s unconstitutional school funding system more equitable for all of Ohio’s children. His plan addresses more than just funding – it is aimed at updating our entire education system for the 21st century.

But you don’t have to take our word for it. ProgressOhio met with Gov. Strickland this afternoon before his school reform rally with the Secretary of Education and he shared in his own words what Ohioans really need to know about education reform.

Watch it now.

For all the details and to RSVP, click here.

Thousands of people will be on hand for this rally.

Let us know that you'll be there too.

Join us in welcoming the new Secretary of Education and a new day for Ohio's schools.

The Ohio Youth Voices rally at the Statehouse this afternoon was a great success. All the Columbus television networks were on-hand to cover the event, which featured hundreds of high school students presenting over 10,000 signatures to state legislators.

The students and signatories were advocating for the following:

• changing the Ohio Graduation Test

• implementing a full music and arts curriculum

• internships for high schools students

• older students helping younger students to prevent dropouts

• youth leadership to prevent violence through peer mediation.

You can view the rest of the pictures from the event at our Flickr site.

Interested in learning more about education?

Join us this Friday at OSU to welcome Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and Gov. Strickland.

I would like to extend an invitation to you to join me, State Superintendent Deborah Delisle, and Governor Strickland's chief education advisor John Stanford to discuss Ohio education reform as it is being debated in the 128th General Assembly.  This town hall meeting will be held at the following location:

Cleveland State University
Cole Center
3100 Chester Avenue
Monday, March 30th, 2009
5:30--7:30 PM
(Parking is available in the CSU lot off East 30th between Chester and Euclid.)

This meeting will address Governor Strickland's proposed 21st Century Evidence-Based School Reform model.  Several of his proposed education changes include the creation of a teacher residency program, replacement of the Ohio Graduation Test with the ACT Plus, and the creation of conversion levies to help stabilize school funding.  Also up for discussion will be Governor Strickland's proposal to use the Cleveland Metropolitan School District as the sole participant in the Early Adopter Initiative.  Through this program, the district will institute multiple administrative changes and, for that reason, will receive full funding according to the new model. 

Because these reforms are packaged in the biennial operating budget, it will move through the Senate Committee on Finance and Financial Institutions, of which I am a member.  It is necessary to hold this meeting so that I may effectively advocate on behalf of the residents of Senate District 21.  So, at this meeting I will provide the opportunity to teachers, principals, parents, students, and all concerned citizens to hear from Superintendent Delisle and Mr. Stanford and to ask questions and make recommendations regarding proposed reforms.

This event is open to all, but I ask that you RSVP to this meeting by calling my office at (614) 466-4857 by Wednesday, March 25th.  Because of the importance of this issue, I strongly encourage you to let friends, family, and colleagues know about this event if they are interested in the topic.  Let me thank you in advance for your consideration of and participation in this meeting.

Sincerely,

Shirley A. Smith
State Senator, 21st District