Thursday, January 29, 2009

Stepping Up: Governor Takes on Education Challenge

I just left a press conference with the Governor and local education officials at Withrow High School, and watched as he shared his vision and plan to remake Ohio's schools. I applaud him for being willing to take on--in a serious and substantive way--the topic that so many talk about but ultimately do so little on.

As the Enquirer said at the end of its editorial today, if he succeeds, "it is likely that Ted Strickland will have been one of Ohio's most consequential governors."

You can read his whole State of the State speech here. Key parts of the education plan include: all-day kindergarten, lengthening the school year by 20 days, moving to a system where all students take the ACT, the state taking on a greater share of the funding (relieving local property taxpayers), upgrading the curriculum to comport with 21st century demands, accountability and transparency (including for Charter schools), better teacher and principal training, and more.

It was fitting that this took place at Withrow, where with great leadership and strong students, as well as some of the reforms Gov. Strickland proposed today, this historic high school has seen tremendous improvement and excellence in recent years.

This will be a much-discussed topic in the coming months in Ohio. And its outcome will impact this state for years to come.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Great to hear, but how is Strickland going to pay for this? As you know David, it's great to be for things, but it's another thing to find the money.

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