Kasich refrains from discussing school funding
Ohio Gov. John Kasich addressed an array of topics — from opioid abuse to business involvement in schools — before the Ohio School Boards Association on Monday morning.
But the Republican failed to address the elephant in the Greater Columbus Convention Center room packed with 2,000 school board members: school funding.
Educators were roundly disappointed with a state budget in which 374 of the Ohio’s 612 school districts lost state aid or saw their funding frozen as overall K-12 funding increased about 1 percent each year.
However, Kasich chose not to discuss state school funding amid a climate in which many school board members say they increasingly must turn to local taxpayers for higher property taxes to fund education.
But then, Damon Asbury, the school board’s association past lobbyist and interim deputy executive director, conceded he did not expect the governor to bring up the topic.
Kasich said a tight state funding picture prevented larger increases for schools in the current two-year state budget ending in mid-2019. Overall annual school funding has increased by $1.5 billion or 16 percent on Kasich’s watch since 2011.
“At a time when Ohio is investing record resources in K-12 education, the governor appreciated the opportunity today to talk with superintendents and school leaders about helping in Ohio’s fight against drug abuse and addiction and encourage them to partner more with business to ensure that we can prepare students for the in-demand jobs of the future,” said Kasich spokesman Jon Keeling.
Kasich elicited a smattering of applause from the audience when the mentioned he didn’t have years left, but only 13 months remaining in his last term as governor. The remarks were his first to the annual conference of the school boards association.
The governor remained focused, as he has in several recent speeches, on rallying support and commitments to battle the state’s opioid addiction — and death — crisis.
“A big part of the drug problem can be dealt with through education in the schools,” Kasich said, calling on school boards to help ensure their teachers bring up the deadly dangers of drugs with their students at least once a week.
As he has repeatedly, the governor suggested brief anti-drug remarks can be made at high school football and basketball games and that Ohioans should not shy away from approaching teenagers in the local Bob Evans to tell them not to use drugs.
Kasich said the state has suggested anti-drug materials available online for districts and teachers to use and told the crowd, “I’ll talk to you ... call me.”
The governor also again brought up two of his proposals rejected by lawmakers — appointing non-voting business leaders to school boards to help craft job-ready curriculums and requiring teachers to spend a few days working in a business to understand workplace needs.
The state no longer can rely on a 100-year-old educational model and must change to better educate students for an evolving workplace that requires everincreasing technology skills, Kasich said.
Ohio is ready to embrace different approaches to K-12 education and is willing to give flexibility to local school districts to pursue needed change, the governor said.
“Tell us what you want, and we will give it to you,” he said.
The school board’s association Asbury said districts are working hard to both educate their students about avoiding drugs and adopting changes in instruction to improve student achievement and college and job readiness.