Lawmakers are pushing a bill that would overhaul the state education system in order to give most of the control over to the governor’s office. This is something Gov. John Kasich has wanted for a while now.
House Republicans say their plan to wrap the department of education, higher education, and the workforce transformation office would streamline education for career-readiness.
But it also hands most of the education policymaking power over to the governor, something Kasich alluded to just a few weeks ago.
“What I really want is I want to be able to run the department of education.”
Kasich said the state school board wields a lot of power yet its members are generally unknown to voters.
“They’re running education policy and I’m the governor and I can’t tell them what to do, it’s nuts!” said Kasich.
Democrats are blasting the plan as taking power away from an elected board. Supporters, however, say this makes the governor more accountable.
Kasich’s spokesperson Jon Keeling put out a statement adding that, “The governor’s term is up in less than a year, so this isn’t about him — and it’s not about any other governor. It’s about Ohio’s children getting the fair shot at a quality education that they deserve.”
