Republican lawmakers are pushing a bill that would overhaul Ohio’s 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 together the departments 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,” he said at the Associated Press Legislative Preview forum.
The new Ohio Department of Learning and Achievement would be led by a director who is appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Senate.
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!” Kasich said.
Democrats are blasting the plan as taking power away from an elected board. Supporters, however, say this makes the governor more accountable.
