Ohio Republican gubernatorial Vivek Ramaswamy wants to bring back "standards" to Ohio public education, implement artificial intelligence into the curriculum, switch teacher pay to a merit-based raise system and promote school choice.
Ramaswamy laid out his education policy agenda at a conservative event hosted by Americans For Prosperity in Hilliard, Wednesday evening. Ramaswamy stressed the importance of education, calling it "the Apollo mission of our time."
Ramaswamy centered his vision of education policy around creating standards for teachers, students and the education system as a whole.
Ramaswamy said he favors school choice, giving parents options with public funding for private schools and homeschooling. But, Ramaswamy said he didn't want to limit his efforts to school choice, instead wanting to address what he sees as failures of public schools.
WOSU's All Sides with Amy Juravich spoke to Dr. Amy Acton — the only candidate who has declared for the Democratic primary for governor — earlier this week. In the interview, Acton stressed her support for public schools.
Ramaswamy said he wants to "bring back" the Science of Reading curriculum to get the improvements in reading and math that have happened in Mississippi. But, Ohio already started using the Science of Reading last year.
In March 2024, Gov. Mike DeWine signed an executive order that mandated Ohio’s literary curricula be built around this evidence-based and phonics-focused approach. That means other literacy methods like three-cueing, which encourages students to guess words using context clues, has to be taken out of schools’ curriculum.
"It's not rocket science. It's applying the science of reading, a known curriculum to be able to help children actually read. Bring back the science reading. Bring back literacy coaching at a basic level," Ramaswamy said.
Ramaswamy centered his argument around emulating states like Mississippi, which saw dramatic improvements in literacy rankings after implementing the practice.
"I'm not beyond looking at other states that have had success in different areas, whether it's Texas or Florida and their tax rates, whether it's Mississippi and the Mississippi miracle," Ramaswamy said.
Ramaswamy didn't take questions from the press.
WOSU asked Ramaswamy's campaign over email if he misspoke. The campaign didn't answer the question, saying in a statement Thursday morning Ramaswamy was clear he wants to continue science of reading and bring back the third grade reading guarantee.
"Vivek’s message is clear: his focus as governor will be to raise educational standards in our public schools, with literacy at the core of student success. His policy vision emphasizes reinstating the 3rd Grade Reading Guarantee and continuing to embrace the science of reading to ensure those standards are met in our public schools. Bringing back those standards is the point," the statement said.
Ramaswamy said he wants to give teachers higher pay. But he wants a merit-based pay raise system that would go against collective bargaining agreements struck between the state and teacher's unions.
"What I'm talking about is pro-teacher. May not be pro- teacher union. May not be pro-bureaucracy," Ramaswamy said. "Local leaders ought to be able to actually run their schools in a manner that brings that application of standards both to our students and to the performance of our teachers, our administrators, our principals, frankly even our superintendents."
The idea of applying standards was a core part of Ramaswamy's speech.
"We are going to bring a radical revolution of standards to our public schools. I would tell you we're going to elevate our standards, but that may be too much," Ramaswamy said. "We're just going to put in standards, at least in the first place, because our schools are not operating with standards today."
Ramaswamy said he wants to ensure that every student knows how to read before they leave the 3rd grade. He said he wouldn't let a student advance to 4th grade until they can read at a basic level.
Ramaswamy said Mississippi adopted those same standards. He said Ohio should apply those standards to mathematics by requiring eighth graders have to be proficient in algebra before they move to the next grade.
Ramaswamy said he'd like schools to educate students how to use AI as well.
"We are entering the era of AI, we entering the area of quantum computing. It is a moral dereliction if we allow our kids to grow up in that country, in that world, to be victimized by the future, instead of to be empowered to seize that future," Ramaswamy said.
Ramaswamy also responded to criticisms of Republicans desire to lower property taxes. The idea would limit the primary funding mechanism for public schools.
"I tell them your property taxes are too high. Teachers are actually — certainly at entry level — teachers are underpaid. The starting salary of $40,000 a year is not enough to live the American dream. And our students are underperforming the rest of the world more now than they were 50 years ago. So it's a system that's not working for anybody."
The event also featured a panel which included Republican lawmakers, proponents of private education and critics of public education.
Those panelists were Troy McIntosh the director of the Center for Christian Virtue's Ohio Christian Education Network; Tera Myers with Moms on a Mission, which is associated with former U.S. Department of Education Secretary Betsy Devos, Omar Tarazi, a legal counsel for South-Western City Schools, Tolles Career & Technical Center Superintendent Todd Hoadley, state Rep. Brian Stewart (R-Ashville) and state Sen. Andrew Brenner (R-Delaware).
There were protestors outside the event at the beginning. The group largely dissipated by 7 p.m. before Ramaswamy spoke.
