Ohio HB12 and SB1 are not helpful in Reforming Ohio Schools - and the BackPack Bill Analysis
Coalescing more power in the hands of future Governor's is a mistake
A Conservative Viewpoint
HB12 and SB1 are a pair of 2,156-page bills that hand an unprecedented amount of power to the Ohio Governor over the Ohio education system. The bill takes an immense amount of power away from the board of education and gives it to a gubernatorial appointee (The Director of Education and Workforce.) The Director of Education and Workforce would receive these powers from the State Board of Education.
Adopting minimum education standards for elementary and secondary schools and minimum operating standards for school districts;
Issuing and revoking state charters to school districts, school buildings operated by districts, and nonpublic schools that elect to seek a charter;
Developing state academic standards and model curricula;
Establishing the statewide program for assessing student achievement through standardized assessments;
Establishing the state report card system for school districts, community schools, STEM schools, and college-preparatory boarding schools;
Administering state scholarship programs;
Performing prescribed functions regarding the creation and operation of joint vocational school districts;
Providing oversight to, and performing functions regarding, community schools, community school sponsors, and STEM schools; and
Calculating and distributing all foundation funding payments.
While the public is angry at the Ohio State Board of Education (OSBE) for not fixing the inherent problems with Ohio’s education system - the legislation in these bills do not address the problems within our education system. Additionally, putting this immense amount of power into one person’s hands is tremendously irresponsible and most likely illegal under the State of Ohio’s “Home Rule” provision in the Ohio State Constitution.
HB12 and SB1 DO NOT address the following problems inherent in Ohio’s K-12 education system:
The easy removal of bad teachers by ending the practice of tenure. This plagues a tremendous amount of Ohio’s schools and harms children in Ohio’s inner cities disproportionately.
Addressing the exorbitant benefits that Ohio teachers receive even when schools are performing poorly or failing.
Does not address Common Core and makes it that much more likely that deals will be made with federal or international agencies to give away local control of our schools.
Does nothing to address CRT (Critical Race Theory) and the teaching of children to be activists for the Democrat and Socialists political parties.
Does not address CSE (Comprehensive Sex Education) curricula, where teachers educate children on the more perverse and kinkier forms of sex - forming an academic acceptance of grooming children for sexual relations.
Does not address the dangers of SEL (Social Emotional Learning) for activist teachers.
Does not address radical DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) implementation that seeks to impose affirmative action sensibilities in every facet of public education.
Does not address “global warming theory” being taught as “global warming fact”
Does not address teachers encouraging children to switch social genders at schools and the making of accommodations for children whose parents have embraced allowing their child to choose a social identity that does not conflate with their sex.
Does not address the safety of trans and non-trans children in the mixed-sex use of public restrooms.
Does not address the protection of women’s sports by male athletes that socially identify as women.
Does not limit the number of times a school can present a levy to the school district.
Does not limit school levies to being on the ballot only in gubernatorial and presidential election years when voter turnout is greatest.
Does not eliminate the conflict of interest for school board members that accept money from unions for their re-election campaigns and then vote on raises for union members.
Does not make school board races partisan, so the public has a better idea of what candidates and officeholders stand for.
Does not address the grossly disproportionate number of teachers and professors hired with a Democrat mindset compared to a Republican mindset. We need to foster more diverse viewpoints in education - not less.
Does not reduce the costs of building new schools by removing “Green Building Council” requirements.
Does not stop the influence of special interests on model curricula being developed.
Does not stop grading on a curve that reduces standards in education.
Does not provide for performance-based vouchers to ensure that taxpayers are not being robbed blind by an education system that does not work.
HB12 and SB1 consolidate power and, in almost all cases, provide no penalties for not accomplishing the goals that will be outlined in the Ohio Revised Code for the director of the Department of Education and Workforce if these bills are passed into law. There are also no timelines for the implementation of the goals specified in these bills. The bills are very vague in areas that beg for specificity and lack an adequate amount of definitions.
The State of Ohio really needs to create an Ohio Education Code that is separate from the Ohio Revised Code. The Ohio Revised Code could reference the Ohio Education Code on the specifics that outline educational minimums, definitions, requirements, and goals.
The Ohio Revised Code, as far as education is concerned, needs better explain the procedures for parental and religious recourse when bureaucrats make outlandish decisions. Do parents always have to sue or get the courts involved when the law is not followed? Can a provision be made for arbitration akin to a small claims court where the expense of a lawyer is not necessary? There should also be some type of inspector general empowered to audit and ensure that power is not being abused.
We need to ensure that the Ohio education system is not being used to push an activist teacher’s point of view - this should be considered a criminal charge.
The above-referenced teaching material has been used by over 200 school teachers in the State of Ohio, according to the Pulitzer Center. This is unacceptable and where legislators miss the mark on what is important.
Here we have a clear intent of schools to obfuscate and deceive parents. This is known as lying. This should be grounds for firing an education professional. Instead of firing, these professionals are defended with the taxpayer dollar.
The Failings and Success of Ohio’s BackPack Bill (HB11)
I am a conservatiev Republican that loves free-market values. I want competition in Ohio’s education system. While this bill is a baby step in the right direction -there are many problems I can forsee. The legislative Services Commission did not put there best people on drafting this legislation.
While Ohio’s BackPack bill seems to be a step in the right direction - it falls short on many conservative fronts. While I love private Christian schools - I think they need to either make a ton of amendments or start over from scratch on the backpack bill.
First, the good.
There will be many middle-income Christians that take their children out of liberally run public schools in favor of private schools. With the extra $5,500 to $7,500 per year they will receive under the BackPack Bill - they can afford to send their children to a school of their choice. Additionally, the bill has the potential to save Ohio a great deal on its educational costs although it might be at the expense of receiving a worse education….(this is through poor parents that choose to homeschool their children).
Now, the bad.
The worst performing schools tend to be in the larger cities - in the inner cities. The children that need to get out of these poor performing schools have parents that will not be able to afford the tuition to a good private school. Don’t get me wrong, the $5,500 and $7,500 is greatly appreciated - but it falls way short. Additionally, children with problem parents in the inner city may choose home schooling and with no performnce basis for (scholarship) compensation - this is a recipe to dramatically raise inner-city crime over time by allowing young children with lackidaisical parents to allow those children to join gangs. Will we have charter schools with little oversight robbing parents and students blind - we’ve seen this happen before in Ohio?
Ohio’s BackPack Bill does not bar illegal aliens from participation.
Seemingly, the bill makes no provisions to prevent education that may produce left-wing domestic terrorists such as Antifa, BLM, and Radical Islamic ideologies. These groups are alive and well in the academic communities that have experience in obfuscating their true intent. The bill doesn’t seem to provide the oversight that may prevent the teaching of extremist white nationalist view points either. Those that distribute public funds have a moral obligation to ensure that funds are not used to cause harm to children and produce well-adjusted adults.
Additionally, will big-tech companies provide schooling that teaches California sensibilities? - Such as abortion rights, “Woke” activism, and gender reassignment surgeries for children to get a job at their mammoth factories? This is a real and legitimate concern. Don’t we have a moral obligation to ensure that funds are not used to teach gross immorality and gross indecency?
Ohio’s Backpack Bill favors public education by not allowing the funds collected locally to follow the child. If children leave the local school system, they will be doing so with much less money to spend on their education compared to their public school counterparts. In layman’s terms, public school students get $6,200/year from the State and $6,000/year from local taxes = $12,200/year. Whereas, students attending a private school under the BackPack Bill will only get an average of $7,500 from the State (High School). The reality is if a private school can be successful in educating a student for $7,500, then why are we paying $12,200 for public education? It sounds like legislators side-stepping the real issue (exorbitant pay and benefits for teacher union members).
Moreover, the BackPack Bill does not reward excellence and does not punish failure. Schools get the same amount of money if they produce a failing student versus a student getting straight A’s. We already reward way too many failing schools, Ohioan’s have seen that unscrupulous and unethical charter schools can be every bit as bad as public schools. Isn’t it time we dictated performance with compensation based on each student’s performance?
As a matter of economics - lets say that 10% of students decide to leave the public education system in the inner-cities, with the budgets being so tight there, many of these schools that already offer poor performance - will offer worse performance or fail altogether. There won’t be enough funds to cover their fixed costs and union members do not take a pay cut. This means that there is great potential to harm the most vulnerable schools. Again, providing performanced based pay that coorelate with performance based vouchers and implementing severe penalties for cheating by teachers and administration would only help make the BackPack Bill much stronger.
While the bill will pay some home school expenses - the bill prevents parents from receiving any personal compensation to teach their children. So a couple wanting to pay a spouse a minimal fee to stay home and teach their children is not an option. This I suspect was to placate lobbyists so they did not see their employers harmed by home educators. Additionally, there is not much oversight on how funds are used and how legitimate vendors of educational services and supplies are determined?
The problem we have with Ohio’s education system is that we know what the right thing to do is - but there are no lobbyists to do the right thing. The lobbyists for the common man is supposed to be the Ohio Republican State Central Committee members - but most either don’t know what they are supposed to be doing, are totally inept, or have already been bought off. Without a person or persons of wealth to fund a campaign that can counter the teachers unions - this bill may likely be the best that we can do for now.
There are many other things that legislators could do to reform Ohio’s public education system and deal a blow to the teacher’s union. This seems to be putting the cart before the horse with not a very well formed idea.