Last week's Fordham Institute and Catalyst Ohio report, Checked Out: Ohioans' Views on Education 2009, still has people talking in the Buckeye State.???? On Sunday, Fordham's own Terry Ryan discussed the survey findings on the Ohio News Network's statewide public affairs program, Capitol Square.???? Yesterday, the Columbus Dispatch editorial board questioned components of Governor Strickland's education reform plan in light of the survey:
...no one should be surprised that Ohioans have relatively little faith in the state government to fix education. Asked which entities they would trust to decide how to spend tax money for schools, 47 percent said they would trust their local school districts most. Another 22 percent would trust individual schools most. Only 17 percent said the State Board of Education. The least faith was placed in the governor, at 3 percent, and lawmakers, 4 percent.
Many education reformers argue, and respondents to the Fordham survey seem to agree, that improvement is more likely if states set performance standards and give school districts and principals plenty of latitude in deciding how to achieve them.
How unfortunate, then, that Gov. Ted Strickland's proposed education plan is heavily prescriptive, setting detailed formulas that mandate precisely how school districts should spend their state money--primarily by hiring more teachers, counselors and aides and otherwise continuing business as usual.
If the survey is an accurate portrait, the governor and lawmakers have their work cut out for them in persuading Ohioans that they know what they're doing and that what they're proposing is best.
