Republicans in the House have proposed another big change to the State Board of Education, two years after stripping the panel of many of its powers. The move would eliminate the board's 11 elected members and reduce the 19-member panel to five, with all of them appointed by the governor.
鈥淭he governor will have complete control over public education in Ohio, just like it was before 1953," said State School Board Vice-President Teresa Fedor, referring to the constitutional amendment approved by voters that year that created the board. The roles and makeup of the board was determined after a comprehensive study, leading to a mix of elected and appointed positions on the board.
Fedor doesn鈥檛 believe this move, which is in the House-passed version of the budget, is legal.
鈥淲e are going backward, not forwards. We need this representation now more than ever, especially when you see what they are doing with the expansion of vouchers 鈥� using public money to expand private tuition,鈥� Fedor said.
In the state budget two years ago, the state expanded the EdChoice voucher program to allow every student in Ohio who wants a voucher to attend most private schools to get one. The House budget that lawmakers are reviewing now would create education savings accounts for students attending non-chartered non-public schools, which can't accept vouchers. There鈥檚 also a provision that would allow money for parents who homeschool their children.
Senate Finance Chair Jerry Cirino (R-Kirtland) is a supporter of vouchers. As far as the change to whittle the members of the board down to five appointed members, he told members at the City Club in Cleveland recently that he鈥檚 for that too.
鈥淚 do support it. And here's why. Because we now have the Department of Workforce and Education and Workforce. And we still have the remnants of what was the statewide school board, which were all elected individuals," Cirino said at the City Club last month. "The problem was that the designated territories that the school board members were responsible for were huge. People didn't know who their school board member was. They had no staff support. It was very, very ineffective, which is why we established the Department of Education and Workforce in the first place,鈥� Cirino said.
Cirino said there really isn鈥檛 a need for a lot of members at the Ohio State School Board anymore anyway.
鈥淭he scope of responsibilities for the current remaining ones in the five that will be appointed has been limited significantly, because the real work is going to be done by the Department of Education and Workforce,鈥� Cirino said.
Fedor was among the plaintiffs in a lawsuit was filed in late 2023 over the budget provision that created the Department of Education and Workforce. It's headed by Director Steve Dackin, a former school board member appointed to the position by Gov. Mike DeWine. The budget moved most of the major decisions about curriculum and other important school policies to DEW. Teacher licensing is the major responsibility left with the Ohio State Board of Education at this point.
