7/30/08

Canton Repository Editorial

Gov. Ted Strickland is traveling around the state, letting Ohioans tell him how to solve the problems that plague public schools. He probably won’t hear anything new. But he’s sure to learn how soon they want him to solve these problems (now) and how effective they expect him to be (very).

Plain Local won’t be the only Ohio district to decide it’s futile and counterproductive to ask for an operating levy in November. For Plain, seven attempts have failed. The struggling economy makes a victory on try No. 8 highly unlikely.

Instead, Plain officials will hold their own series of community conversations in the fall - conversations that won’t be driven by the pressure of a looming ballot issue. As Superintendent Chris Smith puts it, they will ask residents “what they want for their schools, without asking for anything.”

Part of the decision to hold off on another levy attempt resulted from district officials’ confidence that Strickland will make good on his promise to reform primary and secondary education in his first term. In a letter to their staff and the community, Smith and other Plain leaders said that since Strickland has taken office, “we have seen more meaningful discourse about public education in Ohio than was evident for many years.”

Waiting for action from Columbus doesn’t mean that Plain can sit back and wait for an infusion of state funds. For 12 years, in good economic times and bad, voters have said no to operating levies. Plain will reduce the teaching staff by 11 more positions this fall.

Strickland has said he will consider himself a failure as governor if he fails to act on school funding in his first term. It would be a failure neither he nor Ohio’s school districts can afford.