By David Wolfford

   On Election Day, Ohioans will choose its new chief executive and at the same time will make a choice in how the state’s schools will be run. Both Republican Ken Blackwell, Ohio’s current secretary of state, and Democrat Ted Strickland, a congressman from the state’s 6th district, have unique plans to run the state’s education system. Blackwell subscribes to a philosophy of running schools on a business model with a bottom line and emphasis on parental choice, while Strickland is concerned about extending opportunity to those from the impoverished regions of the state and shying away from traditional ways of measuring success. But there is more to these plans.

   The Blackwell education plan parallels his other plans and the candidate himself: bold, specific, and competitive. Blackwell is no stranger to the education field. Straight out of college, he taught in a Cincinnati junior high school before taking a job at Xavier University. For over fifteen years, he worked at Xavier in both the Center for Urban Studies and as a campus vice president as he entered into politics. His wife, Rosa, is the current superintendent of Cincinnati Public Schools. His business experiences since leaving education may be as influential on his ideas with how to administer Ohio’s schools.

   His plan rests on a few principal points. First his “65% Solution” would cap administrative spending at 35% to insure that at least 65% of all education dollars would be spent on classroom instruction. Campaign spokesman Carlo LoParo declares that this magic number is based on programs taken from other states that have found success with it. Texas, Colorado, and others have seen improved learning by implementing similar limits, and so has Mrs. Blackwell’s Cincinnati school district. It’s one of the proposals that landed the candidate the Cincinnati Enquirer’s endorsement. If implemented, Blackwell’s plan would increase classroom spending by more than $1.2 billion statewide without a tax increase, allowing the state to purchase a computer for every Ohio student or to hire 24,000 additional teachers starting at $40,000 salary.

   He also believes in looking at education no longer as a two-stage journey, and rather as a K-16 endeavor. Shifting the emphasis to a holistic approach and assuming that a student’s successful goal should be a college degree instead of only a high school diploma. Right now, only 57% of Ohio high school graduates enter college. Blackwell would consider merging the Ohio Board of Regents and the Ohio Board of Education in trying to combine these two separate eras of education into one. Also in his plan to increase college attendance and matriculation are improving transferability of student credits between community colleges and four-year institutions to remove frustrating impediments that can lead to an unfinished education.

   The final characteristic in the Blackwell proposals is his determination to offer school choice and a bottom line. By including entrepreneurs on his advisory boards, Blackwell will bring private sector thinking into the operation of the state’s schools. Blackwell is a backer of Ohio’s charter school program because he believes that otherwise the state too often forces parents to leave their children in failing schools with little accountability. And, certification requirements would be altered to allow scientists, linguists, and mathematicians to obtain certification through a distance-learning program.

   While Blackwell has taken risks in his education plan, Ted Strickland has earned the safe endorsements of the Ohio Education Association and the Ohio Federation of Teachers. Strickland, too, is no stranger to the education field. His wife is also a career teacher, and Strickland has worked with youth in several capacities, as a minister, director of an orphanage, and as a psychology instructor at Shawnee State University.

   One can tell by examining Strickland’s proposals that they are derived from one who overcame obstacles to enter and complete college. This candidate understands the intimidation that comes with college application, transfers, and matriculation. Strickland, the first of his family to attend college, cites in his plan, “We need to build a culture in Ohio that promotes our kids going to college. Too few Ohio youngsters even think they can go to college.” To accomplish this concern, Strickland offers his “Knowledge Bank,” a financial program that would deposit money in every Ohio child’s college savings account. Strickland is short on detail, but his opponents point to tax dollars as a source for funding his plan. The state would deposit $500 in an account parallel to a 529 savings account and contribute $100 every year until that child graduates from high school. According to his proposal, low income families would receive more.

   He also places an emphasis on the Appalachian region of Ohio. Particularly, he wants to offer challenge grants to local Ohio College Access Network organizations. And, he wants to extend encouragement to low-income, first generation, and non-traditional students. Finally, he believes that such high stakes decisions in regards to education should not be dependent on the basis of a single test score.

   It should come as no shock that the more liberal education plan put forth by Strickland has gained the favor of the state’s leading teachers’ unions, and that Blackwell’s competition-based system frightens educational bureaucrats. Blackwell’s plan will boost efficiency in the overall education system. By capitalizing on the private sector for transportation, food services, and other peripheral concerns of education, Blackwell hopes to be able to place greater funding on classroom instruction and reward educational institutions that earn their keep. Strickland, on the other hand, in hoping to extend a welcoming hand to the less fortunate and those new to higher education, ignores testing, the conventional method of comparing the success of Ohio’s students with those from other states.