The Day the SUPERs Came to the Ohio Statehouse
The Ohio Legislature’s ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council) majority has been actively pushing legislation geared towards privatizing Ohio public schools for quite a while, drastically reducing state funding while diverting taxpayer dollars away from local public school districts to charter schools and other for-profit education companies. Gov. John Kasich, an ALEC alumnus, strategically took control of the state Board of Education by appointing many advocates of “school choice” to the Board, and he continues to micro-manage the school privatization agenda from the governor’s office.
Ohio parents, educators, and other public education advocates have been speaking out against the many pieces of the privatization movement, such as high-stakes testing, ever-expanding vouchers, and unaccountable charter schools. Public Education Partners (PEP), a non-profit organization dedicated to the support of publicly accountable schools for all, was formed as a statewide umbrella structure to help unite the growing numbers of advocacy groups that believe in public education and fight to protect it.
Public Education Partners and other public education groups encourage local grassroots activists to educate and engage others in this ongoing struggle to preserve traditional public education. PEP uses its social media presence, education summits, rallies, and other events to empower Ohioans to lobby their legislators and the state school board to ask them to listen to local educational leaders before passing educational rules and policies.
Advocates are also encouraged to attend local school board meetings to speak with school district leaders to get them involved in actions that will create public awareness about their great loss of local tax dollars for the benefit of for-profit education companies. School leaders are asked to come together as anThe Day the SUPERs Came to the Ohio Statehouse - Network For Public Education: