Antonio Condemns Passage of Education Overhaul

Today, Senate Minority Leader Nickie J. Antonio (D-Lakewood) issued a statement after the Ohio Senate voted along party lines to pass Senate Bill 1, which drastically limits the duties and function of the State Board of Education and Department of Education.
 
“I appreciate the efforts of the Republicans to work with us, but this total overhaul of our State Board of Education equates to a takeover that ignores the vote of the people,” said Leader Antonio. “There was much said, during our floor debate, about the dire statistics and circumstances that the new Department of Education and Workforce is meant to address. I hope that as we work on the biennium budget, we look at these statistics again—so that we invest in all our children, especially those who need more specialized and targeted resources to lift them up.” 

S.B. 1 would transfer almost all the current powers and duties of the State Board of Education and the Superintendent of Public Instruction to the new Department of Education and Workforce (DEW), which would be a cabinet-level agency. It would allow the Governor to appoint the director of the DEW. S.B. 1 also weakens homeschooling regulations. 

Democrats suspect that the bill is a politically motivated takeover of public education that they believe will not serve Ohio’s students well.