Strickland on education in Ohio

Well, today was the State of the State speech. The governor wants to emphasize that he LOVES Ohio. He also wants to claim that we are properly funding education in Ohio, even in towns like Perrysburg. Huh. He didn't address the $3 million cuts Perrysburg Schools face next year. He didn't address all the teachers who will lose their jobs next year, or the unfunded mandates that will require schools like Perrysburg to make drastic changes that will cost more dollars. Hm. Didn't do that, did he?

Next door in Indiana they are in the process of slashing 300 million dollars in state funds from their primary and secondary schools. In Georgia, school funding was cut by 440 million dollars. And at least twenty other states are inflicting serious cuts on their school systems.

But in Ohio, in Ohio, we are not going backward on our schools. Using a combination of state and federal resources, we increased school funding by 5.5 percent in the last budget.

I believe in Ohio because we recognize that a superior education starting from the earliest age is the only path to sustained prosperity.