Education Imperatives for Ohio K-12 Policy Priorities for the Next Biennium

Oct 15, 2026

Education Imperatives for Ohio K-12 Policy Priorities for the Next Biennium outlines how Ohio’s next biennial leadership should respond to a major budget shortfall while maintaining and improving K-12 performance. It contrasts past reforms and increased funding with persistent weaknesses in proficiency, graduation readiness, and school quality. The text argues for transforming education into a driver of opportunity and economic growth by resisting special interests and implementing seven specific policy priorities, including stronger accountability, better funding allocation, and modern instructional delivery.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages11

Reading Time28 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Where We Stand Today

Opportunity Awaits

Policy Priorities

Priority 1: Strengthen results-based accountability for schools and those who work in them

Education Imperatives for Ohio K-12 Policy Priorities for the Next Biennium Introduction Congratulations to John Kasich and his team for their win on November 2. The new governor will take office with much goodwill and support in both the House and Senate and will presumably benefit from GOP majorities in both chambers. State leaders will also face a vast budget shortfall—estimated at $6 to $8 billion—for the FY 2012-2013 biennium. The resolution of this shortfall will surely affect everything the state supports and does, including K-12 education, which now consumes 40 percent of state dollars. Education, however, is no simple “government service” or “consumable.” It is a critical investment in our children’s and our state’s future. It is central to creating great jobs, transforming the economy from physical labor to brain work, boosting competitiveness, strengthening the polity, and sustaining the culture. That’s true of higher education as well as K-12, of course, and is no new insight. Indeed,“education reform” has been front-and-center for decades. Where We Stand Today For the past two decades, lawmakers from both parties have invested heavily in the public education sector. As a consequence, total K-12 education funding, measured in constant dollars, has grown by over 60 percent since 1997, even as Ohio’s K-12 student enrollment has shrunk by more than 24,000 students (1 .4 percent) during that same time. Under Republican leadership from the mid-1990s to 2007, Ohio launched multiple school choice programs (including both charter schools and vouchers), wrote new academic standards, built accountability systems, and gave birth to STEM and Early College programs. Governor Bob Taft (1999- 2007) championed early literacy programs, more rigorous graduation requirements (the Ohio Core), and the state’s new STEM schools. Over the past four years, Governor Ted Strickland and his administration enacted further laudable reforms, including lengthening the period for teacher-tenure decisions until the seventh year of service, supporting Ohio’s participation in new multi-state academic standards in math and English (“Common Core”), and successfully bidding for federal “Race to the Top” funding (with several concomitant reforms) . In higher education, Chancellor Eric Fingerhut developed a sophisticated, multi-faceted game plan for reforming and strengthening the post-secondary system—and student options and achievement—that is apt to yield benefits for students, taxpayers, and the state’s economic health for years to come. Despite all this worthy effort, however, Ohio’s young people are not nearly as well educated as they need to be and the academic payoff from Ohio’s whopping investment in public education has been disappointing, to put it mildly. The fraction of Ohio students deemed proficient in math and reading on the National Assessment of Educational Progress has barely budged in the last decade. High school graduation rates remain virtually stagnant—up two points since 2000 to 83 percent. At least as troubling is the evidence that those who do graduate are not adequately prepared for higher education. One third of Ohio graduates entering state colleges and universities need remedial coursework in math. (In English, it’s about one fifth.) Not nearly enough schools (or colleges) are high-performing. Urban education is generally catastrophic. Costs are high. Results-based accountability is weak. Bureaucratic regulation is rampant. Quality choices are insufficient. Adult interests have over-ridden those of children, families, and taxpayers. Some foolish policies have been enacted along with sound ones. And now, of course, the state’s fiscal health is perilous. So is that of many schools and school systems. Opportunity Awaits Yet opportunity is also at hand—the opportunity to build upon yesterday’s better policy decisions, to rectify poor ones, and to make lemonade out of sour circumstance. Ohio’s education sys

FAQs

Why does Ohio’s K-12 budget shortfall matter for the next biennium?

The shortfall is estimated at $6 to $8 billion for FY 2012-2013, and its resolution will affect everything the state supports, including K-12 education, which consumes a large share of state dollars.

What is the main problem despite Ohio’s past education investments?

Despite decades of bipartisan investment and multiple reforms, many students are not proficient enough in math and reading, high school graduation rates are nearly stagnant, and graduates often need remedial coursework.

What are the seven recommended policy priorities?

The priorities are: strengthen results-based accountability; replace the Evidence-Based Model with rational resource allocation; invest in high-yield programs with smart savings; improve teacher quality and compensation; expand access to quality schools of choice; turn around or close persistently low-performing schools; and develop modern instructional-delivery systems.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Quinn Holloway