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Ohio’s education and workforce leaders have mixed reactions to Gov. Mike DeWine’s State of the State

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COLUMBUS, Ohio (Statehouse News Bureau) — Leaders of education and business organizations have mixed reviews about Gov. Mike DeWine gave his final State of the State speech.

Gov. Mike DeWine delivers his State of the State speech to a joint session of the legislature at the Ohio Statehouse.
Gov. Mike DeWine (R-Ohio) delivers his State of the State speech to a joint session of the legislature at the Ohio Statehouse. [Daniel Konik | Statehouse News Bureau]
DeWine talked up positive results from his mandate that the Science of Reading curriculum become the primary literacy program in Ohio. He announced he would direct the Department of Education and Workforce to create regional implementation teams to go to low-performing schools and to add 50 more reading coaches to the 97 already in place. And DeWine has said the Ohio colleges and universities not in compliance with the Science of Reading by the end of the year will have to close their teacher education programs.

“Our job is to do everything in our power to remove barriers and create opportunities so that every single Ohio citizen can live up to their God-given potential,” DeWine said.

Ohio Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Steve Stivers liked what he heard from DeWine.

“I thought it was great. I thought he had some really good priorities,” Stivers said in an interview. “I really appreciated his focus on workforce.”

Stivers said attracting and training a workforce is vital to Ohio’s economic future. He said DeWine has been a steadfast champion for Ohio’s workers, families, and employers, and that his last annual speech was “a fitting capstone to that legacy.”

Ohio Federation of Teachers President Melissa Cropper said she also liked what she heard from DeWine, but added he only told part of the story.

“I think that the governor gave a feel-good speech that glossed over some of the real issues that we still have remaining in our state and particularly in education,” Cropper said in an interview.

Cropper said the OFT, the state’s second-largest teachers’ union, has been doing professional development across the state around implementing the Science of Reading. And she said she’s glad DeWine has asked for support for workforce development programs. But she said local public schools have lost career exploration dollars and are having to cut instructional coaches and cut teaching positions.

“So the bottom line is all the stuff is great and necessary, but without proper funding, it puts a huge strain on our districts,” Cropper said. “And we’re just not capable of doing everything without having resources in place to do it.”

This is DeWine’s last year, and this General Assembly will wrap up its work at the end of this year. Both Cropper and Stivers said decisions made by voters in November will make a difference in education and workforce in the future.

“No matter who’s elected, they’re definitely going to have to focus on jobs,” Stivers said. “And we’re going to work with them to understand why that’s important and why making sure we prepare the workforce to do the jobs of today and the future.”

Cropper and Stivers disagree on which potential future leaders will accomplish that goal. The Ohio Federation of Teachers has endorsed Democratic candidate for governor Dr. Amy Acton, while the Ohio Chamber of Commerce’s political action committee has endorsed Republican Vivek Ramaswamy.