Urgent call-to-action – Ohio S. B. NO. 178 Legislation Positioned to Move all Major Duties of the State Board of Education to an Unelected Appointee of the Governor

Senate Bill 178 has been sitting dormant in the Ohio Senate Primary and Secondary Education Committee since its introduction last year. It now appears there will be an effort to push it through the legislative process before the end of the session.

S.B.178 will move all of the major policy decisions of our partially-elected State Board of Education to a new NON-ELECTED cabinet agency under the sole authority of the Governor and will REMOVE ALL ELECTED REPRESENTATION on all regulations affecting public schools, private schools and home education.

The bill is identical in concept to H.B. 512, which was introduced in 2018 but did not pass due to substantial public outcry.

What makes the process more challenging today is that there is NO language available to the public for review of S.B. 178. The only available version of the bill, at the writing of this alert, is a one-page placeholder version expressing nonspecific intent. Similar legislation in 2018 (H.B. 512) was over 2000 pages in length. The only clues we have to the policies being proposed are in the sponsor’s testimony offered to the Senate Education Committee on Nov. 15, 2022.

As described by Sen. Reineke in testimony, S.B. 178 would do the following:

• “Create” a state cabinet-level agency called the Department of Education and Workforce that would have a dual focus on primary/secondary education (including preschool) and career-tech.
• This new UNELECTED agency (DEW) would be led by a Director appointed by the Governor.
• The DEW would have two divisions, both headed by deputy directors who will sit on the Governor’s Executive Workforce Board: Division of Primary and Secondary Education and Division of Career Technical Education.
• The DEW will be responsible for enforcing existing regulations and adopting new regulations.
• ALL DUTIES of the State Board of Education (except enforcing teacher licensure; the disposition of cases involving teacher/staff misconduct; and school district territory transfers) will be shifted to this new DEW agency.

There are TWO proponent hearings scheduled for S.B. 178 this week that we will be monitoring for additional information. Click here to view the scheduled hearings this week.

SB 178 CALL-TO-ACTION

NOTE: There is no need to submit testimony this week as we are not proponents of the bill.

IMMEDIATE ACTION NEEDED THIS WEEK – PHONE CALLS/EMAILS ONLY

PLEASE CONTACT YOUR STATE SENATOR AND MEMBERS OF THE SENATE PRIMARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION COMMITTEE TO EDUCATE MEMBERS ABOUT THIS SHIFT OF AUTHORITY .

Please respectfully express (in your own words) the concerns regarding S.B. 178:

Points of Concern to Consider:

1. SB178 takes away elected representation on policies affecting all of Ohio’s students and their families.
2. The State Board of Education was amended into the Ohio Constitution in 1953. It is not even conceivable that voters intended for this board to be stripped of almost all its authority and only left with disciplining teachers and territory transfers.
3. Ohio has students whose education is governed ONLY in the Ohio Administrative Code -home educated students and non-chartered private school students. It will be a huge disservice to each of these students and their families to put their fate in the hands of an unelected bureaucratic director that could change every 4 years with a new governor.

As always, we appreciate your support and action on behalf of home educating families across the state.

Christian Home Educators of Ohio (and CHD-Ohio Chapter) will provide follow-up alerts concerning S.B. 178 moves through the legislative process in the next couple of weeks. Please be ready to respond as needed and keep this issue in your prayers.

Blessings,

Melanie

Additional Information:

Do you know who represents you on the State Board of Education? Here is a link to a map of the 11 elected districts – scroll to the bottom of the page.

If you would like to watch the hearings live-streamed this week, click on this link and scroll to the Ohio Senate Primary and Secondary Education Committee (Tuesday at 3:00 p.m. and Wednesday at 2:30 p.m. or after session).