Mark Urycki / StateImpact Ohio
Tonight is Gov. John Kasich’s annual “State of the State” speech.
If last year’s event is any indication, his education agenda may make a significant appearance when he takes the stage in Wilmington, about an hour south of Columbus.
In 2014, Kasich spent nearly 20 minutes talking about plans for Ohio’s schools, focusing on ways to potentially prevent students from dropping out, along with reestablishing the state’s vocational education programming and creating a community mentoring initiative that recently came under scrutiny
As far as this evening's speech goes, some potential talking points may come via the administration’s recently released $72 billion budget plans for 2016-17. Around 30 percent of that pool is earmarked for education.
Based on some of the budget’s biggest themes, here’s a handful of education bullet points Kasich may elaborate on:
- School funding formula: As StateImpact pointed out last month, the proposed funding formula is, well, kind of complicated. The new formula will now take into account property values and school districts’ average incomes, and about half of the state’s districts could see a cut in funding. The idea has come under fire from districts on the losing end.
"I don’t see it as redistribution,” Kasich said about the formula during an event in Cleveland last month. “I see it as a way in which you run a formula driving resources to those people that need it the most for kids to be able to be successful and be able to have the great educations. So, this is a formula that tries to deliver the money where it’s most needed.”
- Expanding early childhood education opportunities: Kasich gave a vague mention of wanting to add pre-k spots during last year’s State of the State address, and the thought's echoed this year, too. The administration calls for adding more than 6,000 preschool spots, with a price tag of $40 million.
- Charter school regulations: A report released last year called Ohio the “wild, wild west” of charter schools. Kasich’s budget promises to develop a way to hold schools and their sponsors more accountable, but a concrete outline of how the plan will look hasn’t been released.
- Handling the price of higher education: As we pointed out last month, the budget contained lots of ideas on how to potentially make higher education more affordable, including freezing college tuition and expanding post-secondary options so more students can take college classes in high school. And during that same recent visit in Cleveland, a question from the crowd spurred Kasich on to talk about a potential plan offering a “debt relief” fund for college graduates.
You can catch the address on a live stream on The Ohio Channelbeginning at 7 p.m., along with a handful of public radio and television stations across the state. StateImpact will also be keeping tabs on the governor's actual education mentions. We'll have a report out early tomorrow morning.