Columbus, Ohio – Below are Ohio Governor Ted Strickland’s prepared remarks to the Columbus Metropolitan Club today.

 
Ohio’s Revival: Reforming Education for the 21st Century Economy

 

Three months ago I stood before the people of Ohio and delivered a comprehensive education reform plan in my State of the State address. 

 

Much has transpired since that time.  We’ve debated the details and talked about specifics.

 

While this has been important, we must guard against losing sight of why we must reform Ohio’s education system and what’s at stake if we fail to act.  That’s exactly why I am here to speak to you today.

 

Sometimes, when giving tests, we ask students to choose the best word to fill in the blank.

 

Today I would like to ask every Ohioan to think about how we should finish this sentence:

 

To prosper in Ohio, we must < blank >.

 

I’ll tell you, no one will answer procrastinate. No one will answer bicker.

 

Because the best answer, in fact, the only answer to the question is this: to prosper in Ohio, we must educate. Educate to the very best of our abilities.

 

There was an extraordinary newspaper headline I saw recently that read: “U.S. Kids Not So Bad in Math and Science.”

 

Not so bad? Not so bad?

 

The article noted with approval that, yes, U.S. students were far behind eleven countries large and small, but, all in all, our kids were at least average.

 

We owe our children more than that, and we owe ourselves more than that.

 

Because if we are aiming to meet a standard of mediocrity, we have already failed.

 

My brothers and sisters, Ohio’s Revival cannot be fueled by low expectations. A better day will not begin with us doing more of the same.

 

Indeed, it was Albert Einstein who once defined insanity as “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

 

It is my firm conviction that in order to revive Ohio we must provide the best, most progressive, most advanced educational opportunities for our children, and demand of them nothing short of excellence.

 

That is our calling, and we must answer that call.

 

Since my first day as governor I have made education the top priority of my administration.

 

Our commitment runs from birth to diploma, from job training to jobs.

 

For our youngest learners, we are committed to developing a system of high quality services that focus on comprehensive development. We have expanded access to quality early childhood education programs for families and strengthened professional development and training for early childhood professionals.

 

For college students and their families, we put a stop to a decade of annual 9 percent tuition hikes, and implemented the only two-year tuition freeze in the nation.

 

We established the University System of Ohio to unify our public colleges and universities to better serve the needs of all Ohioans.

 

We expanded opportunities with innovative programs like Seniors to Sophomores, which provides a free year of college tuition to academically qualified students who elect to spend their senior year of high school taking college coursework. 

 

For adults in need of new job skills, we’ve brought job-training programs into the Department of Development and the Board of Regents as part of an ongoing commitment to focus training on areas of high job growth and high employer demand.

 

And for grade school and high school students, we increased state funding by $600 million in fiscal years 2008 and 2009, and paid for the construction of hundreds of new schools, each being built to meet nationally recognized standards of energy efficiency.  In fact, Ohio now has the largest green school building program in the nation.

 

But our work is not done.

 

I believe the time has come to take an education system that in many respects is 200 years old and redesign it for modern students and the modern economy.

 

We can all take pride in the fact that Ohio is strong; always has been, always will be.  But the source of our strength has evolved many times over the years.

 

In the early days of statehood, Ohio’s strength was the richness of our soil. Ohio’s strength was the currents of our rivers. Ohio’s strength was canals and railroads. Ohio’s strength was our brawn.

 

But, my friends, in the days and decades ahead, a strong Ohio will require creative minds and innovative thinkers.

 

Each year, R&D Magazine hands out its “R&D 100 Awards” in honor of what they consider to be the year’s 100 most significant American innovations and inventions. These are the Academy Awards of economic creativity.

 

This year, Ohioans won 10 awards – second most among the 50 states.

 

That’s the future of Ohio –powered by well-educated innovators.

 

When the aviation company NetJets was deciding on a location for its expanded headquarters and flight training center, it could have gone anywhere in the nation with an airport. NetJets chose to expand in Ohio because our colleges and universities can supply them with the talented people they need for every facet of the company’s development.

 

That’s the future of Ohio –powered by well-educated high-skilled workers.

 

The Cleveland Clinic has spun off two dozen medical technology companies this decade.

 

That’s the future of Ohio –powered by well-educated entrepreneurs.

 

Battelle announced this year that it is investing $200 million in new laboratories and other facilities in Ohio. In the last 10 years, Battelle has expanded its revenue from $900 million to $4.6 billion.

 

That’s the future of Ohio –powered by well-educated thinkers.

 

But our students will not be ready to invent, design, solve problems, and lead companies if we can’t muster the courage and the foresight to provide them a 21st century education.

 

Now I know it would be easier to simply tinker with education in Ohio. But tinkering with the system won’t prepare our students for success, and it surely won’t revive Ohio’s economy.

 

And when you look at where U.S. school children stack up against the world, you cannot possibly conclude now is the time for tinkering.

 

In the last “Program for International Student Assessment” – which measures students’ ability to solve problems and apply information – the U.S. finished behind the likes of Finland, China, the Czech Republic, Switzerland, Austria, Belgium, and even tiny Liechtenstein.

 

And what do those countries have in common? In economic growth, all rank well ahead of the United States.

 

On the test entitled “Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study” – that’s the test U.S. kids did “not so bad” on – American students trailed countries including the Netherlands, Lithuania, and Singapore.

 

And what do those countries have in common? Again, all have economies growing faster than the U.S.

 

It is no secret, education revivals lead to economic revivals – because great students go on to be great workers who can excel and thrive in the changing, modern marketplace. They become great inventors who design better products. They become great leaders who create new companies and new jobs.

 

And for that I am willing to lead this effort to revive Ohio.  For that, I’m willing to challenge my fellow Ohioans to demand something more than continued support for a school system which was originally designed to produce students who would thrive in the 1800s.

 

Let me be perfectly frank. ‘Not so bad’ is not my standard. ‘Not so bad’ cannot be Ohio’s standard. Our schools and our students can compete with anyone in the world, and it would be our great failure to ask any less of them.

 

President Kennedy – when he proposed that the U.S. send a man to the moon within the decade – spoke of the great vitality that comes from doing something big.

 

He said, and I quote:

 

“But why, some say, the moon? And they may well ask why climb the highest mountain? Why fly the Atlantic?...We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win.”

 

Transforming Ohio’s schools for the 21st century is precisely that – a challenge we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone any further, and one which we intend to win.

 

Indeed, the difference between transforming our schools and going to the moon is this – transforming our schools is more important than going to the moon.

 

Even as we debate the details, let us come together in common purpose. Let us commit to building an Ohio forever strong, an Ohio that forever offers its children opportunity.

 

From the day I entered this office I have been thinking about how to build the best possible school system for Ohio.

 

I’ve met with experts, with educators, with parents and students, with community and business leaders, and I’ll tell you, not one of those people ever said to me that Ohio should settle for something less. Not one ever said to me, ‘Not so bad’ is good enough.

 

I want to thank the members of the House of Representatives for giving such thoughtful consideration to my education proposal, and for investing their time, and energy, and vision in taking a good plan and making it even better.

 

Because the education reform before us will make Ohio a national leader in providing the skills and expanded, student-centered learning opportunities our children need:

 

•           We will offer new subjects and new ways of teaching to foster creativity, problem solving skills, communication and leadership.

 

•           We will expand the school year and provide full day kindergarten.

 

Ohio will have the most progressive teacher training, teacher quality, and teacher career path in the nation:

 

•           New teachers will begin their careers just like new doctors do, under the watchful eye of an experienced colleague.

 

•           Teachers will have the chance to advance their careers while staying in the classroom, allowing us to reward our best teachers while allowing our students to continue to benefit from their success.

 

Ohio will creatively measure student progress against the standards set by the best students in the nation and the world:

 

•           Every high school student will take the ACT college entrance examination and statewide ‘end of course’ exams.

 

•           And every high school student will have a chance to demonstrate creativity and problem solving skills that can’t be seen on a standardized test with their required service learning project and senior project. 

 

Ohio will have the most financially accountable schools in the nation:

 

•           Districts will report their spending plans before each school year and then account for every dollar at the conclusion of the school year.

 

•           And just as we provide an academic report card for our schools, we will provide an annual fiscal report card for every school district.

 

And finally, Ohio will have a school funding system that relies on research and evidence to determine the components of a thorough and efficient education. And we are committing to fund those components thereby assuring all Ohio students, no matter where they live, will have the educational opportunities that will allow them to succeed in the 21st century.

 

People call this an education plan, but quite frankly, this is a plan for Ohio’s economic revival.

 

Because a student who graduates from our schools will have been asked to think and draw conclusions, to not just memorize facts, but use and apply them.

 

A student who graduates from our schools will have demonstrated not only comprehension but the ability to solve problems and make connections between information.

 

A student who graduates from our schools will have been taught by the best trained and best supported teachers in the country.

 

A student who graduates from our schools will be able to thrive no matter what the economy of the future demands.

 

Let me say that over the last decade, our schools and our students have been the beneficiaries of the legislature’s leadership and vision in making significant reforms and investments in education.

 

In fact, from 1999 to 2008, the state increased its investment in primary and secondary education by 47 percent. With the plan before the legislature now, we will build on those investments by making a commitment to increase funding by an additional 45 percent in the decade ahead.  However, what will be different from the investments of the past 10 years is that over the next 10 years our resources will be used to create an evidence-based system of education that is consistent with the demands of our state’s constitution and will power Ohio’s economic revival.

 

We are moving forward even though the tax reforms passed four years ago, which I have supported, will reduce the general revenue fund by more than $4 billion during the next biennial budget.

 

We are moving forward even though our nation’s and the world’s economies have suffered an unprecedented set of challenges.

 

Some say we can’t afford this now – they think the economy is too weak to invest in education. But that logic is exactly backward. The economy is too weak to cut our commitment to educating our kids.

 

Because only with a sustained investment in education can we achieve sustained economic growth.

 

As some states are letting these challenging times diminish their commitment to education, we must declare that in Ohio the consequences of backsliding into mediocrity are unacceptable.

 

To my friends in the Senate who will weigh this proposal, to the writers and critics, to the advocates, experts, and educators, to the business community, to parents and taxpayers, we all have a responsibility to do right by Ohio’s children.

 

Because never, not for one moment, can you doubt that what happens in a school can change the direction of a young person’s life. And our young people will change the direction of Ohio.

 

If we let this moment pass…we will not only have failed our state, we will not only have demonstrated timidity in the face of challenge, we will have sinned against our children.

 

So, even in the midst of these challenging economic circumstances, let us commit to moving forward.

 

As a writer once put it, “We are all faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly disguised as impossible situations.”

 

I believe this moment in Ohio’s history will be measured in just those terms. Will Ohioans look back and say we seized the opportunity or surrendered to the situation?

 

So, I am asking you and all Ohioans to join us now in this most worthy cause. Join us in transforming education in Ohio. Join us in creating the Ohio Revival.