Citizens and Education Policymakers on Different Pages

In the introduction to a newly released public opinion survey report, the concerns of many Ohio citizens regarding state education policy were frank and to the point: “There is a wide gap between what the majority of citizens in 40 school districts in northwest and west central Ohio want on several key issues impacting their local public schools and the statewide education policies that are currently in place.  The overwhelming message from a large and statistically reliable sample of 4,679 citizens from these school districts is clear:  We want our local boards of education to be in control of our schools which are doing a good job of preparing our children for their future.  We want less government regulation and fewer government mandates.  We are opposed to using our tax dollars to support private schools and for-profit charter schools.  And we believe that student test scores should not be used to evaluate our teachers who are the key to providing our students with a high quality education.”  The results of this far reaching grass roots survey indicate the degree to which citizens in this part of the Ohio and our state’s education policymakers are on different pages.