I was leafing through my most recent TIME magazine, and I was fairly delighted to see Ohio's races being talked about. The races between Strickland and Kasich for Governor, Fisher and Portman for Senate are seen as key midterm referendums on Democratic behavior the past couple years, specifically in regards to the recession. Photo gallery here and story here!
Anyhow, let's do a quick profile on Strickland since we're speaking (sorta) of him.
He's been the Governor of Ohio since being sworn in back in 2007. He's presided over the economic implosion of the last couple years, when unemployment in the state has shot up to 10.5%. He's also faced incredible budget shortfalls, and reacted primarily by having state agencies slash budgets and payroll. There's also been other efforts to increase revenue, primarily through gambling: Keno, trying to put slots in racetracks, and the casino gambling referendum have all happened during the current administration.
But...the budget is still facing an incredible deficit, and many of the state agencies are claiming they cannot make further cuts without serious damage to services. Unemployment is still highest in years, and recovery is SLOW.
According to the Strickland campaign site, the Governor has done much to lay the foundation for recovery. Increasing primary and secondary education funding, keeping tuition at public colleges and universities, encouraging clean energy investment, and improving government efficiency are all accomplishments Ted Strickland claims, and all would indeed put Ohio in an excellent position to capitalize on the recovering economy.
Tune in next time when we look at John Kasich!
Showing posts with label Ted Strickland. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ted Strickland. Show all posts
Friday
Strickland: Wrong Governor for Era?
I like Ted Strickland. I think he's done a solid job as Governor, and I'd probably vote for him again without too many qualms.
...but this year, he seems to be on another planet. Or maybe just another era. It almost seems like he's been nursing these big legacy projects for a while, and the fact the state is out of money won't stop him from finally going ahead.
I'm talking about two big proposals I've heard in the news in the past couple months. One is all about transportation, and the other is all about education. Both of these are VERY important, and will be the cause of our nation's continued health (or total collapse). And the plans aren't really all that bad, IMO.
So what's my beef? Simple; they're expensive, and complicated, and based on tax revenue picking back up really soon. I don't think this is the time to launch a massive restructuring of the transportation and education systems all at once.
For education, Strickland would flip the funding formula on its head. Basing costs on things such as the size of schools, the student-teacher ratio, and how much teachers are paid (using an index including poverty level, property value, and college attainment of school) the idea is to get away from building a school to be "a good school" and moving toward a system built to serve students. Changes are to be phased in over 8 years, and rely on quite a bit of unsecured, one-time federal stimulus money to get rolling. The Newark Advocate has full details.
On the transportation front Strickland was equally ambitious. He proposed (and got passed the House) a bill including provisions to allow local governments to build toll roads, create passenger rail between the major Ohio cities, and use right of ways near the Ohio Turnpike to build solar and wind farms. The Senate did what Senates do and put the brakes on most of it, cutting out anything they felt was "half-baked." Several new safety laws were also nixed by the Senate, such as cameras to catch speeders in construction zones. The Columbus Dispatch can give you the full story.
Do I disagree with either of these plans? Not really. There's quite a bit of merit for designing school funding around educating students (as if that should be innovative...nevermind, that's for another post). I really like the idea of passenger rail connecting Ohio. There are elements I don't really agree with, of course...cameras in construction zones (or anywhere really) give me the willies. But really, it's not the plans themselves that worry me.
It's the SCOPE of them I take issue with. It's the fact revenues are down for the state, and not likely to pick up anytime soon. I worry about how a lot of the education plan assumes stimulus money as a big chunk of the funding. We're talking about systemic changes without systemic funding. That's just not the sort of governing I'd like to see when times get rocky.
It's not fiscally responsible, and there's too many citizens relying on state support to not be smart with tax dollars.
...but this year, he seems to be on another planet. Or maybe just another era. It almost seems like he's been nursing these big legacy projects for a while, and the fact the state is out of money won't stop him from finally going ahead.
I'm talking about two big proposals I've heard in the news in the past couple months. One is all about transportation, and the other is all about education. Both of these are VERY important, and will be the cause of our nation's continued health (or total collapse). And the plans aren't really all that bad, IMO.
So what's my beef? Simple; they're expensive, and complicated, and based on tax revenue picking back up really soon. I don't think this is the time to launch a massive restructuring of the transportation and education systems all at once.
- The Plans:
For education, Strickland would flip the funding formula on its head. Basing costs on things such as the size of schools, the student-teacher ratio, and how much teachers are paid (using an index including poverty level, property value, and college attainment of school) the idea is to get away from building a school to be "a good school" and moving toward a system built to serve students. Changes are to be phased in over 8 years, and rely on quite a bit of unsecured, one-time federal stimulus money to get rolling. The Newark Advocate has full details.
On the transportation front Strickland was equally ambitious. He proposed (and got passed the House) a bill including provisions to allow local governments to build toll roads, create passenger rail between the major Ohio cities, and use right of ways near the Ohio Turnpike to build solar and wind farms. The Senate did what Senates do and put the brakes on most of it, cutting out anything they felt was "half-baked." Several new safety laws were also nixed by the Senate, such as cameras to catch speeders in construction zones. The Columbus Dispatch can give you the full story.
Do I disagree with either of these plans? Not really. There's quite a bit of merit for designing school funding around educating students (as if that should be innovative...nevermind, that's for another post). I really like the idea of passenger rail connecting Ohio. There are elements I don't really agree with, of course...cameras in construction zones (or anywhere really) give me the willies. But really, it's not the plans themselves that worry me.
It's the SCOPE of them I take issue with. It's the fact revenues are down for the state, and not likely to pick up anytime soon. I worry about how a lot of the education plan assumes stimulus money as a big chunk of the funding. We're talking about systemic changes without systemic funding. That's just not the sort of governing I'd like to see when times get rocky.
It's not fiscally responsible, and there's too many citizens relying on state support to not be smart with tax dollars.
Thursday
Special Extra Post: State of the State Address
So Governor Ted Strickland made his second State of the State address yesterday...I caught the last 20 minutes or so on NPR. That meant I got the meat and potatoes of the speech...namely, a primary education chancellor and a $1.7 billion stimulus program to create jobs.
Here's the transcript...
...and a news story with the highlights from the Columbus Dispatch.
There were also some big promises on college...guaranteed quality associate and bachelors degrees available within 30 miles of every Ohioan...a "Seniors to Sophomores" program that will let high school seniors opt into a state college for their last year.
I liked it. I thought Strickland did a nice job, wasn't bashing anyone, was making some nice gestures to the legislature. And he's got his eye on the prize...now to see if we can actually get the education system in this state under control.
Here's the transcript...
...and a news story with the highlights from the Columbus Dispatch.
There were also some big promises on college...guaranteed quality associate and bachelors degrees available within 30 miles of every Ohioan...a "Seniors to Sophomores" program that will let high school seniors opt into a state college for their last year.
I liked it. I thought Strickland did a nice job, wasn't bashing anyone, was making some nice gestures to the legislature. And he's got his eye on the prize...now to see if we can actually get the education system in this state under control.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
