Ohio Christian Alliance
"WITH GOD ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE"  Ohio State Motto 

Oppose HB 512-Tell your representative to vote NO on HB 512
Oppose Removing Transparency from Ohio's State Education System

02-20-2018 UPDATE: Just last Wednesday, Representative Reineke announced legislation that would combine the Ohio Department of Education, Ohio Department of Higher Education, and Ohio Department of Workforce Transformation into a single new department organized under the governor. (See also: Plain Dealer Article) This legislation is moving very rapidly and has already been scheduled for its first hearing: sponsor testimony on Tuesday, February 20th!

Please call the committee members today! Contact information is below.

The State Board of Education, which includes 11 regionally elected members, would no longer have any voice in state education policy. This includes a wide range of state regulations, such as:
- Education Standards in all subjects
- Education Assessment selection at the state level
- Determination of Achievement/Proficiency Levels
- State Report Cards
- Teacher/Student Ratio's
- Private School Regulations
- Religious School Regulations
- Home Education Regulations
- Public School Operating Standards
- Career Technical Regulations

Currently, all of these items (and many more) go through a public hearing process. Under the proposed legislation, it appears that all policy-making function would be further bureaucratized and no longer created through a transparent, accountable process!

This legislation also imposes on our Constitutional separation of powers by giving the administrative branch (Governor) legislative authority. Our founders knew that people are more likely to lose their rights when the same body is creating and enforcing the laws. HB512 aligns all education entities solely under the administrative branch and gives the new mega-agency the ability to create and enforce regulations with no accountability! Talk about the fox guarding the hen house!

Immediate Action Needed!
1. CALL your state representative and ask them to OPPOSE HB512 Representative Reineke's "Workforce and Education Alignment Legislation." If you can make two calls, call the Speaker of the House as well. (Look up your representative here: http://www.ohiohouse.gov/)

2. CALL the members of the Government Accountability & Oversight Committee and ask them to OPPOSE HB 512. This is time sensitive and urgent! **Committee Contact Information is Below**
If we do not have an overwhelming number of calls this week this legislation could remain priority legislation for the House Speaker, be railroaded through the legislative process and result in an elimination of voter's voices in education policy!

Government Accountability & Oversight Committee Members
Chairman Louis Blessing III - (Co-Sponsor of HB 512) (614) 466-9091
Vice - Chairman Bill Reineke (Sponsor of HB 512) - (614) 466-1374
Kathleen Clyde - (614) 466-2004
Keith Faber - (614) 466-6344
Timothy Ginter - (614) 466-8022
Dave Greenspan - (614) 466-0961
Brigid Kelly - (614) 466-5786
Bernadine Kennedy Kent - (614) 466-5343
P. Scott Lipps - (614) 644-6023
Dorothy Pelanda (Co-Sponsor of HB 512) - (614) 466-8147
Bill Sietz - (614) 466-8258
Ryan Smith - (614) 466-1366
Martin J. Sweeney - (614) 466-3350

Thank you!

Sarah Fowler

State School Board member District 7

 

  Ohio Christian Alliance is a non-partisan organization dedicated to promoting Judeo-Christian values in American government. Ohio Christian Alliance does not endorse any particular candidate or political party. OCA provides educational materials, including voter guides and scorecards.s.s.

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