Listen up, Ohio, especially all you Debbie Downers/Negative Nancys/Chicken Littles who have paid rapt attention to the ongoing public drama between outgoing Governor Strickland, and well ? Governor Strickland's office telephone.
Prior to the midterm election, it made sense for Strickland to?have opinions about Kasich's plans to scrap Ohio's ?evidence-based? funding model, specifically claiming that giving EBM the boot would put the state's $400 million in Race to the Top funds at risk. We get it. This is politics. Leave it to Politifact and truth-o-meters to interpret the accuracy of that argument.
But the current drama has happened several weeks after the election, with Strickland going so far as to pick up the phone and dial U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan to discuss the matter. Education Week reports:
In an effort to preserve his education plan, outgoing Gov. Ted Strickland went to Education Secretary Arne Duncan to put pressure on his successor to keep it.
And
?I asked Secretary Duncan if the (U.S.) Department of Education allowed states to change their plans? after funds were awarded, ?and how could it possibly be fair to other states,? Strickland said. The governor said his evidence-based model ?was such a vital part? of Ohio's plan that he questions whether the state would still qualify for the federal money.
For those Ohioans who've been worried about losing funds?after all, why in the world would a governor make disgruntled phone calls to the USDOE if the threat wasn't real??you can sleep soundly tonight. The Columbus Dispatch reports that Gov.-elect Kasich had a phone call of his own, and Duncan assured him that Ohio would not lose its funding if it goes through with its reform promises. The Ohio Department of Education also reassured the Ohio Controlling Board not to worry, stating that changes to the EBM won't put funds at risk.
This surely puts the matter to rest for now (at least until we see the details of Kasich's education reform platform), right?
But Strickland keeps it going. In the same article, his spokeswoman disagrees with the assistant state superintendent's announcement: ?Not only does the governor's office disagree with (Sawyers') opinion, but so does the U.S. Department of Education, which clearly stated that any significant change to Ohio's application would put Race to the Top funds in jeopardy.?
So three weeks after the election, not only does Strickland continue to make the argument that Ohio will be poorer because of Kasich's plan to scrap the EBM, but now he's a better interpreter of Race to the Top's intentions than the secretary of education himself?
It's time to drop it. As Mike aptly noted this morning, ?one of the great traditions in American democracy is the peaceful transition of power.? Continuing these shenanigans is ?disrespecting the voters.?
He's right.?Enough is enough.
- Jamie Davies O'Leary
