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State Representative Jim Buchy
Help the School
Districts; Help the Students
In western Ohio, we have the best schools in the state. Ohio’s
public high schools were ranked 7th in the Nation in 2015 by US News
and World Report. Ohio needs to continue to support and empower
the local school systems to give our children the highest quality
education available.
It is important that we work to reduce state interference with this
high quality education. Our local teaching professionals know how
to get the job done and when they have proven it year in and year out
we should recognize that by letting them do their jobs.
Our local Senators, Faber and Hite recognize the success of our schools
and have taken the lead by introducing a bill to exempt the highest
performing schools from certain state mandates. Senate Bill 3
will reduce bureaucracy; focus on locally driven teacher improvement
and cut state testing times.
We know our local school administrators can determine a teacher’s
ability to prepare students in math, reading, science, or a vocational
technology program. We need to allow these administrators to make
the most appropriate staffing decisions for their schools.
In particular we need to improve connections between industry and the
classroom and make it easier for a successfully industry partner to
enter the classroom as a highly skilled teacher. SB 3 will remove
barriers to the teaching profession and streamline the process to a
teacher certification. Our schools deserve the freedom to select the
best educator for an open position because our students deserve the
best teachers.
The Ohio teacher evaluation system is clunky and bogged down by
unneeded bureaucracy and paper work. School administrators know the
track record of teachers, the results of teachers, and they know which
teachers are good, and which ones need improvement.
When you ask an administrator which teacher needs the most improvement
in the building the can tell you. Yet, when reading their file it
appears that teacher is who’s who in American education. We need to
reduce the bureaucracy and encourage administrators to spend time with
their lowest performing teachers and encourage them to document real
improvement. By removing state mandates, our local administrators
will be able to pat the best teachers on the back and provide clarity
for those who struggle.
Cookie cutter mandates don’t work in the schools in western Ohio
because we are better than that. By reducing state testing, and
letting our teachers and administrators know they are in charge of
their schools we will see better results. Our schools are the
best and should be recognized for their hard work by this needed
reduction of state mandates.
Senators Faber and Hite took an important lead by recognizing the
exceptional efforts of our local schools. We should be working to
reduce Ohio’s mandates on the highest performing schools because they
know best how to educate children. By reducing bureaucracy;
focusing on locally driven teacher improvement and cutting state
testing times we will be able to encourage our successful local schools
and future growth from those wishing to receive the rewards of being in
that upper echelon of education.
Please give me your opinion on this topic and others in the news this
month by completing an online survey at tinyurl.com/buchymarch2016
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