CINCINNATI As board of education member, ex-governor still fights for poor

Improving city kids' neighborhoods and homes is high on Gilligan's agenda.
CINCINNATI (AP) -- John Gilligan, who as governor stretched new tax dollars into new programs for the state's needy, is using the same strategies a generation later to help Cincinnati's public schools.
Gilligan, 82, was recently re-elected to the board of education where he's heading a campaign to convert schools into community learning centers.
Public-school pupils don't stop learning after their last class of the day, Gilligan said. He said schools must help improve their pupils' other "classrooms" -- their neighborhoods and homes.
As the district builds and renovates 64 of its schools, the buildings are being designed to house agencies and clinics that help families, the elderly and neighborhoods.
Gilligan said children in the city need the same resources after school to support their education that the kids have living in suburban areas.
"You come to the inner city, and you've got kids living right on the edge, with no resources," he said. "You have single parents or no parents."
Background
The Democrat, who served as Ohio governor in 1971-75, is the only sitting school board member who is also a former governor, according to the National School Boards Association.
In 1971, he was instrumental in getting the first personal and corporate income taxes passed in Columbus.
"Ohio had never had an income tax, so our state expenditures on programs on education and vital services were as bad as Mississippi's and Alabama's," said David Crowley, a city councilman who worked for Gilligan when he was governor and is now on a joint committee with the school board.
"The [tax] took us to a much higher level, and we began to collect and spend a lot more on service programs and education."
Gilligan was also responsible for reforms affecting the environment, mental health, strip mines and occupational health and safety. The state's first minimum wage also was set under his watch.
"At this point in his life, he could relax knowing that he has been a true public servant to this community and to this state," said Carolyn N. Turner, executive director of Cincinnati Parents for Public Schools. "Yet he is tackling educational issues with as much enthusiasm, initiative, creativity and commitment as any of us."
During the 1970s, Gilligan was considered a possible presidential candidate, before his narrow loss to Gov. James Rhodes.
Carrying on legacy
His daughter, Kathleen Sebelius, carries on Gilligan's legacy as governor of Kansas, making the two the only father-daughter gubernatorial team in the nation.
Gilligan's family made its fortune in funeral homes 50 years ago. He taught literature at Xavier University before deciding to run for city council in 1953.
Gilligan was a six-time councilman and a U.S. representative. After his term as governor, President Carter appointed him to the U.S. Agency for International Development.
More recently, he lectured at University of Cincinnati's College of Law before he was elected to the school board in 1999.
Gilligan said it wasn't easy persuading board members to expand the role of public schools when the district is classified by the state as being in an "academic emergency."
He plans to still be on the school board when the centers open.
"I'd like to be involved," he said. "When I reach the point where I see I'm not helpful, I'll get out."