Strickland earns high grade in his first year as governor

When evaluating Gov. Ted Strickland’s past 12 months in office, it is important to keep this fact in mind: The Democratic chief executive of the state of Ohio has had to work with the Republican controlled House and Senate.

And while bipartisanship has been the subtext of most of the conversation emanating from the Statehouse, it would be naive to expect Democrats and Republicans to suddenly set aside their political differences.

Thus, the governor deserves a good grade for the accomplishments during his first year in office. These include: laying the foundation for his Turnaround Ohio initiative; developing a budget that commits significant funding for early child care and education; expanding poverty aid to elementary and secondary schools by 20 percent and parity aid by 8 percent; freezing college tuition for two years and allocating about $100 million more into state grants and scholarships; focusing on work force development through training programs to meet the employment needs in Ohio.

From a strictly parochial standpoint, Strickland’s unequivocal support for General Motors Corp.’s Lordstown assembly plant getting a new product in 2009 and his pledge to company executives of state assistance are deserving of our appreciation.

Also in 2007, the new administration committed money for the construction of 250 new schools and gave a property tax cut to every senior citizen homeowner and every disabled Ohioan.

And toward the end of the year, Strickland took on the highly charged electricity rate issue, which Ohio’s businesses, especially manufacturers, have identified as crucial to their competitiveness.

But the positive evaluation of an officeholder’s first year can easily evolve into criticism in the remaining years of the term.

Upcoming battles

Thus, Strickland can expect to be judged much more harshly in 2008 — and should brace himself for battles with the Republicans, who will be attempting to retain their majority in the General Assembly.

One of the issues he undoubtedly will have to confront, in the heat of the presidential election and contests for Congress and state Senate and House seats, is funding for primary and secondary education.

During the 2006 campaign for governor, the Ohio Supreme Court’s ruling that Ohio’s current method of funding K-12 is unconstitutional was a major topic of debate. Strickland and his Republican opponent, J. Kenneth Blackwell, made it clear that developing a new system that does not depend on local property taxes would be a priority.

But the governor’s comments in a year-end interview with The Vindicator’s Columbus correspondent, Marc Kovac, has given us pause.

It seems that Strickland does not share the same sense of urgency in tackling this admittedly difficult issue as most Ohioans.

We would suggest that the governor has only two years in which to develop a constitutional funding mechanism because in the fourth year of his term he would be seeking re-election. Republicans won’t be inclined to let him have the political spotlight — unless they can argue that he failed to keep a key campaign promise.

Strickland cannot be blind to the fact that voters are not only saying no to new property taxes for education, they are even refusing to renew taxes that have been on the books for years.

Hence, the urgency in addressing this issue.

Gov. Strickland’s leadership will be put to the test this year.