Youngstown Plan a key factor in Kasich’s legacy

2So said Gov. John R. Kasich in the fall of 2014 about the academically crippled Youngstown City Schools system.

Republican Kasich made that comment during his endorsement interview with The Vindicator’s Editorial Board in his bid for a second four-year term as governor. To say that we were impressed with his focus on the Youngstown schools would be an understatement.

The governor’s analysis of what was depriving the children in the urban district of a quality education paralleled our long-held belief that drastic action was needed to end the cycle of academic failure. Despite having some qualified, highly motivated superintendents, the district continued to flounder.

We concluded that the elected board of education was the problem. Unlike the heyday of the district when the city’s best, brightest and most educated residents sought election, today, academic accomplishment or professional achievement are not priorities for many voters.

Thus, when Kasich told us in October 2014 he had enlisted several prominent business and community leaders to think outside the box in developing a plan of action for the failing system, we knew how important a second term as governor would be for Youngstown’s children.

We endorsed Kasich over Democrat Ed FitzGerald and have not regretted our decision. He delivered on his promise to dramatically change the way the city school district was operated.

Long story short, the Republican-led General Assembly enacted House Bill 70 in 2015, which Kasich signed into law. The measure gave rise to what is commonly referred to as the Youngstown Plan. It is aimed at districts under state-declared academic emergency.

At its core, the plan calls for the formation of a special academic distress commission, which replaces the elected school board in setting policy.

The commission’s most important responsibility is the appointment of a chief executive officer to manage the day-to-day operation of the district. HB 70 gives the CEO sweeping powers and much more authority than a traditional school superintendent.

Veteran educator

In 2016, the Youngstown City School District Academic Distress Commission hired Krish Mohip, a veteran educator from Chicago, as the first CEO of a district in Ohio.

Given this unprecedented approach to public eduction, Mohip and the distress commission have been faced with many challenges and have had to overcome intense opposition from school board members, the teachers union and Democratic officeholders locally and on the state level.

A lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of House Bill 70 is now before the Ohio Supreme Court.

Regardless of the outcome, we believe that Gov. Kasich’s bold move in dealing with the intractable failure of the Youngstown City School District is worthy of recognition and praise.

There’s another important issue that has local ramifications for which we give Kasich high praise.

His willingness to take on members of his own party in the General Assembly to expand the state’s Medicaid program has appropriately given the governor national media exposure.

When the GOP-led General Assembly refused Kasich’s request to change the qualifications for receiving benefits so the working poor without health insurance could be covered, the governor sought approval from the Ohio Controlling Board.

As a result of the Medicaid expansion (a key provision of the Affordable Care Act – Obamacare), more than 700,000 working Ohioans are now receiving health care and are spared the anxiety of getting sick.

To be sure, there were actions taken by the governor that we found objectionable.

We are particularly concerned about the constant attack by Republicans on women’s rights when it comes to abortion and other issues.

But we do acknowledge that in his eight years in office, Kasich took pains to govern as a moderate Republican and held the more extreme GOP members of the General Assembly at bay on the so-called heartbeat abortion bill, as an example.

Kasich also worked with Democrats in developing a package of “common sense” gun restrictions, which the GOP majority in the Legislature refused to adopt.

We now worry that with Ohio moving to the political right and with the new governor, Mike DeWine, former Ohio attorney general, embracing many of the extremists views of his party, the days of moderation and bipartisanship may be over.