1. Headline: Gov. Kasich Proposes A “Lifetime Of Learning” In His 2014 State Of The
State Address
Sub head: Gov. Kasich proposed to reform education in Ohio to Ohio state legislators in
his State of the State address through vocational schools, community connection and
graduation based college funding
Gov. Kasich proposed many ideas for education reform in Ohio during his State
of the State address at the Medina Preforming Arts Center on Monday including lowering
high school dropout rates and granting college credit to military personnel. In addition,
Gov. Kasich wants to focus attention on vocational education, raising standards for early
childhood education and prioritizing higher education spending based on graduation
rates.
“To address some of the most pressing needs, We had the largest increase in
state aid in a decade and now we can build on that foundation to start taking on
other challenges including one of Ohio’s and the nation’s toughest problems and that
is the issue of dropouts,” Gov. Kasich said.
Gov. Kasich said the current yearly drop out rate for students on Ohio is
24,000. He said his administration will soon be sending ideas to members of the
legislator to help lower the drop out rate in Ohio by better identifying and reaching
out to the most at risk students to keep them from dropping out.
“We are going to ask our local school districts to craft unique plans for these
students that chart a completely alternative path to their high school diploma,”
Kasich said.
Gov. Kasich said he and his administration are starting to work on “an
innovative system” to let college drop outs in Ohio work with two -year colleges in
Ohio to get high school diplomas. Gov. Kasich did not address state funding or cost
of this new program idea.
“You come up with a program better than ours and we’ll sign it!” Gov. Kasich
said.
Gov. Kasich proposed “Community Connectors” to keep parents and the
community more involved in students education. Gov. Kasich wants to bring
together schools, parents, communities, community organizations, faith-based
groups, business leaders and students in mentoring efforts. Kasich asked Ohio
legislators to take $10 million in casino receipts and create a program to give these
communities a three-dollar match to every dollar they put in to building these
mentoring efforts.
“We can teach them work-place culture. This is working in many places
around Ohio,” Gov. Kasich said. “We’re hungry to help, we know what’s missing out
there, we just don’t know how to do it and Community Connectors is going to give us
a chance... It’s going to lift up our educators and it’s going to lift up our kids.”
Gov. Kasich said ‘Online Career Roadmaps” will be available this spring for
students and will be accessible through their cell phones. These Online Career
Roadmaps will help students learn about in-demand jobs in the state, how to
acquire them, and the salary these jobs pay.

2. “Our kids need direction, and with the in demand information about jobs, we
can reform education that connects kids to jobs and their actual passions in life and
we can do it right on their phones, and that’s what they love,” Gov. Kasich said.
Another issue Gov. Kasich wants to tackle is to put more emphasis on
vocational education in Ohio. Gov. Kasich said he wants to also bring down the
connection between jobs and education to the seventh-grade level.
“They’re going to have a better sense of where they’re going if we allow our
kids to enter those vocational schools and we’re putting more money into it. But I
think taking it down to the seventh grade will be a big change,” Gov. Kasich said.
Gov. Kasich said he thinks every student in Ohio should be able to earn credit
for college while they are still in high school and he asked the Ohio legislators to
“work with me on this.”
“You can get it some places in Ohio, but you can’t get it everywhere. We’re
going to get it everywhere,” Gov. Kasich said.
Gov. Kasich said his educational reform ideas are going to be coming soon as
a part of a package of proposals to “help better connect kids with career
opportunities in a very meaningful way.”
Gov. Kasich said he wants to raise the standards for publically funded early
childhood education.
“We believe in early childhood education, we are going to promote it and
we’re going to make it work in our state in an affective way,” Gov. Kasich said.
Akron kindergarten teacher, Grace Porter said she understands the need to
better childhood education in Ohio but she feels some areas of the state like her own
have more of an obstacle with educating children.
“It is hard to meet standards and improve test scores when some of these
children live at a poverty level,” Porter said.
Gov. Kasich said community college and university presidents have come
together to share resources.
“Colleges and universities will not get any state dollars based on
enrollment… They will only get paid if students complete courses and if students get
degrees,” Gov. Kasich said.
“We support the efforts of increasing the number of college graduates in Ohio and
I think raising this issue is an important thing that the governor is doing, but he really
needs to include facility in decisions about higher education,” John McNay, president of
the Ohio Chapter of the American Association of Union Professors, said.
Gov. Kasich also said his administration is starting a new effort to give
military veterans college and academic credits for the training and experience they
receive in the armed forces, “for free”.
After a large roar of audience cheering, Kasich said, “This is unbelievable we
haven’t yet done this.”
Gov. Kasich did not address what government funds will be covering this cost
of free military veteran college credits.
“You must have lifetime learning to consistently update your skills so one day
you don’t find that you don’t have the skills to succeed and win and that is our
philosophy,” Gov. Kasich said. “It’s not just pre-K through job, it’s going to be all the
way through your life time and this is the strategy that I think we need to take.”