The Adobe Flash Player is required to view this multimedia interactive. Get it here.

Kasich: Education will lead to new jobs

Schooling, workforce training need to match the jobs, governor says.

Ohio Gov. John Kasich delivers his State of the State address Tuesday in Steubenville. Associated Press photo by Tony Dejak

Tony Dejak/Associated Press photo Ohio Gov. John Kasich delivers his State of the State address Tuesday in Steubenville. Associated Press photo by Tony Dejak

ENLARGE PHOTO

Protesters rally outside of Wells Academy/Steubenville High School Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2012, in Steubenville, Ohio. Gov. John Kasich is expected to highlight the themes of education and shale gas drilling in his State of the State address Tuesday. (AP Photo/Tony Dejak)

Tony Dejak/STF Protesters rally outside of Wells Academy/Steubenville High School Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2012, in Steubenville, Ohio. Gov. John Kasich is expected to highlight the themes of education and shale gas drilling in his State of the State address Tuesday. (AP Photo/Tony Dejak)

ENLARGE PHOTO

Dayton gets boost from committee for UAV testing
5/24/12
Patrol searches Springfield dealership for stolen cards
5/24/12
Police headlines: Two accused of child endangering
5/24/12
Ad calls Brown career politician
5/24/12
Local Focus: Clark County for May 25
5/24/12
> More headlines

By Laura A. Bischoff and Megan Gildow-Anthony, Staff Writers 10:51 PM Tuesday, February 7, 2012

STEUBENVILLE — Ohio Gov. John Kasich on Tuesday said that jobs in manufacturing, logistics and other industries are moving back to Ohio, but the state needs to revamp public education and align workforce training to match job openings.

“This is not sustainable. America has been falling behind and Ohio is stuck in the middle and we need to fix it. I have to spend the next year building consensus,” he said of public education reforms. Kasich said he is anxious to see how Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson’s new K-12 education reform package works.

Kasich noted that only 65 percent of students in Ohio’s urban districts graduate high school and 41 percent of high school graduates end up taking remedial math and English classes in college.

“We can change urban education in Ohio and we can change urban education in America. “And that is worth fighting for and worth risking for,” Kasich said to applause from the crowd of 1,100 people.

State Rep. Clayton Luckie, D-Dayton, a former Dayton school board member, said what works in Cleveland may not work in Dayton. “We have a long way to go,” he said.

But State Rep. Ross McGregor, R-Springfield, said the focus of the speech was right where it needed to be.

“Education is the cornerstone of our success,” said McGregor. “I think that he has said that he wants to have a new education funding model and this is something that he is taking the time to do correctly, so I was not anticipating that he would have some grand announcement today.”

Educators will be interested to hear more details about the governor’s plans for education, said Superintendent David Estrop.

“It sounds like many of the positions that the governor has articulated before, he is continuing to support and push,” he said.

Kasich said he’s asked four-year universities to step up graduation rates, commercialize their research and collaborate to avoid duplicate programs.

He is also pushing community colleges to align courses with available jobs and he is asking businesses to forecast what sort of skills they need in future employees so that they can be trained.

“Now folks, if we can train, if we can educate, forecast, use our location, use our great people, use our resources, use our assets, we’ll be the number-one state in America. We’ll be the most powerful state in America. I have no doubt. We have the scale, the size and everything that we need,” Kasich said.

McGregor said the governor’s comments about community colleges working with businesses was in reference to Clark State Community College’s work with Code Blue.

“He’s holding that up and again he mentioned how community colleges are doing this,” he said. “Well, he was talking about Clark State and how they are developing their curriculum to provide the training for the jobs that are here.”

Added Ohio Sen. Chris Widener, R-Springfield: “We’re still here, we’re willing to continue to reform and not let anyone get left behind.

“It’s time to step up the game and we’re going to be expecting a lot more in terms of getting people trained and the degrees and skills it takes to get a job.”

Governors usually deliver the State of the State address to a joint session of the General Assembly at the Statehouse in Columbus. Kasich moved the speech 160 miles east to Steubenville High School and Wells Academy, an adjacent school with 215 preschool through fourth-grade students. Wells Academy boasts the highest scores on state achievement tests: 100 percent of third- and fourth-graders tested met the state standards for math and reading last school year.

Kasich said Ohio needs to use Wells Academy and other successful schools as blueprints for overhauling those that are failing.

Kasich spoke for 83 minutes without extensive notes or a Teleprompter as he skipped through a long list of what he has done and what he still wants to do as Ohio’s 69th governor.

McGregor said he was pleased that the speech was a bipartisan one.

“I thought it was not an overly partisan speech and I don’t think that he meant it to be, which I also was thankful for,” he said. “Clearly he focused on areas where he thinks we can really continue to make an impact, like manufacturing. I also really liked his comments as it related to job training, workforce development and education.”

Ohio’s economy is showing evidence of a slow turnaround. The state’s unemployment rate hit 8.1 percent in December 2011, down from 9.5 percent in December 2010, just before Kasich took office.

Honda, Chrysler, U.S. Steel and other companies have announced major investments and hiring plans. And the state’s sales tax and income tax revenues are running slightly ahead of projections.

“We’ve got to pick off these companies one by one to bring these manufacturing jobs back to Ohio,” Kasich said. The governor said Ohio has picked up 43,500 new jobs and climbed from being ranked 48th in job creation to No. 9.

But Ohio Democratic Party Chairman Chris Redfern said in a press conference on Monday that credit for the turnaround belongs to President Barack Obama and former Gov. Ted Strickland, since they supported a federal bailout of Chrysler and General Motors.

“They stopped the bleeding,” he said.

Share this article