Local representative testifies on another fix to House Bill 70

Another proposed fix to Ohio's state takeover model had its first committee hearing Tuesday afternoon. House Bill 577, introduced by state Reps. Joe Miller, D-Amherst and Mary Lightbody, D-Westerville, would create a School Transformation Board to help transition the three districts out from under their academic distress commissions and back to local control. "I have no problem using lame duck as a time to undo HB 70, as this bad legislation was crammed through the General Assembly in the middle of the night before summer break five years ago," Miller said. Lorain, Youngstown and East Cleveland schools are the only districts subject to House Bill 70, a 2015 law that created the process for state takeovers of academically struggling districts. Miller's latest bill — one of several he has sponsored or lent support to — was first introduced in March, but did not have a hearing until nine months later. During his testimony, Miller explained this bill would create a nine-member, state-level board made up of appointees from both political parties in the House and Senate; the state superintendent of public instruction; the chancellor of higher education; and three appointments by the governor with one of those appointees having 10 or more years of teaching experience. "When school districts like Lorain are torn apart by a corrupt state-appointed CEO it is our kids who suffer the consequences," Miller said. The School Transformation Board would be required to work with Lorain, Youngstown and East Cleveland school boards and their academic distress commissions to transition them back to local control. Additionally, it would be required to create a plan for academic improvement for each district, and a larger report presented to legislators by January 2022 on state takeovers in Ohio. State Rep. J. Todd Smith, R-Farmersville, pushed back on dissolving distress commissions during the hearing, noting a school system in his district was under the threat of an ADC and it revamped its administration and improved its test scores to maintain local control. That district, which Smith did not name during his comments, had been failing under a school board for years, he said. The "pinch" of an ADC and its appointed CEO was effective for that district, he said. He questioned what the point of creating another oversight board is, if the end goal is giving districts back local control. Miller said the School Transformation Board would work in collaboration with the locally elected school boards, rather than usurping their powers. Miller's model is similar to fixes proposed before, including language passed out of the House in February as part of Senate Bill 89. A state-appointed School Transformation Board was also part of a 2019 amendment introduced in the Senate Education committee by state Sen. Peggy Lenher, R-Kettering. While the makeup of the STB in that language was similar to that of Miller's, the STB of Lenher's plan would have overseen School Improvement Commissions that had much the same power as the current Academic Distress Commissions — garnering criticism at the state and local level. If a solution to state takeovers is not passed by the end of the month, legislators will have to take up the cause anew in the next General Assembly. Contact Carissa Woytach at (440) 329-7245 or cwoytach@chroniclet.com.