What happened to the libertarians?

Higher education will be the cornerstone of a successful future for the current and future students of Ohio. In the modern economy, a high school graduate is not prepared to enter the work force without the advanced skills gained from post-secondary training. Thus it is imperative that the State of Ohio undergoes every effort to ensure that those qualified and willing to attend Ohio’s colleges and universities are able to financially do so.

However, Ohio policy has been quite to the contrary. The percentage of the budget allocated towards higher education has dropped from 17.7 in 1979 to 11.7 in 2005. This is during a period in which the necessity of higher education has increased immensely.

In this same period, other parts of the Ohio budget have expanded. Corrections spending per capita has more than doubled. In terms of percentage of budget, funding for correction facilities and services has risen from 3.7% to 8 % from 1979 10 2005. So are building jails more important than funding higher education? Budgets determine policy above all political rhetoric. And the current Ohio policy gives priority to filling jail cells over filling classrooms.

While poor budget decisions are part of the problem, the lack of money available in the State for education also reflects an overall poor funding system. Ohio’s primary and secondary public institutions suffer from an inadequate local levy system that encourages disparity among poor and wealthy districts. Likewise, Ohio higher education, with its rising tuition costs and decreasing availability of scholarships and grants, is further contributing to this economic divide.

Ohio Learn and Earn’s billion-dollar-a-year scholarship program would be a great catalyst in bridging this gap. Starting with the highest achievers from each school district, poor and wealthy, students will be given scholarships to Ohio colleges and universities. Once the program is in full swing, scholarships will be offered to every student in the state who is admitted to an Ohio institution of higher education. Universal college scholarships will mean bridging the economic – education divide. It will mean giving more students the opportunity to further their education. It will mean developing a more educated and skilled work force. It will mean creating a brighter future for Ohio’s students and Ohio’s economy.

For more information visit Ohio Learn and Earn

The Cincinnati Casino Amendment, which threatened to jeopardize the Learn and Earn program to provide college scholarships to Ohio high school students, was rejected by Attorney General Jim Petro today.

State law requires that a proposed initiated constitutional amendment contain at least one thousand signatures of qualified electors. The Cincinnati Casino Amendment only contained 893 certified signatures. Over half of the signatures submitted were rejected due to the petitioners’ failure to properly file the paperwork.

This is a big loss for Cincinnati Casino lobbyist Gerry Austin. Austin will now need to recollect one thousand signatures and file again for certification with the Attorney General. With the July deadline of over 322,899 signatures needed to place an amendment on the ballot approaching, Cincinnati officials may now decide to back the already certified Learn and Earn amendment.

The Ohio Learn & Earn amendment which will help bring nearly one billion dollars a year to Ohio children for college education and over $200 million in economic development has been approved by the Attorney General for circulation.

Scholarship dollars will be paid by revenue from slot machines at seven Ohio racetracks and two-downtown Cleveland locations. Unlike the lottery, all of the of the funds will be held by the Ohio Board of Regents in the Ohio Tuition Trust for use only by Ohio students bound for Ohio colleges or universities. The funds will be in each student's name and will be forever protected from misspending politicians and state regulators.

Starting with the graduating class of 2008, the top 5% of graduating seniors will receive a scholarship equal to the average tuition of the state universities in Ohio. This scholarship can be applied to any accredited Ohio public or private not-for-profit institution of higher learning, authorized by the Ohio Board of regents, and having its principal office within the state. The amendment requires that at least the top 5% (but they plan to gradually increase this percentage) of the graduating seniors receive scholarships in the first 12 years of the program. After the fund has matured, approximately 12 years, every student who has graduated from an Ohio public, private or charter high school will be eligible to receive the scholarship as long as they meet the minimum requirements for admission to the university or college.

Free college tuition for Ohio's high school graduates will be a tremendous benefit to Ohio's economy. It will relieve the burden of high tuition payments on parents as well as the stress of loan repayments for young professionals joining the work place, in turn creating more expendable income for investment and the purchase of local goods and services. It will reverse the effect of the "brain drain" in which young professionals are leaving the state. It will attract young families to the state increasing housing sales and new businesses. It will also create a more educated work force in Ohio, as eligible students will not be constrained from attending institutions of higher education due to financial difficulties.

Ohio Learn and Earn

Disclaimer: I am currently working as the Online Communications Director for the Ohio Learn and Earn Committee.