As Kasich Leaves Office, He Promotes Education as the Workforce Pipeline

Ohioans dodged a bullet with Ohio Governor John Kasich leaving office. As he leaves he laments what he was unable to accomplish in the name of education reform and workforce development.

Jeremy Pelzer with Cleveland.com reports:

Outgoing Gov. John Kasich on Monday mulled openly about the future of Ohio’s economy, saying that the state’s K-12 education system needs a “fundamental restructuring” that involves more direct involvement by the business community.

Kasich, speaking to the board of JobsOhio, the state’s non-profit economic development corporation, said Ohio children need to learn skills that businesses need so they can get good-paying jobs as adults.

“And who can do that better than business? Who can explain this to kids better?” Kasich asked.

The governor lamented that two of his proposals in recent years to directly involve businesspeople in K-12 education were shot down. One was to put two non-elected businesspeople on every school board in the state so they could offer guidance on school curricula. The other sought to require Ohio teachers to shadow a local businessperson before they could renew their teaching licenses.

Fortunately, the Ohio Legislature had the good sense to realize those proposals were utter nonsense. If a member of the business community wants to serve on the school board they can run for office. Also, what in the world were teachers supposed to gain by shadowing a local businessperson? What a colossal waste of time. 

His proposals would have doubled down on stupid. The purpose of education is not workforce development. It’s not the job of K-12 schools to feed the workforce pipeline.