Friday, May 1, 2009

TRACKING OUR LEGISLATORS SERIES: STARK EDUCATORS LEAVE IN "SIGNIFICANT NUMBERS" BEFORE LEGISLATOR PANEL SPEAKS TO EDUCATION ISSUES. HUM?

Before DeRolf (Ohio Supreme Court case ruling - 4 different times - Ohio funding of public schoos being unconstitutional) became old news, appearances of state legislators before educator groups drew big crowds.

No more!

Last night before a Stark Count "All Boards" session, numbers of educators and board members left before the Stark County legislative delegation members (Oleslager, Schuring, Slesnick, Okey, Schiavone and Snitchler (represented by his wife - but not on the panel) sat down to in panel format to answer questions crafted by and asked by David Kaminski (representing the Canton Regional Chamber of Commerce who was formerly editor of The Repository).

The mass exiting should tell these legislators that they have lost all credibility with the education community and probably with the Stark County community at large on solving the Ohio's education problem.

Schuring trotted out his tired old plan to make funding the "first" priority rather than it current "what's leftover" priority. Oelslager joined by Slesnick cited the "bad" economy. Schiavone said he's on a steep learning curve. If Snitchler had been there, he likely would have followed Schivone's lead.

Surprisingly, Oelslager did not bring up the fact that his parents were educators. Oelslager likes to bring up these emotive factors but then goes back to Columbus and does nothing - nearly 24 years now.

Schuring? He's only done nothing for 16 years now.

By any measure, the STARK COUNTY POLITICAL REPORT (The Report/SCPR) says Oelslager and Schuring are monumental failures on fixing Ohio public education woes. This even though both have been in the majority most of their careers and for a number of years in a supermajority (veto proof).

On this coming Tuesday Stark's Fairless, Northwest and Plain school districts will have levy issues on the ballots. Over the years Oelslager and Schuring have liked going to these districts for photo ops. But there are nowhere to be seen when it comes to providing solutions.

Why would anyone in Stark County want to return either to Columbus in 2010?

Oieslager (term limited out of the Ohio House in 2010) has already announced that he plans to switch chairs for the third time (in contempt of the voters' desire for term limits) and run for termed-out state Senator Kirk Schuring.

Schuring has not committed to run to replace Oelslager in the 51st yet again, but don't be surprised if he does.

Again, why sould anyone in Stark County want to return either to Columbus in 2010?

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