Ohio House Dems won popular vote

Issue 2, also known as voters first was heavily defeated 63-37, under an avalanche of opposition money seeking to maintain the status quo. Had issue 2 been successful it would have given the ability of voters to pick their representatives, rather than the current gerrymandered reverse situation.

Just how bad is the current system of rigged districts? We took a look at the 99 Ohio house races. Our analysis found that despite the Democrats trailing republics in the new legislature 60-39, they actually won the popular vote.

Democrats received a total of 2,418,815 votes across the 99 house district and the Republicans only 2,362,310 - over 56,000 less. If districts were apportioned according to the weight of voters actually preference, the Democrats would have a majority of 51-48, not rendered all but impotent trailing 60-39.

The current situation is so untenable, even critics of issue 2 agree reforms are needed.

But a number of GOP critics of Issue 2 also agreed that the current redistricting process needs to be changed. So the big question now is: What happens next?

A bipartisan legislative redistricting task force has met a few times and is supposed to recommend changes to the House and Senate in December. Also, some say the Constitutional Modernization Commission should make redistricting one of its top priorities.

Catherine Turcer, chairwoman of Voters First Ohio, the coalition that pushed Issue 2, and Ohio State University election-law expert Daniel Tokaji, who helped draft the plan, said that at least there was agreement that the system needs to be changed.

“If we all agree that the system is broken, we should also agree that the people of Ohio should not have to wait until 2022 to fix it,” they said in a joint statement. “It’s time to put voters first and come together to agree on a solution.”

Gov. John Kasich added: “Reforms need to be considered in a thoughtful, bipartisan way to ensure that districts are competitive and fair and Ohioans’ interests are fully represented.”

These unfair districts also explain the disappointing results of races involving educators

But Stephen Brooks, a political scientist with the Bliss Institute at the University of Akron, says all that probably had little to do with the way the races turned out.

“They were not in well-designed districts for Democrats to run in so I’m not sure being a schoolteacher or not being a schoolteacher had much to do with that. They were having difficult races because they were running in non-competitive districts, if you will,” he says.

The only one of the new teacher-candidates to win is John Patterson, who will represent House District 99 in Ashtabula County. Two other former teachers who were incumbents retained their seats in the Ohio House.

A system where the majority of citizens are not represented by their preferred elected leaders is not a sustainable system. The current Ohio General Assembly, and the 130th that will follow it have no mandate from the voters, and their first course of action ought to be to repair the broken redistricting system immediately.

November 2012 School Levy Results

It was a good night for a lot of school levies. Requests for new money were passed at rates 10% higher than last November's levies efforts, and renewals held steady at their normal 85% rate.

The biggest news, perhaps, was the passage of the Cleveland school levy 57-43. It's been a long time since Cleveland has produced such strong support for their schools, and that support now needs to be rewarded with a plan that delivers a quality education.

New renewal	Failed	Passed	Pass %
New	76	45	32.2%
Renewal	10	60	85.7%
Over all	87	105	54.7%

Here's the full list of results.

County	District	Result	N/R	For	Against
Allen	Apollo Career Center	Failed	New	46.0%	54.0%
Allen	Elida Local	Failed	Renewal	40.0%	60.0%
Allen	Lima City	Passed	New	55.0%	45.0%
Allen	Shawnee Local	Passed	Renewal	62.0%	38.0%
Allen	Spencerville Local	Passed	Renewal	57.7%	42.3%
Ashland	Ashland City	Passed	New	56.1%	43.9%
Ashland	Hillsdale Local	Failed	New	42.7%	57.3%
Ashland	West Holmes JVS	Passed	Renewal	59.6%	40.4%
Ashland	West Holmes JVS	Passed	Renewal	58.5%	41.5%
Ashtabula	Ashtabula Area City	Failed	New	42.7%	57.3%
Ashtabula	Grand Valley Local	Failed	New	43.2%	56.8%
Ashtabula	Jefferson Area Local	Failed	Renewal	49.5%	50.5%
Ashtabula	Jefferson Area Local	Failed	Renewal	46.2%	53.9%
Athens	Athens City	Passed	Renewal	65.3%	34.7%
Athens	Trimble Local	Failed	New	46.9%	53.1%
Belmont	Bellaire Local	Failed	New	42.7%	57.3%
Brown	Western Brown Local	Failed	New	43.0%	57.0%
Butler	Monroe Local	Passed	New	54.7%	45.3%
Carroll	Brown Local	Failed	New	48.5%	51.5%
Champaign	Urbana City	Failed	New	42.0%	58.0%
Clark	Clark-Shawnee Local	Passed	Renewal	56.3%	43.7%
Clark	Greenon Local	Failed	New	44.9%	55.2%
Clark	Northeastern Local	Failed	New	40.0%	60.1%
Clark	Tecumseh Local	Failed	New	43.8%	56.2%
Clermont	Batavia Local	Passed	New	50.4%	49.6%
Clermont	Milford EV	Failed	New	49.3%	50.7%
Clermont	West Clermont Local	Failed	New	39.7%	60.3%
Clinton	Blanchester Local	Passed	Renewal	69.6%	30.4%
Clinton	East Clinton Local	Failed		38.3%	61.7%
Coshocton	Coshocton City	Passed	Renewal	61.7%	38.3%
Crawford	Galion City	Failed	New	32.4%	67.6%
Cuyahoga	Bay Village City	Passed	New	60.4%	39.6%
Cuyahoga	Brooklyn City	Passed	Renewal	61.2%	38.9%
Cuyahoga	Cleveland Municipal	Passed	New	56.6%	43.5%
Cuyahoga	Euclid City	Passed	New	50.1%	50.0%
Cuyahoga	Fairview Park City	Passed	Renewal	65.6%	34.5%
Cuyahoga	Maple Heights City	Passed	Renewal	59.8%	40.2%
Cuyahoga	North Roylaton City	Failed	New	47.2%	52.8%
Cuyahoga	Richmond Heights	Passed	New	51.3%	48.7%
Cuyahoga	Rocky River City	Passed	New	55.0%	45.0%
Cuyahoga	South Euclid-Lyndhurst	Passed	New	53.8%	46.2%
Cuyahoga	Strongsville City	Passed	New	50.0%	50.0%
Erie	Edison Local	Failed	New	44.7%	55.3%
Erie	Sandusky City	Passed	New	57.2%	42.8%
Fairfield	Walnut Township Local	Failed	New	37.9%	62.1%
Franklin	Dublin City	Passed	New	54.4%	45.6%
Franklin	New Albany-Plain Local	Passed	New	50.2%	49.8%
Franklin	Upper Arlington City	Failed	New	45.1%	54.9%
Franklin	Worthington City	Passed	New	62.3%	37.7%
Franklin	Worthington City	Passed	New	53.4%	46.6%
Geauga	Cardinal Local	Passed	Renewal	57.8%	42.3%
Geauga	Chardon Local	Failed	New	48.3%	51.7%
Geauga	Ledgemont Local	Passed	New	50.1%	49.9%
Geauga	Newbury Local	Failed	New	43.4%	56.6%
Geauga	West Geauga Local	Passed	New	50.3%	49.8%
Greene	Beavercreek City	Failed	New	49.7%	50.3%
Greene	Cedar Cliff Local	Passed	New	61.8%	38.2%
Greene	Fairborn City	Failed	New	45.7%	54.3%
Greene	Xenia Community City	Failed	New	34.4%	65.6%
Greene	Yellow Springs EV	Passed	New	67.1%	32.9%
Guernsey	Cambridge City	Passed	Renewal	62.1%	37.9%
Hamilton	Cincinnati City	Passed	Renewal	67.2%	32.9%
Hamilton	Finneytown Local	Passed	New	56.0%	44.1%
Hamilton	Mt Healthy City	Failed	New	45.7%	54.3%
Hamilton	Northwest Local	Failed	New	45.5%	54.5%
Hamilton	Reading Community	Passed	Renewal	71.4%	28.7%
Harrison	Conotton Valley Union	Failed	New	43.1%	56.9%
Henry	Napoleon Area City	Failed	New	44.6%	55.4%
Holmes	West Holmes Local	Passed	Renewal	60.2%	39.8%
Huron	Monroeville Local	Passed	New	53.4%	46.6%
Huron	Norwalk City	Failed	New	45.3%	54.7%
Huron	Williard City	Failed	Renewal	42.3%	57.7%
Jefferson	Buckeye Local	Failed	New	38.0%	62.0%
Jefferson	Edison Local	Failed	New	44.5%	55.5%
Jefferson	Indian Creek Local	Failed	New	46.3%	53.7%
Jefferson	Jefferson County JVSD	Failed	New	49.6%	50.4%
Knox	Centerburg Local	Passed	Renewal	62.2%	37.8%
Knox	East Knox Local	Failed	New	39.8%	60.2%
Knox	Mount Vernon City	Failed	New	48.9%	51.1%
Lake	Kirtland City	Passed	New	50.1%	49.9%
Lake	Painesville City	Passed	New	50.3%	49.7%
Lake	Willoughby-Eastlake	Passed	Renewal	59.8%	40.2%
Licking	Johnstown-Monroe	Passed	Renewal	53.1%	46.9%
Licking	Licking Heights Local	Failed	New	37.9%	62.1%
Licking	North Fork Local	Failed	Renewal	42.2%	57.8%
Logan	Indian Lake Local	Failed	New	37.7%	62.3%
Logan	West Liberty-Salem	Passed	New	53.1%	46.9%
Lorain	Amherst EV	Passed	New	52.1%	47.9%
Lorain	Avon Lake City	Failed	New	47.2%	52.9%
Lorain	Avon Local	Passed	New	59.9%	40.1%
Lorain	Clearview Local	Passed	New	52.2%	47.8%
Lorain	Columbia Local	Passed	Renewal	54.6%	45.4%
Lorain	Columbia Local	Passed	Renewal	55.0%	45.0%
Lorain	Elyria City	Failed	New	46.6%	53.4%
Lorain	Lorain City	Passed	New	54.2%	45.8%
Lorain	Lorain County JVSD	Passed	Renewal	60.1%	40.0%
Lorain	Midview Local	Failed	New	38.7%	61.4%
Lorain	North Ridgeville City	Passed	New	56.6%	43.4%
Lorain	Oberlin City	Passed	Renewal	67.4%	32.6%
Lorain	Oberlin City	Passed	Renewal	69.2%	30.9%
Lorain	Wellington Exempted	Passed	New	59.1%	40.9%
Lucas	Anthony Wayne Local	Passed	Renewal	61.7%	38.3%
Lucas	Ottawa Hills Local	Passed	New	65.7%	34.3%
Lucas	Toledo City	Failed	New	47.6%	52.5%
Madison	Madison-Plains Local	Failed	New	45.8%	54.2%
Mahoning	Boardman Local	Passed	New	53.3%	46.7%
Mahoning	Jackson-Milton Local	Failed	New	32.8%	67.2%
Mahoning	Jackson-Milton Local	Failed	Renewal	49.4%	50.6%
Mahoning	Poland Local	Passed	New	55.0%	45.0%
Mahoning	South Range Local	Passed	Renewal	57.6%	42.4%
Mahoning	Springfield Local	Failed	New	47.7%	52.3%
Mahoning	Youngstown City	Passed	Renewal	60.2%	39.8%
Marion	River Valley Local	Passed	Renewal	54.5%	45.5%
Marion	Tri-Rivers JVSD	Failed	New	41.4%	58.6%
Medina	Black River Local	Failed	New	37.6%	62.4%
Medina	Black River Local	Failed	New	35.9%	64.1%
Medina	Cloverleaf Local	Failed	New	46.7%	53.3%
Medina	Medina City	Failed	New	47.8%	52.2%
Mercer	Celina City	Failed	New	32.5%	67.6%
Miami	Miami East Local	Passed	Renewal	52.7%	47.3%
Miami	Milton-Union EV	Failed	Renewal	49.9%	50.1%
Miami	Newton Local	Passed	Renewal	54.0%	46.0%
Monroe	Switzerland of Ohio	Failed	New	38.8%	61.2%
Montgomery	Centerville City	Failed	New	49.5%	50.5%
Montgomery	Huber Heights City	Failed	New	38.3%	61.7%
Montgomery	Jefferson Township	Failed	New	48.7%	51.3%
Montgomery	Miamisburg City	Passed	Renewal	57.2%	42.8%
Montgomery	New Lebanon Local	Passed	Renewal	57.7%	42.3%
Montgomery	New Lebanon Local	Passed	Renewal	59.2%	40.8%
Montgomery	Valley View Local	Failed	New	46.9%	53.1%
Montgomery	Vandalia-Butler City	Failed	New	45.5%	54.5%
Montgomery	West Carrollton City	Failed	New	48.4%	51.6%
Morrow	Cardington-Lincoln	Failed	New	34.7%	65.4%
Muskingum	West Muskingum Local	Failed	New	44.9%	55.1%
Ottawa	Port Clinton City	Passed	Renewal	55.8%	44.2%
Perry	New Lexington City	Passed	Renewal	55.5%	44.5%
Portage	Aurora City	Passed	New	51.2%	48.8%
Portage	Crestwood Local	Passed	New	53.9%	46.1%
Portage	Field Local	Failed	New	47.6%	52.4%
Portage	Rootstown Local	Passed	Renewal	59.7%	40.3%
Portage	Waterloo Local	Failed	New	43.0%	57.0%
Preble	Tri-County North Local	Passed	Renewal	66.0%	34.0%
Putnam	Ottawa-Glandorf Local	Passed	Renewal	65.1%	34.9%
Putnam	Pandora-Gilboa Local	Passed	Renewal	58.8%	41.2%
Richland	Mansfield City	Failed	Renewal	48.6%	51.4%
Richland	Shelby City	Failed	New	32.8%	67.2%
Ross	Zane Trace Local	Passed	Renewal	57.2%	42.8%
Sandusky	Bellevue City	Passed	Renewal	52.6%	47.4%
Sandusky	Clyde-Green Springs	Passed	Renewal	54.5%	45.6%
Sandusky	Fremont City	Passed	Renewal	56.4%	43.6%
Sandusky	Woodmore Local	Passed	Renewal	57.3%	42.7%
Scioto	Green Local	Passed	New	51.8%	48.2%
Seneca	Bettsville Local	Failed	Renewal	49.6%	50.4%
Seneca	Mohawk Local	Failed	New	38.8%	61.2%
Seneca	Tiffin City	Passed	Renewal	62.0%	38.0%
Shelby	Fairlawn Local	Failed	Renewal	48.8%	51.2%
Stark	Canton Local	Failed	New	48.3%	51.7%
Stark	Louisville City	Failed	New	48.9%	51.1%
Stark	Marlington Local	Failed	New	39.5%	60.5%
Stark	Marlington Local	Passed	Renewal	59.4%	40.6%
Stark	Massillon City	Passed	New	50.1%	49.9%
Stark	Minerva Local	Passed	Renewal	53.6%	46.4%
Stark	Tuslaw Local	Passed	Renewal	62.3%	37.7%
Summit	Akron City	Passed	New	59.5%	40.5%
Summit	Barberton City	Failed	New	45.4%	54.6%
Summit	Coventry Local	Passed	Renewal	60.5%	39.5%
Summit	Hudson City	Passed	Renewal	65.7%	34.4%
Summit	Nordonia Hills City	Failed	New	40.1%	60.0%
Summit	Norton City	Passed	New	53.4%	46.6%
Summit	Stow-Munroe Falls City	Passed	Renewal	57.6%	42.4%
Summit	Tallmadge City	Failed	New	38.8%	61.3%
Summit	Twinsburg City	Passed	New	53.9%	46.1%
Summit	Woodridge Local	Passed	New	55.5%	44.6%
Trumbull	Brookfield Local	Failed	New	39.4%	60.6%
Trumbull	Champion Local	Failed	New	48.6%	51.4%
Trumbull	Howland Local	Passed	Renewal	60.2%	39.9%
Trumbull	Joseph Badger Local	Passed	Renewal	51.9%	48.2%
Trumbull	Mathews Local	Passed	New	50.2%	49.8%
Tuscarawas	Buckeye JVSD	Passed	New	54.5%	45.5%
Tuscarawas	Dover City	Passed	Renewal	55.8%	44.2%
Tuscarawas	Dover City	Passed	Renewal	53.8%	46.2%
Tuscarawas	New Philadelphia City	Passed	Renewal	64.6%	35.4%
Tuscarawas	Strasburg-Franklin	Passed	Renewal	59.6%	40.4%
Tuscarawas	Tuscarawas Valley	Passed	Renewal	61.9%	38.1%
Union	Marysville EV	Failed	New	41.7%	58.3%
Van Wert	Vantage Career Center	Passed	Renewal	67.4%	32.6%
Warren	Carlisle Local	Failed	New	49.0%	51.0%
Washington	Warren Local	Failed	New	38.7%	61.3%
Wayne	Orrville City	Failed	New	38.1%	61.9%
Wayne	Triway Local	Passed	Renewal	59.5%	40.5%
Wood	Bowling Green City	Failed	New	47.7%	52.3%
Wood	Perrysburg EV	Passed	New	51.3%	48.8%

State Board of Ed 2012 Results

In the 7 races for State Board of education, 4 pro-public education candidates won.

Ann Jacobs defeat former OSU QB and Kasich appointee Stanley Jackson handily 65-35. Both Mary Rose Oakar and Stephanie Dodd also handily beat their opponents 63-37 and 60-24-15 respectively, with Michael Collins narrowly defeated his 2 opponents to be reelected.

Bryan Williams, Jeff Hardin, both incumbents defeated their pro-public education opponents. To round out the results, Sarah Fowler, a home-school graduate was also elected.

The State board of education has a lot of work to do, as the Dispatch notes

The new board has some heavy lifting to do in the coming year, starting with the hiring of a state superintendent. The post has been vacant since early August, when Stan Heffner resigned after an ethics probe.

The board also must fix state-issued report cards that have been manipulated by false data submitted by school districts, and oversee implementation of Ohio’s third-grade reading guarantee and more-rigorous curriculum standards.

Let's hope the pro public education voices are listened to. We'll be watching closely.

Campaign 2012 Election Live Blog

12:09 p.m.
We're closing down the live blog. We'll be bringing all the relevant election results tomorrow, ahem, later today, - school levies, state board of ed, state legislature.

11:27 p.m.
Obama projected to win NV

11:27 p.m.
Incumbent house GOPers appear to have lost: Craig Newbold in HD5 to challenger Nick Barborak 50.44% to 49.56% and Rep. Casey Kozlowski has lost to John Patterson 52.78% to 47.22%.

11:13 p.m.
NBC calls Ohio for Obama. President Obama will be reelected to a second term.

11:10 p.m.
IA called for Obama. Romney now has to run the table to win.

11:02 p.m.
CO, CA, WA, HI called for Obama.
NC, ID, Called for Romney
Too early to call in OR

10:54 p.m.
Sadly, it looks like teachers Donna O'Connor (HD21) and Maureen Reedy (HD24) are going to narrowly lose

10:49 p.m.
MO called for Romney

10:44 p.m.
MN called for Obama

10:36 p.m.
Ohio Supreme Court Justice Yvette McGee Brown trails Sharon Kennedy 43%-57% of the vote, with 54% reporting

10:34 p.m.
As expected, Mitt Romney wins AZ.

10:32 p.m.
Teachers Tanyce Addison (SD26) and Teresa Scarmack (SD-20) are both trailing 40-60, with few precincts left to report.

10:17 p.m.
Ohio state Issues 1 & 2 both going down b y 69% and 64% respectively with 51% of precincts reporting.

10:13 p.m.
As of this time, in the race for the Ohio State Board of Education...
QB Stanley Jackson looks destined for defeat trailing 35-65
Districts 5 & 6 are close
Sarah Fowler, a 23 year old home schooler is going to win in District 7
Pro public education candidates Stephanie Dodd and Mary Rose Oakar are headed to victory
Tood Book, sadly looks destined for defeat.

9:35 p.m.
Another swing state, NH, is called for Obama.

9:26 p.m.
AP Calls Sherrod Brown reelected as Senator from Ohio

First swing state, WI called for Obama

9:15 p.m.
PA called for Obama

Education related, voters in South Dakota so far want to keep teacher tenure. 70 against repealing it, 29% for.

9:03 p.m.
All as expected...
NM, NY, MI are called for Obama.
TX, LA, KS, NE, ND, SD, WY, are called for Romney
AZ, MN, PA too early to call

8:32 p.m.
Teacher Donna O'Connor: 11,558, Duffey (Incumbent) 10,776 in early/absentee voting
Teacher Maureen L. Reedy: 12,082, Stephanie Kunze: 10,535 in early/absentee voting

8:29 p.m.
According to early vote totals Issue 2 is doing very badly. 57 of 88 counties have voted against measure.

8:03 p.m.
DC, DE, RI, ME, CT, MD, MA and IL are called for Obama.
MS, TN, AL, OK are called for Romney
Still too early to call in PA, NJ, MO, OH, NC, VA, FL

7:42 p.m.
Folks are still in line to vote in a number of locations around Ohio, including OSU

7:37 p.m.
SC called for Romney as expected.

7:32 p.m.
As expected so far. CNN calls WV, IN, KY, for Romney. VT for Obama.

A CNN exit poll has Obama 51, Romney 48 in Ohio. Exit poll in NC was 49-49 which was supposed to be Romney +4%

7:30 p.m.
The polls in Ohio are closed, and is being categorized as "too close to call" by NBC.

7:16 p.m.
Here's the times for poll closings:
7:00 pm: GA, IN, KY, SC, VT, VA
7:30 pm: NC, OH, WV
8:00 pm: AL, CT, DE, DC, FL, IL, ME, MD, MA, MS, MO, NH, NJ, OK, PA, RI, TN
8:30 pm: AR
9:00 pm: AZ, CO, KS, LA, MI, MN, NE, NM, NY, ND, SD, TX, WI, WY
10:00 pm: IA, MT, NV, UT
11:00 pm: CA, HI, ID, OR, WA
1:00 am: AK

An AFL poll of Ohio union members has found that SB5 has had a significant effect on union members

Ohio union members are energized and overwhelmingly supporting President Obama and Senator Brown for reelection.

By a 41-point margin, Ohio union members are voting for President Obama (70%) over Mitt Romney (29%) in the presidential race. The early vote among Ohio union members tilts even more heavily in President Obama’s favor (79% to 21%).

Obama’s support among Ohio union members has increased by five percentage points since 2008. Our Election Night and post-election polling in 2008 showed Obama winning 65% of the Ohio union vote, so even accounting for each poll’s margin of error, Obama currently is performing at least as well among Ohio members, if not better, than he did in 2008.

Senator Sherrod Brown also is in a strong position to win Ohio thanks to strong support among the state’s union members, among whom he leads Josh Mandel by 70% to 29%.

According to an NEA poll, 8 out of 10 people had education as a top priority.

The NYT has an interactive tool that will show you who needs what states to win.

Official live results can be seen at the Secretary of States website, here.

Teachers to the legislative rescue

We brought HB555 to your attention quite some time ago. Yet another vehicle for school "reform". It was mothballed, but now appears to be getting a dust-off according to Gongwer, and readied for lame duck action

The House Education Committee is scheduled to meet on three days in the week following the election, and the chairman said Thursday the yet-to-be-completed report card rating bill will be top priority during lame duck.

With meetings set for the afternoons of Nov. 13-15, Chairman Rep. Gerald Stebelton (R-Lancaster) said it is possible the committee will hear other bills, but the main focus will be on legislation to revamp the state's grade cards for school districts and buildings.

Rep. Stebelton introduced a placeholder bill during the summer (HB 555) that currently contains language stating the General Assembly's intent to put in place a system by Dec. 31. He said Thursday, however, the bill is not "totally completed yet."

"The subject matter of 555 is the highest priority (for lame duck)," he said in an interview. "We've had a lot of negotiations and there's still a lot of moving parts."

Mr. Stebelton said he is hopeful the legislature can reach consensus with the governor's office in time to have the bill passed by the end of the year as intended. He has been working with administration officials, the Department of Education and the Senate, he said.

Rep Stableton would be wise to wait just a short while, he might have some actual educators join him in the state legislature, who can help guide him to better policy, instead of creating a mess like this one

Reading Guarantee: Mr. Sawyers said the department is asking for a change during lame duck session to the third-grade guarantee, specifically to a requirement that students with a reading deficiency be assigned to a teacher with a "reading endorsement."

Because teachers with such a certification are few and far between, the agency wants clarification that would align the requirement of a high-performing teacher with the reading endorsement for the time being because acquiring the training for the title requires 12 to 16 semester hours of college credit, he said.

"It's not practical that between January of 2013 - if they're not already in a fall semester someplace - between January and then when they will start again in August that we're going to have this mad rush of people going out to get this reading endorsement (and) that can actually complete 12 to 18 semester hours of credit," Mr. Sawyers said.

"There's got to be an alternative, ultimately, that's put in place for fall (2013), so we're proposing to the General Assembly, what could that alternative be?"

Oh dear. We wrote about the mixed messages and policy mess the legislature has caused with this, so it's good to see ODE acknowledge the problems too. But, these are the kinds of problems that simply would not occur if legislatures with no education experience or background listened to those who have, and hopefully come January, that will include a number of colleagues.

Final Campaign 2012 recap

We've covered a lot of ground during campaign 2012, and wanted to recap some of the important pieces you will want to keep in mind.

School Levies
There are a lot of levies on the ballot, as a result of the Kasich budget cuts. You can see a list of them here , organizned by county, type and whether they are requests for new money or continuations.

State Board of Education
There are 7 state board of election seats up for grab, here's our primer on those, including some bios of pro public education candidates.

Voting Checklist
Confused by the shifting voting requirements caused by politicians seeking their own advantage? Here's a handy checklist of what you need to vote, and what your rights are.

Union Candidates
Remember SB5? So do these union members who decided to run for office. If you're lucky, one of them will be on your ballot. One such member is Donna O'Connor, who has inspired so many people with her positive vision and strong leadership. Check the link to see all the union members running on pro-worker platforms.

The Big One - President
We've written a lot about the race for the Presidency, but we'll leave it in the hands of the candidates own visions to make closing arguments

President Obama's 2nd term plan for education.
Mitt Romney: Mr. Corporate Ed.

Issue 2: Voters First, Not Politicians
A YES on Issue 2 puts voters first.