Setting Them Up for Failure
Ohio legislature passes education mandate, fails to provide funding
Very few lawmakers have experience as educators. This is evidenced by the often ridiculous mandates lawmakers place on schools and teachers.
Peter Greene offers an example from Ohio:
In this case, the mandate is “high-dosage” tutoring. And, as in so many cases, the funding provided by the state for this “critical need” is zero.
As Greene notes:
This is the story of education a million times-- some legislator gets a bright idea and declares “Let’s require schools to fix this” while waving vaguely in the direction of schools. And while this bright idea may require more resources and human-hours, that lawmaker will be confident that this whole new program can be implemented for free. Rick Hess has often said that you can force folks to do something, but you can’t force them to do it well. That is doubly true when you make zero effort to provide them with the resources needed to implement the program.
Andy, thanks for highlighting this issue. I also get concerned with these bills that come through that end up being tied to specific companies that will help the local school district address the issue. The Legislator runs the bill at the request of a company to help solve a supposed problem, but ultimately allows the company access to school districts and the opportunity to make money.