Rep's Corner

Witnessing my sixth State of the State address, I listened as Governor Bob Taft addressed the joint session of the legislature for the first time in the 21st century. Outlining his priorities for Ohio for the upcoming year, Governor Taft discussed his agenda for the year 2000 by focusing on the importance of a high quality education for Ohio’s children and economic success and an improved quality of life for all citizens.

In his address, Governor Taft addressed an issue that is important to our district. It is the belief of the Governor and state legislators that success in our children’s classrooms will help keep Ohio’s economy strong and growing. While the unemployment rate is down and the gross state product is rising, there are some areas of Ohio that are not sharing in Ohio’s prosperity. Recognizing this, Governor Taft proposed two bond funds at $200 million each, one for brownfield development and urban revitalization and the other for community environmental preservation and enhancement projects.

The bond fund for the brownfield redevelopment and urban revitalization will make funding available to cities, like Toledo, to be used for environmental assessments of brownfield sites, site acquisition and clean-up, appropriate demolition, infrastructure improvement and local economic strategy development.

Funding set aside for environmental enhancement and preservation will provide loans and grants to local governments, non-profit groups and other entities to enhance Ohio’s natural government. Projects will include wetlands preservation, river sweeps, farmland preservation, development of greenways and recreational trails and bike paths, reforestation projects, and many others.

Both of these initiatives are important to the continued economic success of our district. They will be put before you as a single ballot issue during the November 2000 election. If passed, legislation will further define how these proposals will help Ohio’s diverse communities successfully meet their unique development challenges. I encourage you to support these initiatives and show your commitment to help ensure our district and other areas of Ohio share in the prosperity of the state.

The Ohio House of Representatives has long been committed to doing all it can to improve learning conditions, so that our children read and write well. In listening to the Governor’s address, I was pleased to hear him reaffirm his commitment to providing the resources for a good education and setting clear standards for measuring student achievement. Working with the legislature, the Governor hopes to accomplish this goal in three ways:

First, he will establish the Governor’s Commission for Student Success. This commission, comprised of members representing employers, colleges and universities, parents and children, school administrators, teachers, school board members and legislators will address four questions and report to the Governor, the General Assembly and the Ohio Department of Education before the end of the year. The commission will find ways to emphasize to parents and educators what students should know and be able to do in each grade and before graduation, measure student performance and progress in each grade, hold students and adults responsible for academic achievement and make sure that all parts of the system work together in complete alignment.

Secondly, the Governor plans to expand the Summer Institutes for Reading Intervention to provide intensive literacy instruction for 12,000 teachers and supervised intervention for 60,000 students this summer. In order to ensure that fourth graders pass the proficiency test, the Governor proposed that the state make the test available for third-graders to take so that both the parents and the students know what to expect. Not only will this help students identify and work on weak areas, but it will allow advanced students to pass the test early.

Lastly, in order to ensure that our high school students are computer literate, every high school will certify that each graduate is computer proficient. The Joint Council of the State Board of Education and the Ohio Board of Regents will establish an effective date and standards.

I will continue to do all I can to see that the goals outlined by the Governor are carried out. I will work with fellow legislators to make strides in education, work on preserving our environment and help in the economic development here and throughout Ohio, but we can’t do it alone. We need your support on these issues to ensure that Ohio exceeds these goals in the 21st Century.

If you have any questions or concerns regarding this or any other state issue, please do not hesitate to contact me, State Representative Lynn Olman, 77 South High Street, 13th Floor, Columbus, Ohio 43266-0603.


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