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Twin towns of tragedy in neighboring states

East Palestine, Ohio, and Johnstown, Pennsylvania. Fire and flood. Tragic twins? Acts of God? Acts of man? Time divides these destructive events by 134 years, but the human and environmental pain that these two events evoke catapults them toward each other like electrons in a collider. “Why?” becomes a demanding master that must be served. Who is responsible? “Success has many fathers and failure is an orphan.” Before both events occurred, there were forces at work in Johnstown and in East Palestine that precipitated the tragedies. In a metaverse-like time warp the ...

Voucher explosion would hurt many Ohio children

Ohio’s public schools are the foundation of our democracy. They create safe, welcoming environments where all students, regardless of where they’re from, what they look like, or how much money their parents make; receive high-quality education empowering them to become successful citizens in diverse, interconnected world. Over my 30-year career in public education, I’ve had a front-row seat to see my high school social studies students become lifelong learners who dream big and work hard to achieve dreams. But never-ending schemes from some Ohio lawmakers to defund and weaken ...

Allow Ohio tax dollars to follow all students

The Parent Educational Freedom Act, Senate Bill 11, offers the best educational opportunity for students of both public and private schools. It guarantees parents the right to choose the school that best fits their child’s needs. As a former public school educator, I realize each child is unique; one size does not fit all. My bill will provide $5,500 per year for students in grades K-8 and $7,500 per year for students in grades 9-12. This is exactly the same benefit currently provided through Ohio’s existing Ed Choice Scholarship Program. Let’s talk dollars. Most of us recently ...

Continue thoughts and prayers after mass shootings

The East Lansing community still reels from the Michigan State University mass shooting last month that resulted in five students being critically wounded and three losing their lives. The students who tragically died — Arielle Anderson, Alexandria Verner and Brian Fraser — had bright futures. Arielle had aspirations of becoming a doctor; Alexandria was majoring in biology; Brian was studying business. The Michigan State massacre was the 67th mass shooting in the country this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive, a nonprofit research organization using news stories and ...

Higher threshold insults voters’ good judgment

Ohio’s greatness resides in its people, not its Statehouse politicians. Over our state’s 220-year history, its sturdy people many times have been betrayed by their elected lawmakers. Then they went to work to set things straight. The worst period of betrayal began in the 1880s and 1890s. Ohio was being transformed from an agrarian society into an industrial dynamo. At the start of the Civil War, nearly five times as many Ohioans lived on farms as in cities. By 1910, with Ohio’s population nearing 5 million, more than half lived in cities. Between 1900 and 1930, Warren’s ...

60 percent vote margin just makes good sense

For far too long, Ohio’s Constitution has been far too susceptible to efforts by outside groups and special interests seeking to alter our governing document to achieve their own ends. We have repeatedly watched as special interests buy their way onto the statewide ballot, and then spend millions of dollars drowning the airwaves seeking to secure permanent, fundamental changes to our state by a vote margin of 50 percent plus one vote. The Ohio Constitution Protection Amendment, which I introduced as House Joint Resolution 1, will help prevent these terrible public policy proposals from ...