Governor John Kasich, a Republican who holds only a slim lead in a head-to-head match up with his possible Democratic challenger but boasts an approval rating near his all-time high, chose to dedicate a great deal of his State of the State address Monday to highlight successes and shortcomings in state education programs.
Speaking from Medina High School, the governor delivered his fourth annual State of the State address, in which he mostly talked about job creation in Ohio and education reforms, including a promise to find “an answer for the 24,000 kids in this state who drop out each and every year.”
He pledged to launch Community Connectors, “an initiative to support the best ideas for bringing together schools, parents, communities, faith-based groups, businesses and students in mentoring efforts based on proven practices,” according to a transcript of the speech. “We’re going to ask the legislature to provide $10 million from casino licensing fees to support the effort and to show that we’re serious; the state will give communities $3 for every $1 they put in.”
Touching on job creation, Kasich said early in the address that Ohio has created about 170,000 private sector jobs in the past three years, an average of about 155 jobs per day. He attributed that to his tax cuts.
Now he is moving forward to focus on education funding and motivating students to learn.
“(Somewhere in Ohio), there’s a 17-year-old girl thinking about not going back to school,” Kasich said. “How do we get her excited about learning? I don’t care what party you’re a member of; we need an answer for the 24,000 kids in this state who drop out each and every year and join millions of adults in Ohio who don’t have a high school diploma.”
Kasich, who is facing re-election in November, has a 51-36 percent job approval rating, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released Feb. 14.
Kasich hit his all-time high, a 54-32 percent job approval rating, in June, according to another Quinnipiac poll. His approval rating has held relatively steady for the past 12 months.
The recent poll also found Kasich to have “a slim 43-38 percent lead over Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald, his largely unknown possible Democratic challenger.”
Rep. Debbie Phillips, D-Athens, said Kasich’s speech might have resonated with some Ohioans but that the governor was “vague about a lot of things, and I think context matters a lot.”
While Kasich highlighted that Ohio has been moving forward in creating jobs, Phillips said Ohio is ranked 47 in job creation, according to some estimates.
Sen. Lou Gentile, a Democrat from Steubenville whose district includes part of Athens, agreed.
“I think in some ways, the governor has overpromised and underdelivered,” Gentile said, adding that when he heard Kasich speak about job creation, he was reminded of “very high” unemployment rates in his Senate district.
However, he did agree with Kasich on one point: ensuring that Ohio veterans receive academic credit after completing their service, which he has proposed in Senate Bill 13.
“While the governor promotes his agenda, we ought see a bill like this pass,” Gentile said, adding that it will be important for republicans and democrats to listen to each other’s viewpoints.
“(That would be a) great opportunity, I think, for the governor to demonstrate his leadership,” he said.
In Copeland Hall on Ohio University’s campus, OU College Republicans hosted a watch party where about 10 people, mostly in the organization, watched Kasich’s address.
Dylan Gustafson, president of OU College Republicans and a senior studying finance, said he was “stunned” to learn that there were more than one million Ohioans without a high school degree. He noted that because Kasich didn’t deliver many specifics, he couldn’t point out any particular cons about the governor’s speech.
This article originally appeared in print under the headline "Kasich’s speech leaves Democrats skeptical"
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