YOUR SIDE: The Readers Take Over
Writing in support of Ohio House Bill 176
To the editor:
I encourage you to ask your state legislators to support passage of HB 176. This bill is a significant step to restoring local responsibility and accountability to our schools.
We have the good fortune to live in a diverse state with many opportunities and complexities. For many years our schools were operated by people with unparalleled understanding of their communities. Traditionally, our laws have empowered said individuals with the authority and responsibility to make decisions to serve the best interests of their communities. Unfortunately, there have been national trends to consolidate power and the result has been the weakening of locally controlled schools.
HB 176 allows local school boards to step away from common core and adopt their own standards. This will allow locally elected school boards to make their own decisions. Many parents are outraged by the excessive state mandated testing students are forced to undertake. This bill will allow local school boards to reduce big government mandated testing and prioritize teaching.
It is encouraging that HB 176 takes steps to restore the local control of our schools to the democratically elected representatives of said communities. I strongly encourage others to support this legislation.
CRAIG BROWN,
Salem
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