Ohio's Schools, Taxes

Ohio Gov. John Kasich has been stacking the deck with his appointees in various boards and agencies across the state. 

Dispatch:

....Kasich named Mark A. Smith, president of Ohio Christian University in Circleville, to fill a seat being vacated by Dannie Greene, a retired postmaster from Gallipolis who was named to the board by former Gov. Ted Strickland.

In addition, Kasich re-appointed Angela Bennett of East Cleveland and C. Todd Jones of New Albany. The governor had named both to the board shortly after taking office two years ago.

Smith, Bennett and Jones will serve four-year terms....

Who is Mark A. Smith? 
Wall Street Journal (10/31/12):

....The president of Ohio Christian University, Mark A. Smith, says, "The intensity of voters in the faith community is as high as I've seen it in the last 12 years." The driver of that intensity is religious liberty. "We took a direct hit with the Affordable Care Act," he says. Evangelicals watched the Obama administration's big public fight with Catholic hospitals and charities. What they concluded is that the health-care law was a direct threat to their own private outreach programs. 

Mr. Smith says that if evangelicals in Ohio's rural communities repeat their turnout levels from 2000 and 2004, they will offset the Obama advantage in Cuyahoga County. "Six different faith groups are out there" for Romney in Ohio, he says. "That didn't happen the last time." 

Mr. Smith and others I spoke to this week cited one more reason for their enthusiasm: Paul Ryan. Steve Scheffler, a longtime GOP activist in Iowa, says it was "the best possible choice" Mr. Romney could make for the ticket. "It galvanized evangelicals." 

Of course, Mark A. Smith has been on YouTube speaking with Tony Perkins, and is a frequent guest on Fox News.


In other news-----

WKYC uncovered a school using students to remove asbestos from their building:

A small religious school is under criminal investigation after several dozen teenage students and others volunteered over several weekends to gut a building containing asbestos, a cancer-causing agent, according to interviews and records.

Students as young as 13 who attend the Buckeye Education School spent several weekends removing asbestos-filled materials without any protective gear at the former YWCA on Smith Road in Middleburg Heights, said Cleveland Commissioner of Air Quality George Baker, who also works with the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency.... 

.....Both Jonathan Borys, principal of Buckeye Education, and Bruce Carmichael, of Sterling Education, which oversees the school, declined to say who asked the students to do the work at the building....

Removing asbestos must be done by certified workers, not children. This school has exposed their students, and the school's neighbors to dangerous asbestos.

* When Gov. Kasich cut funding to cities, counties, and communities, local governments have had to turn to the public for help in the form of more taxes.

DaytonDailyNews:

Elected leaders in Oakwood and Waynesville, and Clearcreek and Miami townships all took steps this week toward placing tax levies on the May 7 ballot.

The four governments considered resolutions asking their county auditor to certify the amount of tax revenue that would be raised by various property tax levies. Local governments in Ohio have until Feb. 6 to contact the county election board about putting the tax levies on the ballot.

On Monday, Oakwood City Council voted to ask the Montgomery County auditor’s office to determine how much would be raised by a 3.75 mill property tax levy. The city council plans to place a five-year, 3.75 mill levy for general purposes on the primary ballot....



Which groups have benefited from Gov. Kasich's administration? The answer is certainly NOT school children, communities, and tax payers.