Ohio Department of Education
The Ohio Department of Education is commonly known as the Ohio State Board of Education. It is responsible for the administration and overall workings of both primary lower and secondary or high school education in Ohio State.
The board has elected (11) and appointed (8) members who oversee some 11 main school districts and 3 other Ohio senate ones; each member represents one of the districts. The eight are appointed by the state governor and serve four years in office. Re-election of elected members is done through a staggered system, allowing members to hold their position for 2 years only. Any unfilled positions are appointed again by the governor.
Within the Ohio Department of Education’s board are two seats belonging to an Ohio representative to the state’s education committee, or the Ohio House of Representatives Education Committee, and another Ohio representative, but to the Ohio State Senate. Both are considered to be ex officio positions. Finally, the board leaves the running of the Ohio Department of Education to the Superintendent of Public Instruction, whom they appoint.
Though the Ohio Department of Education has no jurisdiction over Ohio’s many universities and colleges, it is still responsible for governing the over all curriculum for other public and alternative schools. It is must also enforce all educational laws, civil rights and other related laws as passed down to it by the United States Department of Education, to which it answers. It also undertakes the task of keeping parents/educators informed of educational information, and ensuring a balance within each district and school, that follows through with the guidelines set down in the ‘Leave No Child Behind Act’.
In recent years, the Ohio Department of Education has been highly criticized. It had been alleged for years that proper technical and science education within the state had been grossly lacking, and that the board had done nothing to encourage public interest in their business. In fact, it was also alleged that as a result of this, the general public were in the dark as to the depth of the issues the board had to deal with, leaving an air of apathy. This public apathy allegedly got so out of control that very few legal voters bothered to vote in any Ohio Department of Education board elections, almost seeing it as a minor and irrelevant undertaking. However, since the legislation into law of the ‘Leave No Child Behind Act’, the department has been forced to increase public awareness and the general public has now been woken up to the importance of choosing board members to better their children’s education.