By Kelly Cantwell
Editor

The West Clermont Board of Education hopes a resolution passed on Oct. 25 will help the Ohio government realize the need for local control.

“We’re trying to send a message to our state legislative body that they need to allow for more local control and less oversight and dictation at the state level,” said board member Steve Waldmann.

Past policies, such as No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top, as well as the recent Every Student Succeeds Act, are legislations in a long line of changes and directives that come from the top down. The school boards are in place so there is local control but the state government keeps taking local control away, Waldmann said.

In addition, many changes come as unfunded mandates, he said.

The board’s primary issue with ESSA is that it is another directive from state government, which is not the way public education should work.

“I think this is about taking away the local control the public school district is supposed to have and we have a problem with that,” Waldmann said.

Issues began in the 1990s, the resolution states, when the state started to “erode” the “symbiotic relationship” between the state government and local boards of education.

“ESSA, although possibly less onerous in terms of intrusion into boardrooms and classrooms, continues the test and punish philosophy,” the resolution states.

Also in the resolution, the district discusses issues with yearly changes to standards, a narrow accountability system and more.

“The West Clermont Local School District Board of Education assigns an “F” rating for the current state accountability system,” the resolution states.

It also requests the state involves parents, board members, school staff and other local community members.

The board has done resolutions such as this before and while they have never received a reaction, but Waldmann thinks that as more and more districts send similar resolutions, it sends a message.

Scott Spicher, district communications coordinator, echoed Waldmann’s sentiments.

“The district is opposed to more regulations both from the federal government and from Columbus on testing and accountability,” he said, adding that the district supports accountability but it needs to be well managed and well thought out.

The government needs to let local boards of education manage their education.

“They know their community, they know their students, they know their curriculum,” Spicher said.

“One size fits all” policies do not work, and that’s what the ESSA is, he said. In addition, it’s also an unfunded mandate.

“Education and accountability should start and end at the local level,” Spicher said, adding that he feels the government is overstepping its bounds.