Denis Smith, formerly a state official in charge of charter schools, here reviews Governor Kasich’s penchant for colorful and inaccurate statements.
Smith writes:
“According to the Columbus Dispatch, the governor said “We need more superintendents who are educators, and less superintendents who are politicians.”
Evidently, Kasich doesn’t know that Ohio law requires its superintendents to be highly professional:
“State law directs that the head of an Ohio school district must hold a professional school administrator license to serve as a superintendent. According to the Ohio Department of Education website, a superintendent must “Earn a master’s degree from an accredited university; Complete an approved preparation program; Receive a recommendation from the dean or head of teacher education at the institution where he or she completed the preparation program; Complete the Ohio Assessment for Educators licensure exam #015, Educational Leadership, prescribed by the State Board of Education.”
“In addition to all of these requirements, Ohio professional administrator licensure requires that a school superintendent “must have three years of successful experience in a position requiring a principal or administrative specialist license.”
Contrast this with the lack of requirements to lead a charter school:
“Under Ohio law, there are no education or professional requirements for an individual to serve as a public charter school superintendent or principal. None. As Woody Allen might have put it, if 80% of success in life is just showing up, you’ve got a good chance of becoming the top administrator of a charter school just by showing up, with a new start-up school proposal in hand, at the offices of a charter school sponsor.
“And yes, governor, let’s say it again: there are absolutely no administrative licensure requirements in charterdom. You don’t even have to be an educator in order to open and become a superintendent of a “public” charter school.”
As for politicians, no requirements there either.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Well, the superintendents are forced to act as advocates for their public schools because none of the politicians we’re paying are doing the job.
I’m sure they’re not thrilled about pulling double duty, but I’m grateful they’ve picked up the slack and are acting as advocates for the 90% of Ohio children who attend public schools.
It was really a matter of filing a huge, gaping hole.
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I’m sure his criterion for a good educator is the same as his criterion for a good politician — one who stays bought.
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I think he’s mad because it quickly became apparent that his proposed budget cuts funding to more than half of Ohio public schools and increases funding for charters.
It took about 12 hours for the truth to come out 🙂
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So he’s ignorant of the law and proper English usage. Who’s surprised?
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Yes! fewer superintendents, not “less superintendents”!
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“As for politicians, no requirements there either.”
Careful, Diane, you just gave Raj an opening.
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Here’s a good editorial on Kasich’s education priorities:
http://www.cleveland.com/opinion/index.ssf/2015/02/ohio_must_stop_increasing_taxp.html
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He hurts my brain. In other news…will CCRAP be stalled for additional days in northern Ohio as we see, yet another wind chill advisory through noon on Tuesday? Divine intervention. I hope that doesn’t upset the gov’nuh.
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