Susan Haverkos and Carl Wick

Haverkos’ view is that an elected state school board has value. In fact, she thinks the state should consider making the positions full-time. Haverkos runs an internet company with her husband, which means she can’t be in Columbus for as much board business as she would like.

For instance, Haverkos said she would have loved to attend all the recent meetings at which the department heard testimony on teacher misconduct. The state reimburses her for travel to and from her home in West Chester, but that is just not enough.

“You have to be retired or independently wealthy to do that and not worry about making a living,” she said.

Even so, Haverkos said she feels she can make some difference. She said she has solved many problems for constituent callers and has had a good opportunity to share her ideas on issues discussed before the board.

Haverkos is not a Democrat but said she has liked some of Strickland’s work as governor. On the education department reform, she thinks he has the cart before the horse. She said he should first present his much-touted reform plan and then decided if the current board is part of the problem or could be part of the solution.

“It almost sounds to me like he’s saying, ‘Its too hard to fix so I’m going to blame them. Let’s get rid of them and then I’ll tell my plan.’ What is the plan?” she said.

While Haverkos puts a lot of faith in the elective process, which she used to win a seat on the board, Wick had a different experience.

A retired NCR executive, Wick ran for the state board and was challenged by Griffin, then a 75-year-old retired farmer and perpetual candidate who had run for a variety of offices dozens of times over more than 30 years. His rare big successes came in the little-watched state school board races. In 1992 he defeated Kettering’s well respected Charles Roush for a board seat. Then he beat Wick in 2003.

Griffin, now desceased, was legendary at state board meetings for showing up unshowered and in soiled clothes, stuffing food from the buffet into his pockets and making non-sensical arguments. The only issue he seemed passionate about was his pet belief that ever Ohio student should be taught to fire a gun.

Wick, who was later appointed to the board by then-Gov. Bob Taft, wrote in an op-ed in the DDN after his defeat that said the race’s outcome forced him to rethink his support for the concept of an elected state board. He said voters paid so little attention to the state board races that they often knew nothing of the candidates. Griffin’s success demonstrated that name recognition alone was the key factor in state board races.

Wick left me a phone message yesterday (he is out of state) saying he felt keeping the board was important, but appointed leadership is not necessarily a bad thing.

There is one other factor at play here we should consider — political control.

Under Strickland’s plan, he could appoint a political ally who essential runs the state’s K-12 operation. That’s what he did with the college regents and the appointment of chancellor Eric Fingerhut, a former Democratic legislator.

This already has school choice folks nervous. Strickland has pretty bluntly stated that he believes the state’s education funds should be concentrated on public schools and last year proposed scrapping the state’s voucher program. He is also viewed as hostile to charter schools.

With direct-line control over education, what’s to stop him from junking those programs? That may sound great to some Democrats, but consider the the scenario in reverse. How quickly might a Republican governor’s appointee be able to expand those or other pet education programs? It seemed pretty clear from the speech that Strickland is not a fan of Superintendent Susan Zelman and her department. What sorts of reforms his new appointee might institute remains to be seen.

What do you think about this debate? Do you like Strickland’s move or does it make you uneasy?

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