Nick Owens
Age: 32
Residence: Georgetown
Education: Batavia public schools, U. of Cincinnati (BBA in finance and real estate), U. of Dayton (law degree)
Employment: Assistant prosecutor, Brown County
Politics/service: Former aide to U.S. Rep. Jean Schmidt; ran in 2012 primary for state house seat
Party: Republican
Braydon Bevens
Age: 36
Residence: Waverly
Education: Waverly public schools, U. of Kentucky (BBA in finance)
Employment: Self-employed, property management
Politics/service: Board member, Pike County Metro Housing Authority
Party: Democrat
Greene and Clark county voters will choose a new state school board representative Nov. 8, as two men from outside the education world vie to replace lifelong educator Ron Rudduck, who is not running for re-election.
Braydon Bevens, 36, runs a property management company, while Nick Owens, 32, is an assistant prosecutor in Brown County. They’re running for the 10th District seat, which runs from Clark County to rural south-central Ohio, where both candidates live.
The 19-member state school board sets K-12 education policy for Ohio schools, in concert with the state legislature. Seven of the 11 elected seats are on the ballot Nov. 8. Board members serve four-year terms and are paid an hourly rate while working hours that translate to roughly $10,000 per year.
The state school board approves state education standards, sets cut scores for state tests, makes changes to the school report card system and holds discipline hearings for accused educators, among other duties.
Nick Owens
Owens grew up in Batavia just east of Cincinnati, earned a business degree and worked five years as an aide to U.S. Rep. Jean Schmidt. He earned a law degree from the University of Dayton.
As a first-generation college graduate, he said he was inspired to run for the state school board because education is “the great equalizer in society.”
Owens mentioned school funding, drug education and graduation rates among his top issues. On funding, he worried about disparities between rich and poor districts — that one district can attract better teachers than another because it can pay more, creating unequal opportunities for students.
Owens called for better drug education in schools, saying heroin is “ripping apart our community.” On graduation rates, he called it unacceptable for any school to graduate less than 90 percent of students, saying those who don’t earn a diploma are setting themselves up for a tough road in life.
Owens said he’s opposed to Ohio’s Common Core-based learning standards, arguing that schools need a more meaningful say in what they teach. He wants more accountability for charter schools, saying “the legislature and state board were asleep at the switch for too long” on requirements for online charter schools like ECOT.
“I will be accessible, I will be a listener, and I synthesize complex information well,” Owens said. “My background shows that I achieve things at a rapid pace and have always worked hard. … You also have to know how to advocate for the people you represent, and I think through my chosen profession I’ve shown that.”
Braydon Bevens
Bevens grew up in Waverly, earned a business degree from Kentucky, then returned to Waverly where he runs a property management company and has served as a volunteer firefighter, substitute teacher and youth coach.
A father of two, Bevens said he’s running for two reasons — students being treated as “one of the masses” in school rather than getting individual attention, plus a sense of service to make his community better.
Bevens, like Owens, quickly brought up the current school funding system as a key issue, with concerns that it creates an uneven playing field, especially in poor areas. He’d like to see efforts to address teacher shortages, such as incentives or flexibility on out-of-state licenses.
Bevens said he’s opposed to Ohio’s current system of “high-stakes testing,” saying students are unnecessarily stressed out. He also said many southern Ohio counties are “hemorrhaging a lot of money” to online charter schools “without much accountability for it.”
Bevens attended this month’s state school board meeting and said he was surprised how split the board was on some votes. He said he’d be willing to think outside the box and really listen to others, adding, “my opinion isn’t always the best, but … I feel like I’m good at negotiating and compromising to get to the best idea.”
“I’m an involved father. My kids are one of the most important things to me … and I want to make sure they do better than I do,” Bevens said. “I feel a critical part of that is a quality education. I might not have as much knowledge on some of the issues going in as some other people do, but I sure get up to speed pretty quick.”
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