News Summary

COLUMBUS — — Attention, citizens of Ohio.

Gov. Ted Strickland wants your help.

Oh, the governor knows you've already got lots on your minds. Gas prices are still too high, jobs are sagging, wars are raging and presidential candidates already are camping out in Ohio.

Strickland pays some attention to these things himself but has another priority this summer.

He wants to figure out how to make Ohio schools world class. Then in the fall he'll hold more meetings to find a way to pay for the makeover.

This may sound like a story you've heard before. It's hard to remember a governor who didn't make education his top priority.

No governor, however, has launched a 12-city "Conversation on Education."

The conversation — Strickland likes words like "conversation" — comes to Dayton from 4:30 to 6 p.m. Tuesday, July 29, at the Dayton Convention Center. Attendance is by invitation only, but you can tune in online live at www.conversationoneducation.org and or watch later on public television. Participants get an extra hour to talk among themselves after Strickland leaves.

The conversations are aimed at getting public input into reforming how and what students are taught.

Still, this is a Strickland production, another sign that he's determined to make education the make-or-break issue of his first term as governor.

The legislature hasn't approved his proposal for the creation of the director of education appointed by the governor. However, Susan Tave Zelman got the message that Strickland wants to do things his way. She resigned in May as superintendent of public instruction, a job that reports to the state board of education, not Strickland.

Legislators have been invited to the sessions, but only as participants with the same status as the parents, teachers and others in the room.

The first conversation was held in Columbus on Tuesday, July 22. It was a friendly cross between a public service announcement and infomercial with audience input. Holly Hollingsworth, a former TV newsperson and now spokeswoman for Treasurer Richard Cordray, and Strickland played hostess and host.

This wasn't about selling kitchen gadgets, however.

When he ran for governor in 2006, Strickland pledged to overhaul school funding — still technically unconstitutional — and said he'd be judged by how he achieved that goal.

With the forums on education reform, he's upped the ante for himself and the state. He framed the challenge last February in his state-of-the-state speech.

"While we are holding our own with most states, we have not kept pace with much of the world," he said. "And we still must work to ensure that all our schools can meet the needs of all our students in this globally competitive environment."

At the Columbus forum, Strickland tossed out ideas like longer school years, longer school days, better programs tailored to students' individual needs, more hands-on learning and making the best teachers resources for other teachers. He also emphasized linking preparation of students to economic success.

He kept saying, however, that he didn't want to be "evaluative," which must mean he didn't want the participants to think he's got his mind made up.

Strickland said he'll present his reforms and funding plan to legislators next year. If they don't go along, he'll take them directly to the voters, he said.

There's no price tag, at least not yet.

"You don't know how much you're going to pay for a house until you know what kind of house you're going to build," Strickland said.

How to watch

What: Gov. Ted Strickland's education reform "conversation" in Dayton

When: 4:30 p.m., Tuesday, July 29

Where: Watch live on the Web at www.conversationon

education.com. ThinkTV in Dayton, WPTD, Channel 16, and WPTO, Channel 14, will broadcast the forum later. It will air 8 to 9:30 p.m. on Tuesday, July 29, on WPTD's Ohio Channel, channel 720 on Time Warner digital cable. It also will run 9 to 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday, July 30, on WPTO's World Channel, channel 715 on Time Warner Cable.