Kasich Lays Out Plan for Ohio

By BRIAN KOELLER
March 11, 2010

Republican candidate for governor John Kasich stopped in the River City Wednesday and said Ohio needs to change how it works with businesses in order to be successful.

Kasich, realizing he is not very well known in the northwestern part of the state, has been hitting several counties in the area the last few days. He said Wednesday Ohio taxes businesses too much and spends too much money in the wrong areas of education.

“We have a culture of regulation that doesn’t reflect Ohio values,” Kasich said. “People either leave the state or don’t come here at all.”

He said while most people talk about attracting new business to the state, he believes the first step is to keep current businesses in Ohio.

“We need to concentrate on keeping the jobs we have,” Kasich said. “We need to stabilize the situation. Then, we can expand on current operations? Then we can look at bringing new ones in.”

The first move is to balance the state’s budget, which is something Kasich has experience in doing. He was chairman of the U.S. House Budget Committee which balanced the federal budget for the first time since the 1960s. He has also served on several boards of directors for businesses in the last 10 years.

Ohio also needs a better-trained workforce, and to do that, the former 18-year Congressman suggests a program in which the government provides funds to a company, which it would match, to send employees to technical schools to improve their training.

He would also like to revamp the workers compensation program for the state.

In education, Kasich cited a recent Brookings Institute study he said reported that Ohio ranks 9th in the nation in the amount of money spent on bureaucracy in education, while it ranked only 47th in the amount of money it actually spent in classrooms.

“We’ve got to flip that, and put the money behind the kids,” Kasich said. “That way, we empower the students and the principals. We need to force change and hold the schools accountable.”

He added he believes charter schools and vouchers for students help to improve the public school system.

Kasich said Gov. Ted Strickland’s proposals to improve education in Ohio “have no funding, he has no program to turn around schools.”

He added these two issues are the only ones people are discussing during his travels.

“People are afraid if they are going to keep their job or if their kids are going to get a job after school,” Kasich said.

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