Ohio schools chief called 'visionary'
BY JON CRAIG |

COLUMBUS - Most of the public, including Gov. Ted Strickland, doesn't know the visionary side of the state's top policymaker for education, several state Board of Education members said Tuesday.

They spoke in defense of state Superintendent of Public Instruction Susan Tave Zelman during breaks at the first meeting of the state school board since Strickland openly criticized Zelman last month during an editorial board meeting of The Enquirer.

Zelman's annual evaluation by the 19-member board, which hires and fires superintendents, is in June. It coincides with a school board goal to propose recommendations to the General Assembly and Strickland on specific ways to improve the state's primary and secondary school system, both academically and financially. It's also when Zelman can get a raise on her $218,000 annual salary. Last year, the board didn't give Zelman a raise because of a freeze on other state salaries.

Strickland plans to ask the Republican-controlled state legislature to create a cabinet-level state director of education who reports to the governor, a move that would relegate Zelman to an advisory post only. The change - similar to making the university chancellor a cabinet job last year - would give the governor direct control over the state Department of Education.

Strickland has said he will propose a solution to the state's school-funding problems next year, and seek voter approval if the General Assembly doesn't adopt it.

The state board was challenged by Zelman Tuesday to dig deeper to glean new ways to bring innovation and creativity back to Ohio schools.

Zelman made the remarks after reports on how the state Education Department's work meshes with education plans proposed by Strickland and Board of Regents Chancellor Eric Fingerhut.

"I think we're still at its infancy ... in terms of understanding how the brain works,'' Zelman said. "I think we're just beginning to scratch the surface.''

In June, state school board members hope to make sweeping recommendations on how to proceed in overhauling the school system. The state Supreme Court has ruled several times that Ohio's system of funding schools is inequitable and unconstitutional because it is overly reliant on property taxes.

On March 13, speaking to Enquirer editors and reporters, Strickland called Zelman "an academician, a psychometrician, a statistician. But she's not an Eric Fingerhut, a visionary leader ... She's a very bright person who contributes a lot to education, but she's not carrying out that vision."

Zelman sounded visionary Tuesday. Calling a high school in Shanghai, China, the most exciting she'd ever seen, while citing innovative education programs in India and at U.S. engineering colleges, Zelman said the next step for the state school board is to "go deeper into research literature on innovation and creativity (and) see what we can glean and bring back to Ohio.

"Progressive engineering schools understand that quite well,'' Zelman said of universities that blend the disciplines of arts and sciences.

Several Cincinnati-area members of the 19-member school board welcomed Zelman's comments, describing her as an inspiring leader behind the scenes.

"We actually have been doing a lot of this preliminary work for years,'' said board member Jane Sonenshein of Loveland. "The legislature has to make it happen. Dr. Zelman has been extremely supportive of the thought processes. Dr. Zelman has made many changes that they need to make that nobody really had touched. . . There is a whole lot of agreement in where we want to go,'' Sonenshein said.

Board member Susan Haverkos of West Chester said the general public doesn't get to know this side of Zelman, which board members regularly experience in private conversations.

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