While debating rival candidate Ken Blackwell two months ago, Governor-elect Ted Strickland said as governor he would find a way to make the state's school funding system more equal across wealthy and disadvantaged districts. And he drew a clear connection to a series of Supreme Court decisions on the constitutionality of the current system.
Ted Strickland: When you become the governor, you raise your right hand to take the oath of office. You swear to uphold the constitution of the state of Ohio. I don't know how you can take that oath seriously and continue to ignore what the Supreme Court has said about the school system and its funding.
The court ruled numerous times that the state's heavy reliance on property taxes to pay for schools was unconstitutional. Now that Strickland has won the governor's seat, it's unclear whether he'll raise the constitutional issue again. Ohio House Speaker Jon Husted thinks it moot.
Jon Husted: There's no way to determine whether its constitutional or not at this point in time because we've made changes since they gave up jurisdiction in the case.
Some might challenge that assertion, but it's unlikely the court would take up the issue again - which means the new Democratic governor and Republican General Assembly will have to settle the funding debate on legislative grounds. Strickland thinks this can be done.
Ted Strickland: There have got to be good faith negotiations and I don't think we've had gubernatorial leadership that's been willing to provide that. And I will provide it.
But Husted says there's more to solving the school funding issue, than creating bipartisanship.
Jon Husted: It really depends on who's defining the word "solved." When taxpayers say we want to solve school funding, what they mean is they want less reliance on property taxes. What a lot of education advocates mean is that we need a lot more money for schools.
It's hard to imagine Strickland's ambitious list of education objectives - more training in the workforce, all-day kindergarten, tuition guarantees for students at state universities - being accomplished without significant new funding. Republicans say he'll only find it when Ohio's economy grows and tax revenues increase. But Steven Brooks, Director of the Bliss Institute for Applied Politics in Akron, says with the strength of Strickland's win, Republicans, who still hold the majority, run a risk in mounting their traditional opposition to democratic proposals.
Steven Brooks: They will look very obstructionist against the new governor who's promised to do things and I think with this electoral mood I think it would be difficult.
But Speaker of the House Jon Husted says the onus is on Strickland to come up with workable solutions.
Jon Husted: The pressures on him and this is why. He campaigned on the issue. He said he's going to being a solution to the table and so now it's time for him to deliver. And we'll anxiously await his proposal.
There's one other issue Strickland and the Republican majority could clash on - publicly funded but largely privately run charter schools, which have been championed by conservatives. Strickland is pushing for more transparency from charter school operators, and says he knows he's sure to meet some resistance.
Ted Strickland: I believe that's likely to be a point of fairly intense debate and discussion.
Lisa Ann Pinkerton, 90.3.