What does the leader of our state actually do? In this Politics on Point, it's all about budgets and bills.
Class Discussion Questions:
1) Create a Venn diagram comparing and contrasting the offices of Governor and President.
Read the Script:
The president of the United States gets a lot of attention, but what about the president of just a single state, ever heard of them? Okay, so that's not the right title, but I'm talking about governors. Each state has a governor who is in charge of it, and like the president these guys, or gals, hold some big powers. Let me explain.
The first thing to know is that the governor is an elected position. This means that the people of a state vote for who they want to be their governor. Most governors are elected every four years, but there are some states that vote every two instead. The opposite of an elected position is an appointed position; that's where someone chooses who gets the job, no voting required. This is good to know because governors have that power to appoint other important people in the state. Governors might choose who's in charge of anything from transportation to agriculture to schools.
Another big task for a governor is to make a budget for the state. A budget is an estimate of money you have and how you'll spend it. The governor has to decide how much of the state's money to give to those people to use in their areas that we mentioned earlier. Not overspending and also making all the departments happy can be tough. Governors can use the budget to promote what causes they think are most important to their state. If a governor wants to add a high speed rail to their state, they might put more money into transportation, or if they want to raise the quality of education, they might put more money there.
Governors have a lot of influence. They're able to push for laws that they want to see in their state. Once a state law is passed by the state's senate and House of Representatives, it heads to the governor for approval. Sounds like a familiar process right? It's basically the same way the President signs off on laws for the whole nation. Governors have the ability to veto or stop laws that they don't approve of from going through too. Plus governors can issue executive orders which are quick ways to get things done. Like the governor can call for immediate spending after a natural disaster or they can call for an investigation into something that has gone wrong.
It's a big role and just how each state works is a little different just like each governor's job is a little different. But that let's each state be unique! You might be surprised to hear that the qualifications to become governor are also unique to each state. Many states require candidates to be at least 25 or 30 years old. Not in Ohio, though! Here you only need to be 18 and a current resident to run for governor. So who knows? Maybe YOU could be governor in a few years!