Rep. Dan Ramos issues statement on fast-track takeover of Youngstown City Schools

State Representative Dan Ramos (D-Lorain) issued the following statement regarding last-minute legislative approval of the governor’s proposal to restructure the Youngstown City School system which was included in House Bill 70, a bill originally designed to make Community Learning Centers an official state education model:

“House Bill 70, with the Senate’s new amendment, was rejected by senators and representatives from Youngstown and Lorain who represent the constituents it will most affect. The bill overrides local control and community input to create an unaccountable so-called ‘CEO’ with broad, unilateral administrative power, including the power to change curriculum, hire and fire teachers at will, and even to shut down our public schools. This dramatic shift in education policy received no hearings or discussion in this house before today, and yet it will directly take away power from the people who live in these areas. This top-down approach is tantamount to the state taking over our school districts: Youngstown first, Lorain second. Communities and citizens should retain the right to make local decisions on a plan that prepares our children to succeed, not one that fast-tracks a Columbus power grab.”