Ohio Board of Education president Laura Kohler to resign over anti-racism resolution
Anna Staver
Two weeks ago, Ohio State Board of Education President Laura Kohler voted against repealing an anti-racist resolution. On Friday, she plans to resign.
"I was aware there would be consequences ...," Kohler said in an interview. "I'm a Republican. I knew it was a controversial vote."
Those consequences came down this week when she says Gov. Mike DeWine's chief of staff asked her to resign after the Republican-controlled Ohio Senate indicated it would not confirm her appointment.
A spokesman for DeWine declined to comment.
Kohler said she saw the writing on the wall. A vote to remove her would be embarrassing both to herself and the governor, who appointed her to the position. Her only choice was to resign.
The controversy started back in July 2020, a few weeks after the murder of George Floyd by a Minnesota police officer. That's when the state school board voted for something called Resolution 20.
It outlined all the ways Ohio's children of color, particularly its Black boys, underperform compared to their white counterparts. And it urged both the Ohio Department of Education and local school districts to take a hard look at their implicit biases, test questions, disciplinary records and textbooks.
"We have 20 years of data that shows that Black and brown children consistently underperform their white peers," Kohler said. "Why is pointing that out and saying that is not good enough; why is that controversial?"
But a lot of Republicans saw the resolution as problematic. They said it opened the door to a controversial kind of teaching about history, racism and slavery that was anti-American.
They wanted it repealed, and they expressed their disappointment when they sat down with Kohler this summer to talk about her appointment.
GOP-led Senate wouldn't confirm Kohler's appointment
Unlike the federal government, DeWine's appointees to boards and commissions start serving immediately. The Senate then has the remainder of the General Assembly to consent or not consent.
It's a bit of a weird system, Senate President Matt Huffman, R-Lima said. If the senators never vote, the appointee simply serves out his or her term.
"You can get burned that way ...," Huffman continued. "And I thought we ought to have some process, especially in these higher-level positions."
The governor gets eight appointees to the state board of education, and 11 more members are elected by Ohio voters.
Huffman thought these appointees fit into that higher level category, so he and education committee chair Sen. Andrew Brenner, R-Delaware, started interviewing those board members earlier this year.
Brenner didn't return a phone call seeking comment, but Huffman said he had a lot of concerns about the number of board members from central Ohio generally and Kohler in particular.
He wanted the board to "stop telling parents how to raise their children" and "stop telling schools boards what to think about this giant social issue."
And he didn't like the way Kohler limited testimony on Resolution 20.
The board stopped accepting verbal comments in late 2020. Written testimony was still allowed, but a Cincinnati businessman sued, saying that violated his First Amendment Rights.
"That’s just something that’s fundamental to a public body," Huffman said. "We've all been in hearings until two or three in the morning making sure the last person gets to speak."
Kohler said no one ever explicitly told her to repeal the resolution or she'd lose her job, "but it was apparent that neither of the senators was supportive of the resolution."
Senate confirms members who voted to repeal anti-racism resolution
Things finally came to a head in October when an elected member of the board introduced a resolution to repeal the antiracist one. This new document acknowledged the achievement gaps for minority students, but it also condemned any teachings that "seek to divide."
Resolution 13 passed 10-7 with Kohler and Poklar voting no.
"I think, in its final, form Resolution 13 was a good resolution," Kohler said. "But nothing has changed for me in the last year that has caused me to doubt the truth of anything that was included in the original resolution."
Things did, however, change in the Ohio Senate.
On Wednesday, senators confirmed three appointed members who voted to repeal. Poklar, Kohler and two appointees who were absent the night of the repeal vote remained unconfirmed.
When asked about Poklar and Kohler specifically, Huffman said his fellow Republican senators were concerned about their votes to keep Resolution 20. And he probably had the votes to remove them from the board.
That's when Kohler says DeWine's asked her to resign.
"I could not see the point of dragging this out because it wouldn’t change the outcome," Kohler said. "I was afraid it would be a distraction from the very important work of the state board."
The board has to pick a new state superintendent, and there's talk of reviewing the board's overall framework for public education.
Huffman's been talking about the board too.
He thinks it's time to revisit what role they play in educating Ohio's children.
"We’re looking at a different way for the state school board to operate and exist," Huffman said. "What does the state school board look like going forward? That's the discussion we're having right now."
Anna Staver is a reporter for the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau, which serves the Columbus Dispatch, Cincinnati Enquirer, Akron Beacon Journal and 18 other affiliated news organizations across Ohio.