Letter to the Editor, Chillicothe Gazette
My name is Beth Workman and I am running for the House of Representatives in District 92. The 92nd District is made up of most of Ross County, all of Fayette County and half of Pickaway County. I am a mother of four grown children and a grandmother of three. I taught for 16 years in the Paint Valley Local School District. I have focused my life on children and on students.
The main reason that I’m running for a House seat is because we have an unconstitutional funding system in Ohio-and we have had for over 20 years. Our Ohio Supreme Court has ruled four times that our funding system is constitutional. In spite of this, our legislators have refused to fix this funding problem. They continue to cut funding to our schools and local municipalities. This results in either 1) schools have to cut programs, teachers, learning opportunities or 2) levies are passed which raise your taxes.
Every student in Ohio has the right to an adequate and equitable education. But our legislators have decided that it must not be important enough to fix. They are more concerned with making sure that the lending industry can continue to steal money from desperate people. And that the mostly failing, for-profit charter school industry makes a billion dollars by taking it away from our public schools. Our state is required to make sure that every student in Ohio has an excellent education-regardless of zip code. But yet, they don’t. Children and students are going to be my number one focus. Our children are our future and they deserve everything that we can possibly give them.
A vote for Beth Workman will be a vote for your children and grandchildren. I also promise to make sure that the charter school industry follows the same standards and rules as the public schools. There should be NO public money that lines the pockets of private individuals. All public money should be reinvested into the school system.