The King of Backwards Thinking

One of the less publicized cuts made by Ohio's education Governor(try to say that without laughing) was the elimination of the Ohio College Opportunity Grant.

This grant provided assistance to 22,500 individuals attending career colleges in Ohio.

So who exactly are these people?

On average, they're 26 years old, 72% are women - many are single mothers with one or more children - and more than 30% are minorities.

They're also people who have lost work and are trying to learn new skills and trades so they can re-enter the workforce.

And what happens when they graduate?

80% get well-paying jobs within 90 days of graduation. Career college graduates contribute more than $700 million in income and wages to the state and local economies - with each graduating class contributing an additional $98.4 million more than they would have otherwise earned without their degrees. Based on a 10.4 percent tax rate, that $700 million-plus translates to about $73.6 million EACH YEAR in state and local revenues.

Now, I obviously support cutting unnecessary and inefficient government spending, but instead Strickland is irresponsibly working to destroy an education program that is providing Ohio with increased tax revenue via skilled workers and the retraining of the unemployed.

Leave it to Gov. Strickland to find a way to screw Ohio on education and jobs at the same time.