Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine is emphasizing child safety and education policy in the state’s final state

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine focused on improving the lives of children during his final State of the State address Tuesday. This topic consistently plays a central role in his annual addresses to the General Assembly.

He praised the state’s success in implementing phonics-based reading instruction and banning cell phones in classrooms. But he called on lawmakers to do more – extend breaks, address chronic absenteeism and take steps to better protect children online.

After 45 years in elected office, the governor is nearing the end. It is unlikely that he will seek elected office again after his term ends this year. Last December, at an event, DeWine showed reporters a compact countdown clock.

“This is what I look at every morning,” he said. It’s a reminder to approach everything “with a great sense of urgency.”

After Tuesday’s speech, GOP leaders praised what they liked and rejected or ignored what they didn’t like.

Democrats said that while they are elated to work across the street on programs like vision care and water quality, too often Republican policies benefit some, but not all, Ohioans.

Learning to read

DeWine’s focus on legacy was simple to miss. He described how his grandfather planted trees towards the end of his life, although he did not have the opportunity to see them grow.

“He planted them anyway,” DeWine said, “because he believed in the future, because he believed in building a better world for future generations.”

“We plant a lot of trees together,” he told lawmakers. “And they are actually growing.”

A central pillar of DeWine’s second-semester education policy is a shift to a “learning to read” curriculum – both for juvenile students and the future teachers who will teach them.

DeWine described meeting dyslexic student Liam Kramer in 2023.

Kramer survived his junior year of high school without liking reading. But DeWine said that when he started working with a teacher specializing in reading, “everything started to fall into place.”

“Liam learned to read, really read,” he said. “He has since graduated from high school and has a job. He just showed Fran and me a photo of his house and is planning the next step in his career.”

When DeWine pointed out Kramer in the gallery, he received a standing ovation.

“Liam says being able to read has changed his life,” DeWine said.

On training, the governor thanked lawmakers for passing legislation requiring Ohio colleges and universities to apply science reading materials.

A recent audit found that two-thirds of colleges and universities support the initiative, but DeWine expressed optimism that the rest will do so as well. If they don’t, he said, state law will force them to shut down the programs.

“Our laws are the strictest in the country,” DeWine said. “That’s why we now have people calling us from all over the country, calling Ohio, because they also want to follow what they call the Ohio plan.”

Healthy habits

The governor highlighted East Cleveland’s efforts to address chronic absenteeism.

School officials track attendance records and contact families if a student misses more than a day or two.

They found that children didn’t miss classes because it didn’t bother them.

Instead, DeWine said, “they encountered real barriers – transportation challenges, health issues, difficult situations at home, and so on.”

That’s why the school district has focused on ensuring students have access to the services they need.

“The results speak for themselves,” DeWine said. “Last year, East Cleveland reduced chronic absenteeism by more than 10%. At the same time, third-grade students’ reading skills increased by more than 10%.”

The governor also praised legislation doubling recess time and extending it to students through eighth grade.

Recess gives children a chance to be physically lively, he said, but it also makes them more attentive students when they are in the classroom.

The current half hour for a break?

“It just isn’t enough,” DeWine said.

DeWine also made a mental health case for recent protections for children online.

Eliminating cell phones in classrooms has led to a “cultural shift” in schools across Ohio, he said, but the time kids spend online outside of school continues to deprive them of opportunities to exercise and learn social skills.

The governor said artificial intelligence tools could pose even darker threats.

He urged lawmakers to require automatic parental control features on cell phones and other devices.

He also called on them to ban child pornography produced using artificial intelligence and to hold technology companies accountable if their tools facilitate users commit suicide or harm themselves.

“Ohio law requires real consequences associated with it,” he said. “Ohio’s attorney general and district attorneys must have clear legal tools to hold these tech companies criminally and civilly accountable. We need this bill.”

The Republican response

DeWine told lawmakers that passing the driving-without-seatbelt laws saved 280 lives, but he urged them to go a step further and make failure to wear a seatbelt a major offense.

This change would allow law enforcement officers to stop a car solely because a person is not wearing a seat belt.

Ohio House Speaker Matt Huffman and Ohio Senate President Rob McColley threw cool water on the idea.

“It’s a really interesting mix of legislators who care about getting basic seat belt legislation in place,” Huffman said.

“They include both small-l libertarians in the Republican Party and local Democrats who believe their population will suffer the most.”

Of course, McColley said, people should wear seat belts and lawmakers want them to wear them, but it’s arduous to convince a majority of lawmakers to support changes to the law.

“To what extent will this be used in ways that may target specific people?” McColley asked. “To what extent will this be used in a way that is harmful to the population that is trying to help?”

When it comes to legislation regulating tech companies, leaders seemed sympathetic but noncommittal.

Huffman said the state has a role to play, but so does the federal government, although he’s not entirely sure where that line is drawn.

Drawing a comparison to basic liability laws, Huffman said tech companies clearly face some level of liability for their products.

“If something explodes in an industrial area, we don’t say the company isn’t responsible because they weren’t there,” he said.

“When that happens, they have some responsibility not only to their employees but also to the people who would otherwise be injured.”

Asked about Senate legislation focusing on AI-generated child pornography, McColley said existing revenge porn laws penalize people for sharing sexually explicit material without a person’s consent.

“I don’t see why we wouldn’t apply the same logic to AI-generated material,” he said.

The Democrats’ response

Democrats asked whether Ohioans are better off today than they were a year ago.

Ohio Senate Minority Leader Nickie Antonio highlighted the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, the unfolding war in the Middle East and the Ohio Secretary of State’s release of Ohio voter data as Congress considers legislation requiring proof of citizenship when voting.

“Ohioans across the state are asking themselves, are we better off, or actually better off, than we were a year ago?” Antonio said.

Health care, housing and utility costs are rising for too many Ohioans, she said.

“We hope that in the governor’s final year in office,” Antonio said, “he will join us in our efforts to support hard-working families across Ohio so that next year many more Ohioans will be in a better place and can say that they are actually better off than they were last year.”

Ohio House Minority Leader Dani Isaacsohn said DeWine’s vision for Ohio only looks rosy if major challenges are ignored.

The governor didn’t mention property taxes or child care and housing costs – instead, he mentioned the physical fitness program spearheaded by Lieutenant Governor Jim Tressel.

Sitting on the wall won’t solve Ohio’s very real problems, Isaacsohn insisted.

“The governor said Ohio was strong, and in some ways it is,” he said. “But strength at the top and struggle at the bottom is not a success that should be celebrated. It is a failure that must be addressed.”

He said Republican lawmakers have repeatedly supported policies that benefit wealthy Ohioans.

He said the latest budget allocated $600 million for a recent Browns stadium, and now the wealthiest 1% of residents pay an average of $50,000 less each year.

“We need to stop electing billionaires,” Isaacsohn said. “That doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with their success, but it shouldn’t give them a government benefit.”

Follow Ohio Capital Journal reporter Nick Evans on X Or on Bluesky.