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As momentum builds for Mayor White to take over the state-controlled Cleveland schools, the chairman of the House Education Committee is trying to convince the schools' unions and the NAACP to help him fight such a plan.
Rep. Michael Fox, R-Hamilton, is trying to turn any bad feelings various parties may harbor toward Mayor White into support for his idea to turn all Cleveland schools into charter schools, which the legislator said would put parents instead of politicians in control of the schools.
Charter schools would allow school choice by eliminating centralized control over which schools children must attend. Rep. Fox said charter schools are the only hope for reforming education in the Cleveland school district, which since March 1995 has been run by the state under a federal court order.
However, Rep. Fox said he won't push the plan unless the district's unions and the NAACP back him.
"I hope the fear and objection to Mike White being given unilateral control will be enough to sober them up," Rep. Fox said. "In order for them to meet the Lord, you've got to show them the devil."
The Ohio House is scheduled to hold its first hearing tomorrow, Nov. 12, in Columbus regarding a bill written by Reps. William Batchelder, R-Medina, and Michael Wise, R-Mayfield Heights, that would give Mayor White control of the Cleveland schools. At least two hearings in Cleveland are planned before year's end, Rep. Wise said.
The bill...