Control of K-12 schools in state of flux, as case continues in court: Capitol Letter

Legal lurch: A new state law overhauling who controls public education policy in Ohio passed earlier this year as part of the state budget. A court paused the law, for now. The governor suggested he won’t heed the court ruling. Plaintiffs say he’s grandstanding and flouting a court order. Jake Zuckerman reports on the legal mess behind the fight for control of public schools in Ohio.

Approaching deadline: The deadline to register to vote for the Nov. 7 election is just under a week away, Oct. 10, while early voting begins the next day. Andrew Tobias has an explainer of Ohio’s voting rules. He also offers an update from Cuyahoga County elections officials, who say that they’ve processed 27,641 vote-by-mail applications, roughly 9,200 more than the equivalent time ahead of the August election, leading them to project even higher turnout for November.

Team players: Ohio’s congressional Republicans were united in support of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Tuesday as he faced a motion to vacate his leadership post orchestrated by U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, but four of the state’s five Democrats joined Gaetz in the effort to oust the speaker. (Democratic U.S. Rep. Emilia Sykes was absent dealing with a personal matter.) Sabrina Eaton has more on what Ohio’s congressional delegation had to say about the historic vote, the first such effort to vacate the speakership in more than a century.

Mr. Speaker?: Hours after the vote to remove McCarthy as speaker, an unexpected name surfaced as a potential successor. Eaton reports that U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan, a Champaign County Republican, is getting some buzz as a candidate to lead the chamber. Jordan, a McCarthy supporter who demurred when his name was tossed into the ring during a contentious speaker fight earlier this year, didn’t immediately take himself out of the running late on Tuesday, saying it would be up to the Republican conference to decide.

Evidence-based proposal: A bipartisan group of Ohio lawmakers is again introducing legislation designed to help a Cleveland Death Row inmate who was freed for more than two years based on DNA evidence but was returned to Death Row on a legal technicality over the introduction of such evidence. Jeremy Pelzer has more on Anthony Apanovitch’s case and why both supporters and opponents of the state’s death penalty are backing the proposal, which went nowhere last legislative session.

Nobel effort: Retired Ohio State University professor Pierre Agostini won the Nobel Prize in Physics on Tuesday for his work to measure the movement of electrons with extremely short bursts of light. As Pelzer reports, Agostini, who shared the prize with two others, is the fourth individually named Nobel laureate to come from OSU.

Abortions in 2022: Abortions decreased 15% in 2022 from the previous year, in part due to 82 days when virtually all abortions beyond six weeks were prohibited, Julie Washington reports. Each year, the Ohio Department of Health puts out its abortion report Oct. 1. The U.S. Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade on June 24, 2022. For 82 days after that, Ohio’s “heartbeat” law was in effect, until it was put on an indefinite hold by a Cincinnati court that’s looking at the overall constitutionality of the law.

Stacking support: The leadership of the Ohio AFL-CIO voted to endorse Issue 1, which would generally enshrine abortion rights in the Ohio Constitution. The union joins other organized labor in support, such as SEIU Local 1, SEUI District 1199 WV/KY/OH and the Ohio Professional Staff Union, the campaign backing Issue 1 said in a statement.

Stacking opposition: Over Ohio 100 Black faith and community leaders united in opposition to Issue 1, calling the proposal “a life-or-death matter” for the Black community, according to a statement from the conservative policy organization the Center for Christian Virtue. Signees include Kenneth Blackwell, former Cincinnati mayor, Ohio secretary of state and Ohio treasurer; Ruth Edmonds, a minister at Columbus Christian Center; Bernadine Kennedy Kent, a former Democratic state representative; GOP state Sen. Michelle Reynolds; Republican state Rep. Josh Williams; and David Mahan, a minister at Eagle Rock Church.

The countdown is on for the November election, when Ohio voters will decide whether to enshrine a right to abortion in the state constitution and whether to legalize recreational marijuana. Here’s the key dates to remember.

Voter registration deadline… 6 days (Oct. 10)

Early, in-person voting begins… 7 days (Oct. 11)

Absentee voting by mail begins… 7 days (Oct. 11)

Election Day… 35 days (Nov. 7)

Five organizations that are lobbying on House Bill 34, which would exempt women who are breast feeding from jury service. The bill passed the Ohio House and is in an Ohio Senate committee.

1. American College of Obstetricians & Gynecologists

2. Center for Christian Virtue

3. Nationwide Children’s Hospital Inc.

4. Ohio Association of Municipal Court Clerks

5. Ohio Judicial Conference

Kevin Hinkle has been hired as assistant director for the County Employee Benefit Consortium of Ohio. Hinkle previously served as Anthem’s regional vice president of sales for the last 17 years.

Frank Jackson, ex-mayor of Cleveland

State Rep. Don Jones

Ex-President Rutherford B. Hayes (1822-1893)

Samuel Huntington, 3rd Ohio governor (1765-1817)

Othniel Looker, 5th Ohio governor (1757-1845)

“We need to get back to normal government, not this crazy process where bills are dropped on our desk three hours before we vote for them. And I think that’s what the controversy surrounding the CR is all about.”

-Republican Sen. JD Vance, explaining on Cleveland conservative radio host Bob Frantz’s show on Tuesday why he voted last weekend against the continuing resolution to temporarily fund the federal government. Vance also said he didn’t like that the measure didn’t reduce spending.

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