In its latest example of publishing talking points from an otherwise non-existent Strickland campaign, the Columbus Dispatch has come to the conclusion that Ken Blackwell’s 65 percent solution for education- already in use in four other states- doesn’t work. Calling the plan a “gimmick,” the Dispatch article cites an opinion column by a hive of ex-Department of Education bureaucrats appearing in (where else?) the New York Times. Former Bush Education Secretary Rod Paige was one of them, and called the 65 percent solution “one of the worst ideas in education.” “If Rod Paige had all the answers,” says Blackwell spokesman Carlo LoParo “he would have left the Department of Education in better shape.”

One of the great things about this program is that it forces school districts to prioritize their spending. Decades of bureaucratic mismanagement, plummeting student performance, diminished accountability, and ever-increasing unionization have shown where priorities currently lie and provide a powerful explanation for the necessity of this program. There’s a saying that when you go to Taco Bell you might as well take everything you order and pitch it straight in to the toilet, since that’s where it will end up anyway. The current method of funding schools in Ohio works a lot like this: take everything you spend on education and write a big fat check to the head of the local teachers’ union, since that’s where it will end up anyway.

As it is on so many other policy issues, the Republican Party is now the party of ideas for education reform. Voucher programs, charter schools, and this 65 percent solution can go a long way towards improving one of the worst education systems in the industrialized world. As it is on so many other policy issues, the Democrats’ only response is condemnation and attack rather than to propose their own ideas. Instead of coming up with real methods to fix this broken system, the party continues to pander to the OEA and OFT in their incessant demands for more money. The sooner these educrats realize that children are what matter in education- and not unionists or bureaucrats- the sooner real reform can begin.