Gov. Mike DeWine signed 13 bills into law Tuesday, leftovers from legislation lawmakers pushed through in June before a break that’s expected to continue until after the November election.
Among those was Senate Bill 276, which started as an uncontroversial plan addressing licenses for school psychologists coming to Ohio who hold licenses in six other states. But it got partisan opposition when a conservative-backed proposal called “the Success Sequence” was added last month. That sequence teaches that people should graduate high school, get a job and get married, in that order, before having a baby.
In debate on the bill in the House in June, Rep. Sarah Arthur Fowler (R-Ashtabula) said the provision requires the Department of Education and Workforce to review and maintain curriculum and resources for the Success Sequence, which would be taught starting in sixth grade.
"Young people are statistically far less likely to live in poverty when they complete high school, work full time, and marry before having children," Arthur Fowler said. "Students who have received similar instruction have described it as hopeful, practical, and empowering. This gives young people tools to make informed decisions about education, work, family and their future stability."
But Democrats were opposed to this addition.
Rep. Sean Brennan (D-Parma), a former high school teacher, said there are many factors that keep people in poverty, and schools must be honest about causation versus correlation.
“Just because some individuals who follow a certain pathway avoid poverty. It doesn't mean those steps cause success for everyone," Brennan said, telling a story about his late mother as an example of someone who followed the sequence but ended up with nothing after her abusive husband left and didn't pay child support.
He added: "Wage stagnation, inflation, rising student debt, a lack of job opportunities, unaffordable housing, inadequate family leave policies, and unaffordable child and health care present obstacles for many individuals in attaining marriage, work and education. We must recognize that marriage alone does not guarantee stability, especially when it is undermined by economic and social hurdles."
Brennan also said it’s another requirement for teachers, who are already stretched thin.
The bill passed along party lines in both chambers. Indiana, Tennessee and Utah have passed similar legislation, and it's been proposed in five other Republican-led states.
