Week in Review 9-8-25

Week in Review > Week in Review 9-8-25

Posted by Buckeye Association of School Administrators on September 05th, 2025

EDUCATION

The Trump administration launched the Presidential AI Challenge for teachers, students and community teams. The challenge allows youth, educators, mentors and community teams to use AI to solve real-world problems. Information on how to register and a guidebook on submission of projects is HERE.

The Ohio Catholic School Accreditation Association (OCSAA) has appointed Amanda Ooten director of the organization. She will work with the OSCAA Commission, comprised of the six diocesan superintendents, to guide, administer and coordinate the accreditation process for each Catholic school in Ohio.

The State Board of Education (SBOE) announced Thursday the selection of Christopher Monsour, a science teacher at Columbian High School in Tiffin, as the 2026 Ohio Teacher of the Year. Superintendent of Public Instruction Paul Craft made the surprise public announcement during an assembly there. Monsour currently teaches biology, environmental science and anatomy and physiology. He has 26 years of teaching experience, including a wide range of subjects before finding his calling in advanced sciences. His classes include “hands-on laboratory exercises and field trips to enhance understanding and foster curiosity beyond traditional classroom lectures,” the State Board noted.

HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

A study from the national Policy Center for Maternal Mental Health (PCMMH) released earlier this year gave Ohio a “C” grade for issues involving maternal mental health, up from the state’s “C-” grade in 2024, and a national grade of “C-” in the 2025 study. Overall, PCMMH says the U.S. is failing to adequately support maternal mental health (MMH), as 19 states earned “D” and “F” grades in the study, and no states earned an “A.”

HIGHER EDUCATION

The federal Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) announced this week it is providing Ohio institutions of higher education and their surrounding communities resources and information to prevent drug abuse and misuse among college students. Led by the DEA’s Detroit Field Division, the campaign will cover both Michigan and Ohio institutions. More information is HERE.

PENSIONS

The latest bid by State Teachers Retirement System (STRS) trustees to wrest control of their legal representation from Attorney General Dave Yost was filed in the wrong venue and should be dismissed, Yost’s office argues. Yost filed a lawsuit more than a year ago against former STRS trustee Wade Steen and current STRS Board Chair Rudy Fichtenbaum, alleging they breached their fiduciary duty to the system and should be removed — allegations they strongly deny. Since that time, the two officials and their board allies have been pressing for the right to seek their own counsel and have the state cover the costs, arguing Yost has a conflict of interest in simultaneously prosecuting them while having the power to select and set payment for their attorneys. Steen and Fichtenbaum recently filed a lawsuit in Franklin County Common Pleas Court to press the issue. Last week, Yost filed a motion to dismiss with Judge Jeffrey Brown, saying Steen and Fichtenbaum’s case belongs in the Ohio Court of Claims, and the common pleas court lacks power to hear the matter.

REDISTRICTING/REAPPORTIONMENT

House Speaker Matt Huffman (R-Lima) and Senate President Rob McColley (R-Napoleon) announced Tuesday the launch of a website where the public may submit proposed congressional redistricting plans. Ohio is the only state required to redraw its congressional map this cycle due to a constitutional provision that made the current map effective for only four years after it failed to gain bipartisan support earlier in the decade. The launch of the portal, located at https://redistricting.legislature.ohio.gov, provides a centralized location where the public may submit proposed congressional district plans. Any plans submitted on the site will be made public. There is no deadline for the public to submit plans. In addition, when the process of drawing a new congressional map will start has not been announced publicly by Huffman or McColley’s offices. Spokespersons for both leaders said details will be announced at a future date.

With Ohio set to begin redrawing its congressional lines, Pew Charitable Trusts finds that redistricting between censuses is rare in the modern era. Ohio is the only state required to redraw its congressional lines this year thanks to an Ohio Constitution provision that requires it if the beginning of the decade congressional plan did not get enough bipartisan support. Texas Republicans redrew their congressional map this year at the urging of President Donald Trump in order to give the party an advantage of as many as five more seats in next year’s midterm elections. Other states are looking to follow suit in response, creating a potential domino of redistricting across the country. Midcycle redistricting efforts like the ones in Texas and California have, up to now, been extremely uncommon. Since 1970, only two states — Texas in 2003 and this year, and Georgia in 2005 — have voluntarily redrawn their congressional maps between censuses for partisan advantage, according to the new Pew Research Center analysis.

TAXATION

Gov. Mike DeWine’s property tax reform study group met Thursday to weigh local government reforms to inhibit property tax growth, including giving county commissioners gatekeeping powers over ballot access. Chris Galloway, Lake County auditor, circulated a memo among group members in advance of the meeting and discussed a few of the ideas during Thursday’s meeting. One of his proposals is to allow boards of county commissioners discretion on whether to place levy proposals from unelected boards under their purview, such as the alcohol, drug addiction and mental health board or board of developmental disabilities, on the ballot. “Commissioners sometimes don’t always agree with the need for those levies brought by various agencies whose boards they appoint,” Galloway said. “Too many of these boards, even though they’re appointees of county commissioners and others, have become rubber stamps for the administrators of those agencies, which allows for just nonstop growth in bureaucracy and budgets.”