By Krystal Smalley
ksmalley@wbcowqel.com
Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine may not have announced his candidacy for governor yet, but he laid a strong foundation for it, especially when it comes to education.
DeWine was the featured speaker at Wednesday’s Lincoln Day Luncheon hosted by the Crawford County Republican Women. Though DeWine focused on the strength of the Bureau of Criminal Investigation, building on the fiscal stability the current state government achieved, and the state’s drug epidemic, he spent the most time talking about education and the future of Ohio’s children.
“I think the biggest challenge for this state and the biggest challenge of the next government and the people in this state is the large number of kids who are growing up in dysfunctional households,” DeWine said. “There’s a lot of them in the inner city, there’s a lot of them in Appalachia, they’re in every county.”
The attorney general conceded it may not only be dysfunctional families, but also ones that are stressed over working multiple jobs to make the ends meet.
“I think our future is going to be determined to an extent to how many of them (children) we are able to reach,” DeWine added. “If we don’t try to reach them and intervene in their lives some way . . . I think we have to do it almost for self-protection.”
Without intervention, DeWine explained, those kids will not grow up to live productive lives and may end up being takers, rather than givers.
“How they turn out will determine what kind of society, what kind of state our own kids, our grandkids, and our great-grandkids will live in,” DeWine said.
During his trips across the state, DeWine said he has seen what works and what doesn’t work. He pointed to models and schools that are achieving and to the right culture that can be found there. Despite the positive efforts, though, DeWine said only a fraction of the children are being reached.
He also stressed drug prevention education that begins at the kindergarten level.
“I see a state where each child, no matter where that child lives, no matter what that child’s circumstances are at home, that child has an opportunity – no guarantees, none of us are guaranteed anything – but I think what we strive for is that each kid in the state has the ability, has the opportunity to live up to their God-given potential,” DeWine concluded.
Local senior Tanner Knepp, one of a number of Wayside Christian students who attended the Lincoln Day Luncheon, was excited about the opportunity he had to hear the attorney general speak.
“Honestly, it feels like a once in a lifetime opportunity,” Knepp said. “It was very inspiring to hear his ideas on what he’s going to do and it gives me hope for what the state’s going to be like in a few years.”
Knepp was also pleased to hear DeWine talk about bettering education in the state. His Government and Economics class attended the event.
Joan Wolfe, Crawford County Republic Women President and county auditor, thought it was educational to hear DeWine speak.
“He is a very heartfelt leader and it’s good to see someone has the morals and principles to actually do the job. Not only to say the words, but to walk the walk and talk the talk,” Wolfe said.