DEAR EDITOR:

As a candidate for the Ohio Senate, I wanted to address the lies that my opponent, Sandy O’Brien, has included in her campaign fliers. But let me begin by stating that one reason I decided to run for office is to ensure that legislators keep their promise to fully fund public education.

As a former public-school teacher, I am bewildered by the systematic and escalating defunding of public education, which began in 1997, when Governor George Voinovich introduced the voucher system as a way for Cleveland public school students to leave their underfunded schools.

Rather than making up the difference through state funding, as our constitution requires, lawmakers decided to allow the poorer public schools to fail by not fully funding them. Over the next 27 years, legislators devised 5 voucher systems which siphoned more money from public schools to fund failing charter schools and private schools. This is a direct violation of our constitution which states that taxpayer money will fund only public schools, and furthermore, that no money will be allocated to fund religious schools.

When funding is cut, schools must place levies on the ballot to make up the difference for the lost revenue, or they must cut staff and services.

Last school year, our state legislators diverted 966 million dollars from our public-school budget to fund charter and private schools. That amount would have been enough to fully fund the Fair School Funding Plan.

My opponent stated that I “support tax increases on hardworking Ohioans.” This is a lie. In fact, during my television interview with Lindsay McCoy, I stated that defunding public schools causes an increase in property taxes which falls squarely on taxpayers. I also brought up the fact that Governor John Kasich took the lottery proceeds away from public schools and placed them in a rainy-day fund. Those funds have yet to be returned.

O’Brien voted in favor of funding charter schools, which means that she is directly responsible for rising property taxes in Ohio.

O’Brien also stated that I “support keeping kids in failing schools” and that I “oppose parental rights in education.” Again, these are lies.

Parents have always had the freedom to choose the schools that they believe are best suited to meet their children’s needs, but based on the Ohio Constitution, all taxpayer school funding must fund public schools.

If schools are failing, it stems from a funding shortfall which is a direct result of the 5 vouchers which will siphon 1 billion dollars from public education this school year.

I believe that our funding system for schools places an undue burden on taxpayers, and that legislators must fully fund public schools, and ensure that every public-school student has state of the art facilities and equal opportunities, no matter where they live.

I found it amusing that my opponent copied my photo from my campaign site and put it on her flier under the heading of “Liberal Mike Shrodek.”

As my opponent is well aware, my name is Michael. If she believes that she will gain some type of advantage by calling me “Liberal Mike,” aligning me with Vice President Harris, and proudly announcing that she is a Trump delegate, so be it.

Personally, I believe that lies and name-calling will have no affect on informed voters who rely on facts, and therefore, are less likely to be emotionally affected by the type of name-calling and political rhetoric that my opponent has resorted to in her fliers.

MICHAEL SHRODEK

Warren