Ohio – Government, Society, Politics

Constitutional framework

Ohio’s present constitution was adopted in 1851 but has been amended extensively as the state matured. Like the federal constitution, it provides for executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government. The executive branch is composed of the governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, secretary of state, auditor, and treasurer, all elected to four-year terms. The legislature, called the General Assembly, consists of the Senate, with 33 members elected to four-year terms, and the House of Representatives, whose 99 members serve two-year terms. All members of the executive and legislative branches are subject to term limits of eight consecutive years in office. The legislature has broad powers in policy formulation and monetary appropriation. The judiciary comprises the seven-member Supreme Court; a dozen district courts of appeals, each with a three-judge panel; county-level courts of common pleas and of probate; and such other lower courts as the legislature may establish. All judges are elected for six-year terms.

Ohio’s local government units include counties, cites, townships, and villages. With few exceptions, the state’s nearly 90 counties exist as quasi-municipal corporations, each constituting an arm of the state government but without general authority of self-government in the legislative field. Most larger cities operate under home-rule charters that permit them to choose the form of government most suitable to their needs. The mayor-council type is most common, though several cities operate under a city-manager–council plan. The township, Ohio’s oldest form of government, remains important, though the number of townships has diminished as they have been annexed into municipalities or as newly incorporated villages have assumed their functions.

State laws carefully prescribe the rules for forming and running political parties, conducting elections, and balloting. The two-party system has prevailed generally, but Ohio has produced such minor-party leaders as Norman Thomas, many times a presidential candidate on the Socialist Party ticket; Victoria Woodhull, in 1872 the first woman to run for president, with the Equal Rights Party; and Jacob S. Coxey of the People’s Party, who led the march of the so-called Coxey’s Army from Massillon, Ohio, to Washington, D.C., in 1894 to demand various economic reforms.

The Republican Party since its inception has been slightly more successful than the Democratic in statewide elections. In national politics the parties often have been evenly matched. The Taft family of Cincinnati has for generations been a source of prominent Republican politicians at the state and national levels. William Howard Taft (1857–1930) served as the country’s 27th president and as chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. His father had been secretary of war and attorney general under Pres. Ulysses S. Grant and, later, U.S. minister to Russia and Austria-Hungary. President Taft’s son, Robert A. Taft, served in the U.S. Senate from 1939 to 1953; his grandson, Robert A. Taft, Jr., served in the U.S. Senate from 1971 to 1976; and his great-grandson, Bob Taft, was the governor of Ohio from 1999 to 2007.

Health and welfare

Various state agencies support activities to assist senior citizens, people with disabilities, and the poor. Other state bodies oversee programs in the prevention and cure of illnesses. Ohio has several medical schools and an osteopathic college, as well as many strong regional hospitals. The Cleveland Clinic has an international reputation not only as a treatment centre but also as a research and educational institution. State activities with labour and industry include programs in employment and unemployment services, industrial safety, and workers’ compensation.

Education

Authority over Ohio’s primary and secondary public schools rests with the state legislature. The State Board of Education, comprising both elected and appointed members, selects a superintendent of public instruction, who heads the Ohio Department of Education. County, city, local, and exempted school districts exist as subdivisions of the state organization. The direction, administration, and financial management of the public schools is delegated to the individual school districts. Actual financing of public schools is shared by state and local government taxing units. Private and parochial schools, governed by the same laws that apply to public schools, receive limited state support. For-profit charter schools receive public tax support and are exempt from some state controls.

Ohio often has been called a “land of schools and colleges” because of its many accredited institutions of higher learning. Ohio University was established by Ohio’s first legislature in 1804 as the first public institution of higher education west of the Allegheny Mountains. In 1809 Miami University became the second. The Ohio State University, founded in 1870, is the largest state-assisted university. A land-grant college and a major graduate and professional centre, it also has one of the largest undergraduate enrollments in the country. Ohio has more than a dozen comprehensive state universities and numerous branch campuses, technical colleges, and community colleges. Many of Ohio’s small independent colleges have made distinguished contributions to the state and have pioneered in education in various ways. Oberlin College, founded in 1833, became the first coeducational college in the United States and one of the first to admit African Americans. Antioch College, founded in 1852, was one of the country’s first experimental liberal arts colleges; in 2008, however, the college was forced to suspend operations as a result of low enrollment and insufficient funding. Wilberforce University, founded in 1856, is the oldest private, historically black university in the United States. The University of Akron, founded in 1870, was the first postsecondary institution to offer a course in rubber chemistry, and its science and engineering programs remain among the strongest in the country.

In addition to its colleges and universities, Ohio has a number of laboratories maintained by specialized institutes, industries, educational institutions, and government agencies. Reflecting its industrial concentrations, Akron is a world centre for rubber and polymer research, and Cleveland is known for research in lighting. Battelle Memorial Institute, in Columbus, is one of the largest private research organizations in the world. A number of federal centres are devoted to aviation medicine, aeronautics and space, atomic energy, agriculture, and forestry.