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News yesterday from Governor Strickland’s office of the appointment of former State Legislator C.J. Prentiss as his “special adviser in charge of closing the achievement gap” and its associated $90K annual salary. Having personally worked with Senator Prentiss on this issue a few years ago, I can tell you that there is no one more committed to it than C.J.

Unfortunately during my tenure with “Ohio Close the Gap” the only thing that seemed to work was the close relationship that our organization had with the state’s teacher’s unions and the mantra that more money for teachers equaled classroom success.

Too bad. This issue will require more than the old-time liberal approach of throwing money at a problem and accepting the modest returns on such a significant investment.

Will an increased flow of funds help to close the gap?

Maybe, but only to the extent that the money will have to come from somewhere. In a state with scarce economic resources, which Peter are we going to rob to pay Paul?

The other question involves whether or not Ohio’s legislature will allow this to occur. Recent improvements in Ohio’s education system allow representatives and senators the legitimate argument that the gap is closing just fine based on their own initiatives (some of which C.J. helped to foster while in the state senate).

This budget cycle should be an interesting one.