Pat Bruns for State Board of Education

December 2018

Although the election did not turn out as I had hoped, I want you to know that it has been a distinct honor to represent District 4 as your elected State Board of Education member. Those of us who have been in education for some time know that people and reforms come and go. We also know that leadership matters and we do our best work when we place students at the center of our decision-making. I believe that we have much to celebrate over the last several years under the collaborative leadership of State Superintendent Paolo DeMaria, our dedicated Board’s desire to speak as one voice for all Ohio’s 1.7.million school-age children and the significant input of so many educators, parents, and community.

I am most proud of our Each Child Our Future 5-year Strategic Plan that will serve as a framework to move Ohio’s education system forward. In concert with our stakeholders, we have laid a foundation to reinvent the Ohio Department of Education as a service-based partner with our school districts. We have positioned the ODE to become an innovative world-class education system, such as I knew during my career as an art educator. As a member of the Report Card and Graduations Requirements Workgroups, I believe the recommendations should become key components of the ECOF framework. This will require our continued grassroots advocacy and effective communications with the legislature. Finally, I worked closely with the Ohio Alliance for Arts Education to secure the arts as a significant part of a well-rounded education in the Ohio ESSA Plan.

I have been blessed to get to know many of you and the innovative work being done in our schools to give students opportunities to dream big! I have been delighted to see that we are finally catching up with the creative ideas being implemented by dedicated educators throughout Ohio. There is still much work to be done to help all our students succeed. Just as so many of you, I will continue to look for opportunities to make contributions to an Ohio education system that places high quality teaching and learning at the heart of it all!

Wishing You All the Best Now and into the New Year!

With Deep Respect,

Pat Bruns

from 2018 re-election campaign…Promises Made! Promises Kept!

A. When elected to the SBOE, Pat Bruns promised to ADVOCATE for our public schools, demanding adequate resources to provide high-quality learning environments for each child in every school.

Pat Bruns collaborated with Ohio Alliance for Arts Education to ensure a significant arts presence was included as part of a well-rounded education in the Ohio Every Student Succeeds Act Plan (ESSA). The plan includes federal title funding for our most vulnerable students.
In the 2017 biennial budget, she supported increased resources promoting community healthcare partnerships, school safety efforts, technology infrastructure, support for Ohio’s Career Connections Initiative, school psychologist training, early childhood and literacy education, and school improvement resources.
In June 2017, Pat voted to accept the hearing officer’s decision that ECOT owed ODE an estimated 60 million dollars in overpayments and another 20 million dollars in 2018, as part of ECOT’s annual review.

B. Pat Bruns continues to BELIEVE access to a high-quality education is the right of all students and a sacred trust the public must provide, no matter their socio-economic status.

Acting on that belief, Pat helped to develop the Each Child-Our Future Five Year Strategic Plan that has at it’s heart these precepts:

Equity for all students through meaningful community partnerships and quality schools that model a supportive, continuous improvement culture.
Four equal learning domains: Foundational skills and knowledge, well-rounded content, leadership and reasoning skills, and social-emotional skills
Attract and retain high-quality educators by fostering collaborative and professional learning, and leadership, environments. This will allow individuals to explore ideas, adopt best practices, and have time to meaningfully engage with both students and colleagues.

C. Pat Bruns promised to COLLABORATE with colleagues, constituents, and the legislature to address complex problems.

Pat helped to achieve collaborative results including:

Extending the Class of 2018 Graduation options which were included in the 2017 Biennial Budget and extending these options, via an SBOE Resolution to the Ohio Legislature, through 2020.
Development of the Each Child-Our Future Strategic Plan that involved over 1,400 stakeholders.
Expressed opposition to House Bill 512, which would effectively remove the public’s voice in Ohio’s education system, through a May 2018 SBOE Resolution
Pat also collaborated on initiatives for reduction in state-mandated testing, review of ODE/SBOE graduation and report cards, early childhood education and literacy, support for children experiencing homelessness or in the foster care system, and expansion of Career-technology education and Community Learning Centers.