Republican State Representative Riordan McClain of District 87 representing rural portions of Marion County is co-sponsoring new educational legislation in process in the Ohio House.

Riordan traveled to Marion County to discuss the "Backpack Bill" Aug. 3 with the Marion Women's Republican Club.

He explained the bill would reorganize state funding to give Ohio funds to each student participating in the program in a metaphorical backpack to give students and parents greater choice regarding the child's education.

Riordan said many students in Ohio are trapped by their zip codes in districts that are not the best option for them, whether it be for social-emotional or educational reasons.

"How do we make sure each child has an opportunity to reach that best educational path, and so many students in the state of Ohio are trapped by their zip code, and it’s to no fault of them, no fault of their parents, they are in a zip code where the local public school that they have is not meeting what they need,” Riordan said.

The bill would put $5,000 into an independent Educational Savings Account managed by the Ohio Treasurer of State for eligible students between Kindergarten through 8th grade and $7,500 into an ESA for grades 9 through 12.

Riordan cited his background in business as a reason that he is an advocate for this model of funding, and he hopes the competition for students' resources would create new private school opportunities in areas like Marion where no private high school option is available.

“Competition is key,” he said.

“To outperform somebody that’s trying to outperform you brings out the best in everyone, so allowing students access to a portion of educational dollars, leveraging state dollars to give parents a little choice, allows parents to pursue other opportunities."

Parents have the most interest in their child’s education, the greatest factor to predict a child’s success in life is having engaged parents

He explained the dollar values match the amounts already present in the EdChoice Scholarship Program, a need based program which provides students from designated public schools the opportunity to attend participating private schools.

Riordan said by making this investment on the front end for students and allowing parents a greater level of choice, he hopes it would help prevent problems for students throughout Ohio.

Lisa Bush, who ran the meeting on behalf of the Marion Women's Republican Club said she thought the Backpack Bill would be of value for Marion County, noting that it could help students enrolled in Marion City Schools amidst claims there is a "crisis of discipline" throughout the district.

"I know one of the issues that our city’s school is dealing with, one elementary school I’m aware of, there may be others, where students are violent toward the teachers and that has a lot to do with the parents and how they’re raised in the home, and so that’s important and there needs to be options there,” Bush said.

Story by: Sophia Veneziano (740) 564 - 5243 ∣ sveneziano@gannett.com