Kasich signs HB 483 in Cleveland.jpeg

Gov. John Kasich signs house Bill 483 this June at a ceremonial signing at Anton Grdina elementary school in Cleveland. That bill created Community Connectors, the student mentoring program that now has a requirement for religious partners.

(Patrick O'Donnell/The Plain Dealer)

CLEVELAND, Ohio – Gov. John Kasich's $10 million plan to bring mentors into Ohio's schools for students now has a surprise religious requirement – one that goes beyond what is spelled out in the legislation authorizing it.

Any school district that wants a piece of that state money must partner with both a church and a business – or a faith-based organization and a non-profit set up by a business to do community service.

No business and no faith-based partner means no state dollars.

"You must include a faith-based partner," United Way of Greater Cleveland President Bill Kitson, told potential applicants at an information session the United Way hosted Thursday here in Cleveland.

Kitson sits on Kasich's advisory panel for the program, called "Community Connectors," which is taking applications for grants now.

Buddy Harris, a senior policy analyst for the Ohio Department of Education, told the gathering of church and non-profit representatives that each application must include a school district (or charter school) plus a business and a place of worship or faith-based organization in its partnership.

Other non-profits can be involved, he said, only if they involve all three of the other groups. Partnerships between just schools, business and a community non-profit won't qualify.

"The faith-based organization is clearly at the heart of the vision of the governor," Harris said after the session.

"We do not forsee any proseletyzing happening between mentors and students," Harris said. "That's not really what we're seeking."

Asked why the governor is mixing religion with a state program - items usually required to be kept separate - Kasich spokesman Rob Nichols said: "The governor believes faith-based organizations play an important role in the lives of young people."

And Kasich's recorded video welcoming the applicants made the importance he places on faith in this effort clear.

"The Good Lord has a purpose for each and every one of them (students) and you're helping them to find it," Kasich said on the video.

Churches and faith-based organizations were always intended to be included Kasich's "Community Connectors" mentoring plan, right from his announcement of the plan at his State of the State speech in February. What's new is that Kasich and ODE are requiring them and raising their status above other community non-profits.

Here's how the requirement differs from previous discussion, testimony and law covering Community Connectors:

- Kasich presented the plan in his speech as a "an initiative to support the best ideas for bringing together schools, parents, communities, faith-based groups, businesses and students in mentoring efforts based on proven practices. "

He proposed using $10 million in casino profits to give matching grants to partnerships to carry that out.

But faith-based groups – or businesses – were not presented as a required part, any more than parents or communities. See the whole speech HERE.

- As the proposal made its way through the state legislature as part of House Bill 483, State Superintendent Richard Ross did not highlight faith-based groups as a required part of applications in his testimony to the Senate Finance Committee in May.

"This initiative will support the best ideas in our state for bringing together schools, parents, community organizations, faith-based groups, business leaders, and, of course, our students, in mentoring efforts based on proven practices," Ross told the committee.

As we noted above, "community organizations" now have a lesser standing in grant applications than faith-based ones or businesses.

- HB 483, as it went into law, makes faith-based organizations an option equal to "civic organizations" and business, but not a requirement.

It states: "Eligible school districts shall partner with members of the business community, civic organizations, or the faith-based community to provide sustainable career advising and mentoring services."

Legislators, who had a late night session on redistricting, could not immediately be reached for comment on Kasich's change.

- Kasich did not list faith-based organizations as a requirement when he did a ceremonial bill signing for HB 483 here in Cleveland.

- And he also did not list faith-based groups as a requirement for the money in his Nov. 3 executive order creating the advisory board, and instead only refers to "local networks of volunteers and organizations."

- In addition, the examples Kasich listed in his State of the State speech of other mentoring programs that he would use as a model do not have a religious requirement.

Among them: The Cleveland school district's partnership with Kitson and the United Way to place social service organizers in several district schools.

After Thursday's presentation, Kitson said Cleveland's program would not qualify for Community Connectors. Faith-based groups are working with some schools here and those schools might qualify, he said. But the overall program would not: "The entire effort, that would be an issue."

Kasich had also cited mentorship programs Kitson had set up in Toledo before coming to Cleveland. Kitson said Thursday faith-based organizations were not key players there, unless you count the YMCA.

Kashich's main model of "successful examples to guides us" mentioned in the speech was the Cincinnati Youth Collaborative. That program works with students, its website says, on "mentoring and tutoring, college and career readiness, and career preparation."

But though several churches are listed in the long list of partners, the website points to working with "over 1,900 volunteers and 75 local businesses," but does not mention any significant faith-based partnership.

Collaborative President Jane Keller, who is also on the Community Connectors advisory board, said church groups are a big part of her effort. But that's because the Collaborative is "inclusive."

"We don't have any targets that we want this much from this part of the community and this much from that part of the community," Keller said. "We want help."

Kitson said the line between religion and schools does not matter as much to him in this situation as reaching kids that need guidance.

"The issue here is helping our kids," Kitson said. "As an advisory board mentor, that (faith-based requirement) is not what I'm worried about."

Kitson noted that $10 million is not a lot of money. The United Way, he said, is spending $2.5 million to service people in 25 Cleveland schools – about a quarter of the schools in the district. Doing that for the whole district would cost $10 million – the same amount available statewide for Community Connectors – so the state program will likely tackle single schools or just a few at a time.

Kitson and Harris said that faith-based groups don't often have a way to connect with schools to help. This program, they said, allows many more volunteers to start making a difference in schools than other community service groups can provide.

"He's taking this piece of support, and saying one of the ways to get people involved is to get churches involved," Kitson said.