Governor DeWine Highlights Statewide Regional Education Partnerships in Dayton Roundtable

Dayton Roundtable Spotlights Ohio Regional Education Partnerships

“Every Ohio child deserves the opportunity to get a strong start in life, succeed in school, and reach their full potential,” Ohio Governor Mike DeWine stated during a roundtable discussion in Dayton.

Governor Mike DeWine and First Lady Fran DeWine visited Learn to Earn Dayton on Thursday to highlight Ohio’s new Regional Education Partnerships initiative. The statewide effort, announced in September, establishes 12 regional partnerships across Ohio to bring together schools, employers, workforce organizations, and community partners to identify and address challenges facing Ohio students as they progress from early childhood, through school, and into the workforce.

Expanding Montgomery County’s Blueprint Statewide

The statewide rollout heavily mirrors local frameworks developed in the Miami Valley. Learn to Earn Dayton, which hosted the Thursday gathering, served as the inspiration for the broader regional model. During the roundtable, local leaders provided updates on how the organization functions as the statewide technical assistance provider, guiding the other 11 designated regional partnerships through network-building, priority-setting, and data alignment.

Regional Education Partnerships reflect what we’ve learned in Montgomery County: lasting change for students happens when a whole community works toward the same goals and measures progress together, said Stacy Schweikhart, CEO of Learn to Earn Dayton.

Schweikhart detailed that during the initial months of the program, regional groups focused on hiring dedicated leadership and committing to shared benchmarks.

Targeting Attendance and Housing Instability

A core focus of the Dayton roundtable centered on practical solutions for student absenteeism. Organizers highlighted Learn to Earn Dayton’s ongoing initiatives to combat absenteeism by tackling housing instability before evictions disrupt a child’s schooling.

Governor DeWine Highlights Statewide Regional Education Partnerships in Dayton Roundtable — Photo: medinacountylife.com

By identifying housing crises early, the organization coordinates directly with the Dayton Municipal Court, Dayton Public Schools, and Advocates for Basic Legal Equality (ABLE). This multi-agency partnership intervenes with assistance to keep families housed, protecting students from the destabilizing effects of moving.

This localized strategy feeds into broader state investments made since 2019. The DeWine administration has scaled up early childhood support programs, rolled out the Science of Reading literacy curriculum statewide, distributed Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library of Ohio books, expanded career-technical education funding, and launched the WorkOhio initiative to connect young people with localized career training.