CLEVELAND, Ohio — Gov. John Kasich wants Ohio to move forward in technology and shake being part of the “Rust Belt,” he said Monday at Case Western Reserve University.
An event at Case’s think(box), a collaboration and resource center for entrepreneurship and technology, was designed to show how the governor’s budget proposal would help Ohio use innovation in everything from rush-hour traffic to health services. That includes lower speed limits at high-traffic times and centralizing non-emergency medical transport.
“Who wants to live with rust?” Kasich said. “I want us to be viewed as being in the ‘Knowledge Belt,’ which is frankly where we are increasingly living.”
Various officials, including the directors of the Ohio Department of Transportation and the Department for Developmental Disabilities, talked about some of the initiatives.
Take a look at what Kasich said about his ideas. To read more details on the budget, which has been introduced to the statehouse, click here.
Transportation
Ohio Department of Transportation Director Jerry Wray said among proposals in the budget is the idea of allowing ODOT to raise or lower speed limits and part-time use of road shoulders as driving lanes. This would be based on different conditions — think rush hour or a bad snowstorm.
If approved, variable speed limits would be first tested in Columbus.
Wray also talked about the “smart highway” effort, which would include adding technology to I-90 to make it a testing ground for automated transportation. Read more about that here.
In mass transit, the system must change to meet peoples’ needs, Kasich said. When looking at buses, you almost always see empty spots.
“We need to think about ways to use data analytics, the patterns people follow, to make sure we get them to where they want to get to, not where it’s not very relevant anymore,” he said.
Jobs
Kasich led off his remarks by moving operations into Ohio, including Nestle, Amazon Cloud computing and IBM data analytics.
The state still values manufacturing, but the job training needs even in that field are changing, he said. This means making sure that people get the help they need to move into these careers.
“We’ve not been aggressive enough in being able to retrain people; it’s going to be completely essential here,” Kasich said.
He did not identify a proposal in the budget that would address this problem.
Health care
Greg Moody, director of the Office of Health Transformation, said the state wants to centralize non-emergency medical transportation for those on Medicaid.
Right now, programs are county-administered, which can lead to confusion and occasionally having to switch transportation, Moody said.
The state would first standardize companies qualified to provide transportation, then name a state broker who would connect patients with providers, he said.
Ohio is seeking to expand access to technology that helps people with disabilities, said Department of Developmental Disabilities Director John Martin. As an example, he talked about remote sensors that would allow people with disabilities to live independently while giving loved ones alerts of variations in routines or medical problems.
The proposed budget would add $122 million over two years toward efforts to serve people with developmental disabilities.
Education
Education systems have to adapt to new demands and new jobs that come along with technological advances, Kasich said.
“I’m so proud of what we’ve done in Cleveland, but our education is 100 years old,” he said. “Many times in America today, education gets in the way of learning.”
This includes adding innovation in public education that gives students real-world skills and job training in the field, he said.
He also said that if universities don’t adjust to better serve students and make sure they’re trained for jobs they love and can find, they’ll end up being beaten out by alternative education.
One problem is rising college costs, he said. A proposal in the budget would freeze tuition at public two and four-year colleges for two more years. Take a look at other education measures in the budget here.
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