GOP bill would require students take mandatory civics class at Ohio’s ‘intellectual diversity centers’

The Strengthening Ohio Civics Act would grant independence in hiring, curriculum, and funding at the five public universities with civics schools: Ohio State, Miami University, Cleveland State University, Wright State University, and the University of Toledo. Beginning with the 2029-30 school year, Ohio students must take a civic literacy course to graduate under a law passed last year. The newly proposed bill would establish an Ohio Civics Board, composed of the directors of the state’s five academic civics centers, also commonly referred to as “intellectual diversity centers.” Students attending Ohio universities with civic centers would have to fulfill the civic literacy course mandate through the centers, according to the bill. Students at Ohio public universities that do not have a civics center would take a civic literacy course that was reviewed and approved by the statewide Ohio Civics Board.