Acton, Ramaswamy address public school priorities following social media video

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Politics is taking over social media in the race to become Ohio’s next governor and a focus on public education.

Democratic candidate Amy Acton reposted part of a video from Republican candidate Vivek Ramaswamy saying year-round school could help make parenting more affordable.

A version that does not include the education reference is now on Ramaswamy’s social media.

Acton campaign manager Phil Stein said in a statement, “Deeply slashing public school budgets by forcing teachers and students to stay in school year-round is another example of how out of touch Vivek Ramaswami is with Ohioans. No wonder his own supporters think his videos are AI.”

After Acton’s campaign posted the Ramaswamy video, some Ramaswamy supporters on social media claimed it was AI-generated. Ramaswamy’s campaign statement does not contest the authenticity of the video.

Ramaswamy campaign spokesperson Connie Luck said in a statement, “The casual back-and-forth on TikTok is not a policy rollout; it is a conversation with voters, despite Democrats pretending otherwise. They are trying to make a point because they know Amy Acton’s education agenda is tantamount to the same failed policies that continue to fail our children.” “Vivek will continue to listen to parents across the state and will be open to any options that give our children a real chance for a better future.”

Acton campaign consultant Justin Barasky presented Acton’s stance on public education.

“She regularly says that public schools saved her life, and as governor, Amy will be the first to restore public school funding at constitutional levels,” Barasky said. “She will also get control of the secret, private school voucher system that costs so much and she will take those savings to invest in students and teachers and other best practices to make Ohio the national leader in education that it once was.”

In a separate social media video on Tuesday, Ramaswamy talked about educational inequality. He says that to fix this, creative thinking will be required.

“One of the schools I visited serves only the Medicaid population, moves school out to 4 p.m., giving kids more time for physical education and also more flexibility for parents,” Ramaswamy said in the post. “It turns out that kids in those poor school districts also fall behind every year during summer vacation, which increases inequality. We want an education system that gets every kid ahead, and you know what, we’re going to think creatively about how we deliver that. That’s the answer, and if the Democrats want to distort my position, let them.”