Catching Our Eye News Roundup, Aug. 6, 2026

Every morning in the Ohio Capital Journal’s free newsletter, The Eye-Opener, we round up the news and commentary from across Ohio and around the country and world that is catching our attention. We call this feature Catching Our Eye, republished here.

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Catching Our Eye

• Oh, the Ohio Ballot Board didn’t rewrite ballot language to confuse voters and make a mockery of themselves and democracy this time?The Statehouse News Bureau’s Sarah Donaldson reports, “Ohio Ballot Board OKs language that puts Issue 3, or photo ID, on ballot.”

  Ohio voters will have a whole slate of statewide candidates to choose from this fall, but just one ballot issue is going before them.

  Members of the Ohio Ballot Board have given the green light for the language for Issue 3, which asks voters whether they should have to show government-issued photo ID for any in-person voting. That’s already required to vote, before and on Election Day, and it has been since 2023.

• Public schools levies and cuts. The Toledo Blade’s Mike Sigov reports, “Sylvania schools outlines $11.3M in cuts if earned-income tax levy fails.”Sylvania schools has detailed about $11.3 million in cuts it would need to make if a 1 percent earned-income tax levy fails to pass in November.

  In a letter Tuesday to “Sylvania parents, guardians, and community,” Superintendent Tim Zieroff encouraged recipients to “carefully” review the positions, programs, curriculum, activities, and other expenses to be eliminated or reduced beginning with the 2027-28 school year if the Nov. 3 operating levy is not approved.

• Public school teachers. Jessie Balmert reports in The Columbus Dispatch, “Ramaswamy revives debate over teacher merit pay in Ohio. Can it work?”Republican gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy has proposed merit-based pay for Ohio’s public school teachers. The concept of performance-based pay for teachers has been debated for decades by both Republican and Democratic politicians.

  Research shows merit pay can be effective, but success depends heavily on program design, teacher buy-in, and avoiding overreliance on test scores. Previous attempts to implement merit pay in Ohio, including in Cleveland, have ultimately failed due to various challenges.