Ohio state Board of Education president is resigning after refusing to vote against an anti-racism resolution

• The Ohio Board of Education president will resign following controversy over an anti-racism resolution.
• Laura Kohler refused to vote against repealing the anti-racism resolution.

The president of the Ohio Board of Education announced she will resign after the state Senate made clear they would not confirm her reappointment following her refusal to vote against repealing an anti-racism resolution.

Laura Kohler, a Republican who is serving her fifth year on the state board, told the Columbus Dispatch that she planned to offer her resignation to Gov. Mike DeWine on Friday after the Republican leader's chief of staff asked her to step down following the controversy.

The political firestorm began last year, when Kohler helped create an anti-racism and equality resolution following the murder of George Floyd. The resolution, now known as Resolution 20, passed in 2020.

According to the Dispatch, the motion highlighted the ways in which Ohio's children of color under perform compared to white students. The resolution also urged the state Department of Education, as well as local school districts, to interrogate implicit biases, teaching materials, and disciplinary practices.

"We have 20 years of data that shows that Black and brown children consistently under perform their white peers," Kohler told the newspaper. "Why is pointing that out and saying that is not good enough; why is that controversial?"

But many Republicans in the state were opposed to the resolution, arguing that it would lead to new kinds of anti-American teachings on topics like history, racism, and slavery.

According to the Dispatch, several Republican state senators wanted the resolution repealed and told Kohler so when they discussed her appointment this past summer. Then, in October, an elected member of the board brought forth a resolution that would repeal Resolution 20, condemning teaching practices that "seek to divide."

That resolution passed 10-7, with Kohler voting no.

Earlier this week, state senators did confirm the re appointments of three members who voted for the repeal, but not Kohler or two other appointees, according to NBC News.

Kohler told the outlet that even though DeWine, who appointed her to the Board in the first place, asked her to resign, the decision was not an easy one.

"I made it in the interest of the state board of education, to avoid becoming a distraction when the work the board does is more important than it ever was before," Kohler told the outlet, emphasizing her "tremendous respect and regard" for Gov. DeWine.

She bemoaned the way in which politics has taken over schools, telling NBC she believes conservative Republicans were unhappy with her being a moderate.

A spokesperson for DeWine's office declined to comment. Kohler did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.