Ohio’s board of education unanimously picked Paolo DeMaria on Wednesday to serve as the state’s next superintendent.
DeMaria has worked at the education department and served as an advisor to the state senate and to former Republican Governors George Voinovich and Bob Taft. He supports the Common Core State Standards, school choice, and having fewer regulations for school districts, according to a profile in the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
He replaces Richard Ross, who retired at the end of last year after a contentious two-year tenure that included a charter school grading scandal.
Board members said Wednesday they hope DeMaria will unify the board and the department.
“I feel more enthusiastic now than I ever have during the last seven years with regard to the future of the Department of Education and with my colleagues on the board,” board member Ann Jacobs said, according to the AP. “I really feel as if we’ve kind of turned a corner and that we can work together in a considered way.”
Photo: Paolo DeMaria, center, greets members of the Ohio State Board of Education in Columbus, Ohio on Wednesday, after the panel voted 19-0 to name him the state’s new schools superintendent. DeMaria becomes the permanent replacement for former superintendent Richard Ross, who retired Dec. 31. (Julie Carr Smyth/AP)