Political Economy as Civic Education: A Contested-Principles Approach to New Statutory Requirements in Ohio

The Advance Ohio Higher Education Act of 2025 legally requires public universities in Ohio to teach students specific economics content but bans instructors from addressing controversial topics in a biased manner. Rather than avoid controversial issues, civic education should focus on contested fundamental economic principles for two reasons. First, it is a safer strategy for legal compliance. Second, teaching contested principles is a pedagogical boon for the education of citizens in which no single disciplinary perspective can be authoritative. There are both practical dilemmas and pedagogical upsides to the new regulatory environment that are unforeseen in the scholarly literature related to law and economics and the economics of civic education. The contested-principles approach to civics-focused economic education, developed here, is relevant beyond Ohio: to new public institutes of civic education across the United States, to universities that anticipate similar legal requirements, and to anyone interested in unforeseen pedagogical benefits of higher-education law.