It seems like a turtle's pace, but the public education landscape is changing. And, Ohio is a big player.

Certainly there are physical changes in many communities. They're prompted by a multimillion-dollar state building push. Cincinnati Public Schools will reel in $210 million from state tax coffers after city voters approved a record $980 million bond issue Tuesday. CPS will replace or rebuild every school in the district within 10 years.

Statewide, voters approved 56 percent of more than 150 school tax requests on the May ballot, both for construction and operating money.

Other changes in the education landscape are less visible but nonetheless revolutionary. We're talking about the growth of alternative or "choice" schools opening in Ohio and nationwide. Today's Forum interview with entrepreneur David Brennan spotlights this evolution. Ohio's Brennan and other stalwarts birthed the Cleveland voucher program that led the U.S. Supreme Court in 2002 to finally open American education to parental choice.

Two states so far (Florida and Colorado) offer statewide, publicly funded vouchers for students in failing schools to attend other schools. In Ohio, public vouchers are available only in Cleveland.

Meanwhile, tax-supported public charter schools are bringing alternatives to thousands of kids not served or dissatisfied with their regular public schools.

Ohio passed a law allowing publicly funded charter schools six years ago; there now are 131 schools. Nationwide, there are more than 2,400. There are a dozen or more charter schools in Cincinnati.

In April, Ohio's charter movement got a big boost. A Franklin County judge dismissed the major constitutional challenges to the state's law. Unions and other special interests claimed the schools had no right to exist .

Education choices will grow with the demand, as laws and regulations permit. We're getting a glimpse of what a modern, choice-rich education marketplace could look like. It looks good.