Education
Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College.
Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College.
Formerly she served in the Ohio House of Representatives and on the Kettering City Council. Her district is located entirely in Montgomery County, and includes Vandalia, Riverside, Kettering, Centerville, Miamisburg and Germantown. Lehner is a Republican.
A graduate of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College, Lehner was a three-term city councilwoman in Kettering, sat on the Ohio Ethics Commission from 1991 to 1997, served as a board member for the Greater Dayton Regional Transit Authority and has been active in efforts to address issues facing Dayton-area suburbs for decades.
When Senator Jeff Jacobson resigned his seat early, he left a vacancy in an important lame duck session. Since Jacobson"s elected successor Jon Husted was at that time serving as Speaker of the Ohio House, he was unable to resign and take his new seat in the Senate.
Therefore, Senate leadership appointed Lehner to temporarily take a seat in the Senate to fill out the remainder of Jacobson"s term. Following a month-long tenure in the Senate, Lehner then began her term as in the House.
With incumbent and Speaker of the House Husted unable to run due to term limits, Lehner opted to succeed him.
After Senator Husted was elected as Ohio Secretary of State on November 2, 2010, he was required to resign his seat in the Ohio Senate. Lehner, who preceded Husted (albeit for only a month-long tenure), was named as a potential successor once the seat had been vacated. Lehner was up against five other potential appointees, including former state Representative Seth Morgan.
On December 13, 2010, it was announced that the Senate Republicans had decided to appoint Lehner to fill the remaining two years of Husted"s term.
In a homecoming of sorts, Lehner was sworn in to the seat she previously held on January 11, 2011, resigning from the House to do southern In 2013, she began serving as Chairwoman of the Senate Education Committee.
Lehner, as Chairwoman, has been influential in all education policy, including charter school reform. Although she is pro-charter, she has advocated for stronger charter school oversight and reform.
While Lehner was originally elected to the Ohio House of Representatives in 2008, she came first to the Statehouse as a member of the Ohio Senate.