Ohio Education Association Applauds Plans to Prioritize Educators for COVID-19 Vaccines
“We are grateful to Governor DeWine for listening to the concerns of the state’s educators, who have been nothing short of heroic in their efforts to reach and teach Ohio’s students through extremely difficult circumstances, often being forced to put their own safety and that of their families and communities on the line,” OEA President Scott DiMauro said. “The decision to prioritize teachers and educational support staff in vaccine distribution plans demonstrates Gov. DeWine’s commitment to prioritizing education in Ohio’s COVID-19 response plans.”
Earlier this month, OEA’s Board of Directors, a governing body composed of dozens of educators around the state, approved a policy urging the state and school districts to put education first through a four-point plan that reflects the best practices for ensuring Ohio’s children receive a high-quality education in a safe environment. The full policy statement can be found here (Adobe pdf).
“We will encourage all OEA members who are medically eligible to receive a vaccine when they can. However, the COVID-19 vaccine is not a panacea,” DiMauro said. “Because the vaccines have not been approved for children, pregnant women, or some other adults, including those who are prone to severe allergic reactions, many people in our schools will remain unprotected from the virus. Moreover, it has not yet been proven whether a person who has been vaccinated could still spread the virus to others. Therefore, even when educators are able to be vaccinated, it will remain critically important to continue following all CDC guidance to keep our schools safe and open for in-person instruction when possible.”
OEA believes the highest priority for vaccine distribution among the education community is to make it available in communities that have been particularly hard-hit by the pandemic, including high-poverty communities and communities of color. “The vaccine is a critical resource for saving lives and reopening economies,” DiMauro said. “We need to ensure that resource is available where it is needed most as quickly as possible.”
December 2020/January 2021 Ohio Schools
- COVER STORY: Dream Big
- NOTEBOOK
- OEA Urges Schools, State to Put Education First: Reset, Restart, Re-Prioritize, Resource
- OEA Local Associations Stand in Solidarity for the Good of Members and Students
- LEGISLATIVE UPDATE
- OEA Urges Ohio Senate to Pass School Funding Bill Following House Approval of Companion Legislation
- Governor DeWine Signs Harmful Voucher Expansion
- Senate Concurs with House Changes to OEA Opposed Senate Bill 40
- Senate Education Committee Passes Flexibility Provisions for Testing,
- Graduation, State Report Cards & Pathway Out for ADC Districts
- Ohio House Passes Job Description Protections for GuidanceCounselors
Moved recently? Contact the OEA Member Hotline to update the address on file at 1-844-OEA-Info (1-844-632-4636) or email, membership@ohea.org. Representatives are available Monday-Friday, from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. | OhioSchools — Past Issues
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Ohio Code of Conduct FAQs
Below are documents for a variety of topics to Frequently Asked Questions relating to Ohio’s Code of Conduct developed jointly between OEA and the Ohio Department of Education.
Click on each topic to down each document in .pdf format in the links below
- Social Media Tips – FAQ 1
Smart technology is a convenient tool however it is important to keep the use of professional and personal accounts separate. - Extracurricular Leaders – FAQ 2
Educators who work with students outside of the classroom in academic, art and sports face unique risks. - Dollars and Sense – FAQ 3
Educators who collect, raise and/or manage money can be held personally and professionally liable. - Drugs and Alcohol – FAQ 4
Any inappropriate use of alcohol, tobacco or drugs can put an educator’s licensure at risk. - Top Ten Professional Conduct Concerns – FAQ 5
Information to help caring educators avoid mistakes which can lead to consequences. - Testing and Academic Integrity – FAQ 6
Accurate collection and reporting of all educational data (testing, attendance, grades, etc.) is required of all licensed educators. - Rapback Applications – FAQ 7
To ensure safe learning communities, all individuals seeking initial and/or renewal of licenses and permits, must complete required background checks. - Classroom Management and Etiquette – FAQ 8
The proactive implementation of positive classroom management and expectations can go a long way in preventing licensure consequences. - Broken Contracts – FAQ 9
All licensed individuals should understand the legal and licensure consequences of breaking a contract. - Educational Leaders – FAQ 10
Educational leaders who demonstrate professionalism sets the tone of educational communities and workplaces. - Remote Instruction – FAQ 11
With the changes to instructional format, situations relating to ethics, student privacy and professional conduct may look different. - Professional Boundaries and Personal Business – FAQ 12
Technology can blur the line between professional and personal interaction with students. - Mandatory Reporting – FAQ 13
All educational employees are considered mandatory reporters of abuse and neglect.
Ohio Education Association Urges Schools, State to Put Education First: Reset, Restart, Re-Prioritize, Resource
In light of the alarming explosion in community spread of the Coronavirus in recent weeks and the likely spike that will follow large family gatherings over the upcoming holiday break, OEA is urging all of Ohio’s public schools to immediately suspend all in-person instruction until January 11, to include a 14 day quarantine period after Christmas. “This reset period, whether schools delay instruction or educate students in a fully remote model, is critical not only to ensure student and staff safety, but also to give schools time to refine their delivery model and make other necessary adjustments to execute their instructional plan so students can receive the best education possible in the face of all of the challenges the pandemic presents,” OEA President Scott DiMauro explained.
To restart after the reset period, schools should be required to obtain sign-off on the safety of their instructional model from their local Board of Health, which should evaluate each district’s plans based on its ability to adhere to CDC guidelines for any in-person instruction while considering local conditions such as transmission rates and healthcare capacity. Schools that are unable to obtain sign-off must remain fully remote and shall not hold extracurricular activities. “Public health experts, not the elected politicians that serve on local school boards, should make the determination about whether schools are safe for students and staff to gather in person,” DiMauro said. “The state has thus far failed to provide true leadership or firm statewide policies. We therefore must depend on local boards of health to make difficult decisions and accept accountability when they approve any educational plans.”
An important element of OEA’s updated plans calls for local leaders to reprioritize education in their policies outside school settings to ensure our schools can remain safely open and communities can continue to recover. “The education of our children should be the top priority in every community. State and local governments should do whatever is necessary to slow the spread of this disease and diminish its impact on the delivery of instruction. These efforts should include mask wearing, limits on crowds, and expansion of testing and contact tracing programs,” the OEA Board of Directors, a body made up of dozens of educators from around the state, said in the policy adopted at its most recent meeting.
Finally, putting students first requires a commitment to fully providing resources needed to meet the needs of our students, educators, and the wider community until a vaccine is widely available and our nation can begin moving beyond these difficult times. This support should include delivering additional funding for schools to operate safely, subsidizing local boards of health, and providing unemployment and health insurance benefits for every worker and small business owner impacted by COVID-related shutdowns and restrictions. “We cannot wait any longer for federal lawmakers to finally pass the HEROES act or for the state to finally draw on the rainy day fund,” DiMauro said. “Our communities need these resources now.”
Ohio Education Association Urges Senate to Quickly Pass SB 376 After Companion Legislation was Approved in House
“OEA believes that Ohio should enact a student-centered formula that is equitable, adequate, predictable, and that ensures that all students have the resources to succeed regardless of where they live or their family’s income,” OEA President Scott DiMauro said in testimony before the House Finance Committee on Tuesday. “The FSFP formula represents the best hope for necessary structural change in the way Ohio funds the education of 1.7 million students.” DiMauro’s full testimony is attached to this message.
Ohio’s current school funding system was deemed unconstitutional in 1997 by the Ohio Supreme Court’s DeRolph v. State of Ohio ruling. OEA extends its deepest gratitude to Speaker Cupp, Representative Patterson, Senators Lehner and Sykes, other legislators, and education leaders for their hard work to deliver the fair school funding system our children and communities deserve more than 20 years later. “Ohio’s students have waited decades to get what they need. The Ohio Senate must act now to pass SB 376 and finally make our children their priority,” DiMauro said.
The funding plan would provide an additional $1.99 billion in state aid when fully phased in and provides about 70% of the increased funds to the poorest urban, small town, and rural districts in the
State, substantially reducing the need for property tax levies especially in our poorest communities. It recognizes the increased per-pupil costs of educating economically disadvantaged students and transporting students with disabilities, while calling for studies to determine the real costs of serving gifted children, students with special education needs, English learners, e-schools, and Educational Service Centers. FSFP also ends the practice of tying each district’s local share to fluctuations in the property value of other districts, determining the local share by using local property values (60%) and income of district residents (40%).
The plan would also end the use of gain caps and would reduce the number of districts from the state’s funding guarantee to fewer than ten of Ohio’s 613 districts. Caps and guarantees are artificial constraints a legislature has to put on school funding because districts receive either too much or too little funding under the formula. The more districts on caps and guarantees, the worse the state’s formula is at calculating educational need. Ohio’s current system is so bad at accurately calculating student need that every district in the state is either capped or guaranteed. “Accurately calculating what students need this is quite a welcome shift,” DiMauro said.
OEA applauds the FSFP provisions that directly fund charters and vouchers, replacing the current pass-through funding system and creating a system that is fair to public school districts and charters, as well as local taxpayers. As Ohio braces for the voucher expansion that is coming with Senate Bill 89, these changes will prevent public school districts from having to raise property taxes to continue to subsidize tuition to private, mostly religious schools that perform worse than their public counterparts, according to a recent analysis by the Cincinnati Enquirer.
“No school funding model is perfect, but the FSFP formula focuses on what students need to receive a high-quality education,” DiMauro said. “The Senate must do its part and pass its version of the bill now. After nearly 30 years waiting for the state to fix school funding, Ohio’s children can’t wait any longer.”
* The vote was held open past the actual floor vote to accommodate any members who were not present during it, so the vote tally may change
Ohio Education Association Urges Governor to Reject Senate Bill 89’s Harmful Voucher Expansion
“Vouchers drain needed resources from the 90 percent of students who attend Ohio’s public schools. This drain forces too many communities into raising their property taxes, which then subsidize tuition for many students who never stepped foot in the public schools that are now financing their private school education. Diverting resources from public schools has real consequences for students who don’t take vouchers, including larger class sizes and reduced opportunities that would have set them up for future success,” said OEA President Scott DiMauro. “By grandfathering in previously voucher-eligible students, whether they had used the vouchers or not, SB 89 fails to curb the destructive explosion of the voucher program, contrary to proponents’ claims. There was no compromise and no consultation with the education community to strike the deal that was passed out by the conference committee. It’s a voucher expansion, plain and simple.”
Previously, the House-passed version of SB 89 contained many positive provisions, including moving away from pass-through funding of vouchers and dissolution of existing academic distress commissions in Youngstown, Lorain and East Cleveland. These provisions were removed in conference committee. Instead, new voucher eligibility criteria was put in place that expands EdChoice beyond its current levels.
“The ill-conceived plan to extend EdChoice voucher eligibility to families making more than the median income undermines the stated aims of that program and punishes lower-income families, particularly in communities of color, that are losing critical funding to send wealthier children to private, mostly religious schools, which often perform worse than their public school counterparts, on the taxpayer’s dime.”
A recent analysis by the Cincinnati Enquirer shows that in nearly 9 of 10 cases, students in public school districts outperform private school voucher students in the same zip codes on comparable state tests that both groups of students take. Further, SB 89 does nothing to address the problem of pass-through funding that deducts voucher amounts from state aid to school districts.
“Absent a veto from the governor on SB 89, it is more critical than ever that the General Assembly pass House Bill 305 to directly fund charters and vouchers, reducing the damage to local district caused by the voucher expansion of SB 89,” DiMauro said. “HB 305’s funding mechanism would go a long way toward protecting public school districts’ budgets and preventing them from having to raise property taxes to subsidize private school tuition.”
OEA Optimistic About SB 376’s School Funding Proposals
“Ohio’s current school funding system falls far short of meeting the needs of students and the school districts that educate them, and OEA has long advocated for state lawmakers to address the failures of Ohio’s school funding system,” OEA President Scott DiMauro said. “Ohio must end the band-aid approach to the school funding formula and enact a student-centered formula that is equitable, adequate, predictable, and that ensures that all students have the resources to succeed regardless of where they live or their family’s income.”
The Senate plan builds upon earlier proposals to reform the state’s unconstitutional funding formula. OEA urged revisions to the 2019 version of HB 305 to improve the overall equity of the formula through changes to the local capacity percentage range, among other suggested modifications.
“OEA appreciates the work of Senate Sponsors Lehner and Sykes, as well as HB 305 co-sponsors Reps. Patterson and Cupp to improve upon prior drafts of this bill,” DiMauro said. “The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the critical need for Ohio to adopt a new school funding formula to meet the needs of all 1.7 million kids served by Ohio’s public schools. Now is the time to act.”
“For more than 20 years, Ohio lawmakers have failed to remedy the state’s harmful school funding system, which was deemed unconstitutional by the Ohio Supreme Court in 1997’s landmark DeRolph v. State of Ohio ruling,” DiMauro added. “Senate Bill 376 and House Bill 305 represent an important pathway to finally address some of the greatest issues raised by that decision.”
OEA Calls for State, Federal Leadership as COVID-19 Numbers Rise
“Ohio’s educators want nothing more than to be in their classrooms with their students, but only when it is safe, and our members are doing everything in their power to meet the educational and health and safety needs of all of their students, both in-person and remotely,” said OEA President Scott DiMauro. “Unfortunately, the scope of what local district leaders and educators can do is quite limited, especially given the budget crisis currently facing our state’s school districts. Only the state and federal governments can provide the direction and funding needed to implement the measures necessary to prevent the spread of COVID-19 right now.”
OEA is urging Governor Mike DeWine to begin releasing money from the state’s $2.7 billion rainy day fund immediately to aid all schools in their efforts to follow all CDC guidelines. “Because of Ohio’s unconstitutional, inequitable school funding system that has created huge state and local funding disparities, some districts are able to keep their communities safer than others,” DiMauro pointed out. “Where Ohio’s students and educators live and work should not determine their relative health and safety.”
OEA continues to call on the state to require schools to follow best safety practices prescribed by public health experts for any in-person instruction in counties in the lower tiers of Ohio’s public health advisory system. Schools in counties where COVID-19 infection rates are highest should remain open only for remote instruction as long as that is necessary. The OEA Board of Directors’ Position Statement can be viewed here: OEA Board Position Statment on Safe and Equitable School Reopening (.pdf file).
“Statewide guidance is critical to ensuring the safety of all of Ohio’s students,” DiMauro said. “While OEA appreciates the importance of local control in many educational decisions, the current piecemeal district-by-district approach fails to protect some students and educators from unacceptably dangerous conditions in their classrooms, truly putting lives at risk. Ohio must do better.”
While a coordinated response from Ohio’s governor, lawmakers, public health experts, and the Ohio Department of Education would represent a critical measure in addressing the new COVID-19 spike for our schools, OEA recognizes how important federal assistance is in implementing any plans to keep the state’s children and educators safe.
“We need the U.S. Senate to pass a COVID-19 stimulus package for our communities. Ohioans need to call Senator Portman to demand action,” DiMauro said. “Ohioans have waited too long already for relief from the federal government, and playing politics by delaying stimulus until after the election only further hurts Ohioans and Ohio schools that need help now.”
Ohio Education Association Calls for Full Remote Learning in Counties in Highest Tiers of State’s Public Health Advisory Alert System
A poll of OEA members in mid-July found that 69 percent of education professionals statewide do not believe that schools and campuses will be able to reopen safely in the fall.
“OEA stands with its members, parents, and community partners in recognizing the critical role schools play in academic and non-academic success of our students,” the OEA Board of Directors, which consists of more than 50 educators, education support professionals and higher education faculty statewide, said in a unanimously adopted Position Statement on Safe and Equitable Reopening Plans for Schools and Campus Buildings. “Given the dangers posed by the spread of COVID-19, however, OEA believes that reopening for in-person instruction prematurely poses unacceptable risks to the lives and health of students, adults who work in schools, and the people they care for.”
In early July, Governor Mike DeWine issued a set of guidelines to shape school reopening plans. Most of that guidance was in the form of recommendations, rather than requirements, for things like masks, sanitization, and social distancing protocols. OEA has been calling for greater accountability and enforcement of those measures. Ample testing must also be available to ensure individuals afflicted with COVID-19 are negative prior to returning to school, and evidence-based protocols for contact tracing must also be in place.
Under Ohio’s Public Health Advisory Alert System, OEA believes that any school or campus building located in a county designated as Level 4 (purple) or Level 3 (red) must remain closed to in-person instruction. Until a vaccine or cure for COVID-19 is widely available, schools in all counties, including Level 2 (orange) and Level 1 (yellow) should be permitted to open for in-person instruction only if all CDC requirements can be fully met.
Any safe reopening plan will require adequate resources, including funding for a sufficient number of educators, support staff, nurses, and custodial workers to meet the needs of students in the classrooms. Adequate funding will also be needed for technology devices and high-speed internet access to ensure all students have reliable, quality access to remote learning platforms, regardless of where they live.
“No education employee in any setting should be forced to choose between their livelihood and their health or safety,” the OEA Board of Directors said. “OEA will continue to organize and engage members to effectively advocate for healthy and safe learning and working conditions, essential legal protections for members, and equitable learning opportunities for all students.”
The OEA Board of Directors’ Position Statement can be viewed here: OEA Board Position Statment on Safe and Equitable School Reopening (.pdf file)
October 2020 OEA Retirement Systems Update
STRS Receives Actuarial Report on Pension and Health Care Plans
On Thursday, October 15, 2020, the STRS Board received annual reports on the funding status of the pension and health care plans. The reports were presented by Cheiron, the STRS Board’s contracted actuarial firm.
Results of the actuarial valuation of the pension plan are as of June 30, 2020, the end of the fiscal year. According to the report, the actuarial value of STRS pension plan assets were $76.4 billion. This differs from the actual market value of assets because gains and losses are smoothed over a four-year period in the actuarial valuation to reduce volatility. The actuarial liabilities were $98.7 billion. The pension plan’s funding ratio is 77.4%, up from 76.1% last year. The funding period (the amount of time needed to pay off the unfunded liability) is calculated at 14.9 years, an improvement from 16.6 years in the last valuation.
The valuation of the STRS retiree health care plan continues to show that health care is fully funded. Health care fund assets as of June 30, 2020 were approximately $3.9 billion and actuarial liabilities were around $2.1 billion for a funded ratio of 182%.
STRS Board Approves Health Care Premium Rebate
The STRS Board unanimously passed a motion to issue a $250 rebate for each enrollee in the STRS health care plan as of October 2020 (retirees, spouses, and dependents). The rebate payments will be made in the December 2020 pension payments and are non-taxable. The total cost of the refund will be approximately $29.1 million. The funded ratio of the health care plan is expected to remain over 180%.
SERS Board Sets 0.5% COLA for 2021
At its September meeting, the SERS Board unanimously approved a 0.5% cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) increase for eligible retirees in 2021. SERS has not granted a COLA for the past three years to improve the long-term finances of the pension plan.
Under state law, SERS will base its COLA upon the yearly change in the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners (CPI-W), with a range of 0% to 2.5%. However, the Board may deviate from the change in CPI-W if its actuary determines the change would not materially impair the fiscal integrity of the system or is necessary to preserve the fiscal integrity of the system. The change in CPI-W for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2020 was 0.5%.
The COLA increase will be effective for those whose benefit effective date is prior to April 1, 2018. Those who retired on or after that date must wait until their fourth anniversary date before receiving a COLA.
Click here to download a copy of this October 2020 Report to the OEA Board of Directors. Previous Retirement Systems Updates can be viewed under the Affiliate Resources tab on the OEA website.