Take Action to Stop Teacher License Fee Increase
The Ohio Education Association is calling on state lawmakers to fully fund the State Board of Education instead of passing costs onto the backs of hardworking teachers. Five-year license fees may increase up to 75%, from $200 to $350, because the Ohio General Assembly has not fully funded the State Board of Education. It is time for state lawmakers to protect teachers from unfair license fees by fully funding the work of the State Board of Education, which is to administer educator licenses. Teachers deserve support and respect, not license fee increases.
TAKE ACTION by contacting your state representative and state senator. Ask your legislators to fully fund the State Board of Education instead of passing costs onto the backs of hardworking teachers.
Fully funding the State Board means that the Board can support the Resident Educator program, ensure the safety and well-being of students by conducting comprehensive, necessary background checks in a timely manner, help address educator recruitment and retention, and ensure timely completion of misconduct investigations so educator rights are protected without increasing licensure fees on teachers.
Ask Your State Senator to Support HCR 6: Urging Congress to Repeal GPO and WEP
Federal legislation is needed to repeal the unfair Social Security offsets that reduce the earned benefits of public employees in states like Ohio. The Government Pension Offset (GPO) and Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) are provisions of federal law that reduce the earned Social Security, spousal, and survivor benefits of those who also collect a public pension from states that do not pay into Social Security. Because Ohio is a non-Social Security state, many teachers, education support professionals and other public servants are adversely impacted by GPO and WEP.
The Social Security Fairness Act (HR 82 and S. 597) is pending before Congress and would repeal GPO and WEP, helping right this decades-long injustice. One way to help keep the pressure on Congress to act is for our state legislators to urge them to do so. House Concurrent Resolution (HCR) 6 is a resolution that urges Congress to repeal GPO and WEP. The resolution has already passed the Ohio House by a unanimous vote and is now pending in the Ohio Senate.
Write to your State Senator today and urge them to support this resolution. By doing so they will be standing up for Ohio’s public servants and help to improve their economic security in retirement.
Bad for students. Bad for higher education. Bad for Ohio.
Your Voice is Critical
Urge Your State Representative to Oppose Substitute Senate Bill 83
Substitute Senate Bill 83, sponsored by Senator Jerry Cirino (R-Kirtland), is a sweeping piece of legislation that is currently under consideration in the Ohio House Higher Education Committee. Currently, the committee is debating the eleventh version of the bill. SB 83 was narrowly passed with a vote of 8 to 7 by the Ohio House Higher Education Committee at its meeting on December 6, 2023.
While the current version removed the prohibition of faculty and employees to strike, the bill still contains provisions that cause serious concerns as it pertains to labor rights, job security, and academic freedom which have to potential to negatively impact the quality of higher education in Ohio.
In its current version, SB 83 eliminates the collective bargaining rights of higher education faculty members to bargain over certain working conditions. This includes prohibiting bargaining over faculty evaluations, tenure, and retrenchment (the process for reduction of force). This bill represents the largest attack on collective bargaining rights since Senate Bill 5 in 2011.
Additionally, SB 83 contains language that micromanages higher education classrooms and threatens academic freedoms on Ohio’s public university and college campuses. OEA believes that these policies are best developed locally by faculty and administration determining the systems that work best for their campuses, and not top-down state mandates.
We must stop Substitute Senate Bill 83! Email your Ohio House member and urge them to oppose this bill.
We must stop Substitute Senate Bill 83! Email your Ohio House member and urge them to oppose this bill.
OEA 2022 Election Guide
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Ohio Education Association Candidate Recommendations
Ohio’s Primary Election is right around the corner, on Tuesday, March 19, 2024. Make sure educators voices are heard this Primary by making your plan to vote. Please see below for some important dates and links for information on voting in the upcoming Primary Election.
Important Dates
- Tuesday, February 20, 2024 – Deadline to register to vote and update registrations in advance of the March 19, 2024, primary election. Boards of Election will be open until 9:00 PM for individuals to drop off registrations. See below links for how to check your registration status, register to vote, or update your registration online.
- Wednesday, February 21, 2024 – Early voting for the 2024 Primary Election begins. See links below for in-person early voting locations, dates, and times.
- Monday, March 18, 2024 – Absentee ballots must be postmarked by this date if returned by mail.
- Tuesday, March 19, 2024 – Primary Election: Polls are open from 6:30 AM to 7:30 PM and absentee ballots may be returned by 7:30 PM to your Board of Elections if not returned by mail.
Important Links
- To check your registration status, please click here.
- To register or update your registration, please click here.
- To find your county’s early voting location, please click here.
- To find the schedule for early in-person voting, please click here.
- To find out how to request a mail in ballot and vote by mail, please click here.
Click here to look up your current legislative district under the latest state maps.
As part of your voting plan, we urge all OEA members to check out the preliminary list of candidates recommended by the OEA members below. Many more candidate recommendations will be made after the Primary, so please continue to check for updates.
It is important to note that OEA members across the state—not OEA staff or leaders—make all the endorsement decisions. In each race, candidates from both parties are asked to fill out questionnaires describing their positions on education issues, and those who are state officeholders are also rated on their education votes in the General Assembly. Candidates are then interviewed by OEA members who work in the district or area in which candidates are seeking office. Based on the candidate’s views on public education issues—and only on public education issues—the OEA Fund State Council and District Screening Committees vote on whether to endorse specific candidates.
You can learn more about the OEA Fund and the screening process here.
**If viewing the recommended candidates list on a mobile phone or small screen, please rotate your device to a horizontal orientation for better viewing.**
President and Vice-President | Joseph Biden (D)/Kamala Harris (D) |
US Senate | Recommended Candidate |
US Senate – OH | Sherrod Brown (D) |
Judicial Seat | |
Associate Justice of the OH Supreme Court | |
Associate Justice of the OH Supreme Court | |
Associate Justice of the OH Supreme Court (Unexpired Term) | |
Ohio House | Recommended Candidate |
District 1 | Dontavius Jarrells (D) |
District 2 | Latyna Humphrey (D) |
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District 6 | |
District 7 | Allison Russo (D) |
District 8 | Anita Somani (D) |
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District 14 | Sean Brennan (D) |
District 15 | |
District 16 | Bride Rose Sweeney (D) |
District 17 | |
District 18 | Juanita Brent (D) |
District 19 | Phil Robinson (D) |
District 20 | Terrence Upchurch (D) |
District 21 | |
District 22 | |
District 23 | Dan Troy (D) |
District 24 | Dani Isaacsohn (D) |
District 25 | Cecil Thomas (D) |
District 26 | Sedrick Denson (D) |
District 27 | Rachel Baker (D) |
District 28 | Jessica Miranda (D) |
District 29 | Cindy Abrams (R) |
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District 33 | |
District 34 | Derrick Hall (D) |
District 35 | |
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District 41 | |
District 42 | Elgin Rogers, Jr. (D) |
District 43 | Michele Grim (D) |
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District 45 | |
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District 47 | |
District 48 | Scott Oelslager (R) |
District 49 | |
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District 52 | |
District 53 | Joe Miller (D) |
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District 74 | |
District 75 | Haraz Ghanbari (R) |
District 76 | |
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District 78 | |
District 79 | Monica Robb Blasdel (R) |
District 80 | |
District 81 | James Hoops (R) |
District 82 | |
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District 87 | |
District 88 | |
District 89 | |
District 90 | Justin Pizzulli (R) |
District 91 | |
District 92 | |
District 93 | Jason Stephens (R) |
District 94 | |
District 95 | Don Jones (R) |
District 96 | |
District 97 | |
District 98 | |
District 99 | |
Ohio Senate | Recommended Candidate |
District 2 | |
District 4 | |
District 6 | |
District 8 | Louis Blessing, III (R) |
District 10 | |
District 12 | |
District 14 | |
District 16 | |
District 18 | |
District 20 | |
District 22 | |
District 24 | |
District 26 | |
District 28 | |
District 30 | |
District 33 | |
U.S. Congress | Recommended Candidate |
District 1 | Greg Landsman (D) |
District 2 | |
District 3 | |
District 4 | |
District 5 | |
District 6 | |
District 7 | |
District 8 | |
District 9 | Marcy Kaptur (D) |
District 10 | |
District 11 | Shontel Brown (D) |
District 12 | |
District 13 | Emilia Sykes (D) |
District 14 | |
District 15 | |
State Board of Education | Recommended Candidate |
SBOE 1 | |
SBOE 5 | |
SBOE 6 | |
SBOE 9 | |
SBOE 10 | |
SBOE 11 |
Oh Yes, We’re Social — Join the Conversation!
Updated March 13, 2024
Legislative Testimony on HB 70 — State Takeover Law
[Click here print a copy | Click here to send a letter to your Ohio Senator]
Chair Lehner and members of the Senate Education Committee, my name is Scott DiMauro. I am currently in my 29th year in education, including 16 years in the classroom as a high school social studies teacher, and currently serve as the president of the Ohio Education Association (OEA).
On behalf of the OEA’s 123,000 members, thank you for this opportunity to provide feedback on the Senate’s substitute bill for HB 154.
The draft bill under consideration makes a variety of proposals intended to address ongoing problems with the Ohio law (HB 70 131st G.A.) authorizing state takeovers of local school districts.
This testimony will highlight specific feedback and recommendations regarding the draft bill. However, this does not represent a comprehensive outline of all issues and concerns raised by OEA in a previous letter to the Chair (dated August 29, 2019).
Although OEA opposes the current draft bill, we acknowledge the stakeholder feedback process is ongoing and the final product is a work in progress.
OEA looks forward to working with the Ohio General Assembly to find common ground in solving the fundamental problems presented by Ohio’s state takeover law.
To that end, OEA is hopeful that our constructive feedback to policy makers can facilitate the identification of problems with the state takeover law and the development of real solutions. We appreciate the Chair’s commitment to a non-punitive school improvement framework that depends on local control and stakeholder buy-in, acknowledges the time needed for meaningful improvement, and recognizes the need for flexibility in ensuring that each community’s improvement plan reflects the unique needs of that community.
The major shortcoming of the draft bill continues to be the lack of checks-and-balances.
Our focus in providing feedback is two-fold: First, to help all students in challenging learning environments overcome these barriers and become life-long learners. Second, to support the work of front-line educators serving students in especially challenging learning environments.
Classroom teachers are the front-line educators in our public schools. Our service to students is benefited greatly when we have support and collaboration from others who share our commitment to the success of our students, including parents, education support professionals, principals, administrators, and locally-elected school boards.
As an overview to the following OEA feedback, the current draft bill contains some positive elements and constructive concepts that can serve as a foundation for improvement with continued stakeholder input.
However, the major shortcoming of the draft bill continues to be the lack of checks-and-balances to the unilateral authority granted to the Director of the School Improvement Commission. The Director and School Improvement Committee would replace the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Academic Distress Committee (ADC) that exist in current law. The recommendations below are intended to address this fundamental flaw in Ohio’s state takeover law and the current draft bill.
OEA recommendations:
1) Return local control to school districts and communities currently under the control of an Academic Distress Commission/CEO before the 2020-2021 school year.
- Local control and community oversight play a fundamental role in both the operation and funding of public schools in Ohio. Those closest to students are in the best position to understand and assess the needs of the students in any given community. State takeovers break this system of local control and citizen-based accountability.
- OEA proposes to amend the ADC dissolution process in the draft bill to require the School Transformation Board (STB) to approve terms for a district’s petition for dissolution and a transition to local control before the 2020-2021 school year. The current draft bill only allows current ADC districts to petition for dissolution between February 15, 2020 and June 30, 2020, and there is no guarantee of a return to local control. Therefore, it remains unclear whether, or when, the current ADC districts will be released from the problems of state control.
- OEA also proposes to automatically dissolve the current ADCs and provide these districts the same report card “restart” on the state takeover clock that all other districts would receive under the draft bill. By treating current ADC districts equally with all other districts, they will have the same fair opportunity to start fresh under whatever state takeover framework the General Assembly ultimately approves.
2) Return all collective bargaining rights taken away under the current state takeover law (HB 70; 131st).
- State takeover laws do not create a school improvement environment by taking away educators’ collective bargaining rights. Removing bargaining rights is a punitive and counterproductive measure that undermines school improvement. Effective school improvement actions taken by the General Assembly should support educators, not punish them. However, the draft bill aggravates this situation by taking bargaining rights away even faster than under HB 70. This is a mistake.
- The removal of bargaining rights by the current state takeover law and the draft bill is a fundamental flaw that is based on false assumptions about the role of collective bargaining in school improvement. Teachers and education support professionals use the collective bargaining process as their formal voice to petition school district leaders for the kinds of supports they know will help them serve students in the classroom. Collective bargaining rights provide educators a necessary opportunity to advocate for their student’s needs, which is even more critical in districts that have especially challenging learning environments.
- School leaders and decision makers also benefit from collective bargaining because they provide an important feedback mechanism to support district-wide collaboration around school improvement. A state takeover law that removes teacher collective bargaining rights will fail. School districts that receive an “A” rating on Ohio’s report cards also have collective bargaining agreements. These important rights should be maintained and protected in all school districts.
- OEA also proposes to remove district board policies and collective bargaining agreements as one of the factors to be included in a root cause analysis under Section 3301.283 of the bill. Collective bargaining is not the reason why some schools perform below expectations. The bill wisely requires an analysis of factors that may include leadership, governance, and communication; curriculum and instruction; assessment and effective use of student data; human resources and professional development; student supports; fiscal management; or other issues preventing full or high-quality implementation of improvement plans. If a root cause analysis identifies one of these issues and it is covered in a collective bargaining agreement, OEA believes it is appropriate for management and the union to address the issue at the bargaining table.
3) Increase and strengthen teacher membership on the School Transformation Board (STB) and the School Improvement Committee (SIC).
Input and feedback from active front-line educators will improve and inform the work of the STB and SIC as they seek to understand the barriers to learning faced by children living in poverty. Ensuring a meaningful role and a formal voice for at least one teacher on the STB and SIC will provide an important resource to these entities. This is in the interest of the students we are trying to help.
- OEA proposes that membership on the School Transformation Board should include at least one active teacher member (currently there is no active teacher member).
- OEA also proposes that the active teacher member on the SIC should have voting rights. The draft bill requires one teacher member on the SIC, but without voting rights. (Note that under current law, the designated educator member of an Academic Distress Commission does have voting rights.) The role and authority of the SIC should also be expanded, relative to the broad unilateral powers granted to the SIC Director.
In closing, thank you for engaging stakeholders in this important legislative effort to serve students by resolving problems and flaws with Ohio’s state takeover law.
Any successful legislation will reflect a recognition that state takeovers are an inherently ineffective and inefficient policy model for collaborative school improvement.
Again, thank you for this opportunity to testify. I am available for any question the Chair or the committee members may have.
Thank you.
School Bd. Candidate Training — July 27th
The Ohio Education Association is offering two FREE, one-day seminars to candidates (and potential candidates) for local school boards to assist in preparing them and their teams to run a successful campaign.
Click here to RSVP as well as indicate the date you will attend: June 22, 2019, or July 27, 2019.
If attending the Sat., June 22nd training, must register by June 14th- If attending the Sat., July 27th training, must register by July 19th
Training topics include how to develop a campaign timeline, voter targeting, effective messaging, social media, as well as direct mail.
Each participant is encouraged to bring a guest who will assist with the campaign (e.g., campaign treasurer, campaign manager, volunteer coordinator). Lunch is provided. For more information, contact: Sarah Montell at: MontellS@ohea.org or Zach Roberts at: RobertsZ@ohea.org. Click here to download an event flier.
RELATED
- Ohio School Boards – Why They Matter, by Matt Ides, OEA Organizing
- Why I Ran for Office, by Molly Wassmuth (Westerville EA), Central FCPE PAC and Grandview Heights School Board member
House Bill 239 Could be Antidote for ‘Test Distress’
Tuesday, May 14, 2019
A growing number of parents and educators agree — Ohio’s students have to endure too much testing. The demands and pressures of so much testing are having a detrimental impact on our learners, and it’s time to do something about it.
Across the state, excessive testing has led to a loss of instructional time in the classroom and lost educational opportunities for students. Testing has fostered anxiety not curiosity and a fear of failure instead of the freedom to flourish.
“While some districts may not need to think twice about their student’s success on state assessments,” a history teacher in Lorain County recently told me, “many of us need to place every ounce of our effort into strategies that point directly to an endgame that has little to do with student college and career readiness, nothing to do with the joy of learning, and everything to do with an arbitrary score on a standardized test.”
A high school counselor in Columbiana County said, “The amount of anxiety bottled up in the walls of our school for the month and a half it takes to test all our students is immeasurable and unfathomable. I’ve seen students shake with fear in anticipation of logging in to the testing system or break down in tears of relief after submitting their last question.”
Ohio is now in the minority of states that exceeds minimum federal testing requirements for students. The number of end-of-course exams, as well as the stakes attached to them, must be reduced.
The Ohio Education Association has been urging state lawmakers to do more to address this issue and, with the introduction of new legislation last week, it’s clear legislators are listening.
On Wednesday [May 8, 2019], the Testing Reduction Act (House Bill 239) was introduced in the Ohio House. The bill, sponsored by Reps. Gayle Manning, R-North Ridgeville, and Erica Crawley, D-Columbus, is bipartisan legislation that makes important changes to Ohio law to reduce state-required testing and bring together teachers, parents and administrators in each school district to address the testing load on students. OEA strongly supports this legislation.
Specifically, HB 239 would make the following changes:
- Reduce state-mandated standardized tests to the federal minimums by eliminating four high school end-of-course exams.
- Require school districts to convene a local work group made up of teachers, parents and administrators to examine district-required testing and make recommendations for ways to reduce the amount of time students spend taking tests.
- Alter the existing provision that allows local school boards to pass a resolution to exceed testing limits by requiring that such action be taken on an annual basis and be reported to the Ohio Department of Education.
- Require that ODE issue an annual report on the time spent on state- and district-required testing in Ohio’s schools.
- Provide that the state continues to offer a paid administration of the ACT/SAT tests for high school juniors, but student participation would be voluntary.
This bill is a thoughtful way to restore some balance to our classrooms by addressing overtesting while also keeping high standards. Less time spent on testing means more time for teaching and learning. That’s what’s best for Ohio’s students.
By Becky Higgins, president of the Ohio Education Association.
Reprinted courtesy of the Dispatch Printing Company. Original URL: https://www.dispatch.com/opinion/20190514/column-house-bill-could-be-antidote-for-test-distress
Keep House-passed Language on Repealing Flawed State Takeover Law
Wednesday, May 29, 2019, before the Ohio Senate Education Committee, Ohio Education Association (OEA) President Becky Higgins called on legislators to keep the provisions of House Bill 154 that were included in the state budget recently passed by the House.
“We urge the Senate to keep the language in the House-passed budget that is part of HB 154 and that would do away with state-mandated Academic Distress Commissions.” — OEA President Becky Higgins
“There is widespread agreement – among educators, local officials and state lawmakers of both parties, that the law (HB 70) mandating the state takeover of troubled school districts is flawed and needs to be replaced,” said Higgins.
“We very much like the approach taken by HB 154, which would repeal HB 70 and restore local control and which recently passed the House with strong bipartisan support (83-12). We urge the Senate to keep the language in the House-passed budget that is part of HB 154 and that would do away with state-mandated Academic Distress Commissions.”
Higgins also added, “we recognize that other approaches are being offered to address the problems that plague troubled schools in our state. Whatever the eventual agreed-upon plan looks like, we believe strongly that it should include a role for educators who well understand the needs of their students and what it will take to improve student performance.
In short, we don’t need state mandates. It’s time to restore local control of our schools. We look forward to working with Senator Lehner and members of the Senate Education Committee on a viable alternative to the current fatally-flawed state takeover law.”
Keep House-passed Language on Repealing Flawed State Takeover Law
Wednesday, May 29, 2019 — COLUMBUS — In testimony today before the Ohio Senate Education Committee, Ohio Education Association (OEA) President Becky Higgins called on legislators to keep the provisions of House Bill 154 that were included in the state budget recently passed by the House.
“We urge the Senate to keep the language in the House-passed budget that is part of HB 154 and that would do away with state-mandated Academic Distress Commissions.” — OEA President Becky Higgins
“There is widespread agreement – among educators, local officials and state lawmakers of both parties, that the law (HB 70) mandating the state takeover of troubled school districts is flawed and needs to be replaced,” said Higgins.
“We very much like the approach taken by HB 154, which would repeal HB 70 and restore local control and which recently passed the House with strong bipartisan support (83-12). We urge the Senate to keep the language in the House-passed budget that is part of HB 154 and that would do away with state-mandated Academic Distress Commissions.”
Higgins also added, “we recognize that other approaches are being offered to address the problems that plague troubled schools in our state. Whatever the eventual agreed-upon plan looks like, we believe strongly that it should include a role for educators who well understand the needs of their students and what it will take to improve student performance.
In short, we don’t need state mandates. It’s time to restore local control of our schools. We look forward to working with Senator Lehner and members of the Senate Education Committee on a viable alternative to the current fatally-flawed state takeover law.”
The Ohio Education Association represents 122,000 teachers, faculty members and support professionals in Ohio’s public schools, colleges and universities.