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OEA faces 2011 Political Challenges
Unknown to most Ohioans beforehand, the statewide and local elections of 2010 set the stage for a dramatic struggle in 2011 -- as the ideologically driven majority leadership of the Republican party sought to enact a long-held agenda:The Ohio Education Association has joined organized labor to protest anti-collective bargaining legislation, but that's only the beginning. The struggle to preserve public education funding and protect the economic security of our members will be challenging as legislators follow the lead of Governor John Kasich toward laws that will hurt students, public schools and universities and the teachers and support staff who serve our learners.The goals of the new GOP leaders are now clear:- Drastic curtailment of collective bargaining rights for Ohio public employees
- Massive expansion of "school choice" initiatives, particularly charter schools and private school vouchers
- Tax cuts -- including elimination of Ohio's estate tax and the fifth phase of Ohio's five-step reduction in the state income tax
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Dismantling Strickland-era education reforms, including
- The Ohio Evidenced Base Model for school funding
- The need-based formula for school fund distribution based on property wealth, education attainment and poverty levels
- Education improvement measures such as all-day Kindergarten, smaller class sizes for Grades K-3 and Community Groups to support school improvement efforts
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Privatizing a wide range of government services, including
- The Ohio Department of Development
- Portions of the Ohio Turnpike
- Portions of the Ohio prison system
Beginning in the early weeks of the new legislative session and new administration, Governor John Kasich and his GOP leadership in the legislature have launched a series of bills to enact that agenda, spurring massive demonstrations at the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus, and similar demonstrations of protest in many Ohio Communities.
The legislative agenda includes:
Senate Bill 5 - Collective Bargaining - SB 5 eliminates collective bargaining for state employees and employees of higher education institutions and significantly undermines collective bargaining for K-12 employees.
Gov. Kasich's First State Budget - Details on the state budget are now emerging, revealing a combination of painful cuts to virtually all school and community services, along with revenue from the privatization of turnpike operations, prisons and other government restructuring.
House Bill 69 - Public Pensions - HB 69, as now being amended, postpones retirement, cuts pension benefits and increases contributions to public pensions for current public employees -- without any increased contribution by state and local governments and schools -- and on a schedule that could be disastrous for public education.
House Bill 21 - Education Licensure - HB 21 is a collection of education measures, including a requirement that value-added student test score data be considered as part of teacher licensure decisions, while on the other hand granting accelerated teaching licenses to Teach for America teachers, who typically receive only five weeks of training. The bill also lifts the Charter E-School Moratorium.
House Bill 30: - Reform Repeals - HB 30 would ends Ohio's Commitment to Universal All-Day Kindergarten, eliminate class size limits on grades K-3 and repeal virtually all other education improvement ideas of the Ohio Education Opportunity Act, passed in July 2009 as House Bill 1.
