Teacher World

Ohio’s SB5, which was introduced by state Sen. Shannon Jones, a Springboro Republican, but championed by Gov. John Kasich, who took office declaring he would change Ohio’s collective bargaining law, went down in flames last night as Issue 2 was defeated 61 percent to 39 percent. This was a huge victory for unions who represent the 360,000 public employees whose powers would have been trodden had the law prevailed. And like so many teachers and public workers who sought to overturn SB5, I could not be more relieved today.

Kasich, on the other hand, can be feeling only defeat after last night’s news. In his speech from the Statehouse he humbly conceded, saying, “It’s clear the people have spoken. I heard their voices. I understand their decision. And frankly, I respect what the people have to say in an effort like this. And as a result of that, it requires me to take a deep breath and to spend some time to reflect on what happened here.”

But Ohio Civil Service Employees Association President Christopher Mabe said, “We want to thank the voters of Ohio who used their citizen’s veto to send a message that this extreme legislation was simply out of touch with the majority of Ohioans. Most Ohioans believe that government runs best when front-line workers have a seat at the table. Tonight, they gave us our seat back.”

The campaign against Issue 2 and its subsequent victory has many wondering whether Kasich will have as much success next year in accomplishing his policy goals.

Ohio State University election law professor Dan Tokaji said, “I think there is no question this is a major black eye for the governor. He made the scaling back of collective bargaining rights really the signature issue of the first part of his administration, so this is a huge blow.”

Republicans knew there might be trouble back in the summer which opponents of SB5 turned in a million valid signatures, a record number for a referendum, qualifying Issue 2 for the ballot.

And the amount of campaign money raised by both sides was further indication that Issue 2 was in trouble. We Are Ohio, the coalition of Democrats and major labor unions, raised more than $30 million for their campaign, sometimes soliciting outside help to raise funds, while Building a Better Ohio only raised about $7.6 million, according to recent campaign finance reports. And We Are Ohio outspent Building a Better Ohio by more than a 3-to-1 margin, running far more commercials to spread their message.

So, does that mean that SB5 is a distant memory? Apparently not, because the October 25 Quinnipiac University poll showed that those polled supported requirements for public workers to pay at least 15 percent of their health care costs and to contribute at least 10 percent of their salary toward their pension. And it also showed support for establishing a merit-based pay system, one of the provisions in SB5.

And the number-two ranking Senate Republican, Sen. Keith Faber continues to argue that lawmakers shouldn’t hesitate to pursue collective bargaining reform again; in spite of the intense opposition such reform has created. He said, “If it’s the right thing to do and we need to work on it again, that’s kind of what we get elected to do.” He also added that he noticed in the final weeks of the campaign that “people are opening up to the need for change.”

So, I’m not sure we have heard the end of this sort of reform in the state of Ohio. The rumblings are out there, and we need to remain vigilant. But for right now, I think we deserve to sit back and celebrate our victory.

Teacher's Unions, Teacher-World's Blog collective bargaining, Gov. John Kasich, Ohio's Issue 2, public workers, public workers' unions, SB5, We Are Ohio

With the vote on Ohio Issue 2 right around the corner, I felt compelled to share with you some facts that might help you make an informed and fair decision when you step into your local voting booth this November. I hope that you will read this information with an open mind.

I recently received findings from a report compiled by a former Ohio journalist, TC Brown. During his journalism career, he was the assistant bureau chief for The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer in the Statehouse Bureau in Columbus, and he has written for several magazines and national publications. His stories drove reforms in many areas, such as changes in state policy for disposing of hazardous and radioactive waste and transformations in the manner in which the state determines its consumer fraud recovery, to name a few.

He has received national, state, and local journalism awards, and resides in Ohio where he works as a writer, editor, social media expert, media consultant, and an investigator.

I tell you these things to reinforce the veracity of the information that TC Brown reported when he turned his numerous skills to studying public workers. In his research, he found out some interesting information about the willingness of these public workers to sacrifice during tough economic times. The following are some of his key findings (which I quote directly):

•        Public union workers have saved taxpayers more than $1 billion through collective bargaining concessions since 2008.
•        State employees contributed $350 million in wage freezes, furlough days and increased healthcare costs.
•        Teachers and support staff accepted wage freezes in more than 90 percent of collective bargaining agreements this year – concessions not tallied in this report because they are not yet available.
•        Last year, at least 65 percent of public employee contracts included at least 1 year of wage freezes, some furlough days, reduced compensation, rollovers or economic re-openers.
•        Some of the lowest-paid public employees – non-teaching personnel such as custodians – have gone up to eight years without a pay increase in exchange for stable health care costs.
•        More than two-thirds of all teachers’ contracts increased employee insurance premium contributions or significantly changed their health plans, with the savings often used to improve educational opportunities.
•        More than 93 percent of public workers already pay for their own pension plans, with no contributions from their employers.
•        On average, county and state employees pay more than 15 percent for their health care plans.
•        A sample review of concessions in a half dozen Ohio cities shows that employees and safety forces have saved their towns nearly $11.5 million since 2008.
•        By far, the largest pool of concessions identified in this report came from public education unions, who are estimated to have saved school districts at least $700 million for the 2010-11 (fiscal) school year.
•        The collective bargaining law has been a successful tool that essentially eliminated much of the conflict the state saw three decades ago between public-sector unions and government managers.
•        When the economy is good, public employees have made modest gains through contract negotiations. When times are tougher, public employees have been willing to make concessions to preserve jobs, maintain programs and services and help their employers balance budgets

In fact, according to his findings, public employees made over $1 billion in sacrifices to help out their state and local budgets during these tough economic times.

Is it too much to hope that these sacrifices will not be overlooked in November? Public workers are not asking for much when you show up to vote in this upcoming election; just the right to have a voice in important decisions which affect our ability to do our jobs successfully. Who knows better than teachers, policemen, and firefighters how to best serve and protect those individuals we have agreed to serve and protect?

Do not reward our deep commitment by stripping us of our ability to speak up for our rights and our futures. Over $1 billion in sacrifices is surely worth that much, don’t you think?

Please, remember our sacrifices in November, Ohio, and vote no on Issue 2!

Teacher's Unions, Teacher-World's Blog collective bargaining, Issue 2, public employees, Senate Bill 5, TC Brown

I know I don’t speak alone when I voice the fact that a certain commercial has been running in my state of Ohio which gets my dander up every time I see it. If you’re a teacher in Ohio, you probably know exactly the ad I am referring to. It features a teacher from Baltimore, Ohio, who is all for Issue 2. Well, recent information has turned up about this educator who obviously has some ulterior motives for appearing in this commercial.

Kyle Farmer, who is featured in this ad, (please follow this link to view it if you haven’t yet) identifies himself as a teacher, which is true; he teaches at the Eastland-Fairfield Career and Technical Center, where he is listed as a social studies instructor. But he is so much more than that, or at least he wants to be.

In the ad, Farmer sings the virtues of this legislation, in spite of the fact that it would strip Ohio’s public employees of almost all of their collective bargaining rights, leaving critical decisions in the hands of school districts. (Just look back at my blog about New Berlin, Wisconsin if you want proof of what it could do to teachers in Ohio.)

So, why does he appear in this ad, risking the anger of many of his fellow teachers? Well, according to several sources, including the Columbus Dispatch, Farmer is the official chairman of the Fairfield County Republican Party, with great aspirations for a future in politics. In fact, on his Twitter page, he refers to himself as a “wannabe political operative.” And, low and behold, he is a member of Kasich’s steering committee of teachers assembled to help him decide how merit pay should be implemented. As you recall, this was one of the provisions of Senate Bill 5, now Issue 2.

Farmer has spoken more than once of his dislike of the Ohio Education Association on his Twitter account, accusing the union of “stealing” money from him, and calling the OEA “thugs.”

He has also posted a picture of himself at the governor’s mansion, and appeared in a political ad on the Internet plugging “Teachers for Kasich.”

And what of his own aspirations? Well, in 2006, he ran unsuccessfully for a seat in the Ohio House of Representatives, and it is rumored, according to the citizen-driven, community-based, bipartisan coalition, We Are Ohio, which came together to repeal SB5, that he is considering another run for office in the future.

This is a man whose motivation is clearly not to express the view of teachers, but to glean favor from a governor who is determined to strip public employees (and that includes those that Farmer would call his colleagues) of any decision-making ability and protection from their union.

By the way, Kyle is not the only Farmer to be politically inspired. His father, Joseph Farmer, is an At-Large member of the State Board of Education whose term expires on Dec. 31, 2014. Would it come as a huge surprise to learn that Joseph was appointed in 2011 by Governor John Kasich?

So, how credible is this ad? Well, it features a teacher who does not disclose his ties to Kasich or his resentment of labor unions and claims to be speaking for his fellow teachers. Not very truthful so far, and then the Columbus Dispatch uncovered one last little deception in the ad which also features footage of a female teacher in a classroom of young children in front of a whiteboard. Guess what? That isn’t a real Ohio teacher at all; it is a stock clip that has also been used in similar anti-union campaigns in Wisconsin.

Shame on you, Kyle Farmer! How dare you pretend to represent the teachers of your state when you are clearly seeking to advance your own agenda! I am sure you made points with the governor, but I bet things are a little uncomfortable for you around your sold-out colleagues.

Merit Pay for Teachers, Teacher's Unions, Teacher-World's Blog collective bargaining, Governor Kasich, Issue 2, Kyle Farmer, Ohio's SB5

I received a forwarded message through my email regarding a new Wisconsin teachers’ handbook which sounded so unbelievable to me that, at first, I thought it must be a hoax. So I did some research and found, much to my amazement, that not only is it true, but somehow I missed this story at the end of August, and maybe you did, too. So, here is a tragic story that teaches a valuable lesson: How unfairly teachers can be treated when collective bargaining goes out the window.

At a hugely attended meeting in New Berlin, Wisconsin, on August 29, the school board of the New Berlin school district voted unanimously to approve a new employee handbook which took effect this year. It was the second public meeting to discuss the passage of this handbook, since the initial meeting became so raucous that police had to be called in.

This second meeting of the school board was more controlled (probably the appearance of police cars with lights flashing all over the parking lot helped to subdue the crowd a little) but it was still charged with emotion, as districts all over the state have been adopting new handbooks spelling out wages, work rules, and benefits, now that collective bargaining is a thing of the past.

The crowd that gathered represented the two factions in this heated issue: teachers and union supporters who were concerned that the harsh rules will negatively affect their work and the reputation of the district as a whole and those in the community who support Governor Walker and want to see lower taxes.

Education Association President Diane Lazewki said that the changes proposed by New Berlin were further-reaching than the handbooks being adopted in other districts in their state. She said, “I would be surprised to see any other handbook as punitive as ours.”

So, is the new handbook punitive? Well, before I go any further, let me share some of the handbook’s more surprising mandates, from the email I received:

* Workdays for elementary will increase by 60 minutes and Secondary by 30 minutes
* Staff must be available to students before and after student schedules for at least 30 minutes per day
* You can be required to work an additional unpaid 15 hours; no more than 3 hours a week
* No pay for subbing during your preps; Principals can assign you to sub
* Certified staff hours are 1520 per year full time (190 days for this year only)
* The 2012-13 school year starts on August 15th and runs until June 15th
* You may be required to start as early as 6:15 AM and end as late as 5:00 PM
* You may be required to attend in-service or other training, outside your regular work schedule
* Next year, if we do not change the political landscape, pay will be based on performance; pay is insured this year because of the NBEA agreement.
*  You are not allowed to drop any licensure without the superintendent’s approval
* Dress Code: Skirts below knee, no sweatshirts, no jeans, no large logos, no open shirts, etc.
*  Be dismissed for having students as friends on Facebook
* Jury Duty: regular pay, but you must show documentation to the district that you’ve tried to change the jury duty time to July and August
* Evaluations: Done yearly without notice
*  Collaborative time twice weekly for 2 hours a week.
* You must report all traffic incidents (except speeding) or any tickets you have received to the District within 3 days or face dismissal even if it occurs during your time off
* Take away all microwaves, refrigerators, and coffeemakers, even though each administrator and the District have these items.
* 4 initial sick days and earn l day per month based on good attendance
* However those who have accumulated over 45 days will not be awarded any days until they have used enough days to fall below the 45 day cap.
*  Long term disability reduced from 90% of pay to 60% of pay. If ill or have had surgery and do not have any sick time built up, you will be short pay. You will also have to pay your insurance premium during any disability leave.
*  No days will be added to sick bank, which will be discontinued after this year, erasing any safety net for those who become critically ill.
* Resign before first day of school, you must pay $200 plus board contributions of benefits (insurance).
* Resigns after the first day school, $2000 plus benefits payments if not 60 days notice given

Sound a little punitive to you?

Art Marguardt, New Berlin School Board member, said that the board and the administration had spent extensive time on the handbook and denied that they were trying to be punitive. He said that the atmosphere has changed in Wisconsin from the unions having their way to the elected representatives now having the dominant voice. That’s “hard for some people to swallow,” he said.

Leslie Potter, who is a teacher at New Berlin West, told the board that the new rules would require that she work more hours but would limit the time she spends with her students and expressed concern that it eliminated any reference to prep time for teachers. “The school board says that they value collaboration,” she added. “We request that they approach this handbook in the same manner.”

After teachers had their say, a community member spoke up, saying that he represented the 5.5 million taxpayers in the state who approved of Walker and were in favor of what he was doing. While many in the auditorium broke into applause, teachers and union supporters sat silently, and eventually they walked out before the man was done speaking.

The bottom line is this: the New Berlin school board unanimously accepted this new handbook, and it sends a chillingly, clear message to teachers everywhere about what may be coming to their state in the future.

My state of Ohio is another state like Wisconsin, whose governor has pushed for a bill to end collective bargaining. Our unions fought back, and the state has one more chance to keep what is happening in Wisconsin from happening in Ohio. I appeal to those of you who live in Ohio to vote no on Issue 2 this November, and spread the word to others to do the same.

I don’t care how you try to spin the facts; this new handbook sounds punitive, and it certainly will do nothing to improve the morale of the teachers who work in that district or the quality of instruction that the students will receive.

Changes in Teaching, teacher evaluations, Teacher's Unions, Teacher-World's Blog collective bargaining, extended school day, extended school year, New Berlin, teacher handbook, Wisconsin

The We Are Ohio group delivered more than 1.3 million signatures to Secretary of State Jon Husted, way more than the 231,000 required, in order to get Senate Bill 5 on the ballot in November. This suspends SB5 from taking effect until these votes are counted after November’s elections.

Senate Bill 5 was signed in late March by Ohio Gov. John Kasich. This controversial law restricts collective bargaining rights for over 350,000 teachers, police officers, and other public workers and bans employee strikes. Under this law, unions may still negotiate wages, but they can’t bargain on health care, sick leave, or pension benefits.

When approval of SB5 by the Republican-controlled state Legislature was announced shouts and jeers from protestors resonated in each chamber. But Ohio’s protests, which attracted about 8,500 protestors, paled in comparison to Wisconsin’s, which attracted upwards of 70,000 protestors, possibly due to Madison’s proximity to the University of Wisconsin and its labor heritage.

Ten thousand volunteers along with some paid workers passed around petitions to get this SB5 referendum on the ballot, which labor groups and many others claim is an unfair attack on workers. Meanwhile, Gov. Kasich and his GOP colleagues claim that SB5 will help city officials, school superintendents, and others to control costs at a time when all cities are feeling the budget crunch.

Now comes the real battle, with each side trying to raise enough money to finance the fight that lies ahead. Kasich is visibly supporting the law, and has directed others who support it to a website established by a group of individuals who are promoting SB5.

I visited the website, Building a Better Ohio, and read the usual arguments that were voiced throughout the push to pass this bill at the beginning of this year. But I found a statement on this website that concerned me greatly, and reaffirms all of my fears regarding this law.

The statement reads: “The new law eliminates a common collective bargaining demand known as “last hired, first fired,” in which newer teachers are cut first in the event of layoffs. Because newer teachers are often paid less, districts are forced to lay off a higher number of teachers to fill a budget deficit. This strategy is not conducive to keeping more teachers in classroom.”

(I want you to know that this was copied and pasted directly from the website, so the typo “in classroom” was their mistake, not mine. Maybe they needed a teacher to proofread their statements before posting them. Ha! Sorry, I couldn’t resist!)

All kidding aside, let me start out by saying, I do not support retaining teachers strictly because of seniority. I know that there are teachers of all ages and all levels of experience who range in ability from excellent to poor. I have always said that administrators and our teacher unions do us a disservice by keeping bad teachers strictly because they have more seniority than other teachers. This policy makes us all look bad.  So I am not adverse to an excellent teacher with less seniority being retained over a poor teacher with more seniority.

But, that being said, this statement seems to suggest that if SB5 was in place, districts would then by free to cut teachers with higher seniority in order to save the district more money and more jobs. This is a policy that scares the heck out of me, as I am a veteran teacher.

I believe that SB5, if it is not voted done in November, will lead to the practice by many districts of starting at the top when making cuts, not necessarily because those teachers are bad, but because it is a bigger cost reduction for the district allowing them to make as few cuts as possible. In the process, they may be getting rid of excellent, experienced teachers in order to keep newer teachers who certainly are not as experienced and may or may not be as good.

Now that isn’t fair, and it is the main reason I will vote down SB5 in November. And I am grateful to all of those volunteers out there who worked so hard collecting signatures, and for all of those who signed petitions saying this law needs to be repealed. 

Because Senate Bill 5 must go!

teacher layoffs, Teacher's Unions, Teacher-World's Blog collective bargaining, Gov. John Kasich, Senate Bill 5, teacher seniority, unions, We Are Ohio

I’m certain that citizens of Ohio have heard the debate that fired up between President Obama and our Governor John Kasich. But in case the rest of you haven’t, let me fill you in on the drama in Ohio over SB5.

It started on Tuesday of last week when Cleveland’s Romona Robinson from WKYC TV met with President Barack Obama to talk about issues which Cleveland and Northeast Ohioans are facing in this tough economic time. Robinson’s first question was to ask the president’s view on Senate Bill 5, Ohio’s new law which would significantly restrict collective bargaining for 350,000 public workers. Under this law, wages and certain work conditions could be negotiated but not health care, sick time, or pension benefits.

Obama talked for awhile about the challenges all states are experiencing during these difficult times, stating that some of the problems being faced would have been worse if states hadn’t received funding through the Recovery Act implemented two years ago. He explained that this act provided a lot of relief that allowed states to balance their budgets and avoid laying off teachers, police officers, and firefighters.

He continued to explain that states are faced with tough choices now that the federal government is pulling back and their revenues have not fully recovered. So, what does that mean for public workers, as far as he is concerned?

President Obama stated the following: “The one thing that I’ve said very clearly is let’s make sure that we’ve got shared sacrifice; that we make sure that the burden doesn’t just fall on one set of folks. Let’s certainly not blame public employees for a financial crisis that they had nothing to do with, and let’s not use this as an excuse to erode their bargaining rights.”

“And so, whether it’s Wisconsin or what we’re seeing in Ohio, I strongly disapprove of an approach that basically says people who are doing their jobs, providing vital services to their communities, that somehow, they are finding themselves not able to collectively bargain. That doesn’t mean that they may not have to provide some concessions; that there shouldn’t be some negotiations about wages. All those things are appropriate, but let’s respect their right to collectively bargain.”

When Robinson asked him if he would campaign against SB5, he said, “Well, as I’ve said before, I think it is a mistake, and I’m happy for everyone in Ohio to know that I think that approach is a mistake.”

So, how did Governor Kasich, who supported and signed SB5, respond to Obama’s criticism of this law and its potential mistreatment of public employees?

In an interview on a Cleveland television station where he was asked how he felt about President Obama’s statements regarding SB5, Kasich said, “The president of the United States has, I think, a $13 trillion debt. Why doesn’t he do his job? When he gets our budget balanced and starts to prepare a future for our children, maybe he can have an opinion on what’s going on in Ohio.”

I am grateful that President Obama spoke out against this legislation which, like Wisconsin’s law, is clearly trying to break the power of unions at the expense of the workers these unions protect; workers who serve their community in so many important ways. But, I confess that I wish the president would do more than vocalize his concerns over SB5 and help to shut it down.

Wisconsin’s law, which will affect 175,000 workers (exempting police and firefighters), is temporarily blocked, and opponents of SB5 are busily collecting signatures in the hope that voters will be able to overturn this measure. Public employees must collect 231,000 signatures by June 30 in order to get a referendum on the November ballot.

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, Funding Education, Teacher's Unions, Teacher-World's Blog collective bargaining, Governor Kasich, President Barack Obama, public employees, Senate Bill 5

On Thursday, another dire announcement was made concerning teacher layoffs, as the Detroit Public Schools announced that they are sending notices to all 5,714 of their teachers due to declining enrollment and budget deficits. The district is also sending non-renewal notices to 248 administrators.

Over the past 10 years, Detroit’s population has dropped so drastically that its current population matches its population in 1910. Interestingly, this was two years after Henry Ford’s Model T debuted. This decline in population has obviously effected student enrollment as well. The statistics are pretty staggering: the current enrollment is about 73,000, which is a drop of more than 83,000 students over the same 10 years.

When these dire figures are coupled with a $327 million deficit in the school system’s $994 million budget, it paints a pretty desperate picture for Detroit Public Schools.

While it is unlikely that all of these teachers will actually lose their jobs, the notices needed to be sent out in order to comply with the union contract. The effective date of the layoffs is July 29.

A statement from the district said, “The timeliness of the process allows for ample preparation so that the district can assess staffing needs to create a smooth transition for the start of the school year.”

The district also warned the Detroit Federation of Teachers that Robert Bobb, the Emergency Financial Manager who was appointed 2 years ago to get Detroit’s schools on a firmer financial footing, has the power through a law known as Public Act 4 to reject, modify, or terminate collective bargaining agreements. And he has said he “fully intends to use the authority” that this law grants him to unilaterally modify the collective bargaining agreement with the union starting May 17, 2011.

Public Act 4 was passed by the Michigan legislature and signed by the governor of Michigan in March. This is one heck of a law giving emergency managers like Bobb far-reaching powers to tear up existing union contracts and fire elected officials in an effort to solve a financial emergency.

This latest move is the next phase of Bobb’s plan to cut spending; he has already closed some schools and laid off workers.

The Detroit Federation of Teachers called Bobb’s plan to ignore the contract a “backdoor attempt” to bypass seniority. The current contract was signed in 2009, and it contained $90 million in cost cuts. The union expects Bobb to honor that agreement.

“It was heralded and praised then, he’ll have to live with it now,” said Keith Johnson, the president of the Detroit Federation of Teachers.

But the bottom line is that this new Michigan law gives Robert Bobb a wide berth with which to make decisions. If the contract can be torn up under Public Act 4, and seniority can be overlooked, which people would an emergency financial manager most likely cut first? Hmmm…where would a district make the greatest financial gain? By laying off a newer teacher or a teacher with 20 or more years and a masters?

In a school system the size of Detroit’s, how likely is it that the emergency financial manager, who was hired just two years ago, will have a lot of personal knowledge of the teachers in each school and their job performance and commitment? My guess is that the choices Bobb will make will have little to do with the quality of the teacher and much more to do with the quantity of their paycheck.

And this is the problem with completely removing seniority from the formula. District cuts should not be made based on whose paychecks are biggest and will save the district the most money. If seniority is not going to be a factor in cuts like Detroit faces, then job performance and commitment better be. Otherwise, this district’s problems aren’t going away any time soon.

teacher layoffs, Teacher's Unions, Teacher-World's Blog budget cuts, collective bargaining, Detroit Federation of Teachers, Detroit Public Schools, Public Act 4, Robert Bobb, teacher layoffs

Ohio union workers are gearing up for the fight of their lives; the fight to strike down Senate Bill 5, a law that would limit the bargaining rights of roughly 365,000 public union workers along with many nonunion public employees throughout Ohio. A referendum drive has begun to vote down SB5.

The first skirmish in this coordinated effort to halt the bill has already been launched. We Are Ohio, a group which is leading this drive, circulated both a petition with a short description of the bill and one with a more detailed summary of the bill. They only needed 1,000 signatures for this step in the process but were able to gather more than 3,000 signatures on each.

This first hurdle will be cleared upon verification by the Ohio Secretary of State’s Office that the group met the requirement of 1,000 signatures, and an evaluation of the accuracy of the description of the bill as stated in the petitions by the Ohio Attorney General’s Office. Two petitions were circulated by We Are Ohio in case the language in one of them is rejected.

Upon successful completion of this stage of the process, the real battle begins; the collecting of 231,147 signatures, about 6% of the total vote cast for governor in the last election, before June 30. Signatures need to be acquired from 44 of the 88 counties in Ohio, and the number of signatures from each county must be equal to 3% of the total vote for governor in the last election. However, Dennis Willard, the spokesman for We Are Ohio, said that the group’s actual goal will be to collect double the required signatures; between 470,000 and 500,000. Residents from every county will have the opportunity to sign these petitions.

If this leg of the campaign is successful, the final battle will occur in November, when all of those who are against SB5 will have to work to convince voters to show up and vote this law down. This will be a challenge in a municipal election where there is an historically lower turnout.

“I think it’s going to be something people haven’t seen in a long time,” said John Wagner, executive secretary and treasurer of the Akron-based Tri-County Regional Labor Council. “I think this has really galvanized the labor movement. I think it’s really galvanized the Democratic Party. It’s woken a lot of people up.”

This battle has huge ramifications for Ohio and the whole country; if this bill prevails, it could be perceived as a sign of support for other equally unpleasant reforms, such as pension changes, right to work, and further limitations to collective bargaining in other states.

“Ohio is make or break for both sides,” said Willard. “So many people are fired up! It’s not, ‘How do I sign?’ It’s, ‘How do I circulate?’”

The referendum drive is getting additional support from a grassroots program called Proud Ohio Worker. According to their website:

“The Proud Ohio Worker program was created to allow merchants across the state to show that they recognize public employee support for their shops. We are asking merchants to show their support in return for public employees by affixing our sticker to a window in the front of their store. This sticker is a signal to public and private employees that their shop is worker friendly, simply recognizing that public dollars are spent in their store.

Proud Ohio Workers wants to ensure that small shops all across Ohio will remain open. If public employee wages are reduced and jobs are cut, local businesses will suffer. Supporting the creation and retention of good paying middle class jobs is good for local economies.”

A battle is underway here in Ohio, and a worried nation watches anxiously to see what happens here. This is not a time to be complacent or to expect others to fight for us. Those of us who are public employees need to work together to do what needs to be done to regain those rights which guarantee our jobs, our salaries, and our working conditions.

Rise up and volunteer to circulate petitions! Rise up and let your voice be heard while there is still a chance! Thank the members of Proud Ohio Workers in your community for joining our cause. If there ever was a time for us to take a stand and be counted, this is such a time!

Rise up!

Teacher's Unions, Teacher-World's Blog collective bargaining, petitions, Proud Ohio Worker, public workers, referendum, Senate Bill 5, unions, We Are Ohio

I am writing tonight with a very heavy heart; a heart that is fearful of the future of education, fearful of the future of my job, and frankly, fearful that my salary could be reduced if I am able to keep my job.

Schools everywhere are facing drastic cuts which will affect our staff and our students in significant ways and will make it harder to achieve the goals which will continue to be expected of us. Our school system is one of many hoping to stop the financial bleeding by passing a levy, which is unlikely to pass. We have been warned of impending cuts that will have to be made in the likelihood that the levy fails, but the warnings have been pretty sketchy until recently.

Information is trickling in which tells us that we would probably lose a teacher at basically every grade level in our building. With SB5 hanging out there and loss of collective bargaining, there is palpable panic as to how these cuts in staff will be made. I find myself wondering tonight if, in spite of all of my years of dedicated service to this school system, I might find myself on the chopping block.

Those of us at the top of the pay scale have much to fear, as our cuts would save the district more in the long run. Will this be the determining factor? Will service and evaluations be considered? Will our test scores make or break us? Or, at least for now, will seniority be the basis for next year’s decisions?

And what will this do to our class sizes? One less teacher adds at least 4-5 students to each classroom. Increased class size makes it more challenging to meet the individual needs of students. It makes it harder to intervene with those who are struggling, and it will make it more difficult to adequately prepare students for their standardized tests.

Just when the news seemed as bleak as it could get, we are hearing about the current language in the budget bill, HB 153, which would completely eliminate local associations’ ability to bargain salary. Instead, local school boards would have the authority to adopt a teacher’s salary schedule with a minimum and maximum salary for each category of licensure annually, and they would be able to designate salary placement for each teacher. At this point, there is no indication of what criteria would be used in making these decisions; what will evaluations be based on, will “highly qualified” status, class size, hard-to-staff districts, or subjects or at-risk students be relevant factors?

We simply don’t know, and it is a very precarious position to be in. So, I am stressed out tonight, as teachers all over this nation are; frightened that I might someday lose a job I love and equally frightened as to what my job will look like if I am able to keep it.

Troubled times, with no idea what troubles lay ahead, and a very heavy heart.

Changes in Teaching, Funding Education, Teacher-World's Blog budget cuts, class size, collective bargaining, HB 153, SB 5, teacher cuts, teacher evaluations

Well, the anticipated glitch has now frozen any movement forward on Wisconsin’s new budget repair law even though it was signed into law by Governor Scott Walker two weeks ago. Of course, Walker said, according to a spokeswoman, that he was confident that the initiative would eventually prevail in the court system.

As threatened, after only a two hour notice was given by Republicans for a vote on this budget repair bill, Wisconsin Senate Democrats filed a complaint with the Dane County district attorney. In their complaint they claimed the Republicans in the Senate violated Wisconsin’s open meetings law by failing to give a 24-hour public notice of the meeting it held on March 9, in spite of state Representative Peter Barca’s objection.

The ruling on Friday, by Dane County Judge Maryann Sumi, called for a temporary restraining order which halted the budget repair law designed to diminish the union’s power of most public employees. Her order demanded that Secretary of State Douglas LaFollette was to refrain from publishing the new law “until further order of the court.”

In Judge Sumi’s written decision, she made the following analogy to help explain her ruling: “Those few of you who may have seen the Super Bowl know that there was a much-photographed guy with a cheesehead, and it said ‘owner’ on it. And of course, we all know what that refers to, the fact that the Green Bay Packers are publicly owned. It’s a heartwarming moment to see that, but in fact, it states that we in Wisconsin own our government. We own it. And we own it in three ways.

We own it by the vote. We own it by the duty to provide open and public access to records, so that the activities of government can be monitored. And we own it in that we are entitled by law to free and open access to government meetings, and especially governmental meetings that lead to the resolution of very highly conflicted and controversial matters.”

Secretary-treasurer of the Wisconsin AFL-CIO, Stephanie Bloomingdale, was pleased by the ruling. “In Wisconsin, we have a democracy, and rules need to be followed. No one is above the law, including Scott Walker,” Bloomingdale said. “This is definitely a move in the right direction for working people in Wisconsin to uphold worker rights and also to uphold democracy in Wisconsin and America.”

While Democrats are hopeful that this ruling might bring the demise of this new law, Democrat Senator Jon Erpenbach stated, “I would hope the Republicans would take this as an opportunity to sit down with Democrats and negotiate a proposal we could all get behind.”

Indeed, so many of us in other states, like Ohio, with similar controversial bills still to be decided would hope for the same thing, because Wisconsin is leading the way in this drama, which has us all watching and waiting to find out what will happen next. Although, I think most of us already assume that this latest decision will just slow the inevitable down a little bit.

Funding Education, Teacher's Unions, Teacher-World's Blog budget repair law, collective bargaining, Governor Scott Walker, Judge Maryann Sumi, Wisconsin