February 2020 OEA Retirement Systems Update
OEA Endorses Andrew Smith for STRS Board
The OEA Board of Directors has endorsed Andrew Smith for the upcoming election for an active member seat on the STRS Board. Andrew is a school social worker in the Sheffield-Sheffield Lake City Schools. He is a dedicated association and community leader with 20 years of service in STRS.
In December, a screening committee made up of OEA members in STRS conducted interviews with three candidates for a possible endorsement. Andrew Smith was recommended based on his leadership, knowledge of the issues and passion for being an advocate for the retirement security of his fellow educators both active and retired.
Currently, possible candidates for the STRS Board are collecting signatures to qualify for the ballot. If there is a contested election, ballots will be mailed to active STRS members in early April. OEA will provide members with additional information about how to support OEA’s endorsed candidate Andrew Smith in this election.
OEA Endorses Beverly Woolridge for SERS Board
SERS is currently holding an election for a retiree seat on the SERS Board of Trustees. The OEA Board of Directors has endorsed Beverly Woolridge for election to the SERS Board. Beverly has 39 years of service with the Akron Public Schools and is a former member and leader of the Akron Association of Classified Professionals. She has previously served on the SERS Board from 2009-2013 as an active member and from 2015-2019 as a retiree member. An OEA screening committee of SERS members interviewed Beverly Woodridge and current Board Chair Catherine Moss and recommended Woolridge for endorsement.
SERS retiree members have been sent ballots to vote in the election. Votes must be received by March 2, 2020. OEA encourages support for Beverly Woolridge.
OPERS Announces Planned Health Care Changes
In January, the OPERS Board of Trustees voted to make several changes to the OPERS health care program. These changes will be effective beginning on January 1, 2022. Unlike pension benefits, health care benefits are guaranteed but subject to revision by the OPERS Board without a change in state law. The stated purpose of the changes is to extend the life of the health care fund which currently receives contributions because incoming revenue is needed to fund the OPERS pension benefits. OPERS had stated that the expected life of the health care trust fund prior to the change was only 11 years.
The biggest change for those under 65 years old is the discontinuation of a health care plan sponsored by OPERS. Instead, OPERS will partner with a service provider to help retirees find a plan. OPERS will provide a monthly allowance to help pay for coverage. The allowance percentage is determined by a member’s service credit and initial age when coverage began. The base amount will be $1,200 per month and will remain at that level for three years but could be adjusted afterward by the Board.
For Medicare coverage, OPERS will continue to offer the Medicare Connector to those age 65 and over who qualify for Medicare parts A and B. The biggest change is that the base allowance will be reduced from $450 a month to $350. All current retirees who have access to coverage will maintain it, however, all retirees and disability recipients will be subject to the allowance table.
More information about the 2022 changes is available on the OPERS website at www.opers.org
Click here to download a copy of this February 2020 Report to the OEA Board of Directors. Previous Retirement Systems Updates can be viewed under the Affiliate Resources tab on the OEA website.
OEA votes to support $13 minimum wage ballot issue
“An Ohioan working full time for minimum wage now earns just $18,000 a year—an income that falls $3,600 short of the poverty level and does not cover even the most basic needs,” said OEA President Scott DiMauro.
“With minimum wage so low, too many parents can’t make ends meet, and too many students are forced to make do without the very basics,” DiMauro said. “When our students have economic stability at home, they can flourish at school and fulfill their full promise to become leaders, innovators, and caring members of our community.”
The proposal would raise Ohio’s minimum wage, currently $8.70 an hour for non-tipped employees, to $9.60 an hour on January 1, 2021. It would then increase it each year until stopping at $13 an hour in 2025.
The OEA is a member of Ohioans for Raising the Wage, a coalition of community, faith and labor organizations backing the ballot issue. Coalition members are working to collect roughly 443,000 valid voter signatures from 44 of Ohio’s 88 counties by July 1 so the measure can appear on the November 2020 ballot.
The Ohio Education Association represents 122,000 teachers, faculty members and support professionals in Ohio’s public schools, colleges and universities.
OEA supports House Plan for EdChoice Vouchers
There has been overwhelming support from Ohio educators who back Senate Bill 89 as passed by the Ohio House that addresses the EdChoice Voucher Program. Over 9 days, the Senate heard more than 50 hours of public testimony concerning the private school vouchers. OEA members came out in force to testify, write letters, and call legislators and the Governor to support the House passed bill.
OEA President Scott DiMauro said, “We applaud the leadership shown by the House on this issue. They’ve recognized the need to invest in the 90% of Ohio’s students who attend public schools while still offering meaningful choice. In OEA’s view, the language in SB 89 as passed by the House represents the best path forward. SB 89 moves away from the blame game of a failing school model; maintains support for current voucher recipients through grandfathering; orients the program towards one that puts Ohio’s neediest families first in line; and moves toward direct state funding of vouchers to preserve funding that supports Ohio’s public school children.”
Ohio educators reject the Senate plan (HB 9) that would continue to have hundreds of schools deemed “failing” and eligible for EdChoice vouchers based on a flawed report card system. SB 89 which would eliminate most new EdChoice vouchers and shift the program to one based on family income and paid for directly by the state.
The Ohio Education Association is optimistic that the voices of Ohio’s educators have been heard and that a resolution to the still looming voucher crisis is forthcoming.
The Ohio Education Association represents 122,000 teachers, faculty members and support professionals in Ohio’s public schools, colleges and universities.
Conference Committee Testimony by Dan Heintz
By Dan Heintz, Chardon LSD
Distinguished members of Ohio’s 133rd General Assembly,
My name is Dan Heintz. I am happy to share that I am a K-12 product of Ohio’s great public schools. I am also proud to say that I am a public school teacher at Chardon High School. Finally, I am honored to serve my neighbors as a member of the Cleveland Heights – University Heights Board of Education. As you can see my friends, public education flows through my veins and animates my spirit.
Our Cleveland Heights – University Heights Schools have suffered under the burden of EdChoice in a way that few other districts have. Currently, 33% of our state funds are being diverted as a result of EdChoice. Our schools have fallen victim to a well-intentioned, but poorly conceived cult of accountability. Nowhere perhaps are these measures more inappropriately punitive than in Cleveland Heights – University Heights.
Cleveland Heights High School is an EdChoice school for one reason: Graduation Rate. Given this, one would expect our graduation rate to be low. It’s not. For the past 2 years in fact, our graduation rate has been higher than the state average, yet the state’s formula has nonetheless labeled ours as an underperforming EdChoice High School.
The College Board is the non-profit organization behind the SAT test, as well as all of the Advanced Placement coursework that many of our students take advantage of. Distinguished members of the General Assembly, four weeks ago, The College Board identified nine Ohio High Schools as AP Honor Roll High Schools. Cleveland Heights High School, labeled by the State as EdChoice eligible school, was one of these nine.
So, contrary to the State of Ohio’s label, the College Board doesn’t seem to think that ours is an underperforming high school at all, but what do America’s colleges and universities think? Are they confident that the graduates of Cleveland Heights High are prepared for success? You bet they are, and they put their money where their mouth is. My friends, Cleveland Heights High’s class of 2018 was offered a combined 10.4 million dollars of college scholarships. 10.4 million dollars. And the class of 2019 beat them! Our class of 2019 (roughly 350 students) was offered 12.1 million dollars in scholarship offers.
So, our graduation rate is above the state average, The College Board identifies us as an AP Honor Roll School, and our grads pulled in over 22 million dollars in scholarship offers over the past 2 years. But our own state government has determined that this is such a disappointing school that we need to provide a financial escape hatch in order for students to attend a private school. I simply cannot imagine that this is what we had in mind as the EdChoice system was being designed.
The pundits tell us that vouchers improve education by introducing competition. The narrative they promote is that families use vouchers to leave low performing public schools in order to attend higher-performing private schools. This narrative is pure sophistry. Facts are stubborn things, and the facts simply don’t support the narrative.
First, the overwhelming majority of our EdChoice voucher recipients are not leaving our schools at all, because leaving our schools would require them to have entered them in the first place. Committee members, 94% of our EdChoice vouchers are being used by students who have never been enrolled in one of our public schools. 94%. Furthermore, the private schools that receive this windfall of Ohio tax dollars are not always higher performing. According to the Ohio Department of Education, 61 of our students use EdChoice vouchers to attend a school whose 5th grade scores are lower than those of our district. That’s nearly a quarter of a million dollars! So let’s be clear, these people are not running from a failing school, they’re running from a tuition bill. Again, I cannot imagine that this is what we had in mind as the EdChoice system was being designed.
Ladies and gentlemen, my two-part request very simple: First, please rethink how we measure our public schools. And as you think that over, please come visit Cleveland Heights High. Second, if vouchers are to remain in the mix, please fund them directly from the state’s operating budget. The work that districts like mine do is hard enough without the additional challenges of depleted state aid.
Committee members, I thank you for your service to our state, and for your time today. If you have any questions, I am at your service.
— Dan Heintz is a Social Studies teacher at Chardon High School, Chardon, Ohio.
Why Ohio’s Report Card System Is Failing to Make the Grade
By Julie Holderbaum, Minerva EA/OEA
Ohio’s taxpayers want our schools to produce flourishing young adults who will contribute in meaningful and healthy ways to our society, and they spend a lot of money to ensure that this happens. It makes sense, therefore, that schools are required to undergo a yearly check-up and share the results with our communities.
However, the current report card system is doing more to harm schools than to support them.
Any teacher or parent can tell you that a letter grade does not represent the entire child. A student can be quite intelligent, but if that child doesn’t turn in assignments on time, his grade will reflect not only his academic ability but his lack of responsibility. And that’s just classroom work; we all know that a child is more than classroom work. For example, a colleague of mine recently told me he saw my daughter comforting a friend in the hallway who was “freaking out” about a test her friend felt unprepared for. Jamie told me the story later of how she got her friend to take deep breaths and even laugh before going back to class. Frankly, I am prouder of that than any of the A’s on her report card.
Just as a student’s report card grades cannot show every aspect of awesome that lives in him, a school district report card cannot show all the beautiful and amazing moments that happen in our schools.
For example, the students in my small town’s elementary school have raised $95,000 for St. Jude’s over the last 12 years. Our middle school’s student council visits the local nursing homes and helps with the local food pantry once a month. Our high school seniors, twice per year, go into our community to rake leaves and plant flowers for the elderly, paint pavilions at the park, and more.
None of this shows up on our school district’s report card.
If I were choosing a new school district for my daughter, I would want to know what kind of opportunities are provided to teach children how to be good humans, not just good students.
I would want to know what kind of relationship the schools have with the community.
I would want to know not only what academic opportunities exist, but also what extra-curricular options are available.
I would want to know not only what academic support is provided for kids, but also what emotional support is in place to help children who live with poverty and trauma.
Our current report card system makes none of that information available to parents or community members. It is impossible to get a full picture of what wonderful things are happening in our schools.
Not only that, but the current system has damaged schools by basing many of the letter grades on testing, which has led to the loss of creative and playful activities in our classrooms and an increased and unhealthy focus on standardized tests. Tests are an easy factor to include on the report cards because they are a concrete measure, seemingly, of how a school is doing. What goes unmeasured is the stress the tests place on teachers and on students.
The current system even ties our hands when we try to do what is best for students regarding testing.
My high school recently considered giving the ELA II test to our 9th graders, in order to give struggling students more opportunities to pass the test and to give those who pass during their freshman year fewer tests to take as 10th graders. However, once we realized that those students who passed their freshman year could potentially count as zeroes on our performance index their sophomore year, we decided not to go forward. We could not risk a possible F in the performance index area of the report card.
Under the current system, any school building earning a D or an F in a report card indicator becomes eligible for EdChoice vouchers. Essentially, taxpayer money is pulled from a local public school and given in the form of a voucher to any private school a student wishes to attend instead. Thanks to the report card system, nearly ⅔ of Ohio’s school districts would be eligible for the vouchers in the 2020-21 school year. Consequently, the legislature was recently in crisis mode trying to address the problem before the February 1st deadline to apply for vouchers. Instead of solving the problem, however, they extended the deadline and bought themselves some time. This entire debacle could have been avoided if Ohio used an informative and fair evaluation system for its schools instead of a punitive one.
Furthermore, due to “failing” grades, three school districts in Ohio have now been taken over by the state. Many other districts are in danger of falling prey to HB 70, which allows local decisions by the school board to be over-ridden by an appointed (and well-paid) CEO. This is yet another harmful and unfair repercussion of the report card system.
Fortunately, widespread bipartisan support to change the way schools show accountability to their communities is gaining momentum in the Ohio legislature, perhaps because of the plethora of problems the report cards have caused.
No reporting system will truly show all of the greatness happening in our schools, such as the money our students raise for cancer patients or the small moments of kindness in a hallway. However, OEA has crafted a plan that would include a myriad of indicators beyond test scores and graduation rates. “Report cards” and A-F grades would be gone. Instead, a fuller picture of what is happening in our schools would be available in School Profiles. Mandated information such as test scores and graduation rates would still be included, but so would information about early childhood education, AP/Honors courses offered, whole-child classes available (art, music, world languages, health/wellness), ratio of guidance counselors to students, average class size, and more.
Ohio’s schools are more than a letter grade on a report card. We are not afraid of accountability. We are eager to show what we are accomplishing in spite of the many challenges we face. We only ask for a chance to show a more complete picture of what happens in our schools every day.
— Julie Holderbaum is an English Instructor and an Academic Challenge Advisor at Minerva High School, Minerva, Ohio.
OEA applauds House vote to fix voucher problem
“The Ohio House took an important step to transform the voucher program in a way that moves away from the blame game and toward meeting the needs of ALL students,” said OEA President Scott DiMauro. “I’m hopeful that the broad, bi-partisan support in the House is indicative of a new course in education policy -one that addresses the needs of the 90% of Ohio students who attend our public schools.”
OEA very much welcomes the strong bi-partisan recognition that the grading system Ohio uses to determined performance-based vouchers doesn’t accurately reflect how well a school is educating its students, and that the state report cards and the over-reliance on standardized tests to measure student achievement need to be fixed.
OEA also strongly supports the amendment added to the bill that would end Academic Distress Commissions that are part of the failed state takeover law and restore local control to Lorain, Youngstown and East Cleveland.
OEA urges the Senate to pass SB 89 immediately to give families and educators in both public and voucher schools ample time to plan for 2020-2021.
The Ohio Education Association represents 122,000 teachers, faculty members and support professionals in Ohio’s public schools, colleges and universities.
February/ March 2020 Ohio Schools
- COVER STORY: Language of Learning – Ohio School for the Deaf
- FEATURE:
- Maumee students send help to Australian wildlife affected by fires
- Educators and students honor public education in Ohio at statehouse event
- London Middle School campaign empowers students while fostering positive school climate where everyone feels valued
- MAKING THE GRADE: OEA members receive NEA Foundation grants to boost student learning
- SUBJECT MATTER: 2020 Summer Leadership Academy, OEA/OAESP Annual Statewide Conference
- LEGISLATIVE UPDATE
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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