OEA urges swift Senate passage of Build Back Better act
“The Build Back Better framework will change lives here in Ohio by making enormous strides toward ending child hunger and poverty, addressing a growing nationwide teacher shortage, and investing in early education, job training, and higher education programs to allow all of Ohio’s students to pursue their dreams, regardless of where they’re from or what they look like,” OEA President Scott DiMauro said. “Ohio’s 1.7 million public school students can’t afford for the Senate to wait to act on this plan.”
Among other benefits included in the Build Back Better framework, it will:
- Enable Ohio to expand access to free, high-quality preschool to more than 151,420 additional 3- and 4-year-olds per year and increase the quality of preschool for children who are already enrolled
- Increase maximum Pell Grant awards by $550 for students at public and private non-profit institutions, supporting the 172,095 students in Ohio who rely on Pell, to help unlock the opportunities of an education beyond high school
- Invest in Ohio’s 7 minority-serving institutions and the students they serve, including Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs), and Hispanic-serving institutions (HSIs)
- Ensure that the nutritional needs of Ohio’s children are met by expanding access to free school meals to an additional 153,000 students during the school year and providing 844,631 students with resources to purchase food over the summer
- Provide opportunities for 43 public community colleges in Ohio to benefit from grants to develop and deliver innovative training programs and expand proven ones
- “A high-quality preschool education lays the foundation for a lifetime of success for our students,” said Traci Arway, a special education teacher in Columbus City Schools. “I am beyond excited to know that Ohio will receive funding through the Build Back Better framework to increase early childhood education for our youngest Ohioans!”
“Teachers know that our students need to have their nutritional needs met to be focused in the classroom. The Build Back Better framework expands free school meals so Ohio’s students can focus on their schoolwork instead of how they’ll get their next meal,” said Kara Jankowski, who teaches English Language Learners in West Carrollton City Schools.
“As of now, only about 31% of the three- and four-year-olds in Ohio have access to publicly-funded preschool, and it costs nearly $8,600 per year for those families that cannot access a publicly funded program. This is unacceptable,” said Larry Carey, a preschool teacher in Columbus. “The Senate must do its part and pass the Build Back Better act now.”
“The Build Back Better framework is a smart investment in our children, our state, and our future,” DiMauro said. “The Senate must seize this once-in-a-generation opportunity to create a better tomorrow for all of us.”
Wellness Grant
OEA’s Wellness Grants Help Locals Support Member Well-Being
- Up to $5/per Active Member
- Submission and Approval of Application Required
- Activity Must be completed between September 3, 2024 – May 31, 2025
- Receipts must be submitted for Reimbursement by June 15, 2025
- Share photos with LRC to post on the OEA Wellness Website
- Contact LRC for Application
- Share your events on social media using #OEAWellnessGrant, #OEAWG, and #OEAWellness
- Click here to download a Wellness Grant application
- Wellness Grants Funds cannot be used for the following: T-shirts, Gift Cards/Gift Certificates, Cash Gifts to Members, or Lottery Tickets
WELLNESS GRANT ACTIVITIES
- Laughter As The Best Medicine – Set a movie event for members. A comedy or light-hearted movie is suggested. Provide members with movie “snacks” as they share an opportunity to laugh alongside fellow members.
- Social Time Members Uplifting Members – Organize an event – perhaps a happy hour or coffee chat – where members can relax and spend time together in a social setting.
- Pop-up Café – Set up a pop-up café that offers members snacks and positive messages. The café could be as simple as a table staffed by other members or a coffee/tea bar.
- Drop-in Spa – Create a drop-in spa for members in buildings. Members can sign up for time to experience a relaxing environment with a massage chair, healthy snacks, and beverages.
- Wellness Passport/Self-Care BINGO – Provide members with a Wellness Passport with pages to be stamped for each self-care activity they do on their own. Create a BINGO card with self-help activities for members to complete. The activities for the passport or BINGO card could include such things as: exercise classes, virtual challenges, book clubs, and meditation. Award members with a gift with a completed passport or completed BINGO card.
- Special Delivery! – Create a monthly drawing for all members. Winners will receive a special delivery of flowers, cookies, candy, self-care bags, or books, and a positive message from their local.
- Lunch and Learn – Invite members to an hourlong lunch and training focused on a wellness activity or skill such as meditation or an art/craft. The lunch hour could include a speaker on a topic related to self-care. Ask members to complete a self-care survey during the lunch and learn.
- Keep Active and Be Healthy Challenges
• Walk/Step Challenge – Provide each member who signs up for the challenge with a promotional Local water bottle, notebook, pen, and information on the health benefits of walking. Create a members-only Facebook or Instagram page for the challenge. Ask participating members to set a personal goal for the 30-day challenge, keep track for 30 days, and post/share positive thoughts via social media.*
• Sleep Challenge – Provide each member who signs up for the challenge with a sleep mask, earplugs, herbal tea, notebook, and information on the health benefits of sleep. Create a members-only Facebook or Instagram page for the challenge. Ask participating members to set a personal goal for the 30-day challenge, keep track for 30 days, and post/share positive thoughts via social media.*
*Members who complete the 30-day challenge receive a certificate and gift - Local’s CHOICE! – Develop a Wellness Themed Activity of your own!
“I got great feedback from some staff that said they appreciated the nice surprise on a cold Monday morning – a goodie bag with items with a note attached explaining how each item can be applied to their own personal wellness”
A sample of locals who have received a Wellness Grant
ESP Educator Voice Academy
Overview
In 2019, the NEA created the Educator Voice Academies (EVAs) to help build an understanding of opportunities within ESSA and the power of lifting and amplifying educator voices for state and local affiliate members. This effort was led by NEA Education Policy and Practice in partnership with NEA’s Center for Organizing, Center for Social Justice, Center for Advocacy, Center for Great Public Schools, and Center for Governance. The first cycle featured in-person learning opportunities that brought state and local teams together to brainstorm, collaborate, and create plans of action to help continue this work in their school communities. Ohio’s 2019 team chose to organize around improving our state’s school accountability system, and that work helped lead to the successful passage of HB 82, which eliminated the A-F school report card and instituted an OEA-sponsored “student opportunity profile” which will be implemented after the 2022-23 school year.
After the success of the initial Educator Voice Academies, the NEA collectively and collaboratively sought to continue moving this work forward to leverage the voices of our members as partners in delivering equitable opportunities for all students across race, ZIP code, background, and ability. These efforts moved us into the next phase of our work: highlighting educator-created plans to improve public education focused on specific priority issues.
In 2022, OEA formed state Educator Voice Academy teams to address issues related to Teacher Recruitment & Retention and Social & Emotional Learning. From that process, OEA has laid out a comprehensive set of recommendations for addressing the growing educator shortage crisis. (Click here for details.) One of the signature recommendations of the team working on the teacher shortage was establishing a new team to focus specifically on the need to recruit and retain education support professionals (ESPs) in Ohio’s public schools. Acute shortages of bus drivers, paraprofessionals, cafeteria workers, school secretaries, and other essential workers have significantly disrupted student learning, strained school working conditions, and highlighted the need to invest in our ESPs. The OEA Educator Voice Academy cadre for Education Support Professionals will develop advocacy and organizing strategies to ensure every student in Ohio is served by caring, qualified support professionals who are respected, given the resources they need to be successful, and reflect the diversity of our population.
Process
OEA is currently building a team of ESP members from a diverse mix of races, genders, job classifications, experience levels, and education settings from across Ohio. Applications may be submitted using the form linked on this page. This Educator Voice Academy team will be facilitated by an OEA officer with support OEA staff and will draw on resources from NEA. The schedule and format of meetings will be determined by the team, but it will involve a combination of virtual and in-person meetings held between January and the summer of 2023. Members will not be required to meet during normal working hours.
Big wins for pro-public education candidates should give state lawmakers marching orders
“Certain politicians tried to hijack this election season and turn community members against schools and teachers to keep us from coming together to demand that every school get the resources needed to provide every child with a quality education, but Ohioans overwhelmingly rejected that scheme,” Ohio Education Association (OEA) President Scott DiMauro said. “Ohio’s lawmakers have received clear marching orders from the people to support public education by fully implementing the Fair School Funding Plan, blocking the so-called Backpack Bill that would weaken Ohio’s public schools, and championing honesty in education to keep Big Government out of Ohio’s classrooms and ensure the anti-freedom House Bills 327 & 322 never pass.”
Statewide, pro-public education candidates, including a large number of educators, came out on top in their respective school board races, winning more than 80 percent of the contests in Ohio that OEA tracked. “That is a monumental success rate,” DiMauro said. “To put that in perspective, renewal levies – which are essentially the only slam dunk issues on Ohio’s ballots – pass at about that same rate.”
From Columbus to Kings to Centerville, Worthington, Copley-Fairlawn, and Sycamore, among others, whole slates of pro-public education candidates won seats. Slates of anti-honesty in education candidates failed to gain control of school boards across the state, regardless of the makeup of the districts or region.
“Ohio’s voters saw right through all the nonsense and manufactured controversy around masks, vaccines, and curriculum this election season, and Ohio’s lawmakers should take notice: Attacking local public schools is fast becoming the third-rail of Ohio politics,” DiMauro said. “Voters want Ohio policymakers to fulfill their constitutional obligations to provide great schools for all of Ohio’s children regardless of where they’re from or what they look like. The election results should serve as a cold bucket of water to those who are trying to pursue divisive political agendas that have nothing to do with educating kids.”
October-November 2021 Ohio Schools
- COVER STORY: Empowering Students
- 2022 Ohio Teacher of the Year Kurt Russell, a social studies teacher at Oberlin High School, wants his students to be authentic, confident, and know their potential.
- NOTEBOOK
- 2021 NEA Representative Assembly Looks Ahead to New Challenges and Opportunities
- MAKING THE GRADE
- OEA Member Receives National Award for Teaching Excellence
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
Oh Yes, We’re Social — Join the Conversation!
OEA & NEA Recommend Tim Ryan for U.S. Senate
“The Ohio Education Association is proud to recommend a champion of students, public educators, and everyday Ohioans, Congressman Tim Ryan,” said OEA President Scott DiMauro. “We know that Congressman Ryan cares about making sure students at schools like Conesville Elementary in Warsaw, Arbor Hills Middle School in Sylvania, the David H. Ponitz Career Technology Center in Dayton, and their peers across the state have the resources and support they need to grow up and become successful at whatever they want to do in life. Congressman Ryan fought for us in Congress when we needed support during the peak of COVID-19, delivering much-needed federal support, and we know he will continue to fight for Ohio’s students when he gets to the U.S. Senate.”
“Simply put, Rep. Tim Ryan is a champion for America’s students and Ohio’s working families. He is someone who knows how critical it is to ensure that every student – Black and white, Native and newcomer, Hispanic and Asian alike – has access to quality public schools. Tim Ryan understands that educators – those who know the names of the students in the classroom – must have a seat at the table when making education policy. He recognizes that expanding the use of community schools – bringing academic coursework, health and social services, and community engagement under one roof – is the most effective way to address the gaps our students face, improve learning, and build stronger communities. And In Congress, he has a proven record of working to level the playing field for working families, while getting things done to help students, educators, and communities across Ohio. That is why the National Education Association is proud to recommend Rep. Tim Ryan in his campaign for U.S. Senate,” said National Education Association President Becky Pringle.
“As the proud husband of a public school teacher, I’m honored to have the support of educators across Ohio,” said Tim Ryan. “I know the challenges our students, parents, teachers and school support staff have faced over the last year and a half, and I’ve been endlessly inspired by the resilience and creativity our educators have brought to their work day after day. In the Senate, I’ll continue to listen to our teachers, invest in our schools, and expand access to training and wraparound services, so that they have the tools and resources to give all our kids the education and support they need to thrive.”
Tim has been endorsed by every Democrat in Ohio’s congressional delegation, along with more than twenty labor unions and the Ohio AFL-CIO, and more than 200 state and local elected officials and Democratic leaders and activists in every corner of Ohio. Tim’s grassroots momentum has also translated into record-breaking fundraising, including raising more than $2.5 million in the third quarter of 2021.