OEA Optimistic About SB 376’s School Funding Proposals
“Ohio’s current school funding system falls far short of meeting the needs of students and the school districts that educate them, and OEA has long advocated for state lawmakers to address the failures of Ohio’s school funding system,” OEA President Scott DiMauro said. “Ohio must end the band-aid approach to the school funding formula and enact a student-centered formula that is equitable, adequate, predictable, and that ensures that all students have the resources to succeed regardless of where they live or their family’s income.”
The Senate plan builds upon earlier proposals to reform the state’s unconstitutional funding formula. OEA urged revisions to the 2019 version of HB 305 to improve the overall equity of the formula through changes to the local capacity percentage range, among other suggested modifications.
“OEA appreciates the work of Senate Sponsors Lehner and Sykes, as well as HB 305 co-sponsors Reps. Patterson and Cupp to improve upon prior drafts of this bill,” DiMauro said. “The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the critical need for Ohio to adopt a new school funding formula to meet the needs of all 1.7 million kids served by Ohio’s public schools. Now is the time to act.”
“For more than 20 years, Ohio lawmakers have failed to remedy the state’s harmful school funding system, which was deemed unconstitutional by the Ohio Supreme Court in 1997’s landmark DeRolph v. State of Ohio ruling,” DiMauro added. “Senate Bill 376 and House Bill 305 represent an important pathway to finally address some of the greatest issues raised by that decision.”
Ohio Education Association Calls for Full Remote Learning in Counties in Highest Tiers of State’s Public Health Advisory Alert System
A poll of OEA members in mid-July found that 69 percent of education professionals statewide do not believe that schools and campuses will be able to reopen safely in the fall.
“OEA stands with its members, parents, and community partners in recognizing the critical role schools play in academic and non-academic success of our students,” the OEA Board of Directors, which consists of more than 50 educators, education support professionals and higher education faculty statewide, said in a unanimously adopted Position Statement on Safe and Equitable Reopening Plans for Schools and Campus Buildings. “Given the dangers posed by the spread of COVID-19, however, OEA believes that reopening for in-person instruction prematurely poses unacceptable risks to the lives and health of students, adults who work in schools, and the people they care for.”
In early July, Governor Mike DeWine issued a set of guidelines to shape school reopening plans. Most of that guidance was in the form of recommendations, rather than requirements, for things like masks, sanitization, and social distancing protocols. OEA has been calling for greater accountability and enforcement of those measures. Ample testing must also be available to ensure individuals afflicted with COVID-19 are negative prior to returning to school, and evidence-based protocols for contact tracing must also be in place.
Under Ohio’s Public Health Advisory Alert System, OEA believes that any school or campus building located in a county designated as Level 4 (purple) or Level 3 (red) must remain closed to in-person instruction. Until a vaccine or cure for COVID-19 is widely available, schools in all counties, including Level 2 (orange) and Level 1 (yellow) should be permitted to open for in-person instruction only if all CDC requirements can be fully met.
Any safe reopening plan will require adequate resources, including funding for a sufficient number of educators, support staff, nurses, and custodial workers to meet the needs of students in the classrooms. Adequate funding will also be needed for technology devices and high-speed internet access to ensure all students have reliable, quality access to remote learning platforms, regardless of where they live.
“No education employee in any setting should be forced to choose between their livelihood and their health or safety,” the OEA Board of Directors said. “OEA will continue to organize and engage members to effectively advocate for healthy and safe learning and working conditions, essential legal protections for members, and equitable learning opportunities for all students.”
The OEA Board of Directors’ Position Statement can be viewed here: OEA Board Position Statment on Safe and Equitable School Reopening (.pdf file)
To Vote or Not to Vote: Why Educators Need to Do More Than Help Students Register to Vote
By Julie Holderbaum, Minerva EA/OEA
On a recent visit home, my 22-year old stepdaughter told me that she wasn’t planning to vote this year, and then she admitted that she never had before, either.
As we talked, two reasons for this came to light. Apathy was not one of them. Instead, not knowing what to expect at the polls, not knowing which local candidates would be on the ballot, and feeling that her vote wouldn’t matter anyway were enough to silence her voice.
She expressed that she was really nervous to go to the polling place because she had no idea what to expect. I have always emphasized the importance of registering to vote to my students. I’ve even helped register several voters in my classes of juniors. But in my haste to register my students to vote, it never occurred to me to explain to them what the actual act of voting would be like.
She wasn’t too worried about not going to vote since the 2016 election convinced my stepdaughter that her vote wouldn’t matter anyway. I can see why she felt that way; Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by 3 million votes but lost the election because she came up short in the electoral college. The fact is, however, that history is replete with elections decided by one or a very few votes. In Vermont in 2016, both a state Senate Democratic primary and a state House seat were determined by one vote[1], and several presidential elections have been narrowly decided as well[2].
My stepdaughter’s revelation to me was heartbreaking. I hated the thought of her not exercising the right that so many people fought so hard to get, the right that gives her a voice in choosing the values and policies of the community and country she lives in.
Many educators discuss the importance of voting with our students. But can we do more to alleviate their anxiety and fear of the unknown, to make them feel that their voice matters? I think we can.
- Share your first time voting story. You don’t have to disclose who you voted for to tell students about where you were and how you felt. Did you vote in person or absentee? Did you feel prepared to vote? What did it feel like if you didn’t know anything about candidates on the ballot? I tell them how I’ve felt when I’ve seen names on a ballot in local races and not known anything about them: do I pick one at random or do I not vote in that race? One seems risky and the other seems disrespectful to all those who have fought for my right to vote. I also tell them that it feels so much better to know I have done the research and am voting for a person (or issue) with intention.
- Explain the voting process. Encourage them to let the poll workers know it is their first time voting; most likely, they will be excited and happy to help them navigate each step of the process. Tell them that they will show their ID and it will be scanned, and they will sign either a paper or an electronic keypad. They will be directed to the voting booth, which may or may not have a curtain like the voting scenes on TV always seem to. They may vote on a computer. They might be given a paper ballot and a pen to bubble in their choice. They may be given a punch card to indicate their choices. Tell them that they do not have to vote in every race on the ballot. Whatever the method, reassure them that it will be private and no one will see how they vote. Discuss the importance of completing absentee ballots thoroughly and correctly, and following all directions precisely.
Discuss the history of the fight for suffrage in America. Only 6% of Americans were eligible to vote in the first presidential election.[3] The other 94% had to fight to get the right to participate in democracy in America. Read articles and show movies about efforts to get the right to vote and the obstacles that still impede efforts to vote for so many Americans. The 2020 Amazon Prime documentary All In: The Fight for Democracy is excellent and gives a history of voting rights and suppression efforts in America. (Preview any film before showing your classes).- Impress upon your students that every vote counts. Read about elections that came down to just a few votes. Share the fact that studies show more people vote when they know lots of other people are voting. Tell your students that publicizing they are voting can remind and encourage others to vote…and all of those votes will certainly have an impact.[4]
- Demonstrate how to find information about the candidates, registration, and polling places. Today’s young voters have advantages that I did not when I first voted. Websites for each state’s Secretary of State and County Boards of Elections have information about how to check if your voter registration is up to date and more. The Ohio Voter Info app [5] allows users to see a sample ballot, making it easy to research the candidates and issues before going to the poll. The app also allows users to check absentee ballot status, see where their polling place is, and view election results. When We All Vote is another great resource, and the website has a toolkit for schools to teach kids of all ages about voting.[6]
- Build excitement for future voting in children. What if we could get kids to look forward to their first time voting as much as they look forward to getting a driver’s license or going to prom? If we start talking about voting with young children, I think we can build a level of excitement and appreciation for the right to vote. There are books for all ages of children that address elections and voting.[7] Make them part of your classroom library.
Along the same lines, take your own children with you when you vote. I have taken my daughter with me since she was four years old, and every time, I have explained to her who I am voting for and why. The familiarity with the voting process has become ingrained in her. Encourage your students to ask their parents if they can go with them the next time they vote so they can see the process of voting in action.
Political conversations in the classroom that promote issues or candidates are never appropriate, but the act of voting is not a partisan issue. It is our duty as educators to prepare our students to become informed citizens who participate in the democratic process. We must remember, however, that it doesn’t matter how many students we register to vote; the only ones who have a voice are the ones who actually exercise that right. We need to go beyond registration efforts and address the concerns and fears young voters have about the actual act of voting.
During that infamous visit, my stepdaughter and I updated her voter registration and downloaded the Ohio Voter Info app. She knows where she is going to vote and which issues and candidates will be on her ballot. She’s ready to vote in one of the most historic elections in American history this November.
The best part? The next time she came home to visit, she had another announcement to make: “You’re going to be so proud of me. I helped my roommate register to vote.”
— Julie Holderbaum is an English Instructor and an Academic Challenge Advisor at Minerva High School, Minerva, Ohio.
[1]Close Elections: Why Every Vote Matters : NPR.” 3 Nov. 2018, https://www.npr.org/2018/11/03/663709392/why-every-vote-matters-the-elections-decided-by-a-single-vote-or-a-little-more. Accessed 5 Oct. 2020.
[2]“5 Close US Presidential Elections That Prove Every Vote Matters.” https://www.globalcitizen.org/fr/content/why-every-vote-matters-closest-elections-in-histor/. Accessed 6 Oct. 2020.
[3] “Watch All In: The Fight for Democracy | Prime Video.” https://www.amazon.com/All-Fight-Democracy-Stacey-Abrams/dp/B08FRQQKD5. Accessed 6 Oct. 2020.
[4] “A better argument for why every vote matters – The Princetonian.” 11 Oct. 2018, https://www.dailyprincetonian.com/article/2018/10/a-better-argument-for-why-every-vote-matters. Accessed 5 Oct. 2020.
[5] “Ohio Voter Information – Apps on Google Play.” https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.triadgsi.dev.ohiovotes&hl=en. Accessed 6 Oct. 2020.
[6] “When We All Vote.” https://www.whenweallvote.org/. Accessed 6 Oct. 2020.
[7] “Kids’ Books About Elections and Voting | Scholastic | Parents.” https://www.scholastic.com/parents/books-and-reading/book-lists-and-recommendations/history-social-studies/election-books.html. Accessed 5 Oct. 2020.
OEA Endorses Jennifer Brunner and John O’Donnell for Ohio Supreme Court
“Ohio’s next Supreme Court justices are likely to make important decisions that will impact public education in Ohio,” said OEA President Scott DiMauro. “OEA believes Ohio students and educators would be well-served by having Jennifer Brunner and John O’Donnell on the state’s highest court.”
Brunner, a former Ohio Secretary of State, has decades of legal experience in private practice and on the bench as both a state trial court judge and as a Tenth District Court of Appeals judge, where she wrote a dissenting opinion concerning the law (HB 70) that allows the state through an appointed “CEO” to decide when and how to take over troubled school districts. She urged that this law was unconstitutionally adopted and has the potential for irreparable harm to students, the teachers who teach them and Youngstown City School District. Judge Brunner said in her decision, “stability is prudent in protecting the educational interests” of students and the teachers who teach them in communities such as Youngstown.
“Judge Brunner’s clearly articulated position on the HB 70 question was heartening to OEA,” DiMauro said. “It’s one of many reasons why we look forward to having her on the Supreme Court.”
OEA believes Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas Judge John O’Donnell will also be a strong ally for quality public education if elected to the Ohio Supreme Court. Furthermore, he is committed to upholding a fair redistricting process when new legislative and political boundaries are drawn.
“Redistricting could be a contentious issue in Ohio,” said DiMauro, “and if legal challenges arise, the composition of the Supreme Court will be key to ensuring that Ohio’s voters will have a fair shake in deciding who should represent them in the legislature and in Congress, regardless of what neighborhood they call home.”
Education is a critical issue for Ohio’s voters. A recent statewide survey by Lake Research Partners found that 47 percent of independent voters say electing Supreme Court Justices who will ensure that Ohio politicians meet their obligations to support a strong system of public education, no matter what zip code a child may live in, is extremely important.
OEA Urges Greater Accountability in Reopening Plans for Schools
“OEA understands and respects the long-standing adherence to local control in decision-making around public education, but the state also has a critical role to play amidst an unprecedented public health crisis and a rising number of cases of COVID-19,” said OEA President Scott DiMauro. “While we appreciate the consideration given to the importance of social distancing, health checks, and sanitation protocols in the Governor’s plan, it lacks a means of enforcement, even when a county is in the highest tier of the alert system.”
“Parents need to feel confident that schools are safe for their students to return to if we have any hope of successfully reopening the economy. They should not have to choose between their students’ health and their academic success,” DiMauro said. “A good number of Ohio’s educators are in the highest-risk group for severe complications from COVID-19. They should not have to choose between their livelihood and their health.”
OEA believes that it is more important than ever that educators have a seat at the table in local decisions, and to allow creative problem-solving through the collective bargaining process.
“We must ensure educators’ voices are heard in every school district as plans are developed to ensure a safe, successful school year,” DiMauro said. “We must also ensure resources are in place to implement critical safety measures. Federal lawmakers must step up and provide the needed funding for schools across Ohio.”
The U.S. House-passed HEROES Act would provide some of that education funding, but the Senate has failed to take up that bill for consideration. “We urge Sen. Rob Portman and his colleagues to act now on behalf of Ohio’s students,” DiMauro said.
Ohio Education Association Supports State Resolutions Declaring Racism a Public Health Crisis
“Racism hurts people of color in all aspects of their lives, including educational outcomes,” said OEA President Scott DiMauro. “Historic ‘redlining’ in many communities and systemic inequality put people of color at tremendous disadvantages. The deep-seated problems that have been exposed through a pandemic that adversely impacts communities of color and the recent incidents of police violence heighten the urgent need to address these issues.”
A study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on the effects of COVID-19 found a “disproportionate burden of illness and death among racial and ethnic minority groups.”
OEA recognizes the important role educators can play in addressing racial and economic inequities. “We can and should be confronting these issues head-on in our classrooms to expand Ohioans’ understanding of how racism affects individuals in our communities,” DiMauro said.
“Our teachers and education support professionals see first-hand every day how their students’ lives have been shaped by racism in our society,” DiMauro said, noting that Ohio’s schools play a critical role in providing health and nutrition services. “Where you were born and what you look like should not determine whether you can get access to high-quality education and adequate educational resources.”
According to the most recent data from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), 32 percent of African-American children in the U.S. live in poverty. There is ample evidence that poorer children tend to enter school with a readiness gap due to fewer community and family resources. That gap can be exacerbated in under-resourced classrooms, resulting in higher dropout rates. In the 2016-2017 school year, the graduation rate for black students in Ohio was 69 percent, while it was 88 percent for white students, according to an NCES report. The Ohio Association of Community Action Agencies’ 2019 State of Poverty report found that Ohioans without a high school diploma or GED are more than twice as likely to live in poverty than those who have finished high school.
In addition to the disproportionate impact of the coronavirus on communities of color, educational inequities have been further illuminated and exacerbated by distance learning in the face of the ongoing pandemic. There is a clear link between race, poverty, and health and OEA is committed to addressing these issues while promoting measures that set up all students for lifelong success.
“Our students deserve better,” said DiMauro, “and OEA believes recognizing racism as a public health crisis and creating a working group to address this issue are important first steps.”
Senate Bill 319 Would Provide Troubling Furlough Authority to School Districts
While the bill includes some positive provisions on teacher evaluations, high school graduation, and services to special needs students, OEA opposes a provision in the bill that would provide greater furlough authority to school districts and ESC boards through June 30, 2021.
We urge you to take action as an advocate for children and public education.
Please send a quick message to your state Senator asking him or her to support our students and schools by removing the furlough provision from SB 319.
Ohio Education Association Stands in Solidarity with Protestors Demanding an End to Systemic Racism and Brutality in wake of George Floyd’s Death
“George Floyd’s death at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer was horrific, and not merely an example of some ‘bad apple’ who should be prosecuted for murder, but symptomatic of a system that perpetuates brutality against people of color,” said OEA President Scott DiMauro. “We all share a responsibility to break the cycle of violence and systemic racism.”
OEA supports its members and their students who are expressing themselves through peaceful protests and adding their voices to the important national conversation about race and inequality sparked by Floyd’s death. “We have a unique responsibility as educators to fight against injustice,” DiMauro said. “Public schools are the place where we can learn to discuss issues without the fear of violence. The education system can help bring people together.”
The closing of schools that resulted from the COVID-19 pandemic has further exposed inequities in American society that are also symptomatic of the country’s racial disparities. “Only by addressing these deep-seated issues head-on can we ensure that all students are positioned for success, regardless of where they live or what they look like,” DiMauro said.
OEA calls on police forces to exercise restraint in their response to protestors who are working to bring about needed changes. “We need trauma-informed care, not suppression of mostly young activists,” DiMauro said. “We are saddened by how divided our communities are right now and by the destruction we’ve seen, but more than anything, we are saddened and outraged by what has caused this situation – a system that has disadvantaged and disenfranchised people of color in our country.”
“To those who have chosen to exploit this situation to sow destruction and provoke divisiveness in communities that are hurting, we say ‘shame on you’. To those who are non-violently protesting injustices and fighting to shape necessary reforms, OEA stands with you in solidarity,” DiMauro said.
In Senate Testimony, Ohio Education Association Urges Lawmakers to Prioritize Health and Safety in School Re-Opening Plans
“Schools will and should reopen when public health standards can be met. When that happens, we look forward to welcoming our students to a more equitable, safe and dynamic learning environment that meets the promise of public education that all students, parents, families and educators deserve,” DiMauro said.
DiMauro’s full testimony is available for reading at this link.
OEA has also provided advice to the Ohio Department of Education to help craft plans to safely re-open schools. OEA believes any decision on re-opening schools next year must be driven by guidance from public health officials, and any plan should include input from educators through local collective bargaining agreements and should provide flexibility to meet the needs of local school districts.
OEA represents 122,000 teachers, faculty members and support professionals who work in Ohio’s schools, colleges, and universities to help improve public education and the lives of Ohio’s children. OEA members provide professional services to benefit students, schools and the public in virtually every position needed to run Ohio’s schools.
‘A’ is for Advocacy – Why We Must All Become Activist Educators
By Julie Holderbaum, Minerva EA/OEA
During the past few months, Ohio’s teachers have found ways to creatively teach every content area while being separated physically from our students. It hasn’t been easy.
However, our struggles as teachers learning new technology and methods of teaching pale in comparison to the challenges of our students trying to learn from home. Few of them have a quiet workspace with a computer and ample time to engage with school assignments. Even in the best case scenarios, students are distracted by Netflix and TikTok, phones and video games. Most of my students face even greater challenges. They are taking care of younger siblings while their parents work, or they are working more hours at their own jobs to help with family expenses. Some of my students suffer from depression and anxiety, and now they are dealing with the world turned upside down. Sadly, in the worst cases, students are trapped at home with physically or mentally abusive family members and no escape to the safety of school.
Coupled with the fact that the learning environment at home can be problematic is the fact that there is great inequity in access to technology among Ohio’s families. A significant number of our students do not have access to the internet or the devices necessary to complete online work even in otherwise positive home learning environments.
A packet of work sent home is not the same as students being able to participate in a class meeting online or exchange emails with their teacher. It’s not the same as being able to view videos of their teachers explaining concepts, or watching their teachers work a math problem or edit a paragraph via a document camera.
Given the stressors that make learning from home difficult and the lack of technology that plagues many students, we can all agree that in-person education is in the best social and academic interest of our kids (and, frankly, our economy, because not every parent has a job that allows them to work from home when kids are not in school).
The task before us then is daunting and expensive: we need to deal with the technology gap in case a public health crisis again forces us to educate through remote learning, while at the same time make accommodations to ensure safe conditions for in-person learning.
I was hopeful that Governor DeWine would avoid making drastic cuts to school funding. I was even naive enough to hope the governor would find ways to provide more funding to public education.
Instead, last week, the governor announced a “$300 million reduction in K-12 public-school funding, $210 million from Medicaid spending and $110 million from college and university funding.”[1] To my dismay, teachers, students, and the poorest Ohioans will bear the brunt of the budget cuts caused by the COVID-19 crisis.
Interestingly, the Department of Corrections was spared from the budget ax, because “(prisons) have gotten to be more expensive to operate as state officials try to deal with COVID-19 outbreaks among prisoners and staff.”[2]
Aren’t schools going to become more expensive to operate as we try to deal with preventing outbreaks among students and staff? Schools are also a setting where a lot of people come in contact with each other in a relatively small space, which is why they were the first to be shut down when the dire nature of the situation became clear.
To return to school and keep our students and educators safe, nearly every aspect of the school day will need to be changed. Lunches, assemblies, large classes such as gym and choir, even one-on-one tutoring sessions will all have to be reconfigured. To achieve smaller class sizes, students might attend on alternate days or for half days. These modifications may require extra bussing, increased staffing, longer school operating hours, and at the very least, more daily cleaning and sanitizing. Furthermore, we need to be prepared to offer additional mental health services to help our students deal with the stress of returning to school or the trauma they endured while at home. Not knowing if or when something like this might happen again, we also need to ensure equal access to technology for all kids. And all of that equals MORE MONEY, not less.
Why not tap part of Ohio’s rainy-day fund? We are far beyond rain. We are past thunderstorms, tornadoes, and floods. We are close to “Sharknado” territory, and if that isn’t the time to use at least part of the rainy-day fund, when is? In actuality, we could use ALL of the rainy-day fund to avoid cuts in education and still have billions left over.
I know that OEA’s leadership agrees that we should tap into the rainy day fund. As Piet van Lier of Policy Matters Ohio noted “the state should have looked to the rainy-day fund now to help school funding, a move DeWine chose not to take,” and adding that “It’s just beyond comprehension that you could be doing that [cutting aid to schools] without turning over every stone.”[3]
Perhaps the cuts to school budgets made by the governor will be offset by the federal CARES (Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security) Act. But the fact remains, if DeWine had not made the draconian cuts to education, any CARES money school districts receive could have actually been used to address the inequity issues and the need for creative solutions to resume in-person education, rather than to simply put local budgets on track to barely break even.
The governor likes to say we are “all in this together.” It doesn’t feel that way to me. It feels like educators, who have figured out how to completely change education in a matter of days, who are putting in more hours than ever before, who don’t even have time to say “we didn’t sign up for this,” are being taken advantage of. We’ve always stepped up, we’ve always figured out how to make do with the money we’re given, we’ve always done everything that has been asked of us and in such an outstanding manner that the governor has no reason not to expect that we won’t figure this out, too.
We simply have to stop settling for monetary leftovers. We have to fight to make Ohio’s children the priority they should have been all along. We can’t count on Betsy DeVos or the current occupant of the White House to provide federal dollars to help the nation’s schools meet the new challenges we face. We can’t simply rely on union leaders or education-friendly state legislators to advocate for us and for our students. WE must fight for funding to address the new needs of our schools. WE must fight for safe conditions for us and our students to return to. WE must fight for equal access to technology for all kids.
We must let the governor and our elected representatives in Ohio and Washington DC know that we are willing to step up to the challenge that the COVID virus has brought to education, as we have demonstrated in stellar fashion during remote learning, but we need financial help to do so.
It is time to go on the offensive.
There are nearly 140,000 educators in Ohio[4]; imagine the power of some 140,000 people advocating for proper funding to take care of the needs of our students. We teach our students to stand up for what they believe in; are we doing that ourselves?
It’s worth contacting our U.S. Representatives and Senators to ask them to fight for funding from Congress. We have an even better chance of developing relationships with our state representatives and senators. A hand-written letter speaks volumes. An email also works and will allow you to quickly reach all of your legislators. Put your legislators’ office phone numbers in the Favorites on your phone so you can call them easily and frequently. Donate to the FCPE fund so that we can continue to elect legislators who support public education.
We need to make sure our leaders are hearing from educational experts. They might not seek out our opinion, but we must give it to them anyway, and hope that they have the good sense to listen to us when making decisions that impact education in Ohio.
The old cliche says that teachers shape the future. That has never been more true than now. It pains my heart to say it, but education may never be the same. We may never go back to “normal.” We have to prepare for that reality, and that means becoming teachers who advocate and argue for the funding we need to make the changes that will indeed shape the future of public education in a post-COVID 19 world.
— Julie Holderbaum is an English Instructor and an Academic Challenge Advisor at Minerva High School, Minerva, Ohio.
[1] “Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine announces $775m in state budget ….” 5 May. 2020, https://www.cleveland.com/open/2020/05/ohio-gov-mike-dewine-announces-775m-in-state-budget-cuts-to-education-medicaid-and-more.html. Accessed 6 May. 2020.
[2] “Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine announces $775m in state budget ….” 5 May. 2020, https://www.cleveland.com/open/2020/05/ohio-gov-mike-dewine-announces-775m-in-state-budget-cuts-to-education-medicaid-and-more.html. Accessed 6 May. 2020.
[3] “Coronavirus economic fallout ‘terrifies’ school leaders, experts ….” 8 May. 2020, https://www.cleveland.com/coronavirus/2020/05/coronavirus-economic-fallout-terrifies-school-leaders-experts-stirring-fears-of-deep-budget-cuts-merged-districts.html. Accessed 11 May. 2020.
[4] “Facts and Figures | Ohio Department of Education.” 11 Feb. 2020, http://education.ohio.gov/Media/Facts-and-Figures. Accessed 11 May. 2020.