OEA applauds public education investments in House-passed budget
“The Ohio Education Association applauds the Ohio House for prioritizing the students of our state in the budget bill passed in that chamber this week. This budget includes significant investments in public schools—including a plan to increase the minimum teacher salary to address growing teacher shortage issues—and it promotes a number of sound public education policies, like repealing the punitive mandatory retention provision of the Third Grade Reading Guarantee while maintaining an emphasis on the importance of literacy for our children. Additionally, this budget proposal makes school breakfast and lunch accessible to more children by having the state cover the difference in the cost between free and reduced-price meals.
More importantly, the House has demonstrated its commitment to working to fully and fairly fund the public schools that serve 90 percent of students in our state. This budget measure increases state funding to public schools by nearly $1 billion over the biennium by ensuring updated data is used in the Fair School Funding Plan (FSFP) formula to determine the actual costs of providing an excellent education to every child while continuing to provide more of the funding necessary to fulfill that promise, when the FSFP is fully implemented. OEA thanks the House for taking this important step forward.
The budget bill now moves to the Senate for consideration, and OEA urges our state Senators to build on the positive momentum of the House’s work and pull back on the proposed expansion of voucher schemes that would amount to near universal eligibility in our state. The Senate must do the right thing for Ohio’s 1.6 million public school students, and OEA looks forward to working with lawmakers from both parties to ensure the best budget bill possible is adopted for the next biennium.
OEA would like to thank House Speaker Jason Stephens, Leader Allison Russo, House Finance Committee Chair Jay Edwards, and Ranking Member Bride Rose Sweeney for their bipartisan efforts to bring the budget to this point. The budget proposal they produced puts Ohio students first and shows that the House supports what Ohioans believe so strongly, that public education matters in our state.”
Hunger-Free Schools Ohio calls for immediate relief for child hunger crisis
“Every child in Ohio, regardless of where they’re from, what they look like, or how much money their parents make, needs to be able to eat full, nutritionally complete meals at school. Therefore, allowing them to focus on what they’re learning, not on the hunger pangs they’re feeling,” said Ohio Education Association President Scott DiMauro, who hosted Monday’s discussion on behalf of the Hunger-Free Schools Ohio coalition. “Although the pandemic-era federal programs that ensured every Ohio child could receive free meals at school have ended, there is more than enough money in Ohio right now to ensure no student goes without the meals they need.”
“Having meals provided for my child when universal meal programs were in place in Ohio made a huge difference in our lives. Now, every dollar we’re spending on meals is a dollar we can’t spend on the other things we need,” said Megan Thompson, a parent in the Wellington Exempted School District in Lorain County who shared her family’s story during the Hunger-Free Schools Ohio discussion this week.
“Our students are keenly aware of the difference having nutritious school meals makes in their days along with the struggles some of their peers face in trying to pay for those meals,” said Bluffton Middle School Principal Josh Kauffman, whose Allen County students hosted a bake sale to pay off the lunch debts of their classmates. “Unfortunately, there is a stigma around accepting necessary help to access school meals. But that stigma disappears when systems are in place to provide healthy school meals for all.”
“One in six children, and as many as one in four children in certain counties, lives in a household that faces hunger—that’s 413,000 kids across Ohio. School meals play an essential role in alleviating child hunger and improving child wellbeing. We hope lawmakers will prioritize our kids and school nutrition programs in this biennial budget by expanding critical access to school meals,” said Katherine Ungar, a Children’s Defense Fund-Ohio Policy Associate who wrote the “School Meals Support Ohio Student Health and Learning” white paper.
“It has been heartbreaking to see students who are unable to pay for their school lunches turned away from the nutritious food they need. Our dedicated cafeteria staff should never have to serve as both caring food service professionals and hard-hearted debt collectors,” said Daryn Guarino, Director of Food and Nutrition for Alexander Local Schools in Athens County.
“School meals are a basic need for every student to be able to learn and reach their full potential in our classrooms,” agreed Lindy Douglas, Special Programs Coordinator for Alexander Local Schools. “Especially here in rural Appalachia, where our kids already struggle to have a level playing field in so many ways, our kids can’t afford to have our state leaders fail to act on this urgent issue. Ohio lawmakers must act now to make sure every child is fed.”
ABOUT HUNGER-FREE SCHOOLS OHIO
We are a passionate collective representing more than 40 local and statewide anti-hunger, education, food, and nutrition organizations and associations who are working to take hunger off the table, committed to ensuring that every student in Ohio has access to healthy school meals. Learn more at hungerfreeschoolsoh.org
OEA lays out bold vision for 135th General Assembly
“This legislative session presents a tremendous opportunity to address school funding, the educator shortage, the well-being of our students and staff, and other issues that affect our members and the learners we serve,” OEA President Scott DiMauro wrote in a letter to state lawmakers and the governor laying out OEA’s legislative priorities for the 135th General Assembly.
“OEA looks forward to working collaboratively with lawmakers in both chambers and on both sides of the aisle to achieve these important goals for our students and the dedicated teachers, support professionals, and faculty members who work with them every day,” DiMauro said.
Priority education issues for this General Assembly to address include the following:
- Fully funding the Fair School Funding Plan
- Alleviating school staffing shortages
- Ending the expansion of private school voucher programs
- Repealing mandatory student retention under the Third Grade Reading Guarantee
- Supporting student and staff wellbeing
- Protecting the voice of educators by supporting unions and defending collective bargaining rights
More information about each of these legislative priorities can be downloaded here
All in for Ohio Kids responds to Gov. DeWine’s proposed budget
OOC Co-Executive Director Molly Shack, PMO Executive Director Hannah Halbert, OFT President Melissa Cropper, and OEA President Scott DiMauro released the following joint statement:
“No matter where they live or what they look like, all of Ohio’s kids deserve a public school that inspires their creativity, unlocks their potential, and nurtures their dreams. But according to the EdWeek Research Center, Ohio is among the least equitable states for education resource distribution in the country. While we recognize Governor DeWine’s commitment to continuing implementation of the Cupp-Patterson school funding formula, also known as the Fair School Funding Plan, we are calling on Ohio’s lawmakers to take bold action and implement full funding for that plan.
Fully and fairly funding Ohio’s public schools will give school districts a permanent, adequate, stable funding stream that will allow them to make necessary investments to meet the needs of students and address education staffing shortages. Legislators should also avoid competing funding obligations, such as an expansion of private school vouchers or charter schools, that would hinder our ability to fully fund the public schools that 90% of Ohio students attend.
For decades, Ohio policymakers had allowed unconstitutional funding guidelines to determine how resources flow to our public schools. The Fair School Funding Plan created a student-centered school funding formula which put us on the path toward finally meeting our constitutional obligation to Ohio’s students. However, without fully phasing in the necessary funding levels we are still falling short of what our children deserve.
Ohio’s students can’t wait any longer for lawmakers to deliver on the promise of world-class opportunities for all. We urge legislative leaders to finish what they started, refine the components of the school funding formula, and finally dedicate the resources needed for each and every Ohio student to succeed.”
All in for Ohio Kids represents a broad group of concerned organizations and individuals who are working together to fully and fairly fund our schools.