This is the Way Public Education Ends
Okay, so you really should give this a listen. It’s the story of a school district in New York where a motivated majority takes over the school board. They do it in order to destroy the public school system. You see, they educate their children privately and use their power to their own personal benefit at the public’s expense. They’ve illegally funneled money into their private religious schools. They’ve reduced their budget to the point where kids in the district have schedules that include four lunches and a study hall because they simply don’t have enough staff to teach courses. And on at least one occasion they had a building fraudulently appraised at half its value in order to sell it to themselves.
So? Why should you care? Ohio isn’t New York. Because it’s a working model of how a group of people, duly elected, can go about destroying a public school system with impunity. It’s a model that can be adapted to work anywhere.
Any sign that such things are going on here?
Well, yes.
In troubled Reynoldsburg, for example, there dwells upon its board at least one member, Elaine Tornero, who actively campaigns against levies for her district and wouldn’t mind seeing more experienced, “jaded” teachers leave her schools. According to the Columbus Messenger, “After 15 years without an increase in local operating taxes, the district has made more than $20 million in cuts during the past five years and identified another $3 million for the next school year.” Tornero is unmoved, “We’ve made a lot of cuts,” she said. “Regardless, the community still feels as they do and the economy still is what it is. To throw it back on in May is just too soon.”
Things have also been interesting in Springboro, Ohio, where “(t)he board came under control of a three-person Tea Party faction a few years ago. The bloc was led by local parent Kelly Kohls, head of the Warren County Tea Party.” Their goal of teaching creationism in schools fell short when voters ousted that faction and moderates were elected in their place.
And there’s been some sign of Tea Party activists seeking control of school boards elsewhere in the state.
After a Tea Party takeover of the board In the West Clermont School District in Amelia, Ohio, the new majority was caught violating the law in order to switch legal council (eerily similar to what happened in East Ramapo, New York) in an effort to hire an anti-union law firm with no experience in education.
Now, Reynoldsburg has been through the wringer, Springboro corrected itself, the folks in West Clermont are fighting, and Tea Party takeovers have succeeded and failed to various degrees across the state. But let’s not lose sight of what’s happened in East Ramapo that was the subject of the piece on This American Life. Sure people there are fighting – they’ve got a Facebook page and a radio show, but they’re losing. Without a way to loosen the grips of the group currently controlling the board, they’re stuck.
The only remedy is an informed and educated electorate and enough registered voters with a functioning conscience.
Be active. Be informed. Vote.
By Vance J. Lawman
Support Public Education by Voting Out ALEC
American journalist Walter Lippmann once said, “Successful politicians are insecure and intimidated men. They advance politically only as they placate, appease, bribe, seduce, bamboozle or otherwise manage to manipulate elements in their constituencies.”
Most people’s viewpoints aren’t quite as cynical as Mr. Lippmann’s, but the simple truth is that some politicians do try to manipulate their constituents into agreeing with their initiatives by first stirring discontent. Satisfied people cannot be seduced, so to build a case for any crusade, these lawmakers try to create a need for the measure by cutting sources of funding. Such is the case with Ohio’s current state government.
Three years ago, Ohio’s Republican governor and the GOP-controlled legislature used the state budget to drastically cut public funding to local governments, which they hoped would create a need for the “tools” provided in Senate Bill 5. Although Ohio voters overwhelmingly rejected the SB 5 tools in a referendum, those budget cuts created a significant loss of local facilities, services, and jobs, and elements in SB 5 have been introduced piecemeal ever since as cost-cutting measures in communities throughout Ohio.
Deep cuts to Ohio public schools, as well as a plethora of unfunded mandates, have helped convince Ohio citizens that there’s a real need for the dramatic expansion of charter schools in the state. Unfortunately, Ohio charter school expansion is a non-transparent movement that has not been held accountable for its use of public tax dollars. Ohio Department of Education data shows that the state’s public schools lost more than $870 million in state funding to charter schools in fiscal year 2014, amid ongoing reports of theft, misappropriation of funds, overpayment to vendors, nepotism in the employment of family members, and excessively high administrative salaries in many charter schools.
The great majority of charter schools are managed by for-profit companies that donate lots of money to political campaigns. Could that be the reason charter schools are exempt from 270 provisions of Ohio Revised Code?
There’s no requirement in state law that directs Ohio charter schools to disclose how much money is spent marketing commercials seen on prime-time television. State law doesn’t warrant that tangible property purchased with public funds remains public property when a charter school closes. There’s no requirement that board members of these schools represent parents — unelected boards are filled by the company that operates them or by friends and relatives of the school developer. Are the board members accountable to taxpayers or the corporate interests that put them there? For that matter, are our elected officials, who are supposed to monitor and regulate publicly-funded and privately-operated charter schools, accountable to taxpayers or the corporate interests that put them there?
Most of Ohio’s Republican legislators belong to a powerful organization of lawmakers and corporations, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC.) In 2011, the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) revealed the powerful control of the corporate-backed American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) over the legislative process in many states in the US. It published a report showing over 800 business-friendly bills that were created, endorsed, and secretly voted on by corporations and Republican lawmakers. People for the American Way, Progress Ohio, and Common Cause documented the hold that ALEC has on the legislative process in Ohio and divulged the fact that 43% of its legislators belong to this corporate bill mill.
ALEC strongly supports school privatization through charter schools and vouchers. According to Bill Phillis, of the Ohio Education and Adequacy Coalition: [quote]ALEC is a champion of charter schools and voucher legislation, and thus is geared toward starving the public common school. One of the missions of ALEC is to replace the public common school system with private market-driven education thrift stores. Some Ohio legislators will press forward the concept of a voucher for every student.[/quote] Ohioans can support their public schools by voting for candidates who are champions of public education. Voters must exercise their power at the polls to push back against ALEC legislators who placate, appease, bribe, seduce, bamboozle or otherwise manage to manipulate elements in their constituencies to further ALEC’s privatization agenda. This is an important election where voters can and will “create a need” for Governor John Kasich and his ALEC allies to find jobs outside of the political arena.
Visit action.ohea.org to learn more about OEA’s 2014 Campaign and how you can help to elect pro-public education leaders in this election.
By Jeanne Melvin, OEA-Retired
Support the candidates who are going to support you as an education professional
About this time four years ago, I entered my thirteenth year of teaching with a sense of excitement. I was feeling confident as a professional. I had just finished a summer of teaching English, and I remember telling colleagues that I could easily see myself teaching forty years. “What else would I want to do?”
This year, I start my seventeenth year feeling worry and frustration, which masks the excitement that comes with meeting a group of new students and forging new relationships. In place of teaching summer school, I spent the summer honing my skills as an activist, and forty years in the classroom seems laughable. I’m focusing on one year at a time.
My change of perspective and career focus comes not from being burned out by teaching, but from the barrage of attacks on public education and the teaching profession over the last four years.
Four years ago, there was no such thing as Senate Bill 5.
Four years ago, there was no Ohio Teacher Evaluation System (OTES), incorporating student test scores into teacher ratings.
Four years ago, there was no Third Grade Reading Guarantee to frighten teachers, students and parents with thoughts of retention for nine-year-olds.
Four years ago, our state legislature wasn’t allocating close to a billion dollars annually to under-performing charter schools that don’t have to be accountable with taxpayer dollars.
This time, four years ago, we had no idea what was coming as a result of the November 2010 elections.
Unfortunately, we now know the ramifications of that election. We know that it doesn’t matter whether you’re an educator who is Republican, Democrat or Independent. The education mandates of the last four years apply to all of us equally. We know what happens when we elect people who don’t value public education, who are more loyal to charter profiteers than to Ohio’s children.
With all that has happened in the last four years, is there any doubt how critical this November’s elections are?
Can we handle four more years of over-testing, under-funding and continuous attacks on our profession?
From now through November, we have to do all we can to support pro-public education candidates, regardless of their party affiliation. We have to make their stance on public education the defining factor in whether they get our votes or not.
It’s not just about who is in the Governor’s office. It’s about the State Board of Education, where we have a chance to elect people like retired teacher Michael Charney. It’s about the state-wide races, like Attorney General, Auditor, Treasurer and Secretary of State.
Take the pledge to Vote Public Education in this election! Then get your friends, neighbors, family members to do the same. Research shows that making a commitment and a plan to vote increases the likelihood that you will return your mail-in ballot, vote early in person, or get to the polls on Election Day, even when life tries to get in the way.
I know that over the next couple of months — between the lesson planning, grading and preparing for OTES — I must find time to support the candidates who are going to support me as an education professional, whether it’s by walking door-to-door, making phone calls or talking to colleagues, family and friends about the November elections and all that is at stake. I urge you to do the same.
By Dan Greenberg, Sylvania Education Association
Visit action.ohea.org for a list of pro-public education candidates.
What We’re Fighting For
The decision to strike is never easy. As educators, we dedicate ourselves to our students and our schools. Being a teacher is a huge part of our identity, and something we are proud of. So many teachers invest countless hours and dollars out of our own pockets, above and beyond the call of duty. And we do it happily, because we believe in making a difference in our students’ lives. A strike is an absolute last resort. Unfortunately, we’re down to our last resort.
Normally, the first thought about a labor dispute is that it is about salary and benefits. That really isn’t the case in Reynoldsburg. This is about what is the best learning environment for our students and giving our students, our parents, and our community the schools they deserve.
Here in Reynoldsburg, we have more students in our district now than we’ve ever had. We also have fewer educational programs available to our students due to cuts that the Board made. This has translated into bigger and bigger class sizes. We all know that study after study proves that smaller class sizes are better for student learning. Teachers can spend more time working with and actually teaching students. A recent article in the Columbus Dispatch showed that many districts right here in central Ohio have limits on class sizes. If it works, and it’s commonly accepted, why can’t our Board agree to it? Clearly, the Board is not looking at the facts and not listening to the community that has repeatedly asked for class size caps.
In addition to class sizes, we know that stability and consistency among educators improve student performance. This year, we had 20% of the teachers in our district leave. That is unacceptable. Families move to Reynoldsburg for the quality of our schools. Our students graduate, get jobs, and stay in Reynoldsburg because of our schools. However, the quality of our schools suffers with high turnover like this. Students benefit when they know their teachers year-to-year, and the teachers can see the continued development of the students. Plus, the community benefits from having quality teachers stay in the district and become reliable and active members of the community. With the way the Board has treated teachers, it’s no wonder teachers leave after a short time here. Teachers are better appreciated at nearby districts that get it. Again, the Board is not looking at the facts and they are not listening to us.
But don’t be fooled, what we’re fighting here in Reynoldsburg is not limited to our district. We’ve seen “competition” get introduced into education with the expansion of charter schools and vouchers. There has been a rush to rely more and more on high-stakes standardized testing and a push for greater “efficiency” in our schools with greater class sizes, lower teacher pay and fewer teachers that has played out across Ohio and the country.
We believe that public education is the great equalizer in our society. We take any and all students, and give them the tools they need for their lives. We are not a factory that produces widgets, we’re educators that prepare human beings for the rest of their lives. There is no one, standard approach for that. We take our students as they are, and we love them for who they are – human beings, not products or raw materials. We are thrilled for our students’ success, and we feel the pain of their setbacks. And I have yet to find a standardized test that measures a teacher’s heart!
We’re going on strike because the Reynoldsburg Board of Education has not listened to us, not listened to our community, and not listened to our students.
We believe our students and our community deserve to have the best schools. We believe that we should be providing the best learning environment for our students. We believe that educational decisions should be based on fact, and not driven by blind allegiance to any ideology. And, we deserve to have our voices heard when it comes to our area of expertise – education.
We are fighting for the future of public education and the schools that Reynoldsburg students and our community deserve. But, our fight is only just beginning, there is more work to be done, and we need your help. We are grateful for the tremendous outpouring of support we’ve received from the students, parents, and community, but we have to keep fighting. Keep showing up to Board meetings and office hours. Keep asking questions that you deserve the answers to. Keep calling and emailing the Board and Superintendent. We’re striking now for the future of our students.
By Kathy Evans, Reynoldsburg Education Association
Pros, prose and now checklists
I’m looking over Gallup’s “State of America’s Schools Report.” There’s a lot of interesting stuff in it and you should probably read it. This statement caught my interest:
Among employees in 12 different occupational categories Gallup surveyed in 2012, K-12 teachers were the least likely to agree with the statement, “At work, my opinions seem to count.” This is an alarming sign — that teachers see few opportunities to work with school leaders on issues that keep them from using their talents on behalf of their students.
and the finding that
…nearly half of K-12 teachers (46%) report high daily stress during the school year. That figure matches those from other highly demanding professions, such as nurses (46%) and physicians (45%), for the highest stress levels among all occupational groups surveyed.
And also the statement that ”Not thinking of teachers as talented professionals is one of the systemic flaws holding back the U.S. education system,” all seem to work together to codify exactly what most of my colleagues complain about on a daily basis—that nobody’s listening when they should and that drives us crazy.
I’m beginning to wonder if it’s all the paperwork. Years ago, when a student messed up in class, I was asked to describe the incident in a report. The principal would read it, consult with me if needed, and then deal with it. Now, I’m given a card on which I check all that apply. It’s impersonal and cold—not at all the correct way to do discipline.
Back when I was writing referrals, I decided I would try to communicate not only the facts of an event but how it made me feel. I’ve saved a lot of them. Maybe we should take a look at some excerpts (most are lengthy—including the one I wrote in Shakespearian iambic pentameter on a dare from my principal) to see if they’re any better. Names have been changed to protect the guilty.
- Marvin gave me an obligatory “F___ you,” today through the tried-and-true, ultimately sneaky method of saying it with his head down and tucked into the crook of his arm. This creates an oddly resonant, yet muffled sound that doesn’t do much to disguise the voice. I would have known it was Marvin even if he hadn’t been the only one with his head down and everybody was looking at him afterwards.
- They didn’t seem to realize the inherent contradiction evident in breaking and throwing writing utensils and then attempting to do classwork. It’s a lot like a swordsman chucking his weapon at an enemy and then wondering how he became disarmed.
- He enjoyed peeling one of our textbooks despite instructions to the contrary offered at regular intervals over, perhaps, a fifteen minute period of time. Interspersed with his book peeling efforts (the results of which he deposited on the floor), he passed the time by poking Roy Ferrier with a pencil. Roy was sleepy so maybe this was a misguided attempt at being helpful.
- As I was getting class started, or at least making the attempt, I noticed a little back and forth going on between Svetlana and Calliope. What seemed harmless banter at first quickly degenerated into a shouting match, complete with assorted expletives on both girls’ parts. I felt neglected, interposed myself, and bellowed maybe a Class Three Bellow (loud enough to vibrate glass but still not painful to my vocal cords), clearly winning the match, though this had no effect upon our contestants who continued on unabated.
- The next time this kid tells me “F___ you,” or any variation thereupon, I don’t want him back without a meeting with his mother and an administrator. It’s becoming “The Lawman and Levinson Show” and I’m nobody’s straight man. Also, we should probably try to find out whether or not Marvin can actually read. I’ve never seen him try.
- There is some evidence to the effect that John believes the staff here is trying very hard to transmogrify himself and his fellow students into white, homosexual golfers. John feels very strongly about this and has begun to organize.
- In between her braying, too-loud laughter, her conversations clear across the room, her stage sighs, and lippy comebacks, Sue had the stones to ask several times to go to the bathroom. After the last of my several refusals, she walked out.
- Charles will occasionally curse me out of the blue for no apparent reason. He would no doubt say that this is all part of his sense of humor and that it really is funny. I mean, Harold laughs once when he does it, and then again when I ask him what he said and Charles says something like, “I said, ‘The truck is blue, Mr Lawman,” and sometimes Harold will even go, “Oooooo,” when I say, “That’s what I thought you said.”
- On only the thirteenth day where her presence in my classroom coincided with a conscious state, Leonora decided to fake, poorly I thought, a seizure.
- One time I wrote up the whole class – The Whole Enchilada. Actually the only thing my fourth period class has in common with an enchilada is that they both try very hard to give me heartburn and/or acid reflux. The majority will not stay seated, will not pay attention, will not follow simple instructions. I have to demand their entry into the room, demand them to take their seats, demand they get to work, demand their attention, demand they line up for lunch, demand they clean up, and so on ad nauseam. Soon I’ll be powdering their bottoms, tying their shoes, and wiping their noses. If that happens I swear I’ll have to start charging extra. I’ve about had it with this bunch of toddlers – shaving already or no.
Yes, those are real lines from real referrals I turned in to the principal at the alternative high school. It was cathartic – purging my soul onto paper at the height of my fury. And, yes, he filed them and sometimes used them at expulsion hearings. And while he enjoyed them, the new principal found them inappropriate for some reason and asked me to stop. I did, though it was hard sticking to just the facts. I found them unsatisfying and, garnered less than satisfactory results. They’ve whittled away our referral form until all we’re left with is a tiny card with boxes to check and a few lines to fill in—which is all they really want from us anymore, isn’t it?
How often has progress been made giving people the least of what they ask for? Maybe Gallup should do a poll.
By: Vance Lawman, Warren Education Association – Trumbull County
Give Our Students the Services They Need to Succeed
Recently, I received another email from a colleague that all of her school district’s libraries will be manned by paraprofessionals next year. The position of “certified school librarian” is being eliminated entirely.
This has become an-all-too common scenario in the state of Ohio. Teachers and service personnel are often shocked to learn that the Ohio State Operating Standards actually allow for the indiscriminate elimination of school positions. A provision in the Standards (3301-35-05) states, “…Educational service personnel shall be assigned to at least five of the eight following areas: counselor, library media specialist, school nurse, visiting teacher, social worker and elementary art, music and physical education. …” As of 2012-2013 there were 157 school districts without a single certified school librarian. That affects at least 240,000 students.
We are not the only state to have endured a lack of funds for our schools. Some states have weathered the great recession and are demanding that school libraries and certified librarians remain a part of their districts. In 2006, a state law in Iowa required qualified teacher librarians and K-12 library programs in ever school district. As recently as last month, 25 school librarians were added in Minnesota’s St Paul Public Schools by 2015, (thanks to the Saint Paul Federation of Teachers who bargained for these positions). Even cash-strapped Washington, D. C. schools will add 30 school librarians in the next school year.
Every few years, the Ohio State School Board is required to update section 3301-35-05 of the Ohio State Operating Standards to adequately reflect the needs of state districts and school children. The next scheduled update is in 2015. The OSSB Operating Standards Committee has simply proposed changing the wording to “Educational service personnel are credentialed staff with the knowledge, skills, and expertise to support the educational, instructional, health, mental health, and college/career readiness needs of students.” Essentially, this restates the definition of “credentialed staff.” It does nothing to insure that students have access to the service personnel they so desperately need in the 21st century. The proposed wording totally eliminates the necessary mandates to insure that school districts are required to hire even five of eight service personnel. If this passes as written, district administrators will have the option of eliminating all service personnel from their payroll, and will not have to trim budgets in other areas that have less of an impact on our students.
Children need school counselors. They need guidance once in a while when there is none coming from home. Children need school nurses. Medical care is sometimes a life and death situation. Children need social workers. Sometimes children with special needs require the help only social workers can provide, so these students can be successful adults. Children need physical education teachers. For some students, classes in physical activity will be the only organized sport they will ever play. Students need to be exposed to the arts! For some students, this will be the only time the will get to pick up a paintbrush or mold a lump of clay. It may be their only opportunity to sing or develop a special talent they never knew they had.
Of course, students need access to books and libraries, the exposure to information research skills, a love for reading and life-long learning, developing inquiry paradigms, avoiding plagiarism, recognizing authoritative information, becoming responsible digital citizens, taking PAARC assessments successfully, and passing the third grade reading tests, so students can move on to the fourth grade. Only certified school librarians can provide many of these much needed skills. It’s time our state school board protects our students and gives them the service providers they will need to become successful adults and contributing members of society in the 21st century.
I urge teachers and parents to contact their Ohio State School Board members and insist they amend the proposed language of section 3301-35-05 of the State Operating Standards to include all service personnel mentioned in the 2010 version.
By: Susan Ridgeway, Wooster Education Association
Stop the buying and selling of school board elections
It was Tip O’Neil who made popular the phrase “All politics is local.” No adage has been more accurate in describing school board races, in big cities or small, across America, until recently. Education reformers have decided to pump big dollars into school board races in cities across states like California, Colorado, Tennessee, Michigan, and New Jersey, where charter schools and education corporations can make large sums of cash.
Much of the money comes from education reform groups like Jonah Edelman’s Stand for Children, Joe William’s Democrats for Education Reform, Michelle Rhee’s Student’s First, or wealthy individuals like Michael Bloomberg and others. Foundations like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Walton Family Foundation contribute millions of dollars to reform organizations. Add in the Citizens United decision with the ability to raise unlimited amounts of cash from anonymous donors across the country, and you have the perfect storm! Local school board races are now a national event, especially in big cities and poor cities, where charter schools are proliferating.
In Denver, in 2011, two education reform candidates out of three were elected, and currently retain a four to three majority on the school board. They raised nearly $65,000 in donations and in-kind contributions compared to six other candidates who averaged about $5,000 a piece. Even in poor, Perth Amboy, New Jersey, in 2013, reformers raised over $60,000 and took all but one of six seats. The amount of money raised and spent in these races astounded the candidates.
In Los Angeles, Eli Broad, philanthropist and millionaire, A. Jerrold Perenchio, media mogul, donated $250,000, each, for pro-charter candidate, Antonio Sanchez, They asked a few friends for donations and suddenly there was another $1.5 million in the pot. Michael Bloomberg, former New York mayor, donated another million.
Sanchez’ opponent, Monica Ratliff, a fifth grade teacher who jumped in the race a few days before the deadline to file, had little money and no name recognition. She only had experience as a teacher and a union leader, and that should have been enough for Sanchez to bury her, or at least he thought. Ratliff never quit teaching during the race, and went to bed at 11:00 pm the night of the election, not knowing who had won, because she had to teach the next morning. Yet a funny thing happened in the City of Angels. The next morning when she awoke, she found herself a member of the Los Angeles School Board! There is hope!
A similar event took place in Wooster, Ohio, this past November, even though education reformers were not involved. WEA Union Vice President, Tim Gallagher thought a change was long overdue on the school board. He was tired of members who thought schools should be run like a business, so he decided to do something about it. He asked his mother to run. Dr. Janice Gallagher, retired, veteran educator and administrator, ran against incumbents who were well known in the community. Tim organized her campaign and found another resident, Dr. Tina Nelson, a local physician, to run as well.
It didn’t hurt that Dr. Gallagher was a Teacher of the Year for Cloverleaf Schools, in Medina County, and was the first All Ohio Teacher. She taught for 19 years, and has been an active member of Wooster since 1973. She had 4 children that all graduated from the Wooster City Schools, and spent 11 years as a central office administrator.
Tim found other residents to help him, and in the end, his efforts paid off, as Dr. Gallagher was elected, and defeated an incumbent. “It helps to have well qualified candidates to run,” he said “but we all know someone who can do it.”
If you have ever thought that one person cannot make a difference, think again. Union members need to get angry, and recruit and back good candidates. It’s easy to collect signatures for petitions, make phone calls to remind residents to vote, or knock on doors to hand out literature. It’s easy to write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper. No longer can we sit on our hands and watch from afar our local school board races. Now is the time to take back our schools. Today is the day to get active in political races that will directly benefit our children and their future. If we don’t do this, who will? If we don’t do this, democracy and public education, as we know it, as we remember it, will be changed forever.
By Susan Ridgeway, Wooster Education Association
Equity and Fairness in Higher Education
Is it time for Ohio to revisit the part-time faculty issue in higher education?
In Ohio part-time faculty at public institutions are excluded by state law from the definition of employees eligible to bargain collectively. These adjunct or contingency faculties are teaching as much as 70 to 80 percent of the courses offered by some institutions. Until the passage of the Affordable Care Act many of these part-time faculty members did not have good access to health care.
Two bills were introduced in the 128th General Assembly to allow part-time faculty to participate in collective bargaining, House Bill 365 and Senate Bill 129, though they did not pass.
Over the last couple of years a national organization entitled the New Faculty Majority (NFM) has been established to promote quality in higher education and advocate for the rights of part-time higher education faculty. NFM is dedicated to improving the quality of higher education by advancing professional equity and securing academic freedom for all adjunct and contingent faculty.
NFM is committed to creating stable, equitable, sustainable, non-exploitative academic environments that promote more effective teaching, learning, and research. Adjuncts and contingent faculty deserve to be treated with respect, professionalism, and fairness. Faculty working conditions are student learning conditions.
[quote]Overworked, underpaid adjuncts are also bad for students: Professors who don’t have their own offices, often must work multiple jobs to make ends meet, and sometimes find out whether they’re teaching shortly before the semester starts simply cannot devote as much energy and time to their students as they would like. … We should expect universities to pay adjuncts a living wage, give them benefits and some job security, and provide them with the resources they need to do their jobs well.” — L.V. Anderson[/quote]Collective bargaining is the way toward this goal.
The Mid-Biennium Review calls for Higher Education funding to be tied to student completion of programs and degrees. Is this fair to our higher institutions, including community colleges?
Over the last few years the administration and legislature has been pushing for a state aid formula that is based more on program completion than upon student enrollment.
Around the nation, many states have reduced or flat-lined state aid to higher education. As a result tuition at public institutions have increased steadily. This has only contributed to the national student debt crisis.
The need to find new affordable methods to finance a college education and provide stable funding to our colleges and universities should be among our top priorities.
One national organization has put forth some suggestions. The Campaign for the Future of Higher Education (CFHE) has called for a nationwide discussion of new ideas to solve the funding crisis in America’s public higher education systems.
The authors of three CFHE working papers have presented their ideas in three papers that suggest
- reallocating current governmental expenditures for higher education and eliminating regressive tax breaks in order to provide free higher education to all;
- vastly improving funding for higher education through a miniscule tax on financial transactions, and/or
- “re-setting” higher education funding to more adequate past levels by making very small adjustments in the median income tax return.
They urge you to review these proposals, all of which rebut institutional claims that there is “no money” available to compensate all faculty equitably, and to help circulate them in communities inside and outside colleges and universities in order to generate discussion of practical solutions to the higher education funding crisis.
Weigh in with your comments below.
The Education Spring
It doesn’t feel like Spring in Northwest Ohio. My lawn is no longer covered in snow, but another dose of the white stuff could be coming our way mid-week.
In Austin, Texas on the other hand, you can wear shorts and eat barbecue on a restaurant’s outdoor patio. I know because I did.
Earlier this month I traveled to Austin, Texas for the Network for Public Education (NPE) National Conference. Spring was definitely in the air in Austin, but it had less to do with the weather than with the NPE conference attendees.
The group of 400 teachers, administrators, students and parents spoke a great deal about spring, but the spring they were referring to is the upcoming “education spring,” which we are hopeful will play out over the next few months.
People are tired of the over-testing of children. They are tired of lawmakers and lobbyists who know nothing about education driving policy. They are tired of the narrative that public education is a failing entity.
But while they may be tired of what’s happening to public education, they are not too tired to stand up for what is right. They are not too tired to advocate for better funded schools, less testing and a better overall education policy for our children.
The 400 activists who convened in Austin believe that this spring we will see communities coming together in opposition to the “education reformers” and their harmful policies, and every one of them is doing something to make change happen. They shared inspirational stories and demonstrated what can happen when you stand up for public education.
For example, there was Jesse Hagopian, a teacher from Seattle, who is a building rep for the teachers at Garfield High School. He and his colleagues worked with parents and students to opt out of the MAP standardized test. Although Jessie and the other Garfield teachers were afraid of the consequences for their stand, they did what they saw as the right thing and were able to stop the administration of the MAP test.
There were representatives from a parent group called Texans Advocating for Meaningful Student Assessment, or, as education advocate Diane Ravitch calls them, Mothers Against Drunk Testing. This group of moms was outraged by the number of high-stakes standardized tests high school children were slated to take and they worked across the state to build support, while engaging in dialogue with elected officials. Pointing out that Texas was testing more than any other state, they persuaded legislators to pass House Bill 5, which reduced the number of high stakes tests from 15 to 5.
Hearing stories of “regular people” making a difference was inspiring, as were the remarks of some prominent education advocates in attendance, like Diane Ravitch, who dusted off her cowboy boots for the trip to the Lone Star State and gave one hell of a keynote address. Her guns were locked and loaded as she took aim at charter school profiteers and elected officials across the political spectrum.
She said for-profit charters should be stopped and banned, and called virtual charters a Ponzi scheme. On standardized testing, she pointed out that legislators love “school choice,” but will not give children the choice to opt out of high stakes tests. She questioned the effectiveness of the 3rd Grade Reading Guarantee (The state is saying my third grader is a failure. How does that encourage children to do better?). She had little positive to say about “education reformers” and their powerful astroturf groups funded by corporate billionaires, like Michelle Rhee’s organization, StudentsFirst (They don’t give a damn about kids).
Diane’s remarks captured the tone of the weekend. They reflected the determined, energetic spirit of the conference attendees, who resolved to go back to their communities, form coalitions with people who care about public schools, and defeat those who are destroying public education.
The thought of my fellow activists advocating for public schools across the country in the coming months excites me. I realize the education spring is just around the corner, no matter Ohio weathermen may say.
By Dan Greenberg, Sylvania Education Association
A Small Case with Big Ramifications
My five-minute morning commute usually gives me just enough time to consider a few issues that might be cause for anxiety in the day ahead. But my typical worries were pushed aside last January by a news story I was listening to on NPR about a case the U.S. Supreme Court was then hearing called Harris v. Quinn, a case dealing with home health care workers in Illinois and their ability to unionize and collectively bargain. A decision on the case could be handed down any day now.
At first, I listened because it was a story about unions, a subject in which I am always interested. However, as I heard more, I became concerned. This case is not just about home health care workers in Illinois. It potentially has ramifications for all public sector workers across the country. This case, brought by the National Right to Work Committee, which has been linked to billionaire conservative mega-donors Charles and David Koch, could render a ruling that would impact all public sector unions, even in Ohio, in a manner similar to “Right to Work” legislation.
About 20,000 home-care providers in Illinois unionized about ten years ago, which has afforded them the right to bargain for benefits and working conditions. Since home-care providers have union representation, all must pay at least an agency fee, or “fair share,” since all workers are benefiting from the union’s ability to collectively bargain.
Within this group of 20,000 home-care workers, eight individuals filed suit against this fair-share arrangement, saying it violates their First Amendment rights. They contend that the union should not be the sole representative to voice their concerns and beliefs to the state.
The group of eight has already lost in both the federal district court and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. In an unanimous decision, the Seventh Circuit decided that the issue was settled over 35 years ago by another case, Abood v. Detroit Board of Education, which established the ability of public unions to have a sole representative. Because the unions are required by law to represent all employees in the bargaining unit, no employee is allowed a free-ride.
Yet, despite recommendations by government attorneys for the Supreme Court to bypass the case, the Justices granted review in October of last year. The question many Supreme Court watchers are asking is, why? There is concern that the majority of Court Justices, who have conservative leanings, are “prepared to use Harris to overrule or limit Abood” or worse, find “that the traditional system of ‘exclusive representation’ is unconstitutional.”
The decision the Court renders could impact many groups, depending upon the scope of its their ruling. Obviously, it will affect those 20,000 home care workers, but let’s not overlook the other group it may have an impact on, the patients. A compromised ability to collectively bargain could mean reduced wages and benefits for workers, and thus lead to less stable and reliable care for seniors and people with disabilities.
Often too, the home-care workers are family members. If the ruling impacts the ability for these workers to bargain for and earn a fair wage, they may have to seek other employment — and the seniors and people with disabilities who need care could be moved from their homes and placed in institutions.
Areesa Johnson, an Illinois home care worker says the current system benefits not only the workers, but the people for whom they care: “As more people see home care work as a way to provide for their own families, while also making a difference in the lives of other families, turnover goes down and the quality of care for our clients goes up.”
Beyond the boundaries of Illinois, this ruling could affect millions of union workers across the country. A ruling in favor of the eight plaintiffs could set precedent and jeopardize the ability of any union, anywhere, to collect agency fees. This ruling could do exactly what supporters of “Right to Work” laws want — diminish the ability of unions to collect dues and diminish unions’ capacity to bargain for workers, essentially implementing “Right to Work” throughout the country.
Over the next few days or months, I will be anxiously thinking about the case. I’ll be hoping for a favorable outcome for the home health care workers of Illinois, those who depend on their services, and all of us in public sector unions, who realize that our membership leads to better conditions for patients, students and the middle class, in general.
By Dan Greenberg, Sylvania Education Association