April 2016 Ohio Schools

WASHINGTON – March 29, 2016 – The U.S. Supreme Court today affirmed that public employers have a compelling interest in having strong and effective collective bargaining. The 4-4 decision in Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association leaves intact the sound law of Abood v. Detroit Board of Education that has been working for nearly four decades.

At issue in Friedrichs was whether non-union members could share the wages, benefits and protections negotiated in a collectively bargained contract without needing to pay their fair share for the cost of those negotiations. The case was brought by the Center for Individual Rights, an organization funded by corporate special interests that are pushing their own agenda. The National Education Association, the nation’s largest union with more than 3 million members, and the California Teachers Association, are two of the union respondents in the case in addition to the state of California. The Ohio Education Association (OEA) is NEA’s Ohio affiliate.

“We welcome today’s decision,” said OEA President Becky Higgins. “But we’re under no illusion that the threat posed by Friedrichs is over.  There are some 30 similar cases making their way through the courts and any one of them could well make its way to the US Supreme Court.  All of this underscores the importance of this year’s elections for President and the US Senate, and the resulting ability to fill the current and any future vacancy on the Supreme Court.”

“The U.S. Supreme Court today rejected a political ploy to silence public employees like teachers, school bus drivers, cafeteria workers, higher education faculty and other educators to work together to shape their profession,” said NEA President Lily Eskelsen García. “In Friedrichs, the court saw through the political attacks on the workplace rights of teachers, educators and other public employees. This decision recognizes that stripping public employees of their voices in the workplace is not what our country needs.”

The case was thinly veiled attempt to weaken collective bargaining and silence educators’ voices. In response, hundreds of amici curiae or “friends of the court” briefs weighed in to support the union respondents. Twenty-one states, dozens of cities, nearly 50 Republican lawmakers, school districts and public hospitals rose in support of the value fair share fees provide in terms of the effective management of public services. During oral arguments, lawyers for the respondents argued that the current fair share system is a good compromise and common sense solution. Ohio is a fair share fee state. The court’s decision today left that system in place nationwide.

“I’m thrilled millions of educators like me can continue to work together through their unions to advocate for the best teaching and learning conditions of their students,” said HaSheen Wilson, a network administrator at Youngstown State University and OEA member. “In an era when the rich just get richer while the poor seem to fall through the cracks, we need to come together and speak out for change — whether it’s smaller class sizes, training for educators, fair pay and benefits, healthcare or safer work environments.”

The Friedrichs case provided a vivid illustration of what’s at stake when it comes to the highest court in the land. It also was an example of how special interests are using the Supreme Court for political agendas rather than what the court was intended: interpreting and upholding the Constitution.

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The Ohio Education Association (ohea.org) represents 122,000 teachers, faculty members and support professionals in Ohio’s public schools, colleges and universities

COLUMBUS – December 9, 2015 – The largest association of professional educators in Ohio today heralded the end of the “test, blame and punish” era of the No Child Left Behind Act with the passage in Congress of the bipartisan Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). The new law puts educational decision-making back where it belongs – in the hands of local educators, parents and communities – while keeping the focus on students most in need. ESSA recognizes that student success is more than a test score by allowing states to gauge student achievement through multiple measures.

“ESSA recognizes that the one-size-fits-all approach to student achievement does not work,” said Ohio Education Association (OEA) President Becky Higgins. “ESSA will allow Ohio to reduce the amount of standardized testing. In doing so, students will have more time to learn and develop critical thinking, and teachers will have more time to teach and inspire the joy of learning. The measure also provides an opportunity for educators to have a greater voice in shaping education policy.”

Students and educators have lived with the unintended consequences of the failed No Child Left Behind (NCLB) for more than 14 years. OEA members advocated on behalf of Ohio’s students in the effort to turn the page on the failed NCLB law and to pass a new federal education law that provides more opportunity for all students.

Leading up to ESSA’s passage, educators in Ohio and across the nation used face-to-face meetings with lawmakers, made phone calls, sent emails and used social media to urge Congress to bring the joy of teaching and learning back to the classroom. Educators nationwide made nearly a half million individual contacts to members of Congress.

President Higgins also noted that ESSA includes provisions for greater charter school accountability and transparency that complement Ohio House Bill 2 that was signed into law last month.

“We welcome the provisions that call for stronger charter school accountability and transparency – something that has been lacking in Ohio for too long,” Higgins said, “and we applaud the hard work done by Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown to make sure these provisions were included in ESSA.”

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The Ohio Education Association (ohea.org) represents 121,000 teachers, faculty members and support professionals in Ohio’s public schools, colleges and universities.