A Teacher’s Brain Following Yet Another School Shooting…and Yet Another Misguided Response by Legislators

After charter and voucher hawks snuck 11^th hour amendments into legislation meant to address the substitute teacher shortage in Ohio’s public schools, Governor Mike DeWine had the opportunity to do the right thing and line-item veto those ridiculous changes. Unfortunately, Governor DeWine failed to act, and by signing House Bill 583 on Friday as presented to him, he has once again put the interests of the lobbyists clamoring for ever more money to be diverted to private and charter schools over the wellbeing of the 90 percent of Ohio children who attend public schools and Ohio’s taxpayers.

“The bill should have never made it to the governor’s desk with all of these sweetheart deals for underperforming charter school sponsors and wealthy families trying to create loopholes to have their children’s private school tuition funded by public dollars,” said Ohio Education Association (OEA) President Scott DiMauro. “The lawmakers who rammed those deals through took a bill that was meant to help Ohio’s public schools meet the challenges of this moment by giving them a tool to address staff shortages in the short term and created legislation that will hurt Ohio’s public schools instead.”

The version of House Bill 583 that originally passed in the Ohio House on March 30, 2022, was proposed to address that state’s substitute teacher shortage by increasing flexibility for districts to hire subs. Substitutes are typically required to have a four-year degree, but during the pandemic, the state legislature passed a temporary measure allowing anyone 18 or older with a high school diploma to seek a substitute teacher’s license. HB 583 extends that measure for another two years.

Unfortunately, some charter school interests, many of whom are for-profit entities, convinced legislators to add several controversial charter and voucher amendments during the Senate Primary and Secondary Education Committee on May 24, and that was the version of the bill that was ultimately sent to the Governor’s desk for his signature.

One amendment weakens the accountability of charter school sponsors by prohibiting the Ohio Department of Education (ODE) from assigning an overall sponsor rating of “ineffective” if the sponsor scored zero points on only one of the three evaluation criteria: academic performance, adherence to quality practices, and compliance with laws and administrative rules. “Previously, failing in any of those categories was enough to warrant an ‘ineffective’ rating. Now, under the newly signed legislation, the charter sponsors have to be extraordinarily subpar in multiple categories to raise a red flag. That’s wrong,” DiMauro said.

Another amendment funnels more tax dollars from Ohio’s public schools to wealthy families who could comfortably afford to send their children to private schools on their own. HB 583, as signed, allows just about any family who ever qualified for income-based vouchers to continue reaping the rewards of those tax dollars even when their financial situation dramatically improves.

“The governor knows these are bad deals for Ohio’s taxpayers, Ohio’s communities, and Ohio’s public schools. He signed the legislation anyway,” DiMauro said. “Shame on him.”

[June 13, 2022] The Ohio Education Association (OEA) is disappointed, but not surprised, by Gov. Mike DeWine’s decision to sign House Bill 99 Monday given his track record of bowing down to the gun lobby and ignoring the concerns of educators, families, and law enforcement experts throughout his term as governor. House Bill 99 (HB 99) guts training requirements for school staff carrying guns in our classrooms and could lead to further tragedies in our schools and make them less safe.

“Our students and educators need to be in safe environments where they can focus on teaching and learning, not on the threat of having unprepared, woefully undertrained people—regardless of their good intentions—making split-second life-or-death decisions about whether to pull the trigger in a chaotic classroom full of innocent bystanders. It would take hundreds of hours of training and firearms practice to be ready for those situations; Governor DeWine says he’s fine with just 24 hours of instruction,” said OEA President Scott DiMauro. “It’s absurd.”

OEA members have been clear that they do not want to be in the dual role of educating students and serving as armed security guards. Ohio’s educators should be trusted to do the jobs they’ve gone through years of training to do; instead, they’re being asked to shoulder the burden of potentially shooting one of their own students with just a few days of training.

“DeWine’s decision to sign this dangerous legislation on the same day that Ohio’s new law allowing just about anyone to carry a concealed weapon with zero training takes effect truly shows where his priorities lie,” DiMauro said.

DeWine himself endorsed a plan with approximately 150 hours of training for school personnel who were authorized to carry guns in schools when he was attorney general. As he stated, “It’s not just about can I [armed school staff] shoot a gun. That’s just a small part of it. It’s: Do I have enough training to be able to react so that my training goes into effect, and I don’t end up shooting someone who’s innocent?” (Dayton Daily News, Jan. 28, 2014). “His choice to sign a bill requiring just 24 hours of training now does not reflect any change in the need for rigorous training standards,” DiMauro pointed out. “It just reflects DeWine’s own lowered standards for himself and his unwillingness to stand up for Ohio’s kids.”

[June 1, 2022] Scott DiMauro, President of the Ohio Education Association (OEA), and Melissa Cropper, President of the Ohio Federation of Teachers (OFT), released the following joint statement in opposition to House Bill 99, legislation that would gut training requirements for teachers and other school staff members who are authorized to carry guns in school buildings. HB 99 passed in the General Assembly on Wednesday. OEA and OFT are urging Governor DeWine to veto the bill when it comes to his desk:

“In the wake of the tragic school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, Ohio lawmakers are rushing to take action to address school safety concerns in our state. The Ohio Education Association and the Ohio Federation of Teachers want to be clear: House Bill 99 will make Ohio’s students less safe in their schools.

The safety of Ohio’s students and educators is our utmost priority, but we know putting more guns into school buildings in the hands of people who have woefully inadequate training—regardless of their intentions—is dangerous and irresponsible. Teachers and other school employees should not be asked to serve dual roles as educators and school safety personnel armed with weapons, but, if they are, rigorous training standards, as set under current Ohio law, are essential. House Bill 99 guts those requirements, capping the state training requirements at 24 hours and putting educators in the impossible position of making split-second life-and-death decisions without sufficient training. This could undoubtedly lead to more tragedies in our schools.

Governor DeWine has acknowledged this himself. When he served as Attorney General, he stated, “It’s not just about can I [armed school staff] shoot a gun. That’s just a small part of it. It’s: Do I have enough training to be able to react so that my training goes into effect, and I don’t end up shooting someone who’s innocent?” (Dayton Daily News, Jan. 28, 2014). He then asked the Ohio Peace Officer Training Commission to develop recommendations for appropriate training for school personnel, and the model curriculum was set at approximately 150 hours of training. We now ask the governor, what has changed that would make you say 24 hours of training is enough to arm educators today? The answer is nothing has changed. Twenty-four hours is not enough.

Our students need to be in safe learning environments where they can focus on getting a world-class education; they should not have to worry about what could happen with a gun in the hands of an undertrained individual in their classrooms with them. More work is needed on House Bill 99, and more work is needed by the Ohio legislature to address the needs of our students and educators, like prioritizing mental health resources and enacting common sense gun safety reform. We strongly urge Gov. DeWine to do the right thing and veto House Bill 99.”