Press Releases

Ohio Education Association President Becky Higgins said she is encouraged by Governor Mike DeWine’s pledge to invest in Ohio’s public schools and to do what it takes to support the students they serve.

Ohio Education Association President Becky Higgins today offered warm words for Governor Mike DeWine’s first state of the state address.

Nearly 100 nonunion education support professionals of the Maysville Local School District voted to become an affiliate of the OEA. “Our primary reason for organizing is to secure fair working standards across the district,” said Maysville Classified Education Association spokesperson Gabriel Weatherspoon.

“We believe that Issue 1 helps to address the urgent need to fix Ohio’s broken and overcrowded prison system that puts in jail non-violent offenders at the expense of adequately funding prevention and treatment programs,” said OEA President Becky Higgins.

Columbus, OH — September 13, 2018 | “…a student’s zip code can predict a family’s financial security and significant obstacles to their educational success — before ever stepping a foot into a classroom or school. The current letter-grade system as well as state takeover measures do not help educators to address academic barriers.”

(September 12, 2018—Columbus) OEA Pres. Becky Higgins: “We believe Rich Cordray has a student-centered agenda that makes public education a top priority. He has an impressive understanding of the key education issues Ohio’s next Governor will face — from the need to invest in support services, ending the reliance on high-stakes, standardized tests, to reining in poorly performing charter schools.”

Where was DeWine to rein in ECOT? DeWine was voting against funding programs that would have benefited Ohio’s public schools! We think a better bet for ensuring that every student and educator in Ohio has the resources and support they need to succeed is to vote for Richard Cordray for Governor.

OEA President Becky Higgins: “The idea of arming teachers is simply a bad idea. It does not make our schools and our students safer. The suggestion that Title IV-A funds, which are meant to be used for mental health, bullying prevention, and other programs would be used to put guns into our classrooms is unacceptable.”

The decision is a concerted attempt to weaken collective-bargaining rights by imposing right-to-work rules on public unions across the nation, including the Ohio Education Association’s more than 125,000 members.

“Richard Cordray displayed an impressive understanding of the key issues that Ohio’s next Governor will face – from the need to invest more in the state’s public schools and less in poor-performing charter schools.