House Action Keeps U.S. On The Road To Economic Recovery

Legislation Would Save Nearly 5000 Education Jobs In Ohio As Students Return To Classrooms

WASHINGTON — July 28, 2010 — The U.S. House of Representatives approved legislation Tuesday containing emergency funds to help states cope with the Great Recession and stave off massive layoffs of educators. The House joined the Senate in passing H.R. 1586, the Education Jobs and Medicaid Assistance Act, legislation that will keep educators working and help states with Medicaid funding. It provides $10 billion for teachers’ jobs and $16 billion for a Medicaid funding assistance program known as FMAP.

The legislation would provide $361.2 million in federal funding for Ohio and help save 5000 jobs.

A Congressional Budget Office analysis found that the legislation, which is fully paid for, will reduce the deficit by $1.4 billion over 10 years. The bill, which the Department of Education estimates will save some 161,000 educators’ jobs, now goes to President Obama for his signature.

The following can be attributed to Patricia Frost-Brooks, president of the Ohio Education Association:

“This victory is the direct result of educators across Ohio speaking up for education and students. Not only will the legislation keep Ohio educators working, but it also will ensure that students returning to school in the fall will have the educators they need to continue learning.”

“We appreciate the support of the House leadership and Ohio’s Democratic congressional delegation for putting students ahead of politics,” said Frost-Brooks. “Fiscal relief to struggling school districts and students without exception should remain Ohio’s top priority during tough economic times.”

Join the conversation @OhioEA and Like Us at OhioEducationAssociation

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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.

NEA Delegates Wrap Up Week Of Organizing On Education Policy

NEW ORLEANS — July 7, 2010 — In the face of unprecedented budget cuts in public education and unrelenting criticism of public education, Dennis Van Roekel, president of the National Education Association, called on the 9,000 delegates to the Representative Assembly to become activists and advocates—both professionally and politically.

In his keynote address, Van Roekel urged educators to take the lead in creating sound education policies and take charge of the teaching profession.  He announced that NEA will create a new commission on effective teaching that will bring together accomplished teachers, Association leaders, researchers, and policymakers from across the country to offer recommendations on how teachers can take greater authority over their profession, the quality of teaching, and the quality of public education.  According to Van Roekel, accountants, nurses, doctors and lawyers all have a say in the professional standards, processes and procedures that govern their practice, and he says that educators should have that same influence over their own profession.

On the political front, Van Roekel criticized the Department of Education’s focus on grant competitions that reward just a handful of states or districts. He specifically mentioned Race to the Top and School Improvement Grants. “While we applaud the administration for its commitment to fund education, our members are frustrated by the disconnect between what they need each day to support their students and schools and the federal policies that hold up struggling students as products to be tested,” Van Roekel said.

Delegates stepped up and took action this week to influence their members of Congress. At the Representative Assembly’s Legislative Action Center, delegates sent 13,000 email messages to federal lawmakers on education-related topics. More than 840 educators videotaped messages to their senators and representatives in Washington, D.C. Thousands also wrote down on postcards the specific provisions they want to see when the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), currently known as No Child Left Behind, comes up for reauthorization this fall. Those messages will be delivered to Education Secretary Arne Duncan before the debate heats up in Congress.

Throughout the week, delegates learned more about NEA’s Priority Schools Campaign where NEA affiliates and educators are already making a difference. At Putnam City West High School  in Oklahoma City, Okla., for example, graduation rates for Hispanic students are up by nearly 70 percent because of a combination of targeted academic programs, parental involvement and professional development. In Evansville, Ind., administrators and union officials launched an equity schools project to transform schools through professional development for teachers and extended learning time for students. In Denver, Colo., teachers, the union and parents have teamed up to build the Math and Science Leadership Academy, where teachers emphasize collaboration that focuses on student learning.

Other highlights of the 2010 Representative Assembly:

• Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley received the America’s Greatest Education Governor Award for the investment his state has made in its public schools and his efforts to make college more affordable, among many other achievements.
• Historian and education scholar Diane Ravitch received the NEA Friend of Education Award. With her recent book, The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice Are Undermining Education, she is raising concerns over testing mania, school choice, and charters—concepts she once embraced but clearly has left behind.
• Sarah Brown Wessling, the 2010 Teacher of the Year, spoke to delegates about her belief that teachers must be the lead learners in their own classrooms—that means teachers are listening, interacting, and working side by side with their students.
• ESP of the Year Helen Cottongim, a school bus driver from Kentucky, urged delegates to stand strong in the face of new assaults on children and schools. “Today, we are faced with the old enemies that keep coming back to hurt us: not enough money to fund our school systems, poor health care, vanishing retirement benefits.”
• Two members of NEA’s Executive Committee—Paula Monroe and Christy Levings  were re-elected to a second three-year term that begins September 1.
• Continuing a long-standing tradition, this year’s Representative Assembly hosted 14 international guests from 12 countries, all representing educators’ unions around the world.
• NEA held its annual Human and Civil Rights Awards Dinner to honor community activists for their work in advancing the cause of equal opportunity, improving relationships between diverse groups and expanding educational opportunities for minority students and educators.
• NEA’s Read Across America held a fun-filled literacy event at the Louisiana Children’s Museum and partnered with New Orleans public libraries throughout the weeklong convention.
• More than 500 college students and NEA members spent a day renovating Belle Chasse High School, a school ravaged by Hurricane Katrina, in NEA’s annual Outreach to Teach project.

For complete RA coverage: www.nea.org/ra
To visit the NEA Press Center: www.nea.org/presscenter
For more on NEA’s ESEA priorities: www.nea.org/home/13193.htm
For more on NEA’s Priority School’s Campaign: http://neapriorityschools.org/

The National Education Association is the nation’s largest professional employee organization, representing 3.2 million elementary and secondary teachers, higher education faculty, education support professionals, school administrators, retired educators and students preparing to become teachers.

COLUMBUS — May 25, 2010 — The Ohio Education Association (OEA) Fund for Children and Public Education (OEA-FCPE) recently announced its second round of recommendations for the November 2010 statewide elections. The OEA–FCPE has recommended the following:

Lee Fisher for U.S. Senate
Richard Cordray for Attorney General
Eric Brown for Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice
Mary Jane Trapp for Ohio Supreme Court Justice

“These candidates have demonstrated their commitment to public education and a vision to ensure a better future for Ohio’s children,” said OEA President Patricia Frost-Brooks. “Ohio citizens will be well-served by these recommended candidates based upon their record of support for public education from K-12 through higher education.”

Earlier this year, the OEA-FCPE also recommended the following candidates:

Ted Strickland for Governor
Maryellen O’Shaughnessy for Secretary of State
Kevin Boyce for State Treasurer
David Pepper for State Auditor

The OEA-FCPE carefully screens candidates based on their support of public education and OEA priority issues. A member-led statewide FCPE council first interviews candidates, and a statewide OEA-FCPE convention of OEA members votes on candidate recommendations.

Join the conversation @OhioEA and Like Us at OhioEducationAssociation

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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.

CONTACT: Michele Prater
614-227-3071; cell 614-378-0469, praterm@ohea.org

COLUMBUS — May 14, 2010 — Members of the Ohio Education Association, the state’s largest education employee union, have re-elected Patricia Frost-Brooks to a second three-year term as President, and William Leibensperger to a second three-year term as Vice President.

OEA represents 130,000 teachers, education support professionals and higher education faculty and is the fifth largest state affiliate of the 3.3 million-member National Education Association.

Frost-Brooks ran unopposed and was elected by acclamation of the OEA’s Representative Assembly (RA), the governing body of the organization. The RA is comprised of more than 1,100 member delegates from OEA local affiliates throughout Ohio.

Frost-Brooks is currently serving a three-year term as OEA President and will begin her new term September 1, 2010. She has served as OEA President for the past three years. An active OEA member throughout her entire career, Frost-Brooks was a middle school teacher for the East Cleveland City Schools before being elected OEA’s vice president in 2001.

Frost-Brooks has served in a wide variety of association positions and was president of the North Eastern OEA and president of the East Cleveland Education Association. She serves on the boards of the Ohio Appalachian Educators Institute, the New Teacher Project, the Ohio Advisory Leadership Council, the Coalition for Public Education, the AFL/CIO Partnership, the OEA/Ohio Department of Education Partnership, and the Ohio Democratic Party Executive Committee. She also serves on Education Commission of the States and the NEA reauthorization committee. Frost-Brooks earned a Bachelor’s degree from Capital University and a Master’s degree in Curriculum and Instruction from Ashland University.

South-Western City Schools teacher William Leibensperger has been re-elected a second time as OEA Vice President, serving a three-year term. Leibensperger also ran unopposed and was elected by acclamation. Prior to his election as vice-president Leibensperger served as the OEA secretary-treasurer from 2000-2006.

In November 2009, Governor Ted Strickland appointed Leibensperger as a teacher representative on the Ohio School Funding Advisory Council, the advisory body that will make recommendations on all areas of school funding for Ohio. He also serves as the co-chair of the Healthcare and Pension Advocates for STRS, a coalition that has worked collaboratively to ensure retiree health care for members of the system.

His other professional activities include being a member of the Annenberg Institute at Brown University, a member of the National School Reform Faculty of the Annenberg, a reader for the Advanced Placement program for The College Board and a member of the Board of Examiners for the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education. Leibensperger earned his Bachelor of Science degree at Miami University (Ohio) and his Master’s degree from the Ohio State University.

Join the conversation @OhioEA and Like Us at OhioEducationAssociation

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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.

CONTACT: Michele Prater
614-227-3071; cell 614-378-0469, praterm@ohea.org

COLUMBUS — May 6, 2010 — The Ohio Education Association recognizes Governor Ted Strickland as the recipient of OEA’s 2010 Friend of Education Award. The Friend of Education Award honors a person and/or organization whose leadership, acts, and support have contributed to the improvement of public education on a statewide and/or national level.

“When the economic crisis crippled Ohio, Ohio Governor Ted Strickland faced down a budget crisis and partisan opposition to fund and transform Ohio schools – including universal all-day Kindergarten and smaller K-3 class sizes,” said OEA President Patricia Frost-Brooks.  Politicians neglected Ohio’s unconstitutional school funding system for 14 years, but Strickland re-created the funding system with an unprecedented commitment to fairness, innovation and creativity. He led a multi-state coalition that secured an unprecedented $100 billion in emergency federal education aid nationwide, preserving 11,000 educator jobs here in Ohio, not to mention countless programs and choices for students. He has proven himself an incomparable friend for schools in Ohio – and the nation.”

Governor Strickland received the award in person on Friday, May 7, 2010, during the Spring Representative Assembly at Vets Memorial in Columbus.  The Representative Assembly is OEA’s governing body, with more than 1,300 delegates from local associations across Ohio.

Join the conversation @OhioEA and Like Us at OhioEducationAssociation

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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.

CONTACT: Michele Prater
614-227-3071; cell 614-378-0469, praterm@ohea.org

Ohio Education Association tele-town hall meeting attracts 2,000 educators

COLUMBUS — May 3, 2010 — U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH), fielded questions from OEA members about the escalating amount of teacher layoffs throughout Ohio via a telephone town hall meeting. The call attracted more than 2,000 participants.

Participants on the call made it clear: Education reform does not start by distributing layoff notices to hundreds of teachers across the state. The reference relates to the “Keep Our Educators Working Act,” which would provide $23 billion to extend the State Fiscal Stabilization aid from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).

State and local budget cuts have forced many school districts to distribute layoff notices to hundreds of educators, as well as cut programs to fill budget shortfalls. Projections indicate nearly 1,000 educators will be “pink slipped” in Ohio.

A major concern for many of the callers was centered on the impact these layoffs will have on students—ballooning class sizes, additional program cuts, fewer counselors, nurses, reading specialists and other critically needed educators who ensure that each student gets the individualized attention needed.

“We are facing an immediate crisis with state and local budgets that will take teachers out of the classroom,”   said Brown. “Our students –especially those in our most economically distressed communities – should not pay the price. We need to take action to protect education from these devastating budget cuts.”

Callers pressed Brown to help keep children learning and keep educators in schools by urging his colleagues in the Senate to pass the already House-approved “Keep Our Educators Working Act.”

This spring, as the state’s proposed budget dipped well below school needs, districts responded by sending out layoff notices. School officials say the shortfalls are the result of federal economic recovery funds drying up—with the state unable to fill in the funding gaps.

The federal stimulus bill was critically important to Ohio, as nearly 8,000 education jobs — teachers, librarians, nurses and support workers—were saved.

Patricia Frost-Brooks, president of the Ohio Education Association said, “It’s a mistake to cut school funding—and issuing pink slips to teachers is not a solution to solving the state’s deficit problem. We are in the business of building America and growing our knowledge capital. But it will be hard to do with a classroom of 28 students and fewer programs to offer.”

The call also gave Brown the opportunity to talk about other issues critical to public education, such as charter schools, community and parental involvement and the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, better known for No Child Left Behind.

Brown said, “With the ESEA reauthorization we have to move beyond identifying the gaps and start creating smart strategic systems for improvement across the board.” Brown emphasized that in addition to parental involvement there must be a school-community partnership in place.

To listen to a recording of the call, or for more information, please contact NEA Public Relations at (202) 822-7823 or newsdeadline@nea.org.

Join the conversation @OhioEA and Like Us at OhioEducationAssociation

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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.

CONTACT: Michele Prater
614-227-3071; cell 614-378-0469, praterm@ohea.org

WASHINGTON — April 14, 2010 — As the school year winds down, kids across the country are preparing for summer break, camp and family vacations.  Yet, as the end of the school year approaches, so does the likelihood that there will be fewer educators there to welcome the students back in the fall.

With three months left in “pink slip” season, the National Education Association is projecting at least 125,000 educator layoffs—with that number likely to increase. State and local budgets are at critical levels, more cuts are looming, and the prospect of larger class sizes, less individual attention and more crowded school buses has parents concerned.

NEA is urging immediate passage of the Keep Our Educators Working Act, introduced today by Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), chair of the Senate Education Committee.

“When educators lose their jobs, our children lose too,” said NEA President Dennis Van Roekel.  “The students who were in our schools yesterday will be there again tomorrow. And they will still need individual attention and resources to help them achieve.  They will still need counselors, nurses, reading specialists and others to help them succeed. These cuts shortchange our kids, and frankly, they deserve more than that.”

Millions of public school children will be affected by the projected layoffs. School budgets across the country have already been cut to the bone, with some districts moving to four-day school weeks, cutting programs or even closing schools. These layoffs and cuts are coming at the same time that schools are facing demands for better academic outcomes.

Some districts are choosing to cut programs rather than lay off staff; some districts have no choice but to cut both programs and staff.  Either way, those actions are a losing proposition for millions of public school students.

“The Keep Our Educators Working Act would provide $23 billion to extend already successful State Fiscal Stabilization aid from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). This would save or fund hundreds of thousands of education jobs, and it would be a tremendous help to states in dire financial circumstances,” said Van Roekel. “But more importantly, it ensures that millions of America’s students will not be bearing the brunt of the nation’s economic woes.

“We thank Senator Harkin for introducing the Keep Our Educators Working Act and urge the Senate to act quickly on its passage.  We also hope that Secretary of Education Arne Duncan will urge the Senate to quickly pass this important aid.”

At a Senate hearing Wednesday, Iowa State Education Association President Chris Bern testified that the ARRA was critically important to Iowa, funding 6,715 education jobs— teachers, librarians, nurses, and support workers— across the state. Nearly 5,000 of those jobs were funded through the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund.

“The Senate needs to act quickly on an education jobs package,” testified Bern.  “This will go a very long way to help avert the crisis that is right in front of us.”

Prospects are bleak for teachers—those who are getting layoff notices as well as those who are being asked to do much more with much less.  Read about what educators are saying about crowded classrooms and dwindling resources. Their stories are being shared through NEA’s activism Web site EducationVotes.

Join the conversation @OhioEA and Like Us at OhioEducationAssociation

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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.

CONTACT: Michele Prater
614-227-3071; cell 614-378-0469, praterm@ohea.org

COLUMBUS — April 6, 2010 — In an important decision for teachers and education professionals in Ohio, Judge Dan Hogan of the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas  has issued an order in favor of the Ohio Education Association stating that the Ohio Department of Education and its agents and employees shall not, pursuant to any public records request, release or publish the residential (home) addresses, home telephone numbers, and personal email addresses of individuals licensed by the Ohio Department of Education (ODE).  In a detailed six-page opinion, Judge Hogan found that the disclosure of such information would cause irreparable harm since the information could never be returned to its current level of privacy once released.

“We are very pleased with the court’s decision. Our commitment to the privacy and safety of Ohio education employees compelled OEA to challenge access to this personal information,” said OEA president Patricia Frost-Brooks. “OEA has always believed the personal information of our members is not a public record under Ohio law.”

The Ohio School Boards Association and the Ohio Association of School Business Officials had filed amicus briefs in support of OEA’s position.

Join the conversation @OhioEA and Like Us at OhioEducationAssociation

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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.

CONTACT: Michele Prater
614-227-3071; cell 614-378-0469, praterm@ohea.org

COLUMBUS — March 22, 2010 — Oral arguments were held today in Franklin County Court of Common Pleas before Judge Dan Hogan regarding OEA’s lawsuit to prevent the release of residential (home) addresses, home telephone numbers and personal email addresses of individuals licensed by the Ohio Department of Education.  Lawyers for both sides had filed briefs with the Court on the issue, and the Ohio School Boards Association and the Ohio Association of School Business Officials filed an amicus brief in support of OEA’s position.

On November 13, 2009, a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) was granted which prevented the release of such information. This prohibition remains in effect until the Court issues a decision on the matter. It is not known when the Court will rule.

Join the conversation @OhioEA and Like Us at OhioEducationAssociation

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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.

CONTACT: Michele Prater
614-227-3071; cell 614-378-0469, praterm@ohea.or