LOVELAND MAGAZINE

News and Events from the Loveland, Ohio Area

Without fear or favor
Since 2004

Tag: Ohio Federation of Teachers

  • Ohio Republicans celebrate Trump’s executive order to get rid of the Department of Education

    Ohio Republicans celebrate Trump’s executive order to get rid of the Department of Education

    The executive order does not automatically close the Department of Education since eliminating a federal agency requires congressional approval.

    By:  – Ohio Capital Journal

    Ohio Republicans praised President Donald Trump’s executive order to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education.

    Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine joined other Republican governors in attending Trump’s signing of the executive order Thursday afternoon at the White House. The executive order does not automatically close the department since eliminating a federal agency requires congressional approval.

    “I joined President Trump and several fellow governors at the White House in support of the president’s proposal to return education back to the states,” DeWine said in a statement posted on X, formerly known as Twitter. “By giving states more authority over education, we will have the flexibility to focus our effort on tailoring an educational experience that is best for our children and meets Ohio’s needs, rather than trying to chase federal priorities.”

    The Ohio Department of Education and Workforce said the department agrees with DeWine’s statement, said ODEW spokesperson Lacey Snoke.

    DEW agrees with Governor DeWine’s statement following yesterday’s announcement.

    GET THE MORNING HEADLINES.

     

    Ohio Senate President Rob McColley, R-Napoleon, said Trump’s executive order is long overdue.

    Becca Moates: Current Governor DeWine budget proposal undoubtedly leads to additional Loveland Levy

     

    “Education policy belongs in the states and the federal government’s ‘one size fits all’ meddling has hurt our country for decades,” McColley said in a statement. “President Trump’s order will allow our 50 laboratories of democracy to deliver innovative solutions that meet each state’s unique needs.”

    The Department of Education was established as a cabinet-level agency by Congress in 1979 under President Jimmy Carter and it doesn’t determine what is taught in schools. Instead, learning standards are set at the state level and curriculum is adopted by local school boards.

    The department allocates Title I funds, which are federal funds given to school districts with a high percentage of low-income students, and administers the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), a law guaranteeing a free public education for children with disabilities.

    Ohio school districts on average receive about 10% of their revenue from the federal government, Ohio Education Association President Scott DiMauro said. About 90% of Ohio students attended public school during the 2023-24 school year, according to the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce.

    “Every single student in Ohio will pay the price for the move to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education,” DiMauro said in a statement. “Any measures to stop the vital work of Department employees to serve Ohio’s students or to reduce federal education funding will cause terrible harm to our students, our state, and our future.”

    About 16% of Ohio public school students had a disability during the 2023-24 school year, according to the Ohio education department.

    “Anyone who cares for a child who has struggled in school because of a disability or had to advocate for access to school services or opportunities should be concerned with the actions of the federal and state governments, regardless of political affiliation or how one voted in the last election,” Policy Matters Ohio Executive Director Hannah Halbert said in a statement.

    Abolishing the Department of Education will mean chaos and uncertainty for Ohio schools, Ohio Federation of Teachers President Melissa Cropper said.

    “The need for federal funding and support for public education will be even more critical if our upcoming state budget cuts school funding, as Governor DeWine’s own budget proposal does with $103 million in cuts to public school districts,” she said in a statement.

    The department announced earlier this month that about half of its staff was going to be laid off as part of the department’s “final mission.”

    Follow Capital Journal Reporter Megan Henry on Bluesky.

    YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE.

    _______________
    Megan Henry
    Megan Henry

    Megan Henry is a reporter for the Ohio Capital Journal and has spent the past five years reporting in Ohio on various topics including education, healthcare, business and crime. She previously worked at The Columbus Dispatch, part of the USA Today Network.

    Ohio Capital Journal is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.

    MORE FROM AUTHOR

  • Public school advocates take issue with new Ohio Speaker’s claim that funding model ‘unsustainable’

    Public school advocates take issue with new Ohio Speaker’s claim that funding model ‘unsustainable’

    (Stock photo from Getty Images)

    By:  – Ohio Capital Journal

    As Ohio’s 136th General Assembly begins, the newly minted House Speaker has already taken a stand on education, saying spending for the state’s public school funding model is “unsustainable.”

    Priorities (and for that matter, legislative committees) have yet to be formally established, but comments by Speaker Matt Huffman, R-Lima, have already brought criticism from public school advocates across the state.

    Speaking to reporters after the first official meeting of the Ohio House under his leadership, Huffman was asked about the Cupp-Patterson public school funding plan, also called the Fair School Funding Plan by supporters.

    The funding model for state support of public schools has been through most of its six-year phase-in, seeing funding through the last two budget cycles. This year was set to be the last phase-in for the funding, but Huffman said there is no such thing as a “three-generation roll-out” and pointed to his comments when Cupp-Patterson was first considered by the legislature. Back then, he did not support funding the full measure all at once, because he said it would tie down future state legislatures with a funding method they may or may not be able to afford.

    “I don’t think there is a third phase to Cupp-Patterson,” Huffman said this week. “I guess the clearest statement I can say is that I think those increases in spending are unsustainable.”

    The new speaker went on to say the state needs to look at “whether these dollars are being spent wisely in some districts, we know they are in many.”

    Public school advocates have fought for the funding model, a model that focuses on real-time costs from district to district, rather than a blanket amount of state funding for all schools. While the comments from Huffman were criticized by advocates, they didn’t necessarily come as a surprise.

    “It’s certainly disappointing, but it doesn’t change anything for us,” said Scott DiMauro, president of the Ohio Education Association. “Implementing the Fair School Funding Plan is still our top priority.”

    YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE.

     

    Without the funding, public schools will have to reach further into the pockets of taxpayers with levy-increase requests, something that shouldn’t have to happen under a system that constitutionally supports public schools.

    ” If the speaker thinks there isn’t enough education funding to go around, Ohio law is very clear,” Melissa Cropper, president of the Ohio Federation of Teachers, told the Capital Journal. “The legislature must fund public schools and make cuts to the costly and ineffective universal private school vouchers that were put in place by Speaker Huffman (as an Ohio senator) and other legislators,” said Melissa Cropper, president of the Ohio Federation of Teachers.

    Those who support the funding model pointed to the $1 billion that went to scholarship funds including the EdChoice private school voucher program in 2023, which the legislature approved to give Ohio students near-universal eligibility to move to private schools of their choosing if they live in public school districts considered under-performing.

    “If the speaker wants to talk about sustainability, you have to start with those numbers,” DiMauro said.

    Late last year, the legislature also removed provisions of a bill that would have added accountability measures to the private school voucher program, despite education advocates asking that accountability measures for private schools match those of public schools.

    That demand for accountability includes an ongoing lawsuit that seeks to eliminate EdChoice from the state’s educational portfolio. The group Vouchers Hurt Ohio is leading the effort in a court battle that has specifically targeted Huffman for answers on the process of passing legislative measures that support and fund EdChoice.

    Eric Brown, former Ohio Supreme Court chief justice and chair of the steering committee for Vouchers Hurt Ohio, said the group “never trusted that state lawmakers would fully fund public schools.”

    “Instead they are intent on giving refunds and rebates to wealthy families to pay for private schools and forcing homeowners and taxpayers to pay more for their local public schools,” Brown said in a statement. “We believe this system is unsustainable and unconstitutional.”

    DiMauro acknowledged that the Fair School Funding Plan will require inputting the real costs on an ongoing basis to account for inflation, and having the funding method keep up with those costs, but to do so would only be keeping up with what the constitution asks of state leaders, he said.

    “It means finally having a system that will meet the requirements of the constitution and serve the needs of the nearly 90% of students who are in our public schools,” DiMauro said.

    Aaron Churchill, Ohio research director for charter school advocates The Fordham Institute, said the cost of the Cupp-Patterson plan is “something that the legislature is just going to have to grapple with over the longterm.”

    Charter schools in Ohio have “long been underfunded,” Churchill said, and the fact that public school enrollment has seen a decline in recent years shows that public schools “should have less need for funding” but also more focus on putting the funding “where the needs are the greatest.”

    “Our school funding should be driven by enrollment and head counts,” Churchill said. “There’s a lot of money going to our public schools, so the dollars are going even further than they would if our state had a growing student population.”

    The enrollment in public schools has gone down slightly over the past few years, though some experts attribute that to a national decline in birth rates more than participation choices. The National Center for Education Statistics sets projections for enrollment, and estimates Ohio’s public school student enrollment will go down by 7.6% by 2031, a loss of more than 127,000 students.

    The most recent data from the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce showed more than 1.75 million students in public schools, versus 173,156 students in the state’s non-public schools.

    The public school numbers showed a loss of 5,400 students compared to numbers reported by the ODEW in fiscal year 2023. That’s down from 2022 as well, but public schools saw an increase of nearly 18,000 students between 2021 and 2022, according to state data.

    Non-public schools have seen gradual increases since fiscal year 2021, when enrollment was reported at 162,917.

    Still, in the 2022-2023 school year, the ODEW reported 88% of schools in Ohio were traditional public schools, followed by community schools at 9.4% and vocational schools at 2.1%.

    YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE.

    _________________
    Susan Tebben
    Susan Tebben

    Susan Tebben is an award-winning journalist with a decade of experience covering Ohio news, including courts and crime, Appalachian social issues, government, education, diversity and culture. She has worked for The Newark Advocate, The Glasgow (KY) Daily Times, The Athens Messenger, and WOUB Public Media. She has also had work featured on National Public Radio.

    Ohio Capital Journal is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.

    MORE FROM AUTHOR

  • [Guest Opinion] Springfield Community Needs Help, Not Hate

    [Guest Opinion] Springfield Community Needs Help, Not Hate

    Guest Opinion

    AFT President Randi Weingarten and Ohio Federation of Teachers President Melissa Cropper respond to the continued lies and political vitriol directed at the Haitian community in Springfield, Ohio

    “The Springfield community needs help, not hate. Instead of working with city leaders to address issues like affordable housing, healthcare access, education and transportation, divisive politicians like JD Vance, Donald Trump and Senate candidate Bernie Moreno have been spreading hatred in a cynical attempt to score political points.

    “There is no place in a civilized nation for conduct like Vance’s bald-faced admission that he is telling lies to fuel bigotry, and Trump’s planned visit to Springfield to fan the flames. The candidates’ deeply racist remarks are unacceptable on their face, but the consequences are real: They have incited bomb threats and led to an influx of white supremacist groups.

    “We stand with the Springfield community—including educators, healthcare workers, migrant advocates, and city and state officials—as they work constructively to address their city’s growing pains while remaining a welcoming home for Haitian migrants, many of whom have fled violence. We commend Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine for correctly labeling these stories as ‘garbage that was simply not true’ and for denouncing the hate groups that are descending on Springfield.

    “The United States was built on immigration. We look after our neighbors and believe in a shared future. We stand with all of Springfield’s residents as they resist the forces of darkness and demagoguery determined to exploit their city for rank political gain.”

    The American Federation of Teachers is a union of 1.8 million professionals that champions fairness; democracy; economic opportunity; and high-quality public education, healthcare and public services for our students, their families and our communities. We are committed to advancing these principles through community engagement, organizing, collective bargaining and political activism, and especially through the work our members do.

  • Ohio education overhaul falls short

    Ohio education overhaul falls short

    BY: SUSAN TEBBEN – Ohio Capital Journal

    The Ohio House did not agree to Senate amendments to a bill banning trans athletes from participating in youth sports based on their gender identity, leaving behind more than a thousand pages of state education overhauls loaded in at the last minute.

    House Bill 151, with language from Senate Bill 178 attached to it was voted down in the House by a 46-41 vote after 2 a.m. on Thursday morning following an entire day of hemming and hawing.

    The education overhaul is not completely done yet. Even if lawmakers decline to move forward in the current General Assembly, Senate President Matt Huffman previously pledged to bring the bill back in the new year, with a General Assembly that will have an even larger GOP supermajority.

    The education overhaul part of the bill, which entered the House as a standalone this week after passing the Senate last week, would have restructured the Ohio Department of Education into the Department of Education and Workforce, and reduced the state Board of Education roles down to superintendent searches, teacher conduct and licensure issues.

    “The system is not working, it doesn’t prioritize our students,” said bill sponsor state Rep. Don Jones, R-Freeport.

    The department, and most of the roles currently under the state board of ed and state superintendent’s purview would have been put under the governor’s office umbrella, according to the bill.

    The State Board of Education put off hiring a search firm for the next superintendent due to concerns about budgetary changes SB 178 might bring and fears the legislative uncertainty might “pollute” the marketplace of candidates.

    The bill also received pushback from public school education advocates and some homeschooling groups. The Ohio Education Association and the Ohio Federation of Teachers both spoke against the bill in committee hearings, not only decrying claims that the ODE was unresponsive and inaccessible, but also criticizing the pace at which the bill came through the General Assembly.

    SB 178 sponsor state Sen. Bill Reineke, R-Tiffin, said attempts to redo the state agencies have been years in the making and urgency is needed to help improve student success.

    “I’m not looking at growing an organization; I’m looking at making it more efficient and more structurally purposeful,” Reineke said on Tuesday as he defended his bill in House Primary and Secondary Education Committee.

    It was up to that committee to pass the standalone bill over to the House for a full vote, something that didn’t happen in a Tuesday night committee that went until about 9 p.m., or a Wednesday morning meeting that recessed before the House’s session began, and didn’t return even after multiple recesses in that body.

    When committee chair state Rep. Gayle Manning, R-North Ridgeville, was asked the status of the bill or the committee at about 9 p.m. Wednesday night, she said she was waiting to see what the GOP caucus was thinking on the matter.

    Amidst the day-long discussion, the Senate decided to take matters into its own hands, inserting SB 178 into HB 151, originally meant to be a teacher mentorship bill that was made to include a ban on athletes competing on teams based on their gender identity.

    The Senate also tried to slide in language from a bill that would have banned COVID-19 vaccine mandates for K-12 students.

    After the additions, HB 151 passed on a party-line 23-7 vote in that chamber, moving it back to the House.

    The controversial part of HB 151 was added in another late-night move in June, when HB 151 was up for passage in the House before moving on to the Senate. The trans athletes part of the bill no longer includes a requirement for genital inspections of children suspected of being transgender, something Senate President Matt Huffman previously said he wouldn’t support.

    Verification of a student’s gender will be done using a birth certificate in the new version of the bill.

    The bill’s sponsor, state Rep. Don Jones, R-Freeport, wouldn’t speak on the trans athletes part of the bill when he introduced the bill in the Senate, but on the House floor he stood in support of it.

    “This bill only applies to K-12 education, so our daughters in grades kindergarten through 12 will not have to compete with biological males in primary and secondary schools,” Jones said.

    The bill would impact very few Ohio students and policies are already in place to keep equality in youth sports, causing LGBTQ advocates, education leaders and the Ohio High School Athletic Association to stand against the bill as unnecessary.

    The original language of the bill would make changes to the Ohio Teacher Residency Program and teacher mentorship.

    Democrats pushed hard for the House not to support the bill as amended, saying stakeholders needed to be involved and more time was needed to find out the impact of it.

    State Rep. Phil Robinson, D-Solon, continued an argument made by critics of the bill that the volume of the bill didn’t get the proper review by legislators or individuals in Ohio education.

    “Passing something at 1 o’clock or 2 o’clock in the morning that no one’s read and no one’s seen … is not the way to change education in the state of Ohio,” Robinson said.

    State Rep. Jeff Crossman, D-Parma, said the bill was “moving deck chairs on a sinking ship” by addressing issues that don’t solve the true problems in Ohio education.

    State Rep. Juanita Brent, D-Cleveland, said the bill would impact economic success in Ohio by making conferences question coming to the state and businesses wonder whether or not to bring employees to the state. She also said passage of the bill in the middle of the night would send a message to current Ohio voters as well.

    “We’re telling Ohioans who elected us that they can’t be seen in this process,” Brent said.

  • Education advocates say Ohio legislature should focus on funding, not regulating curriculum

    Education advocates say Ohio legislature should focus on funding, not regulating curriculum

    Getty Images

    BY: SUSAN TEBBEN – Ohio Capital Journal

    Groups keeping an eye on the Ohio legislature’s handling of education are hoping the General Assembly focuses on funding and appealing to new teachers, rather than bills regulating curriculum and “divisive” issues.

    The Ohio Education Association is continuing it’s push to eliminate mandatory retention from the third-grade reading guarantee, focusing their attention getting through to the state Senate.

    “I’m optimistic, I think now that we’re past election season, we can focus on finding common ground and really making sure that we’re addressing the needs of students,” said Scott DiMauro, head of the OEA.

    The association has already put out a series of recommendations for improving recruitment and retention strategies for teachers, including taking away financial barriers and prioritizing “the need to have a diverse teaching pool to serve all our communities.”

    “I’m encouraged that there have been a lot of productive conversations at the regional level and with policymakers who I think share this concern,” DiMauro said.

    The Ohio Federation of Teachers has also spotlighted the training of teachers and the retention of quality teachers as part of their state priorities.

    “Teachers are still tired and we need to look at how we make the education system work them,” said OFT executive director Melissa Cropper.

    What education policy groups don’t want to see is rushed legislation that flies through the lame duck session without the ability for transparency and accountability. This includes bills that have already been introduced, like House Bill 616, the most recent “divisive concepts” bill brought by state Reps. Jean Schmidt, R-Loveland, and Mike Loychik, R-Bazetta, to regulate the curriculums in schools, including legislating when and how sexual orientation and gender ideology can be included in school lessons.

    But Cropper isn’t as worried about “extremist” bills being pushed through before the end of the year because the Republican majority has increased based on general election results, theoretically giving the GOP no reason to fast-track bills or attach them quickly to other bills.

    “We are certainly opposed to anything being passed during a lame duck session when there’s not time for anything to be vetted,” Cropper said. “But given the results of the election, I don’t think that there’s any urgency on their part to do anything.”

    HB 616 is not currently scheduled to appear in committee this week, as the legislature comes back from its summer recess.

    DiMauro said he’s not sure what the prospects for education policy will be going into the lame duck session, but more than that, he wants to see more focus on “committing resources to a funding plan that primarily fits the needs of students and teachers.”

    “We know that it’s critical for the future of our state … that Ohio is a welcoming place for educators,” DiMauro said.

    Both education leaders were bolstered by the results of the Ohio State Board of Education races that took place on November 8, wherein two incumbents were unseated, and another race put a former Democratic legislator and teacher on the board to replace outgoing member Kirsten Hill.

    “I don’t think these are tiny changes, I think these are huge changes,” Cropper said. “We finally have some more people on (the board) who are there because they want to make this education system work for students and … is not about some culture war agenda.”

  • Redistricting changes shifted state school board districts before being struck down

    Redistricting changes shifted state school board districts before being struck down

    Melissa Cropper, executive director of the Ohio Federation of Teachers said the decisions DeWine made appear to be pushing out members and candidates who supporters of public education and topics like diversity and inclusion. The lines as established under the unconstitutional maps would impact candidates focused on topics important to the OFT, like diversity and inclusion in education.

    BY: SUSAN TEBBEN – Ohio Capital Journal

    Amid the chaos and uncertainty of the redistricting process, a deadline loomed that would decide representation on the Ohio State Board of Education. It depended on having district lines to reference.

    Legislative and congressional maps are both in limbo after the Ohio Supreme Court rejected both maps, the legislative maps getting sent back for a second time last week.

    Gov. Mike DeWine was forced to assign the Ohio State Board of Education districts himself because the deadline for establishing districts for the board was January 31. Using the state senate map adopted by the Ohio Redistricting Commission on Jan. 22, DeWine signed the letter notifying board members of their districts on the day of the deadline.

    Ohio Revised Code states the board of education districts must be established by Jan. 31 in a redistricting year, and if the General Assembly doesn’t create those districts themselves, the governor must take on the job.

    Each board district has to makeup three contiguous state senate districts.

    “Each state board of education district shall be as compact as practicable,” the state law reads.

     The Ohio State Board of Education districts as they have been prior to redistricting efforts this year.
    Source: Ohio Department of Education

    Many of those districts didn’t change, but the most significant changes seemed to be in four particular districts; the districts represented by Dr. Christina Collins, Dr. Antoinette Miranda, Michelle Newman and Meryl Johnson.

    Collins’ new district would have stretched from Union County through Holmes County, and includes parts of Franklin County in between.

    Being a resident of Medina County, this plan would push her out of her district, and though the board of education races are considered non-partisan, Collins said it put her in a district that voted “overwhelmingly for significantly right-leaning state board candidates,” namely District 1 board member Diana Fessler and two candidates who unsuccessfully ran against Miranda and Newman.

    “The distance presents its own challenges given I do try to be involved in the counties I represent, but I also question my philosophical appeal as a representative to what appear to be this territory’s political preferences,” Collins wrote in an email to the OCJ.

    Newman’s three senate districts would have included her Newark residence in the 31st District, along with the 33rd district that brings her representation all the way to the Pennsylvania border. She would also represent the rural 30th district, that rolls from Jefferson County down the state line to Meigs County.

    Newman said she’s going to continue to serve kids and support public schools whatever her district lines.

    “However, when I saw my new district jump from 13 to 18 counties, lost the compactness of its previous state and also shifted to nearly all rural vs the urban/rural mix I had before, my eyebrows definitely raised,” Newman told the OCJ. “The fact that the Ohio Supreme Court just ruled the new maps unconstitutional proves my wariness was correct.”

    Miranda’s districts were set to go from the Columbus area near Ohio State University to Nelsonville near Ohio University.

     State Senate districts in Northeast Ohio, as shown on the most recently struck down legislative map. State board of education member Meryl Johnson would have represented districts 22, 23 and 24 under this plan, districts separated by another board member’s area in Senate district 27.
    Source: Dave’s Redistricting App

    Johnson’s 11th district would be broken by a peninsula of the 27th Senate district, covered by board member Tim Miller. That break separates the 22nd Senate district, which includes Ashland, Wayne and Medina counties, from the 23rd and 24th, which include pieces of Cleveland proper and Cuyahoga County.

    Only 11 members of the state board are elected, with the other eight appointed by the governor.

    Education officials don’t see the changes as coincidental. They see a connection between the changes made to the districts, and the four board members choices on the board, most importantly, their decision to support (and refuse to rescind) a resolution that condemned racism in state schools.

    “The governor certainly signaled an intent in terms of who they seem to be trying to protect on the board and who they seem to be drawing into competitive districts,” said Scott DiMauro, president of the Ohio Education Association.

    A spokesperson for DeWine corroborated state law that said it was his job to assign districts if the legislature fails to do so, but did not answer questions as to how DeWine decided on the district lines or whether he contacted incumbent members about the changes before making them official.

    Some incumbent members of the legislature were told as the map-drawing process went along what changes would be made to their districts, and were asked for input before the maps were officially presented to the public.

    DiMauro said the state board of education is an important entity to watch because of the power they hold over curriculum decisions, licensure law enforcement and even the hiring/firing process for teachers.

    The message the state board sends in Ohio is important, and curriculum messages some board members have made regarding education on race in schools have a “destructive” effect, according to DiMauro.

    “There’s a sense that you want a state board that is above politics,” DiMauro said.

    Melissa Cropper, executive director of the Ohio Federation of Teachers said the decisions DeWine made appear to be pushing out members and candidates who supporters of public education and topics like diversity and inclusion. The lines as established under the unconstitutional maps would impact candidates focused on topics important to the OFT, like diversity and inclusion in education.

    “I think ideally we wouldn’t even be talking about what the school board lines are until we have fair districts drawn,” Cropper said.

    With the senate maps among the three maps struck down by the Ohio Supreme Court, the education districts are at the mercy of the new redistricting plan, which the court has asked for by Feb. 17.

  • Fraternal Order of Police, teachers, former law enforcement against armed teacher policy

    Fraternal Order of Police, teachers, former law enforcement against armed teacher policy

     
    by Susan Tebben – and the Ohio Capital Journal
     

    An organization representing more than 23,000 police officers, including school resource officers, says allowing teachers to bring guns to school under only a concealed carry permit could do more harm than good.

    The Fraternal Order of Police of Ohio said this in a brief to the Ohio Supreme Court, which is considering a case that would keep schools from allowing a firearms authorization policy. The police organization said they were not taking a stand on whether teachers should be armed, but rather the training involved.

    Susan TebbenSusan Tebben is an award-winning journalist with a decade of experience covering Ohio news, including courts and crime, Appalachian social issues, government, education, diversity and culture. She has worked for The Newark Advocate, The Glasgow Daily Times, The Athens Messenger, and WOUB Public Media. She has also had work featured on National Public Radio.

    “An interpretation holding that a school resource officer or security guard needs extensive training to carry a gun in school, but the art teacher does not, is neither just nor reasonable,” the group said in a brief to the court.

    While 17 other school districts argued that the “plain language” in the Ohio Revised Code allowed them the right to bring guns to school when authorized, the FOP read the “plain language” as advising schools to the contrary.

    “A teacher who carries a weapon into a classroom while teaching is, quite

    literally, both ‘armed’ and ‘on duty,’” the organization stated. “There is no reason to depart from this plain language because it yields a ‘just and reasonable’ result, as the Revised Code demands.”

    Agreeing with the language, a group of 284 current or former Ohio teachers or school staff members said the law was “unambiguous” in its explanation of the training requirements needed to bring guns to schools. The teachers and staff don’t say school districts should be banned from creating weapons policies.

    “But the General Assembly has required that, should they elect to arm teachers, school districts must ensure that they have adequate training, which the legislature has determined was satisfactory completion of an approved basic peace officer training program,” the brief by the teachers and staff stated.

    The FOP even went so far as to say the Madison Board of Education’s interpretation “would get people killed.”

    In arguing against the firearms policy, the police officer’s group brought up gun-retention skills, accuracy in a gunfight and situational awareness that they say would decrease if teachers were given the responsibility of defending themselves and others in a school shooting.

    The brief to the court also said a lack of training would make armed teachers a liability, causing law enforcement to have more difficulty stopping an active shooter, and “may get themselves shot in the process.”

    “If nothing else, police officers train on the ‘mental preparedness’ necessary to take a life,” the brief stated. “But in the context of a school setting, undertrained teachers will be mentally unprepared to kill one of their own students.”

    Several others submitted document in support of a decisions that keeps gun policies out of the board’s hands, including the Ohio Education Association and the Ohio Federation of Teachers. A group of “experts in school safety and firearms training,” including Dayton Police Department Chief Richard Biehl, a former leader of the Columbus Division of Police Training Bureau and a former Madison Local School District teacher who became a police officer after the 2016 school shooting there, joined in the support of the parents against the firearms policies.

    The cities of Columbus and Cincinnati also filed briefs showing their interest in the case, and support of the present law on training of armed personnel in schools.

    If an Ohio Senator has his way, the law will change regarding armed personnel in school. The bill passed the Senate Government Oversight & Reform Committee, and is awaiting a full floor vote before moving on to the Ohio House.

  • School funding bill to get new look under new speaker

    School funding bill to get new look under new speaker

    By Susan Tebbenand Ohio Capital Journal

    A school funding bill originally sponsored by new Ohio House Speaker Bob Cupp is getting a fresh look and hopefully time in front of legislative committees before year’s end, according the legislator now heading up the bill.

    The other original sponsor of the proposed legislation, state Rep. John Patterson, said a substitute bill is in the works that should touch on longstanding concerns the Ohio Supreme Court had about the constitutionality of the state’s education system.

    “We’re taking a more balanced approach in the new bill,” Patterson, D-Jefferson, said.

    The state’s contribution to education budgets has stagnated over time, while private schools have benefitted from the EdChoice scholarship program, in which some state funding for public school districts has been redirected to religious, charter and community schools.

    EdChoice scholarships were frozen at current levels in an omnibus bill responding to the COVID-19 pandemic.

    State Rep. John Patterson, D-Jefferson.

    Patterson said a substitute version of House Bill 305 seeks to address “overarching criticisms” of the original bill, and the education system itself. One of the major criticisms is the distribution of money in the school funding formula between school districts with varying financial situations.

    “Under the current formula, districts are all interconnected, so as one district becomes wealthier, another becomes poorer,” Patterson told the Ohio Capital Journal.

    So, in the new plan co-sponsored this time by Rep. Gary Scherer, R-Circleville, the legislators want to reassess the amount that districts are able to raise on their own before they decide what the amount of state aid would be to schools.

    The proposed bill would also take the weight solely off of property taxes for school funding, something the 1997 decision by the Ohio Supreme Court in DeRolph v. State of Ohio ruled was a big reason the education system violated the state constitution.

    The new plan will combine property and income taxes along with a calculation of a district’s wealth level to “determine a district’s true capacity to raise its fair share,” according to Patterson.

    “The question is what is fair for the locals, and what is fair for the state,” Patterson said. “We have fine-tuned for that.”

    Ohio House Speaker Bob Cupp (Ohio House Photo)

    Disadvantaged students would receive more immediate help than in previous funding models if the new bill is made law. In the original proposal for the bill, aid would have been phased in over time for school districts, but legislators are now looking to channel that aid to districts immediately. 

    Patterson planned to meet with interested parties — teachers’ unions, public school officials and community school representatives on Tuesday to discuss the plan. One of those parties is the Ohio Federation of Teachers, who said school funding needs a direction that accounts for social and emotional learning as well as test proficiency.

    “We’re hopeful that (the sponsors) are moving in the right direction,” said OFT executive director Melissa Cropper. “No school funding formula will be perfect, but having no school funding formula has been a disaster.”

    In the next month, simulations of financial situations will be run to test the effectiveness of the bill as it stands, and Patterson hopes the bill will be ready when the Ohio House returns to regular session in September.

    After anticipated amendments and passage of the bill, Patterson said implementation of the new formula could take years.

    With EdChoice pitting private schools and public schools against each other for funding in the state model, Patterson said concerns were brought from both sides, and his bill plans to address private school issues as well.

    “What I’ll say is we have heard their criticism and have addressed their concerns in the substitute bill,” Patterson. “I think they’re going to be pleased.”

    The changes made to the bill Cupp once authored have the blessing of the new speaker, according to Patterson. 

    “Speaker Cupp understands the absolute necessity of passing House Bill 305 in this General Assembly,” Patterson said.

    Neither Cupp nor Scherer responded to requests for comment.

    Susan Tebben

    Susan Tebben is an award-winning journalist with a decade of experience covering Ohio news, including courts and crime, Appalachian social issues, government, education, diversity and culture. She has worked for The Newark Advocate, The Glasgow Daily Times, The Athens Messenger, and WOUB Public Media. She has also had work featured on National Public Radio.
  • DeWine lays out K-12 reopening plans

    DeWine lays out K-12 reopening plans

    By Susan Tebben – The Ohio Capital Journal
    Columbus, Ohio – Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine laid out reopening guidelines for state K-12 schools on Thursday, including a mask requirement for teachers, but no such mandate for students.

    DeWine said it is “the state’s strong recommendation” that children from the third grade on wear face masks, but maintained that local control for school districts will be in place as reopenings begin. 

    “A great deal of flexibility is allowed, as it should be,” DeWine said in his Thursday COVID-19 press conference.

    Ohio Department of Education’s 36-page planning guide

    The governor announced that the Ohio Department of Education published a 36-page planning guide that includes recommendations on everything testing to field trips and recess precautions.

    The guidance is specifically noted as “not mandatory” in the documents and emphasized the need for schools and districts to develop and implement their own protocols, while using the information provided by local and state health departments.

    “Planning teams should include school leaders, local health department officials, local school board members, educators, education support professionals, school health professionals, parents, students, community partners and local business leaders,” the planning documents stated.

    In developing coronavirus related-protocols, DeWine said before anyone enters a school facility, parents and school officials should “vigilantly assess” symptoms, and take the temperatures of everyone coming into the schools. In the guidance, outside individuals such as delivery personnel, student teachers and faculty of student teachers are all treated the same as official school personnel. 

    The Loveland District is currently working on models for reopening school in the fall, “which can be adjusted based on the pending guidance from state and local health agencies.”

    The planning guide said flare-ups are considered “expected” by state officials, and warns that school buildings may need to close in the event of said flare-up.

    Schools were told to work with local health departments to develop a testing strategy, thoroughly clean and sanitize schools, and teach and practice social distancing and hand-washing.

    Social distancing in places like school buses will be more difficult, and DeWine said as much distance as is possible will benefit students and staff.

    “(Specific measurements of distance is) all relative and it’s somewhat arbitrary,” DeWine said. “But the more distance you can have the better.”

    COVID 19 Health and Prevention Guidance for Ohio K-12 Schools

    Face coverings are required by staff unless it is unsafe or if doing so “could interfere with the learning process,” DeWine said on Thursday.

    Ohio Federation of Teachers Executive Director Melissa Cropper appreciated the moves by the governor, but said the OFT worries about the financial demands of the new protocols.

    “We are concerned that local governments and school districts will have to make decisions about the governor’s recommendations at a time when they are anticipating budget crunches and beginning to make spending cuts,” Cropper said in a statement.

    DeWine said it “is not right for me or (other departments) to micromanage” school buildings or districts.

    The governor did say he plans to meet with House Speaker Larry Householder, Senate President Larry Obhof, and minority leaders to discuss extra funding, along with the use of CARES Act funding.

    Cropper said schools would benefit from HEROES Act funding as well, a bank of about $2 billion in monies for K-12 education, but the act is still awaiting U.S. Senate consideration after passing the House.

    The guidance comes as the state faces continual growth in coronavirus cases, and data showing that cases are passed through the individuals within the area. DeWine noted that 80% of confirmed cases in Montgomery County have been linked to community spread.