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Tag: Susan Tebben

Ohio foster-to-college bill aims to bring kids out of system, into higher ed, career tech

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By: Susan Tebben – Ohio Capital Journal

A bipartisan bill introduced in the Ohio General Assembly seeks to establish a pipeline from foster care to college or careers.

The sponsors of House Bill 25 are targeting a population of Ohioans who struggle to get through high school, and therefore may not have the guidance needed to lead them to a fruitful career in the state after leaving the foster care system.

“They are experiencing some of the worst outcomes of our state and yet the state could and should do more,” said bill co-sponsor state Rep. Dontavius Jarrells, D-Columbus.

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The bill is a reintroduction of a similar bill that didn’t get through the last General Assembly before it ended in December. House Bill 164, which Jarrells co-sponsored with former state Rep. Bill Seitz, passed 85-5 in the House in June 2024, before getting tied up in the Ohio Senate Finance Committee.

Also as before, state Sen. Michele Reynolds, R-Canal Winchester, has introduced a companion bill, Senate Bill 13, for consideration in the Senate.

According to the National Foster Youth Institute, just 3-4% of former foster youth across the country obtain a four-year college degree, and between 2% and 6% receive a two-year degree. The NFYI also found that high school dropout rates are higher for foster youth than even other low-income children and more than 40% of foster children in school face “educational difficulties.”

“Aspiring to attend college motivates students to stay in school and keep their grades up,” the Children’s Defense Fund of Ohio said in support of the previous foster-to-college legislative effort. “Reducing financial barriers increases the likelihood that a student will complete their degree.”

H.B. 25 would create a scholarship program for Ohioans who are in foster care after their 13th birthday, funding tuition, fees or other education expenses outside of federal or state financial aid, according to Jarrells.

When word got out that Jarrells was reintroducing the bill, state Rep. Sharon Ray, R-Wadsworth, said she quickly reached out to become a co-sponsor, hoping to help the state and the “strong” foster care system she has in her district.

She compared the scholarship program to the GI Bill that subsidizes educational opportunities for military personnel, saying that in the same way the GI Bill “changed so many lives” by giving them the financial support they needed, this new bill could create change for foster kids.

“These kids, when they’re 18, they just age out of the system, and for these kids that have been working hard, we want to make sure they have the best chance at life,” Ray said.

Under the bill, which would appropriate $7.5 million each over the next two years, “foster care student navigators” would be hired by the state to guide those coming out of foster care with applications, higher education admission processes and things like career tech or post-high school training.

“When we invest in them, they invest back in Ohio,” Jarrells said.

According to the Children’s Defense Fund of Ohio, 35 states, including Texas and Florida, had already voted in favor of legislation like Ohio’s bill at the time it was introduced in the last GA.

The House bill has been referred to the House Workforce & Higher Education Committee, and the Senate bill has been sent to the Senate Finance Committee for consideration.

Jarrells and Ray are hopeful the fact that the bill was introduced early in the GA gives it a better chance of passage, though they also see potential for budget negotiations to include the measures in their bill.

“We want this just to be a win for the future, and hopefully something that gets continued investment so we can reach as many foster kids as we can,” Jarrells said.

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________________

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.

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Feb 3, 2025
Trump order prioritizes school choice and vouchers, which Ohio has been expanding for decades

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By: Susan Tebben – Ohio Capital Journal

An executive order signed by President Donald Trump directs an emphasis on school choice and private school voucher programs when it comes to education funding, something that’s been happening in Ohio for several decades now.

While it’s unclear how much power the executive order will have with spending decisions decided by Congress, the executive order directs to the U.S. Department of Education to prioritize “school choice” programs in grant funding, and requires the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to guide states on block grants that can be used for private schools.

The executive order also directs the U.S. Department of Education to release guidance on using federal funding formulas for private school scholarship programs, and for military families in particular to be given information on scholarships.

It’s not yet clear how this will affect individual states, but Ohio has already vastly expanded its private school voucher programs over the last two decades, and recently passed near-universal levels eligibility.

Ohio House Speaker Matt Huffman began 2025 by saying the six-year phase-in of the public school funding model in Ohio was “unsustainable,” which received massive pushback from public school supporters, especially after the lawmakers poured nearly $1 billion into private school scholarships last year.

Huffman called the future of the current funding model – also called the Fair School Funding Plan or the Cupp-Patterson plan – a “fantasy,” but has seemingly softened his stance for now after hearing from members of his own party.

A spokesperson for Huffman and the House Majority Caucus did not respond to a request for comment on the executive order.

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The president and CEO of EdChoice, Ohio’s private voucher program, praised the order in a statement, saying prioritizing and expanding such programs “is a crucial step toward empowering families and giving them greater control over their children’s education.”

“This initiative reflects a commitment to funding students not systems and to ensuring the proper role of the federal government in education,” EdChoice President and CEO Robert Enlow said in the Wednesday statement. “It recognizes both the appropriate role of the federal government on education and the fact that education is primarily a state function.”

Public school advocates feel the same way about a federal push for private school funding expansion as they do about state-level funding increases, for which a lawsuit was filed in Franklin County Common Pleas Court to eliminate the private school voucher program.

The lawsuit argues that funding for private schools is coming out of the coffers of the public school system, something the state is constitutionally obligated to fund properly.

“Diverting public money to unaccountable and ineffective private schools is a failed strategy that runs counter to public opinion,” Ohio Federation of Teachers head Melissa Cropper told the Capital Journal.

A 2024 survey done by All4Ed, Lake Research Partners and the Tarrance Group, found a majority of American voters support public education, and an increase in funding to improve public schools. This included 58% of Republicans surveyed. Only 34% of GOP voters polled said funding for voucher programs should be increased.

“Voters view public schools, including their local public school, more favorably than charter, private or religious schools,” the study stated.

Cropper called the move by the Trump administration “a strategy straight of Project 2025,” the playbook written and supported by right-wing Heritage Foundation members, some of whom have become players in the Trump administration, including the White House budget office.

“Regardless of what politicians do, Ohio educators and school staff will continue fighting for the resources that our students deserve,” Cropper said.

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_______________

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.

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Jan 30, 2025
More than 280,000 Ohio kids would be impacted by proposed national school meal program cuts

Students getting their lunch at a primary school. (Photo by Amanda Mills/Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.)

By: Susan Tebben – Ohio Capital Journal

As the federal government looks at ways to cut costs and fund Trump-administration measures, a congressional committee is considering a cut that could take billions from school breakfast and lunch programs.

That cut could impact more than 280,000 students in Ohio alone, and 728 schools in the state, according to data from the Food Research & Action Center.

FRAC identified this loss from a proposal being discussed by the Republican-led U.S. House Ways and Means Committee — membership of which includes Ohio Reps. Mike Carey and Max Miller — as part of upcoming budget reconciliation in the Capitol. The proposal would chop $3 billion from school breakfast and lunch programs.

“Taking away this important and effective way for local schools to offer breakfast and lunch at no charge to all their students would increase hunger in the classroom, reintroduce unnecessary paperwork for families and schools, increase school meal debt and bring stigma back into the cafeteria,” according to FRAC senior child nutrition policy analyst Erin Hysom and interim child nutrition programs and policy director Alexis Bylander.

The proposal would directly impact schools that don’t fall under the Community Eligibility Provision, a service based out of the federal National School Lunch Program, that serves districts in high poverty areas, allowing them to distribute meals at no cost to the students.

Schools are deemed eligible for CEP based on their participation with other programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF).

According to a summary of the proposal among a list of possible budget reconciliation plans obtained by Politico, the CEP eligibility would be raised from the previous level of schools with 40% participation in the other federal programs to 60%.

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Hysom and Bylander say the new proposal would reduce eligibility for CEP, making more than 24,000 schools nationwide and 12 million children no longer eligible, including the more than 280,000 Ohio children impacted.

The advocacy group Children’s Defense Fund-Ohio said the loss from this proposal would impact more Ohio children “than there are residents in the city of Toledo, Ohio’s fourth-largest city.”

“As I’ve said before, free meals can help our students thrive mentally, socially and physically, especially those whose parents are currently trying to do all they can to support their children while juggling their responsibilities at work and fighting inflationary costs at home,” Dr. John Stanford, state director of CDF-Ohio, told the Capital Journal.

Stanford also pointed to public opinion and a 2024 Republican research firm poll that showed a majority of Ohioans support universal free school breakfast and lunch programs for public schools.

“So why would our lawmakers on Capitol Hill look to pass federal legislation that goes against the wishes of all Ohioans and effectively reduces access to free meals for students by increasing bureaucratic paperwork for school administrators,” Stanford asked.

A 2023 report from the CDF-Ohio showed 1 in 6 children live in a household that experiences hunger and more than 1 in 3 children who live in households with food insecurity already don’t qualify for school meals.

Both Stanford and FRAC said the changes proposed by the Ways and Means Committee would create further opportunities for students to “fall through the cracks” by requiring proof of income to apply for free and reduced meals. The meal programs had already seen decreases in participation, due to the lapsing of COVID-19 pandemic waivers of school meals costs.

Ohio saw a 14% drop in average lunch participation due to the loss of the waivers.

“We need our lawmakers to be completely focused on helping children and not creating unnecessary bureaucratic red tape for an evidence-based, best practices program that’s working,” Stanford added. “This proposal would achieve the opposite.”

The state used its own budget in 2023 to make meals free for those who qualified for reduced-price meals, along with those who qualified for no-cost meals, but didn’t go the distance on universal school meals. The state is set to pass another operating budget this year that could include the discussion again, with a new House Speaker and Senate President at the helm.

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_______________

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.

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Jan 28, 2025
Public school advocates take issue with new Ohio Speaker’s claim that funding model ‘unsustainable’

(Stock photo from Getty Images)

By: Susan Tebben – 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.”

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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 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.

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Jan 11, 2025
Bill to address issues from Ohio’s infant mortality to early childhood education passes legislature

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By: Susan Tebben – Ohio Capital Journal

Legislation to make improvements to systems ranging from infant care to early childhood education throughout the state of Ohio was passed by the Ohio General Assembly on Wednesday.

House Bill 7 made it through the lame duck session with passage the day after the measure was favorably passed in the Senate Finance Committee with amendments to remove funding provisions within the bill.

“We raised awareness, and we are asking to up our game next year,” said co-sponsor state Rep. Andrea White, R-Kettering, when the House concurred in Senate amendments late on Wednesday night.

Co-sponsor state Rep. Latyna Humphrey, D-Columbus, called it “a good step in the right direction,” and said supporters would be pushing for the funding in the budget.

“We want people to know that we’re not done,” Humphrey said.

Other amendments to the bill eliminated doula services for the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections, and though advocates were disappointed to see funding removed, they expressed hope that next year’s budget would include items to help move forward with improvements to infant and maternal mortality and community resource engagement to bring about better child outcomes in the state.

The bill still contains a directive for an Ohio Department of Medicaid-led study regarding “reimbursement of evidence-based peer-to-peer programming that supports infant vitality,” and a requirement that the Ohio Department of Children & Youth streamline it’s processes, including central intake and referral to focus on home visiting programs and “encourage early prenatal and well-baby care” as well as parenting education.

The ODCY will also be required to “rate” licensed child daycare centers and family daycare home operations for Head Start or Early Head Start in the same rating system as Step Up to Quality.

The bill had bipartisan co-sponsors, unlike other child care bills that seem doomed as the lame duck session comes to an end, including a Democrat-led bill that would have created a tax credit similar to the federal tax credit seen during the COVID pandemic, and a Republican proposal to split costs for child care in Ohio between employers, employees and the state.

The child care system in Ohio has been criticized as highly flawed, unaffordable and inaccessible to many Ohioans who need the ability to place their children in quality facilities in order to contribute to the workforce.

YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE.

_____________

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.

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Dec 19, 2024
Ohio Senate committee approves child welfare bill, leaves out money to fund it

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By: Susan Tebben – Ohio Capital Journal

The Ohio Senate Finance Committee approved long-awaited changes to child welfare processes and agencies in the state, but the bill no longer includes appropriations to fund provisions in the measure.

Ohio House Bill 7 moved on from the committee on Tuesday, and may see a full Ohio Senate vote on Wednesday. The session on Wednesday could be one of the last of the year, meaning if the bill didn’t see passage, it would need to be reintroduced as new legislation in the new year.

The bill would also need renewed approval from the Ohio House before the end of the year, since the Senate committee made changes to the original bill. Committee members and advocates are hoping some of the funding no longer included in the bill as it is now may end up in next year’s state operating budget.

H.B. 7, a bipartisan-sponsored bill, aims to address child welfare from pregnancy to early childhood education. The bill contains a host of goals, including aims to modernize the state’s use of the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) nutrition assistance program, a pilot grant program “to assist in the development of comprehensive child care programs like Early Head Start,” the increased use of home visits to boost infant outcomes and bring more resources to address poor infant and maternal mortality rates statewide. The bill even touches on issues like mental health and child homelessness.

According to Danielle Firsich, director of public policy for Planned Parenthood Advocates of Ohio and Planned Parenthood of Greater Ohio, 13 Ohio counties are classified as “maternal health care deserts,” though the maternal and infant mortality rates are “entirely preventable with affordable, widespread and comprehensive public health services.”

“The most common pregnancy-related deaths include delay or lack of diagnosis, failure to screen, inadequate assessment for risk and inadequately trained/unavailable personnel,” Firsich wrote in testimony to the committee, citing Ohio Department of Health data.

The original bill asked for an appropriation of $34 million over two fiscal years, but appropriations were left out of the bill when it was passed by the finance committee. Committee Chair Sen. Matt Dolan, R-Chagrin Falls, said discussions about funding are “better left” to discussions next year, when the overall state operating budget will see its biannual approval.

Dolan said there were “no subjective decisions made” on the programs in the bill, just a re-tailoring that he said will make it clear that agencies who provide new strategies or corrections related to child care and health will need to approach the legislature with cost proposals, instead of the funding coming ahead of time.

“There’s no mandate that we are going to be responsible for paying in this bill,” Dolan said.

Sen. Paula Hicks-Hudson, D-Toledo, also said a provision that would have established a program with the state Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections to provide doula services to inmates in a prison nursery program was also removed. Hicks-Hudson said that was a step back from an opportunity “to move the needle” on progress when it comes to infant and maternal outcomes.

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Amendments made to the bill during Tuesday’s committee hearing also removed the ability for tele-health home visits for those participating in the Help Me Grow program, a program through the Ohio Department of Children & Youth that provides services like home visits, developmental screenings and resource connections.

In the program’s 2024 annual report, the ODCY reported more than 51,000 system referrals for home visits in the that fiscal year, and more than 45,000 system referrals for early intervention to meet developmental milestones through the Help Me Grow program. Home visit referrals were up 2.5% from the previous year, with 51% of those receiving home referrals identifying as Black/African American, according to the annual report.

Referrals for early intervention saw increases, particular in referrals from early care or child care programs (up 21%) and from WIC (up 17%).

But Dolan said there are “concerns” that the Help Me Grow program is not working, something the legislature may look into improving in the new year.

Despite the lack of appropriations, proponents of the bill who testified on Tuesday said the measure still represents a step forward in filling gaps and responding to the needs of Ohio’s children and families.

Danielle Tong, executive director of CelebrateOne, a Columbus initiative to reduce infant mortality and improve conditions for families, said she knows all too well the costs around stays in the neonatal ICU, and the educational delays that can impact a child, as the mother of a child born premature eight years ago.

“I’m going through that right now with my own son, and I have resources to support that, but what about the Ohioans who don’t,” she asked the committee.

She and CelebrateOne see H.B. 7 as a “crucial” bill for “supporting and elevating the health of the families that look to us and our partners for health.”

The collaborative aspect of the bill is a progressive one, according to Caitlin Feldman, policy director for the child welfare advocacy group Groundwork Ohio.

“By encouraging agencies to work together more effectively, this bill strengthens the connections between comprehensive screening and service referrals, reducing the risk of families falling through the cracks,” Feldman said.

The bill has the potential to address challenges, despite the fact that the approach of the budget year means “many of the transformative investments included in the original bill are not possible at this time.”

Feldman and others like the Ohio Psychological Association praised the provisions that direct the Ohio Department of Medicaid to “explore and establish reimbursement pathways” for mental health needs in Ohio’s youngest children.

“This represents a critical step toward addressing a long-standing gap in how our systems recognize and respond to the mental health needs of infants, toddlers and their families,” Feldman said.

YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE.

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

Dec 18, 2024
Death penalty opponents push for elimination in Ohio

By: Susan Tebben – Ohio Capital Journal

Opponents of the death penalty are once again urging the Ohio legislature to eliminate the practice in the state.

In a hearing with the Senate Judiciary Committee, advocacy groups and family members of murder victims alike came together to ask for passage of a bill that would abolish the death penalty.

“This is a question of overall public policy; it’s a question of is the system applying the death penalty consistently across a wide range of cases,” said Robert Dunham, director of the Death Penalty Policy Project.

Senate Bill 101 would ban the death penalty, a practice that in Ohio has been few and far between in recent years, and has essentially stopped during the DeWine administration as the state has been unable to obtain lethal injection drugs from pharmaceutical companies. With Republicans controlling supermajorities in both chambers of the Ohio General Assembly, the effort faces an uphill battle even with some bipartisan support.

The Death Penalty Policy Project did an analysis of more than three decades of FBI homicide data and law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty, and found that after 50 years and 1,600 executions nationwide, “the public and police are actually safer in states that don’t have the death penalty, or have recently abolished the death penalty, than they are in states that have the death penalty.”

“Moreover, the states that are now most actively carrying out executions are among the least safe for the public and the most dangerous for police,” Dunham told the committee. “They have failed to execute their way into violence prevention.”

Jonathan Mann has the unique perspective of going through the murder of his father in 2017, and asking the state not to use the death penalty to punish his father’s killer. He said he believed in the death penalty before his father’s death, but as his experience continued, he found the process “does not represent family members of murder victims.”

“You are not representing family members of victims adequately, whether they believe in the death penalty or not,” Mann said. “The death penalty is not working. It is not working; you can not say it’s working.”

Bryan Corbett saw one of his family members wrongfully accused of murder, and the reputation and potential of this member of his family was damaged after spending more than six years on death row before being exonerated. Corbett said the conviction was lifted after it was found “junk science,” “hypnotized witnesses,” and other evidence deemed inadmissible was used in the case. That, and two men confessed to the crime after more than a decade.

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As a Christian pastor and a man who has witnessed the flaws in the justice system, Corbett said the state can’t continue to use the death penalty as an option.

“I would simply ask: who among us is qualified to cast that stone,” Corbett said to the committee. “Who among us is qualified to flip that switch and end a life?”

State Rep. Matt Dolan, R-Chagrin Falls, pondered whether it was up to the legislature to decide whether or not the death penalty should be an option, when the state leaves those decisions up to a jury of peers.

“Should this legislature take that away from the individuals or should we look to whether this should be a statewide issue and let Ohioans … make that decision,” Dolan asked Dunham.

Dunham pushed back, saying juries are only deciding cases based on the information at hand, and can’t consider the factors of, for example, withheld evidence or evidence that “the defense had failed to investigate because of poor representation.”

“(Legislators) are the ones who set public policy, so when we look at the death penalty as a policy, I think you are the people who should be making that determination,” Dunham said.

The measure is one of many similar bills that have been introduced in the state over the years, but while the measure has been the subject of much testimony in support of death penalty elimination, the legislature has not shown much support for the issue.

One group stood in opposition to the current bill in last week’s committee hearing. The Ohio Prosecuting Attorneys Association submitted written testimony saying the association “continues to believe that this topic is important enough that the public should be given the opportunity to decide whether or not Ohio continues to have capital punishment.”

Louis Tobin, executive director of the Ohio Prosecuting Attorneys Association cited a study by Claremont McKenna College in response to Gallup and Pew Research Center polls showing support for the repeal of the death penalty and diminishing support for the practice in the United States.

In the Claremont McKenna poll, survey-takers were asked if they supported the death penalty when considering specific crimes, rather than general opposition or support for the death penalty.

“What they found was that support for the death penalty is much more widespread than either Gallup or Pew have reported,” Tobin wrote.

Statistics from the poll cited by Tobin show 10 of the 15 murder types selected as part of the survey — including raping and murdering a child and being a part of a terrorist attack — “garnered at least 60% support.”

The only true measure of support is “a vote of the people,” Tobin concluded.

“If the proponents of Senate Bill 101 believe their own polling and their own argument that there is not majority support for the death penalty, then they should have no problem agreeing to allow the public to vote and to decide on the future of the death penalty in Ohio,” Tobin wrote.

The OPAA executive director has expressed support for a bill that would change the way capital punishment is done in Ohio, which would add nitrogen hypoxia to the list of protocols that can be used. The method asphyxiates a condemned person by replacing the air they breathe, a mixture of mostly nitrogen and oxygen, with pure nitrogen.

With the current General Assembly term expiring at the end of the month, the bill may not have much chance of getting by this time around without a last-minute burst of legislative support. Along with its bipartisan sponsors, Senate Minority Leader Nickie Antonio, D-Lakewood, and state Sen. Steve Huffman, R-Tipp City, the bill only has 10 cosponsors signed on in support.

Any bills that aren’t approved by the end of the month will need to be reintroduced and restart the legislative process in the new year.

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___________

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.

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Dec 11, 2024
Jewish groups, Ohio Attorney General, support bill to define anti-semitism

The Ohio Holocaust and Liberators Monument is seen on the Statehouse grounds. (Photo courtesy of the official Ohio Statehouse website.)

By: Susan Tebben – Ohio Capital Journal

Religious groups and advocates across the state signaled their support for a bill that would cement a definition of anti-semitism into Ohio law.

In a recent meeting of the Ohio Senate Judiciary Committee, state-level and national groups praised Senate Bill 297, a GOP-led bill that was introduced in June.

S.B. 297 seeks to insert a definition of anti-semitism into the Ohio Revised Code, one that was adopted by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance in 2016.

“Antisemitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews,” the definition states. “Rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities.”

The definition is already in use by Ohio’s state agencies, along with departments, boards and commissions, including public colleges and universities, after Gov. Mike DeWine released an executive order in 2022 encouraging its use.

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What the legislation would add is “contemporary examples” identified by the IHRA to support the anti-semitism definition.

“The scope and utility of the IHRA definition lie in the examples it provides, which capture not only traditional anti-Jewish hatred and Holocaust denial but also modern antisemitism that targets the State of Israel based on its Jewish foundations and character,” said William Daroff, the CEO of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, during the Senate Judiciary Committee meeting.

In support of the bill, Daroff cited Anti-Defamation League data, which showed an increase in “antisemitism incidents” of more than 300% since Oct. 7, 2023, when the militant group Hamas attacked Israel, causing the deaths of 1,200 people, including 46 Americans, according to the U.S. Department of State.

“Time and again, time and again, and time and again, especially since October 7, those with responsibility, those with authority to act on incidents, have said ‘I don’t know if this rises to the level of actual antisemitism,’” said Howie Beigelman, president and CEO of Ohio Jewish Communities. “This definition provides that for them.”

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The bill would also expand the criminal offense of “ethnic intimidation” to add “riot and aggravated riot committed by reason of the race, color, religion or national origin of another person or group of persons,” according to an analysis by the Ohio Legislative Service Commission.

Ohio law considers a riot five or more people participating “in a course of disorderly conduct” with certain purposes, such as committing a misdemeanor offense, intimidation of a public official or employee or “to hinder, impede or obstruct the orderly process of administration or instruction at an educational institution.”

A riot rises to the level of “aggravated riot” when a group of five or more people commit or help in the commission of a felony or violent offense, or when a deadly weapon is used.

The state’s chief law officer agreed with those wanting to see the bill passed. Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost submitted written testimony in favor of the measure, saying it is “astonishing that such legislation is necessary in America today, but, sadly, such a definition is needed.”

“The targeting of Jews has consistently been reported as the most likely of all religious groups to be victimized, and the rates of these despicable acts are on the rise,” Yost wrote.

He said the IHRA definition “has become the authoritative definition for use by governments and international organizations across the globe.”

Supporters of the bill also expressed confidence that while the bill would ensure antisemitism is identified in the state, First Amendment rights would still be assured.

“However, when that hatred morphs into a crime or other action covered by a school or work policy, only then can penalties be assessed,” Beigelman said in his testimony to the committee.

In order for the measure to become law, it will need to be passed by the committee, then sent to the floor for approval before the end of the month, which also marks the end of the current General Assembly.

Should the bill not go through before then, it will need to be reintroduced in the new year, and go through the committee process once again.

YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE.

__________

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.

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Dec 7, 2024
Ohio legislators, medical leader fear vaccine hesitancy, health care impacts if RFK Jr. confirmed

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (Photo by Rebecca Noble/Getty Images)

By: Susan Tebben – Ohio Capital Journal

State legislators and medical experts in Ohio are decrying the nomination of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Democratic lawmakers and a leader at the Toledo Lucas County Health Department expressed particular concern over access to health care and the future of vaccination requirements and information.

“I think the question is are you going to trust somebody to run our entire health enterprise in this country who has no scientific background to understand why doctors, nurses, dentists are recommending that we actually do these things,” said Dr. Jonathan Ross, board president for the TLCHD.

State Rep. Michele Grim, D-Toledo, who holds a master’s in public health, said the comments Kennedy, Jr., has made about vaccines in the past makes her nervous about his leadership of a federal medical agency with a multi-billion-dollar budget.

“I know that vaccines save lives,” Grim said during a press conference hosted by Protect Our Care. “We eradicated small pox with vaccines, we almost eradicated polio, but now that is coming back because of the vaccine hesitancy.”

Grim also takes issue with Kennedy’s “arcane” views on HIV/AIDS, something she focused on as part of her public health education. She said the views he’s expressed, are “very problematic in that space.”

Ross, Grim and her fellow state Reps. Terrence Upchurch and Elgin Rogers said they hope the Trump administration will reconsider Kennedy, Jr.’s appointment, but failing that, they urged the U.S. Senate to conduct thorough questioning of the nominee, ultimately stopping the appointment.

“I think that this appointment is probably the most dangerous, because it has a great impact on the public health, not just of the people of Ohio, but everyone in this country,” Upchurch, D-Cleveland said.

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Ross and the legislators are concerned about the state of the overall national health care system with the appointment of Kennedy, Jr., but they see potential problems at the state level as well.

“I think what impacts we’ll see is there could be less funding for our health departments, there could be some vaccine hesitancy, and I think we’ve seen that on the local level and also on the state level,” Grim said.

Ross pointed to the possible reversal of insurance protections for Americans up to age 26 and undoing of Medicaid expansion as issues that could lead to increased health issues, and increased economic issues on top of everything else.

With a loss of coverage in the Medicaid space, and if threats the Trump administration has made previously about repealing the Affordable Care Act come to fruition, crippling medical debt could fall on more and more Americans, leading to bankruptcies, along with unnecessary hospitalizations because of a lack of health coverage.

“Being poor is also very bad for your health,” Ross said.

Rogers, D-Toledo, said the disparities that already exist in health care for communities of color could also get worse with leaders lacking the information they need to make positive change.

“If you have leaders who don’t understand the science, who are willing to ignore the science, they’re going to ignore other factors across the state of Ohio and that impact the people of Ohio who come from the most trying conditions,” Rogers said.

A way forward could include state-level legislative action to protect certain aspects of the health care system that may be impacted by the new administration, and the new appointment. Ross said Medicaid work requirements that were considered in Ohio and federally would not be the way forward, and keeping an eye on efforts to require work as part of the Medicaid eligibility would help preserve the health care landscape.

“People are more likely to be able to work if they have health care coverage, so precluding health care coverage for people who are not working is the opposite of what you want to do,” according to Ross.

The legislators pledged to keep public health at the forefront of the minority caucuses priorities, though they face a tough slog leading a charge in a Statehouse with GOP supermajorities in both chambers.

“I can see a world where there is another effort to attack vaccinations (on the state level),” Upchurch said.

For Grim, whether Kennedy, Jr., is confirmed or not, it’s up to legislators to make sure the public and their fellow legislators know that a loss of Medicaid benefits or any hits to public health would negatively impact all Ohioans, not just a small minority.

“We need to make sure that our caucus is a voice for public health and the benefits of vaccines,” Grim said.

YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE.

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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.

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Dec 3, 2024
Paid family leave benefits Ohio economy as well as families, group says

Thanasis Zovoilis/Getty Images

By: Susan Tebben – Ohio Capital Journal

An Ohio child advocacy group is making a push for paid family leave, one of many that have been made over the years as child care costs continue to rise.

Groundwork Ohio used its newest report to encourage implementation of paid leave policies in a state where the vast majority of residents have jobs that don’t offer paid family leave.

“The benefits are vast, including improved health outcomes for mothers and babies, reduced infant mortality rates and diminished emotional and financial stress,” according to Lynne Gutierrez, president and CEO of Groundwork Ohio.

One of the other types of leave that exists in the U.S. is the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), which provides leave that keeps individuals from losing their jobs for specific family and medical reasons, but that leave is unpaid. Groundwork Ohio’s analysis estimated 8.4 million people, about 5.3% of eligible workers – those in companies with 50 employees or more who have worked for at least a year – use FMLA annually, but also found that FMLA “has significant limitations forcing over 40% of the total U.S. workforce to the fringes of a benefit made accessible due to legal technicalities.”

Under FMLA, “family” is categorized as spouses, children and parents, but excludes “modern families and LGBTQ+ populations,” the study stated.

To fill the gaps in FMLA coverage, the report argued support for paid family leave should be taken up by state legislatures to not only support families in better ways, but also to bring the U.S. up to par with other countries. Currently, the U.S. is one of only six countries globally without national paid maternity leave, according to Groundwork, an “abysmally far cry from the average 29 weeks of paid maternity leave sanctified in most other countries.”

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“In the absence of a functioning paid leave insurance system, U.S. workers are likely to repurpose earned vacation or sick time for family and health care reasons, leading to increased burnout, turnover and poorer mental health outcomes,” the study stated.

The paid family leave gaps come amid a child care landscape that is also considered inaccessible and unaffordable to many in Ohio and across the country.

Some state legislatures have already taken steps to fill the paid leave gap, with 21 states and D.C. enacting paid leave laws in 2023.

A study of state-level programs conducted by the National Partnership for Women & Families in 2023 found improved labor force participation, less need for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) or other public assistance programs, and improvements in health outcomes for children and parents.

“People’s access to paid leave should not depend on where they live or work or what kind of job they hold,” the NPWF stated. “The success of paid family and medical leave programs at the state level demonstrates that there is an effective, affordable and proven model that works for families, businesses and the economy.”

Ohio’s economy could see boosts with the implementation of paid leave policies, according to Groundwork’s analysis. A full-time employee in Ohio gives up about $3,100 in income if they take one month of unpaid leave.

“If women in Ohio could participate in the labor force at the same rate as women in countries with paid leave policies, the state would see approximately $3.9 billion more in wages statewide, simultaneously boosting the state economy and helping to stabilize families,” the study stated.

Citing Federal Reserve estimates, the research stated Ohio’s overall GDP would have been $67 billion higher between 2005 and 2019 “if gender and racial wealth gaps were closed.”

YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE.

_______________

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.

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Nov 1, 2024