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Tag: Susan Tebben

  • K-12 advocates react to Ohio Senate’s state budget proposal

    K-12 advocates react to Ohio Senate’s state budget proposal

    Getty Images

    BY:  – Ohio Capital Journal

    Public and private education supporters had a mixed bag of reactions to the state budget proposal released by the Ohio Senate GOP on Tuesday.

    Public school advocates criticized the bill’s provisions making private school vouchers almost universal at 450% of the federal poverty level, allowing those who may be able to pay for the private education to be eligible for scholarships.

    “Paying private school tuition for wealthy families is not a good use of our education dollars, especially when the state is still trying to accomplish the full and fair public school funding that is required by Ohio’s constitution,” Ohio Federation of Teachers president Melissa Cropper said after the budget draft was released.

    Ohio Senate GOP leadership proclaimed that “significant reforms” were on the horizon in education policy, with Senate President Matt Huffman saying the new education budget would bring “the results our parents should expect for their children’s education.”

    Senate Republicans said school districts would receive “at least the level of state aid they received this school year,” and Senate Finance Committee Chair Matt Dolan, R-Chagrin Falls, touted the increase of the minimum state share of instruction from 5% to 10%,  but certain “guarantees” would be eliminated in the current education funding formula.

    One of those eliminated guarantees would be $106.8 million to 36 districts, which paid residents for private school scholarships.

    “The state now directly funds students where they are educated making this giveaway a wasteful use of taxpayer funds,” an announcement on the budget stated.

    Those direct funds will be distributed on a sliding scale based on income if the budget bill passes as written, but the eligibility level in the proposal stands at an annual income of $135,000 for a family of four.

    “Every student in Ohio will be eligible for a scholarship worth at least 10% of the maximum scholarship regardless of income,” Senate GOP leaders said in a release.

    The full scholarship would award $6,165 for K-8 students and $8,407 for high school students.

    Senate Minority Leader Nickie Antonio, D-Lakewood, used her initial reaction to the budget proposal to discredit changes made to the private school vouchers.

    “A program that was intended to help low-income children could now subsidize wealthy families to continue to send their children to private schools,” Antonio said in a statement. “Our caucus will be spending the next few days digging into the details to follow the money.”

    One thing the budget won’t be paying for under the Senate’s budget proposal is an expansion of a statewide free breakfast and lunch program. The House inserted a provision to make school meals free for anyone whose household income qualified them for free or reduced meals, considered a small win by school nutritionists who asked for completely universal school meals.

    In the Senate version, that provision has been removed.

    Many of those who dislike the education parts of the budget proposal spoke out against Senate Bill 1, legislation that would restructure the Ohio Department of Education to become the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce (DEW), and work within the governor’s office under two deputy directors, one for primary and secondary education, and another for workforce development.

    The bill, and the provision now in the budget draft, “transfers most of the powers and duties of the State Board of Education and the Superintendent of Public Instruction to the DEW,” according to budget documents.

    The State Board of Ed and the state superintendent would retain power “regarding educator licensure, licensee disciplinary actions, school district territory transfers and certain other areas,” the budget proposal states.

    Odds are opponents will be back to decry the inclusion of SB 1’s language in the new budget. Cropper said including the restructure would be “too big of a reorganization to shove through as part of a budget bill.”

    “It deserves more attention and a more thoughtful, deliberative legislative process,” according to Cropper.

    The same message was sent by opponents of the bill in the last General Assembly, when that version of the restructuring came late in the GA session, and died as the lame duck session ended.

    It reappeared at the beginning of the year, and has been going through the committee process in the last few months.

    Some right-wing groups praised the education provisions of the budget, with the Thomas B. Fordham Institute complimenting the preservation of third-grade retention and the expansion of vouchers. The group also said the Senate version has “taken another step towards a more coherent and accountable governance system,” referring to SB 1, which they have supported.

    “Greater parent empowerment, accountable school systems and strong evidence-based literacy policies can only help increase student achievement,” said Fordham’s Ohio research director, Aaron Churchill.

    The Buckeye Institute’s Greg R. Lawson called the proposal “a significant step toward putting students first,” with the plan to universalize private school vouchers and improve charter school funding.

    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.

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  • Bipartisan sponsors, advocates: Support Ohio bill improving pregnancy, housing, infant services

    Bipartisan sponsors, advocates: Support Ohio bill improving pregnancy, housing, infant services

    BY:  – Ohio Capital Journal

    The state’s operating budget is showing progress in the areas of infant supports, including a housing pilot program to benefit pregnant people and even doula services, but a bipartisan duo in the Ohio House wants to do better.

    State Reps. Andrea White, R-Kettering, and Latyna Humphrey, D-Columbus, joined with advocacy groups on Tuesday to talk about House Bill 7, with supporters heading straight to a proponent hearing immediately following the press conference on the bill.

    White and Humphrey introduced the bill to the House Families and Aging Committee on April 25, but as the budget process continues with various appropriations showing up and being revised from the governor’s initial executive proposal, White said it’s important to keep up with funding, especially when it comes to Ohio’s infants and mothers.

    “Ohio’s doing very well, but we’re not going to accept no for an answer,” White said.

    HB 7 has provisions to support doula services, pregnancy and postpartum individuals, children and families in poverty, early intervention, child care, a cost savings study for the Medicaid program and the Head Start Program.

    “The initiatives in this bill will support and empower families … and establish systemic changes that will remove barriers to services and reduce administrative burden to both programs and the state,” said Julie Stone, executive director of the Ohio Head Start Association.

    The legislators and groups supporting the legislation pointed to widely reported statistics showing Ohio as one of the lowest-succeeding in the country when it comes to infant mortality, with 1 out of 150 babies unable to live to see their first birthday, and the infant mortality rate at 14.1 per 1,000 births for Black babies in Ohio, and 5.5 per 1,000 for white babies.

    “In this case, if we do not invest now, there will not be an opportunity, for many, for us to pay later because we are losing too many lives,” White said.

    Improving supports for the doula program in Ohio has been an ongoing struggle, with various bills attempting to bring funding to the effort, including one currently sitting in the Ohio Senate.

    In HB 7, like similar legislation attempted in the past, the Ohio Board of Nursing would be required to establish a registry of certified doulas, a Doula Advisory Board would be established within the board of nursing, and the Department of Medicaid would house a program to cover doula services through a Medicaid provider agreement.

    Doula programs have frequently asked for Medicaid reimbursement to be a part of the resources they can access, since many programs are using their own funds or that of donors to provide pregnancy-related services and education.

    “The doula programs are clearly one of the more outstanding programs we have seen in this nation,” said Angela Dawson, executive director for the Ohio Commission on Minority Health.

    The doula programs already work to improve pregnancy outcomes throughout the state with 12 “infant mortality hubs” funded throughout the state as well, according to Dawson. But full investment into doula services could actually end up saving the state money through avoidance of complications in pregnancy, and raising the state’s ranking when it comes to infant mortality.

    “The reality is that Ohio has never achieved the infant mortality goal for African American babies, we have an opportunity before us … let our vote prepare the state for the children,” Dawson said.

    The current draft of the budget, which is still up for approval in the Ohio Senate, includes $16 million in funding for the Healthy Beginnings at Home program, a research study that tests the impacts of rental assistance and housing services on infant mortality.

    Under HB 7, the program would receive $15 million more in fiscal year 2024 “to support stable housing initiatives for pregnant mothers and to improve maternal and infant health outcomes,” according to an analysis by the Legislative Service Commission, and $1 million in both 2024 and 2025 for the Move to Prosper program, “which makes affordable rental housing available in neighborhoods that offer access to opportunities.”

    Amy Riegel, executive director of the Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio, said the funding would allow them to expand the study to more areas in the state, and “make it a statistically significant study that can be replicated” nationally.

    ___________________

    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.

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  • Child care advocates, chamber of commerce urge reconsideration of budget

    Child care advocates, chamber of commerce urge reconsideration of budget

    Photo courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

    BY:  – Ohio Capital Journal

    Policy and business advocates alike are hoping the Ohio legislature will reconsider changes to the state budget with regard to the child care workforce and scholarships.

    The House revised the budget bill last week, eliminating $150 million in American Rescue Plan funds that were a part of the governor’s executive budget proposal to establish a child care scholarship for “critical occupations and other direct service professionals,” according to the budget analysis by the Legislative Service Commission.

    The scholarships would have been awarded to those with household incomes at or below 200% of the federal poverty level.

    Even the Ohio Chamber of Commerce jumped on board with support for scholarships in testimony on the state budget last week. The chamber’s senior vice president, former Republican legislator Rick Carfagna, called child care “one of the biggest workforce dynamics of late.”

    “The Ohio Chamber urges this committee to reconsider funding for child care scholarships and to increase infant and toddler child care capacity in communities throughout the state,” Carfagna said in his testimony.

    According to the chamber, more than half of rural Ohioans and 39% of all Ohioans live in a “child care desert,” defined as an area where more than 50 children younger than 5 have no child care providers or any area where there are three times as many children as licensed child care slots.

    Carfagna said the chamber supported increasing the poverty level eligibility for publicly funded childcare, which would be raised to 160% under the budget, as an expansion that would strengthen Ohio’s employee base.

    “However, we caution of the access bottlenecks in place as Ohio still lacks a corresponding increase in provider workforce to accommodate the FPL increase and follow proper ratios,” Carfagna testified.

    The ARPA funding would have also been directed toward efforts to “increase access to licensed child care programs for infants and toddlers and streamline administrative efficiency of the child care program,” the governor’s proposal stated.

    “If lawmakers don’t support child care professionals, child care providers will continue to struggle to recruit and retain staff and Ohio will remain unable to meet the child care needs of our families,” said Policy Matters Ohio executive director Hannah Halbert after the substitute budget bill was announced.

    The Cleveland based preschool and child care advocacy group PRE4CLE sees the $150 million funding as a vital step in not only bringing in needed child care workers, but keeping them around.

    “We have many child care centers with classrooms that can’t open (because of staffing shortages),” said Katie Kelly, PRE4CLE executive director. “There are waiting lists in the hundreds of families for centers … it’s causing incredible disruptions for families.”

    For families, that could mean not taking jobs due to a lack of child care, something that has an outsized impact on women, according to Kelly.

    For children, it could mean slower development and longterm impacts on their education.

    “Children who have access to quality child care … have a much greater chance of starting kindergarten ready to succeed,” Kelly told the OCJ.

    Not only do advocates like Kelly hope to see the return of the $150 million child care investment in Ohio’s budget, but also another $75 million to support grants that would help the state’s child care workforce, “which faces an ongoing crisis that makes it hard to hire and retain child care workers.”

    _________________________

    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.

    MORE FROM AUTHOR

  • In GOP flip, August special election will return

    In GOP flip, August special election will return

    Voters casting ballots. | Mario Tama/Getty Images

    Bill, along with SJR 2 constitutional amendment bill, directly impact abortion rights ballot initiative

    BY:  – Ohio Capital Journal

    Less than half a year after proclaiming August elections to be too expensive for the turnout they attract, the Senate Republican majority expanded the use of a special election this year, complete with $20 million in funding.

    “This is legislative whiplash, and we do it really well here in Columbus,” said state Sen. Kent Smith, D-Euclid.

    In a mostly party-line vote, Senate Bill 92 was passed Wednesday by the body. The only Republican to vote against SB 92 was state Sen. Nathan Manning, R-North Ridgeville.

    The vote came immediately after the state senate also passed an increase in the threshold for passing a constitutional amendment from 50% to 60% along party lines.

    The threshold bill, SJR 2, is a companion bill to HJR 1, which has been making its way through the Ohio House, but has yet to come up for a floor vote. The House resolution passed its committee after three hours of testimony on Wednesday, most of which spoke in opposition to the bill.

    Both bills could lead to a ballot measure where voters would approve or deny a constitutional amendment to raise that threshold.

    With the approval of SB 92, August special elections will now be held “for consideration of a General Assembly proposed constitutional amendment,” to fill a congressional vacancy or hold a special primary for congressional party candidates.

    The bill also appropriates $20 million to conduct “a one-time August special election on August 8, 2023,” a funding influx made while the bill was in committee.

    That August election would be to send a constitutional voter threshold to the ballot for voters to approve an legislature-initiated amendment to raise the threshold from 50% to 60%.

    Republicans pushed back on comparisons between previous August elections, including last year’s that saw an abysmal 8% turnout, with the argument that this time around, voters will care.

    “With this being a bonafide, statewide question, and with it being an important question … I would say the turnout is going to be markedly higher in this August election,” McColley told his colleagues on the Senate floor.

    The legislative measures seem to be direct hits at a potential constitutional amendment that would codify abortion rights if it makes it to the ballot box and is approved by voters in November. Abortion rights advocates are currently collecting the needed signatures. State law currently requires more than 400,000 in 44 of the 88 states.

    One of the pro-abortion rights groups helping with the ballot measure, Pro-Choice Ohio, called the passage of SB 92 “both expected and incredibly disappointing” in a post on Twitter.

    Last year, after redistricting confusion rocked the legislature, Republicans all-but eliminated the August election in a move that they said would save the state money and get rid of an unneeded annual election date that historically had low voter turnout.

    In August of last year, the special primary election included statehouse races because the redistricting maps were rejected by the Ohio Supreme Court before they could be included in the May election. A U.S. District Court then intervened in the legal snarl that swept up the redistricting process, and allowed the state to use a map previously deemed unconstitutional by the Ohio Supreme Court as the map for the August primary.

    That map is still in effect currently.

    Speaking in opposition for SB 92, state Sen. William DeMora, D-Columbus, quoted Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose who spoke in support of reducing August special election usage last year, when he said they “aren’t good for taxpayers, election officials, voters or the civic health of our state.”

    “(SB 92) is so bad that (LaRose) Secretary LaRose couldn’t even find the time to come and testify about it in committee,” DeMora said.

    State Sen. Theresa Gavarone, R-Bowling Green, said claims that the August special elections were eliminated last year was an exaggerated claim.

    “We’re not reinventing the wheel on this legislation,” Gavarone said, pointing out that certain occasions allowed for an August special election.

    SB 92 now moves to the House for consideration.

    _____________________

    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.

    MORE FROM AUTHOR

  • Ohio Ballot Board fights back against abortion amendment lawsuit

    Ohio Ballot Board fights back against abortion amendment lawsuit

    Voters casting ballots. | Mario Tama/Getty Images

    BY:  – Ohio Capital Journal

    The Ohio Ballot Board submitted its comments to the Ohio Supreme Court, pushing back against claims they abused their power in verifying a proposed abortion amendment to the state constitution.

    The Ohio Attorney General’s Office wrote a brief on behalf of the ballot board, saying its members “correctly refused to usurp the people’s power by splitting the petition … into multiple amendments.”

    The lawsuit, filed on behalf of two members of Cincinnati Right to Life, argued that the amendment contains more than one constitutional issue, therefore should be split, and should not have been unanimously approved by the ballot board.

    The ballot board’s OK allowed pro-abortion rights groups to move forward with signature collection, in which they must collect more than 400,000 valid voter signatures by July 5.

    Because the proposed amendment mentions reproductive health and abortion, attorney Curt Hartman argued the ballot measure involved two different issues, a claim pro-abortion rights groups and the Ohio Ballot Board members deny.

    “The weakness of (Right to Life members Margaret DeBlase and John Giroux’s) claim is best exemplified by their failure to argue how many proposed amendments are supposedly included within the petition and what those amendments are,” Assistant Attorney General Julie Pfeiffer wrote on behalf of the ballot board.

    The ballot board is made up of legislative members, citizens, and the Ohio Secretary of State, who chairs the board. Currently, the legislative members are state Sen. Theresa Gavarone, R-Bowling Green; state Sen. Paula Hicks-Hudson, D-Toledo; and state Rep. Elliot Forhan, D-South Euclid.

    Secretary of State Frank LaRose is the chair, and Stoutsville resident William Morgan completes the board.

    One of the arguments made in the lawsuit is that no discussion was held when the board met to consider the amendment. LaRose asked for discussion before he asked for a vote, and none happened.

    Gavarone was the only one to make a comment, speaking against the amendment, but voting yes to the move, calling it a “procedural” vote.

    “(Giroux and DeBlase) fail to show how any alleged failure by the ballot board members to conduct a fulsome discussion amongst themselves before voting to certify the proposed amendment led to a decision that was ‘unreasonable, arbitrary or unconscionable,” the AG’s office wrote in defense of the board.

    LaRose made several comments during the meeting explaining that the vote did not represent any comments on the merits of the initiative, and instructed the public not to speak on the merits, as the vote was only to decide whether the measure only involved one constitutional issue.

    In response to the lawsuit, Pfeiffer brought up Giroux, who spoke during the public comment portion of the meeting. Giroux called the amendment “intentionally unjust and misleading,” but he “did not offer any specific proposal splitting up the petition or further opine as to the number or content of the separate amendments contained therein,” the board argued to the court.

    The ballot board did not need to analyze facts in the case, Pfeiffer argued, only whether the petition contains one amendment “on the face of the document.”

    ____________________________

    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.

    MORE FROM AUTHOR

  • Ohio Ballot Board sued over approval of proposed abortion rights constitutional amendment

    Ohio Ballot Board sued over approval of proposed abortion rights constitutional amendment

    Gavel,” a sculpture by Andrew F. Scott, outside the Supreme Court of Ohio. Credit: Sam Howzit / Creative Commons.

    Meanwhile, Ohio Senate president eyes August for proposal to raise threshold for voters to pass constitutional amendments

    BY: SUSAN TEBBEN – Ohio Capital Journal

    A new lawsuit claims the Ohio Ballot Board made the wrong call when they approved the validity of a constitutional amendment proposal on abortion.

    In the lawsuit, filed this week with the Ohio Supreme Court, Cincinnati attorney Curt Hartman asks the court to demand the ballot board vacate their March 13 decision, in which they said the proposed ballot language to cement abortion rights in the Ohio Constitution attempts to make changes to only one constitutional issue.

    The lawsuit also wants the state Ballot Board to “issue a determination that the foregoing initiative petition contains more than one proposed amendment to the Ohio Constitution,” divide the petition into separate initiatives and certify those with the Ohio Attorney General.

    To prove the separate issues, the lawsuit cites the overturned legalization of abortion in Roe v. Wade, in which abortion was described as “inherently different” than other personal rights. Because abortion is “inherently different,” parties in the lawsuit argue it represents a different issue than “one’s own reproductive decisions,” which is part of the ballot initiative, therefore “does not and cannot relate to a single general object or purpose.”

    The lawsuit acknowledges in a footnote that supporters of the ballot initiative “have not, to date, provided any explanation of the distinction between a decision concerning ‘continuing one’s own pregnancy’ versus concerning ‘abortion.’

    Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost saw the initiative before the board, and certified the amendment proposal in a separate process. In his letter confirming that the proposal could then move on to the ballot board, Yost made his own comments on the issue.

    “I cannot base my determination on the wisdom or folly of a proposed amendment as a matter of public policy,” Yost wrote in his letter on the amendment proposal.

    The lawsuit now sets the state, specifically Yost, up to defend the decision of the ballot board, despite any personal feelings he may have on the initiative itself.

    The board made no decisions on the merits of the issue, though state Sen. Theresa Gavarone, R-Bowling Green, made a point to speak out against the issue during the board meeting, saying she was “horrified at the thought of this amendment.”

    Hartman is representing Margaret DeBlase and John Giroux, both members of the Cincinnati Right to Life. Giroux spoke during the Ohio Ballot Board meeting.

    “If this is about one issue, this amendment is about abortion, and that’s plain and simple,” Giroux told the board. “They want to advance abortion in our state constitution.”

    In the lawsuit, Hartman argues there was “absolutely no discussion or debate whatsoever” by the members of the board, other than Gavarone’s comments.

    Parties challenging the decision say the ballot board’s action, or lack thereof, “constitutes an abuse of discretion and/or an act in clear disregard of applicable legal provisions.”

    The Ohio Supreme Court has not decided whether or not they will accept the lawsuit for review.

    Pro-abortion rights groups are facing a July 5 deadline to gather signatures in support of placing the petition on the ballot in November. That deadline might also lie in the shadow of an August special election now, with Senate President Matt Huffman expressing interest in placing a measure on the ballot that month to increase the threshold needed to amend the constitution by changing it to 50% plus one vote to 60%.

  • Strategies emerge as abortion rights fight ramps up

    Strategies emerge as abortion rights fight ramps up

    BY: SUSAN TEBBEN – Ohio Capital Journal

    As abortion rights groups prepare to collect the amount of signatures needed to place a constitutional amendment on the ballot, anti-abortion rights groups may have shed light on statements they plan to use against the initiative.

    In three separate press releases sent by anti-abortion groups after the Ohio Attorney General approved proposed amendment language, the issue of parental rights came out in strikingly similar fashion as they spoke out against the measure.

    “If passed, it would cancel parental rights and measures in place to protect young girls; basic health and safety protections for women would be wiped out,” Ohio Right to Life CEO Peter Range was quoted as saying in a Thursday statement.

    “If passed, this amendment would cancel parental rights and measures in place to protect young girls; basic health and safety protections for women would be wiped out,” read a statement attributed to Mark Harrington, president of Created Equal.

    “It completely abolishes current Ohio law guaranteeing parental involvement before any abortion is performed on their minor daughter,” said religious lobby Center for Christian Virtue’s Ruth Edmonds, also in an email statement.

    The summary and proposed amendment approved by the Ohio AG does not mention minors or parental consent among the issues to be changed in Article I of the Ohio Constitution.

    “Every individual has a right to make and carry out one’s own reproductive decisions, including but not limited to decisions on contraception, fertility treatment, continuing one’s own pregnancy, miscarriage care and abortion,” the first part of the proposal states.

    The amendment would bar the state from doing anything to “directly or indirectly burden, penalize, prohibit, interfere with, or discriminate against either an individual’s voluntary exercise of this right or a person … unless the State demonstrates that it is using the least restrictive means to advance the individual’s health in accordance with widely accepted and evidence-based standards of care.”

    The anti-abortion groups did not specify how they came to the conclusion that parental consent was in danger with the proposed amendment.

    The issue could stem from a long-standing legal option called judicial bypass, in which a minor can get a judge to sign off on an abortion if the judge deems the minor to be “sufficiently mature and well enough informed to decide intelligently ” to consent to an abortion.

    The Ohio Supreme Court rules on judicial bypass went into effect in 2015.

    Yost’s two cents

    Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost threw his opinion in the mix in a notification to attorneys that the amendment summary language was approved on March 2. Yost emphasized his statutory duty to objectively review ballot initiatives, all while mentioning his personal views, publicly known to be against abortion.

    “I cannot base my determination on the wisdom or folly of a proposed amendment as a matter of public policy,” Yost wrote.

    The attorney general continued his letter with paragraphs about the rule of law and requirements that attorneys general use “a narrow law to make a decision about the truthfulness of a summary.”

    “In this matter, I am constrained by a duty to rule upon a narrow question, not to use the authority of my office to effect a good policy, or to impede a bad one,” the letter stated.

    The statements were abnormal for a certification statement coming out of Yost’s office. Since 2020, 12 initiative petitions (some of which were resubmissions) have been certified by the AG’s office, with issues ranging from medical rights, marijuana regulation, elections, and wage increases.

    None of the other certifications stretching back to 2020 included mentions of Yost’s personal opinion on the matter, or examinations of the attorney general’s duties. Those certifications were one-page approvals, specifying the Ohio Revised Code articles relevant to petition certification and a short certification statement.

    In concluding the letter affirming the certification of the abortion rights petition, Yost said included another warning to petition creators.

    “Indeed, there are significant problems with the proposed amendment, and if adopted it will not end the long-running litigation on this topic, but simply transform it,” he wrote.

  • Ohio child labor hours could change under State Senate bill

    Ohio child labor hours could change under State Senate bill

    BY: SUSAN TEBBEN – Ohio Capital Journal

    A bill to allow children to work later hours was passed through an Ohio Senate committee Thursday with bipartisan support.

    Senate Bill 30, which passed the committee after three hearings and with no testimony against the bill, would allow a 14 or 15-year-old to work until 9 p.m. year round. Current law prohibits the later hours during the school year.

    An amendment made to the bill during a recent hearing in the Senate Workforce & Higher Education Committee requires a “minor work hour notification form” to be signed by a parent or legal guardian.

    State Sen. Catherine Ingram, D-Cincinnati, proposed the amendment as a way to make sure parents are away of the changes and activities of their children.

    “I think it’s a good thing (to extend the hours), kids are probably hanging out, playing games until 9 o’clock,” Ingram said. “But I don’t want us to take advantage of the fact that these are 14, 15-year-olds.”

    State Sen. Bill Reineke, R-Tiffin, did not object to the amendment, but said parental guidance isn’t always a good thing when it comes to children working.

    “I am concerned about that, in the long term, those kids who really want to do something with their lives, want to get a job, can still do it, even if they can’t get their parents to cooperate with them,” Reineke said.

    A Dairy Queen franchisee, Michael Todd, testified in support of the bill this week, saying many of the applications he receives are from the age group targeted by SB 30. He called the bill a “rare win-win-win.”

    “By giving Ohio’s 14 and 15-year-olds the choice to work until 9 p.m. during the school year, you give Ohio’s businesses a larger pool to provide jobs,” Todd said.

    The teens would still be required to obtain a work permit from the superintendent of their school district or the chief administrative officer for a nonpublic or community school they attend.

    The permit must include commitment from the employer to employ the child during hours as prescribed by law and to allow the minor to attend school. It must also include proof of the minor’s age and a certificate from a health care provider verifying the child’s fitness to work.

    The bill passed the committee, along with a joint concurrent resolution asking the federal government to change the Fair Labor Standards Act with regard to child labor.

    Currently, the federal law bars 14 and 15-year-olds from working past 7 p.m., except during summer months, between June 1 and Labor Day.

    SCR 2 urges Congress to change that rule, allowing anyone under the age of 16 to work from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. during the school year., matching SB 30’s language.

    The resolution argued the need for the change based on job losses from the COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing staffing shortages. Ohio, the resolution states, lost nearly about 900,000 jobs as of April 2020 and still has 105,000 jobs to recover.

    It states teenage workers “are becoming a larger portion of the United States workforce” and expanding their hours could help business owners “more quickly return to regular operations.”

    SCR 2 also passed with bipartisan support. Both SB 30 and SCR 2 now move to the full Senate for approval.

  • Ohio Senate passes education department overhaul

    Ohio Senate passes education department overhaul

    BY: SUSAN TEBBEN – Ohio Capital Journal

    The Ohio Senate passed a bill to overhaul the administration of the state’s education system in a Wednesday vote along party lines.

    The 26-7 party-line vote on Senate Bill 1 came with fierce urgency from GOP supporters that the chances must be completed to improve the way in which education is led in the state.

     State Sen. Andrew Brenner, R-Powell. Official photo.

    Senate Education Committee chair Sen. Andrew Brenner, R-Delaware, complimented the State Board of Education members for being hardworking people with good intentions for the state education system.

    “Yet the structure they find themselves in is sluggish and incapable of getting through the bureaucracies,” Brenner said on the Senate floor.

    Democratic opposition questioned the motives, but also the speed at which the measure was pushed through the chamber, claiming the true intent of the bill hasn’t yet been teased out.

    Senate Education Committee ranking member Sen. Catherine Ingram, D-Cincinnati, said spotlighting districts at the bottom of state report cards or test scores only points to a greater problem not addressed by SB 1.

    “When you continue to point to the lowest achieving districts, unfortunately you are continuing to point to those children who have been left behind all along,” Ingram said.

    After multiple hearings in the last General Assembly and in the current one that included hours of testimony against the bill, Ingram said she fears the desires of the public, and elected school boards in each district, will be overlooked if the bill becomes law.

    “We continue to talk about how we listen to the people,” Ingram said. “I don’t buy it.”

    If SB 1 moves on to be passed by the GOP-majority House, it will change the Ohio Department of Education to the Department of Education and Workforce, and create a new leadership position not under the purview of the Ohio State Board of Education, but under the governor’s cabinet.

    Two deputy directors, one for primary and secondary education and another for workforce, would also be created under the bill.

    If passed, the transfer of duties to the new leadership would happen six months after the bill’s passage.

    The bill would reduce the Ohio State Board of Education’s powers to include hiring a new superintendent of public instruction and dealing with district-level territorial and licensure issues.

    In the Senate Education Committee, several amendments were made, for the most part by Republican legislators.

    Amendments added to the bill before it’s full Senate passage changed the implementation date of the proposed law, taking it from June 30, 2023, to 90 days after full General Assembly passage.

    The committee also adopted an amendment that would allow the superintendent of public instruction to serve as an advisor to the heads of the new department, which was originally a requirement in the bill.

    A Democratic amendment adopted requires the Senate Education Committee to hold at least one in-person meeting before approving a director or deputy director for DEW.

    Scott DiMauro, of the Ohio Education Association, agreed that the bill’s true aim is unclear at this point.

    “I’m still not seeing exactly how restructuring the department get to what are ultimately policy decisions and support decisions,” DiMauro said. “It raises questions about what the impact of this will be.”

    DiMauro said he hopes the House consideration will include changes to ensure a voice for educators and the public.

    “I hope that whatever happens with this whole issue of any kind of restructuring … wherever Senate Bill 1 ends up, that lawmakers are not losing sight of a larger purpose,” he said.

    The bill came back to the Senate hastily after the lame-duck effort last year was rejected at the last minute. Senate President Matt Huffman pledged after the effort went down to bring it back as quickly as possible.

    When asked what he sees as the direct impact of SB 1, Huffman said it would “allow greater opportunity for reforms” and the “ability to act on specific problems.”

    “When I have district meetings, and folks ask me questions and I can’t get the current answer,” Huffman said. “I know that I’m going to be able to get a better answer now.”

    SB 1 now moves to the House for committee consideration.

  • Study shows uninsured children could increase with loss of pandemic-era coverage

    Study shows uninsured children could increase with loss of pandemic-era coverage

    Getty Images.

    “As we begin the process of redetermining eligibility for the first time in three years, we must pay particular attention to children’s needs to minimize the number of children who lose coverage.”

    Kelly Vyzral

    BY: SUSAN TEBBEN – Ohio Capital Journal

    A new study warns of a sharp rise in uninsured children in Ohio and across the country if pandemic-era coverage is allowed to fade away.

    The Georgetown University Health Policy Institute’s Center for Children and Families studied the impact of the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) and Medicaid on bringing down state’s uninsured rate, finding that it “proved to be a critical lifeline for more than half of the nation’s children during the pandemic.”

    Now that a March 2020 provision increasing the federal contribution to state Medicaid programs while requiring states to maintain continuous coverage for Medicaid patients during the COVID-19 public health emergency will be going away, the number of children falling under those protections will also be decreasing.

    “These children are at grave risk of losing coverage inappropriately in states that do not handle the renewal process with the utmost care,” the study stated.

    Because of a loss of income eligibility and “bureaucratic snafus,” the study estimates up to 6.7 million children in the U.S. will lose coverage because of the “unwinding” of pandemic-era programs, scheduled to happen on April 1.

    “The uninsured rate for children could easily more than double if states have inadequate staffing levels and overwhelmed call centers and do not take the time and care needed to properly conduct eligibility checks after the federal protections lift,” the study stated.

    From February 2020 to August 2022, Ohio saw a 26.7% increase in Medicaid and CHIP enrollment, ranking them 29th in the nation based on data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. The share of enrollment made up by children in Ohio was 25.6%.

    “As we begin the process of redetermining eligibility for the first time in three years, we must pay particular attention to children’s needs to minimize the number of children who lose coverage,” Kelly Vyzral, senior health policy associate for the Children’s Defense Fund-Ohio, said in response to the study.

    The Children’s Defense Fund-Ohio said nearly half of children in Ohio are covered by Medicaid and other public health insurance programs. The study showed 54% of all American children are covered by Medicaid of CHIP.

    Ohio already has the 12-month continuous Medicaid and CHIP child eligibility for those under age 19 recommended by the study to mitigate losses and gaps in coverage.

    Continuous eligibility protects parents who see an increase in income during a 12-month period from losing child Medicaid or CHIP coverage.

    Ohioans should verify contact information with local benefits offices or through the Medicaid patient portal to avoid cancellation of child insurance, Vyzral said.

    Ohio must complete Medicaid eligibility checks by May 2024.