Education Issues and Professional Development Update - May 2021

Read below for updates on: Ohio’s ESSA Waiver; the Ohio Teacher Leader Summit; the 2021-2023 Teacher Liaison Cohort; I Educate Ohio; Ohio’s new Dyslexia Law; Educator Standards Board; State Board of Education; Gifted Advisory Council; OFT Partnership to Diversify Teaching Profession; and a Cincinnati Public School Honored as a Green Ribbon School.

Fair School Funding

Ohio policymakers must fix the way our state funds public education and ensure every student can attend fully and fairly funded public schools. The Fair Funding Plan will strengthen all our communities, expand opportunities for those who have been excluded, and address the unfair and unconstitutional way our state funds public education.
 
Petition sponsored by Ohio Organizing Collaborative, Policy Matters Ohio, Ohio Education Association, and Ohio Federation of Teachers.

Protect Our Retirement! Elect Ben, Rudy, and Elizabeth to the STRS Board

This year there are three open seats to the State Teacher Retirement System Board, two seats for retiree members and one seat for active members. Elizabeth Jones, Rudy Fichtenbaum, and Ben Pfeiffer are strong advocates for financial transparency and retirement security. Read below about their background and why they are running and help get them on the ballot by downloading a nominations form and sending it back to us before the deadline. 

Finally—it’s President-elect Biden

Patience—counseled by former Vice President Joe Biden all election week as Americans waited for votes to be counted—finally paid off Nov. 7, four days after Election Day, when Biden won in Pennsylvania and gained enough Electoral College votes to acquire a new title: president-elect. AFT President Randi Weingarten says the union’s leaders and members “can’t wait to get started” on the work ahead “with an administration that will embrace and fight for the values we hold dear.”

Your vote is your voice

AFT President Randi Weingarten’s latest column outlines the urgency of using our voices—our votes—in this life-changing election, when we will make a choice “between President Donald Trump, who has trafficked in chaos, fear, lies and division, and former Vice President Joe Biden, who seeks to reverse Trump’s failures on COVID-19 and the economy, and to unite and uplift the American people.” Besides the four crises we face—a pandemic, an economic crisis, racism and a climate emergency—democracy itself is on the ballot, as Trump continues to cast doubt on the legitimacy of the election.