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Register Now for Workshop on Ohio’s Education Reform Plan

There are a few remaining spots for the OFT Union Leadership Institute’s workshop on Ohio’s Education Reform and Funding Plan – What House Bill 1 Means to You. The workshop will be held 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Nov. 14 at the Crown Plaza Columbus North, 6500 Doubletree Ave., Columbus, OH 43229. Lunch will be provided.

All locals are strongly encouraged to send a representative to ensure that they are informed about the changes that will impact every school district and every OFT member. To register, contact Cathy McClelland as soon as possible at cmcclelland@oft-aft.org or 614-258-3240. This workshop is free. OFT will provide materials and lunch.

The workshop will review changes enacted with the passage of House Bill 1, the biennial state budget that included Ohio’s education reform plan - the Evidence Based Model. This will be an informational session focusing on three major areas of the bill: changes in education funding, changes in education policy, and the new licensing system required by the law. This workshop will apply to K-12 locals in particular and will help members understand how these improvements will affect their daily professional lives and raise the quality of education for Ohio’s students.

John Stanford, Governor Strickland's Executive Assistant for Education Policy, will present the ins and outs of the Evidence Based Model, including  how it provides the resources necessary for educators to do their jobs most effectively. Tim Bollin, Educator Standards Board (ESB) member from Toledo, and Julia Simmerer, Director of the Educator Standards Board, will discuss the new licensure system created through HB1. The new licensure system is in the midst of being developed by the ESB to become operational in January 2011. The changes will have significant impact on educators.

Be Part of the Largest Call-in Campaign Ever Organized

Mark your calendar to participate with your union brothers and sisters in the largest call-in day the labor movement has ever organized. AFT is encouraging members to call your U.S. Senators Thursday Nov. 5 to tell them health care reform can’t wait and that any reform must include a public option.

Ohio’s U.S. Senators are split in their support for meaningful health care reform. Sen. Sherrod Brown has committed to supporting a public option. Sen. George Voinovich has not.

If you have time to make just one call, call Sen. Voinovich at 202-224-3353. Tell him that reform must include a public option and must not tax benefits.

The public option is necessary for people who do not have access to health care through an employer. A public plan will provide much needed affordable health care to those who need it. A public plan is simply an option that people will have available to them. If you like the health insurance you have now, you can keep it.

The plan to tax benefits will end up hurting sick and elderly people. As drafted, the taxation on benefits will hit the most expense plans. But most plans are not expensive because they offer lavish coverage, they are expensive because the plan covers a group of people who tend to be more sick and older than other groups. Taxing the benefit taxes sick and old people.

Calls also are needed to thank Sen. Brown (202-224-2315) for his commitment to reform health care with a public option. And to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (202-224-3542) to thank him for standing behind the public option and including it in the final senate health care reform bill.

Governor Appoints OFT President to School Funding Advisory Council

Governor Ted Strickland last week appointed OFT President Sue Taylor to the School Funding Advisory Council. The body was formed to keep Ohio’s new funding model on course. It will be responsible for reviewing the educational adequacy components of Ohio’s school funding model every two years.  

Taylor is a teacher representative on the council with 23 years classroom experience in Cincinnati Public Schools before leading OFT.

She joins Nathan DeRolph who, now a father of two, was the plaintiff in the 1991 lawsuit against the state for failing to provide adequate funding to educate the state's students. The suit resulted in four Ohio Supreme Court rulings that the system of funding for public education was unconstitutional; the Republican-led legislature repeatedly refused to act on the court’s ruling. 

Other Governor appointments to the council: Bill Leibensperger, also appointed as a teacher representative, vice president of the Ohio Education Association; JoAnn Johntony, appointed as a non-teacher, non-administrator representative, is president of the Ohio Association of Public School Employees.  

Among appointments by Senate President Bill Harris was Sen. Tom Sawyer, an expert and strong advocate for equitable funding for education. House Speaker Armond Budish has not yet announced his appointments to the 28-member council.

Ohio Republican Party Requests Home Addresses of Ohio Teachers

Superintendent of Public Instruction Deb Delisle this week alerted education groups that the Ohio Department of Education had received two public records requests for the names and addresses of all educators in the state licensure database. One request came from Diane Chime, a Columbus insurance agent, and the other request came from Danielle Gagliardi with the Ohio Republican Party.

The Ohio Federation of Teachers and numerous other organizations are concerned about privacy and safety when information such as this is released. However, the department conferred with the Ohio Attorney General’s Office which indicated that these records are subject to public disclosure via the state’s open records laws.

Real World Design Challenge Announced

Governor Ted Strickland invites Ohio high school teams of student problem-solvers to take the Real World Design Challenge. The 2010 technological challenge provides opportunities for students to work with professional engineering mentors from across the country, get training and the free use of CAD 3-D engineering design and project communications software as they engage in solving aeronautics and energy use problems. Students will serve on 21st century engineering teams as they design, analyze, model and present their projects.

High school Real World Design Challenge team advisers need to complete a brief registration form by Nov. 16. To register and view a related brochure, visit www.realworlddesignchallenge.org. For more information, contact Dick Dieffenderfer at dick.dieffenderfer@ode.state.oh.us.

Ohio Leadership Advisory Council Forum Registration Opens

A Dec. 4 Ohio Leadership Advisory Council’s (OLAC) Action Forum will help participants learn about free online assessment and learning modules and how to connect the OLAC work to the Ohio Improvement Process (OIP). The forum also will include information about how school districts across the state are incorporating the modules in their school improvement efforts.

The registration deadline is Nov. 20. The Ohio Leadership Advisory Council’s (OLAC) Action Forum will be held 8:30 a.m. – 3:15 p.m. Dec. 4 at the Conference Center at OCLC, 6565 Kilgour Place, Dublin, Ohio 43017-3395.
 

District and building leadership teams of superintendents, district office administrators, principals, teachers, board of education members, Educational Service Center representatives and individual educators are encouraged to attend.
  
To download the registration brochure and register online, visit: www.OhioLeadership.org/Events