Press

"The House budget throws the Fair School Funding Plan out the window, pulling the rug out from students and from districts that need a reliable source of funding to make long term plans. While Rep. Stewart claims that the state can’t afford full and fair school funding, the House budget proposal would direct more public dollars toward a new voucher for non-chartered, private schools which follow practically no state guidelines on student safety or academics."

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“Every Ohio student, no matter what they look like or how they identify, deserves respect and an equal opportunity. HB 68, particularly the ban on allowing trans students to participate in sports teams with their gender, flies in the face of this goal by writing discrimination into the law and targeting some of Ohio’s most vulnerable students."

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The Ohio Federation of Teachers sent the following letter to Ohio Auditor of State Keith Faber in response to his office's actions to investigate school district spending on voucher litigation. We are asking Auditor Faber to instead investigate the use of public education dollars on union-busting at Ohio charter schools.

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COLUMBUS — Today, a strong majority of educators at KIPP Columbus voted to form their union, KIPP Columbus ACTS (Alliance for Charter Teachers & Staff) in a secret ballot election administered by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). The vote followed a months-long union busting campaign by KIPP Columbus’s administration. The union includes approximately 130 teachers, intervention specialists, social workers, teacher fellows, student life coordinators, and paraprofessionals who work at the four schools on the KIPP Columbus campus (Primary, Elementary, Middle, and High). MORE

Cleveland, OH — The administration at Menlo Park Academy, a K-8 charter school that serves gifted students, has been using public education funds to engage in a union busting campaign. The anti-union campaign, which includes anti-union literature and frivolous legal challenges intended to delay the election, began shortly after 96% of eligible employees supported forming the union and signed union authorization cards. The cards were submitted to the National Labor Relations Board on November 12 and include support from teachers, instructional assistants, instructional aides, one-on-one aides, and other licensed educators.  MORE

COLUMBUS — Today, Franklin County Court of Common Pleas Judge Andy Miller issued a major ruling to protect educators’ voice in the future of the State Teachers Retirement System by granting a temporary restraining order preventing the provisions in the state budget affecting the STRS Board makeup from taking effect until a preliminary injunction hearing is held. This ruling is in response to a lawsuit filed Wednesday by the Ohio Education Association (OEA), the Ohio Federation of Teachers (OFT), and the Ohio Conference of the American Association of University Professors (OC AAUP).

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“Despite clear evidence supporting the safety and effectiveness of the MMR vaccine, too many parents are still opting out—leaving their children and entire communities vulnerable to preventable diseases,” said Rick Lucas, BSN, RN, CCRN, President and Executive Director of the Ohio Nurses Association. “This outbreak is a stark reminder that declining vaccination rates have real and dangerous consequences. Public health depends on all of us doing our part to protect one another.”

Melissa Cropper, President of the Ohio Federation of Teachers, adds, “Every student deserves a safe learning environment when they go to school. Overwhelming evidence shows that vaccination against measles is safe and effective, while the risks of not receiving the vaccine include death or lifelong health impacts.”

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COLUMBUS — Educators at KIPP Columbus filed an unfair labor practice charge this week with the National Labor Relations Board due to management’s decision to unilaterally end a coverage stipend that was in place to cover teachers’ lesson planning times. This action was the latest union-busting tactic in a pattern of intimidation and retaliation that began when educators initially filed for their union election on November 15, 2022. The NLRB has previously found merit in three other unfair labor practice charges filed by educators.

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GRANDVIEW HEIGHTS, OH — Yesterday, the Grandview Heights Public Library voluntarily recognized the union that was recently formed by librarians and library workers. The union’s official recognition was the result of the library declining to request an election after signed union cards from an overwhelming majority of library employees were submitted to library management and the State Employee Relations Board on August 30. The library’s decision saves months of delay and unnecessary legal expenses that would have occurred if the library refused to recognize and forced workers to hold an election. It also allows both sides to immediately begin the bargaining process and work together on a fair contract for librarians and library workers.  MORE

Columbus, OH — Melissa Cropper, President of the Ohio Federation of Teachers, and Scott DiMauro, President of the Ohio Education Association, released the following joint statement in opposition to HB 454, a bill that would ban gender affirming mental and physical healthcare for minors in Ohio. The bill would also prohibit educators and school counselors from keeping students’ feelings about gender identity confidential.  MORE