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SEOEA e-Pad Online Newsletter
(Vol 1, Issue 3 |
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Greetings!
Defeat Senate Bill 5.
Support Public Employee and Teacher Unions
The future of public employee and teacher unions is currently being attacked by Senate Bill 5 introduced by State Senator Shannon Jones of District 7 in Warren and Hamilton Counties. Somehow the GOP leadership thinks that the current financial mess the state is in is the result of unions and collective bargaining agreements. This bill would strip public employees of collective bargaining rights, increase employee contributions for health care benefits, void continuing contracts, remove salary schedules and replace them with merit based pay or "pay for performance." Reduction in force could be made anywhere a school board decides to make cuts, no matter how long a teacher had been with the district. Teachers would no longer be fired for cause, but for whatever reason the board wants to give. Leave provisions in law that allow teachers 15 sick days would be eliminated, making leave determinations be up to school boards. Severance would be affected by this rule as well. The bill would also no longer allow higher education employees to bargain collectively. Each of us needs to contact our legislators to let them know how we feel about these provisions, their effect upon ourselves, our families, our communities and the students we serve. Encourage friends, neighbors and family members to do likewise. The future of our profession as we know it is at stake. Most of us would agree that changes are needed, but these changes will do very little to produce true cost savings to local governments and schools while delivering a crippling blow to a struggling middle class. A summary of the key provisions in SB 5 may be found here.
First of all, each of us should become an ACE (Advocate for Children and Education. Do so by going to ACES.ohea.org Click on the "I'm Committed to Public Education" link. Click here for talking points for talking or writing to your legislators. A list of senators and representatives from the SEOEA area may be found at the SEOEA website. Our lobbyists are/will be working overtime for us on this issue. Donate to the Fund for Children and Public Education.
Jeff Slattery, SEOEA Communications
Athens EA |
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| Senate Bill 5 Hearings | |
Tuesday, February 15, Proponent Testimony
Thursday, February 17, Opponent testimony |
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Oppose Senate Bill 5
Attend the hearings. Get on Facebook.
Information on how to attend the Senate Insurance, Commerce and Labor Committee hearings may be found here.
Stop Senate Bill 5 is now on Facebook. Click here if the Facebook short link doesn't work. |
 OEA Educator Lobby Days
OEA members and Ohio's students face critical challenges this General Assembly. Ohio faces an $8 billion deficit and at stake are school funding, key education reforms, collective bargaining, and pension benefits.
Now more than ever you must make sure your voice is heard! Educator Lobby Days provide an opportunity to meet with state legislators to discuss key education issues. The following dates are tentative and subject to change due to the legislative calendar.,
March 29, 2011
| April 5, 2011
| April 12, 2011 | May 10, 2011
| May 24, 2011 | June 7, 2011 | | June 14, 2011 | June 21, 2011 | |
Join your colleagues at the OEA Headquarters' Media Center, located at 225 E. Broad Street in Columbus, Ohio at 9 a.m. for an hour-long briefing. We strongly encourage you to schedule your meetings with legislators prior to the lobby day you plan to attend. Registration and information will be forthcoming. For more information contact OEA Governmental Services at 1 800 282 1500 |
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STRS Proposed Changes
Don't Shoot the Messenger (The Board Members)
When the new legislature and governor took over the Statehouse, the STRS Board was charged with coming up with a revised plan for making the fund solvent and were given very specific limitations. The fund must cover all obligations out no more than 30 years (as is already in state law). The plan must not include any additional contributions by employers. Oh, yes, and you must come up with this plan within two weeks. Basically, they had to throw out the September, 2010 plan and start over. If you are unhappy with the plan, contact the legislators who mandated the parameters the board was given using the contact information elsewhere in this newsletter Do also contact the STRS board members with your concerns. Just be aware that they did what they had to do.
Yes there may a few other things that might be done and that should be investigated over time, but the board did the best they could in that short amount of time. OEA is not happy with the plan either and has our lobbyists working to see what other changes could be made to reduce the impact on our members. In short, our members will be working longer for less of a pension. A summary of the proposed changes may be found here. No changes will become effective until the legislature votes them into law. Other changes may be made before the proposal ever leaves committee. Your local leaders should have up to date information available for you. |
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SEOEA Spring Workshop
The SEOEA Spring Workshop will be held on Saturday, March 6 at the Ohio University Inn on Richland Avenue in Athens. Registration will start at 9:30 AM with the workshop beginning at 10:00 AM. Topics will include the "Educator Code of Conduct," Reduction in Force (RIF) rights, the state model evaluation plan, defined benefit vs defined contribution retirement plans and probably a rather lengthy discussion of Senate Bill 5. The workshop fee is $15 which will be refunded following completion of the workshop. We are experimenting with online registration this time along with paper registration. Online registrants will need to still send their check to the Executive Director. Those who prefer paper registration may download the form here. Executive Director Jim Miller needs to receive your registration by February 25th at 543 Taylor Street, Zanesville, Ohio 43701-1914, 740-704-2064 or 740-453-6077 |
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Mid-Atlantic Regional Leadership Conference (MARLC) - Arlington, VA
SEOEA was represented at the MARLC January 28-30 by six members this year. During the Ohio Caucus, we were informed that OEA will be one of the groups targeted by the Ohio GOP leaders and Senate Bill 5 appears to prove that out. Despite this, your representatives were able to attend some very informative sessions and bring back some fresh ideas to help our members. Networking with leaders from other states in the Mid-Atlantic region also showed that Ohio is not alone for having teachers and public employees being under attack. There is a nationwide, concerted effort to weaken or eliminate teacher unions and return to the days before collective bargaining by eliminating tenure and salary schedules and resort to merit pay plans.
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 Upcoming EventsSEOEA Spring Workshop, Saturday, March 5, 10:00-2:00, Ohio University Inn, Athens
SEOEA Representative Assembly, Tuesday, April 12, 5:30 PM, Westview Elementary, Jackson
OEA Representative Assembly, Friday/Saturday, May 6-7, 9:00-4:00, Vet's Memorial, Columbus
NEA Representative Assembly, June 29 - July 5, Chicago,IL
SEOEA Presidents/Treasurers Workshop, Tuesday, July 26, 9:00-2:00, Ohio University Inn, Athens - Mark your calendars.
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