Governor Kasich's signing of Senate Bill 5 moments ago is not the end of the fight to have our voices heard in our public schools. As we've been engaged in the effort to stop SB 5 in the legislature, we've been planning for what to do if we weren't able to stop it, and that day has come.

We want to share with you the first steps in this plan to repeal SB 5 via a citizens' referendum and ask you to be personally involved in the campaign.

First, working with our community and coalition partners, we will finalize a legal summary of the bill and submit it with over 1,000 signatures to the Secretary of State and the Ohio Attorney General. The summary is being drafted as we speak, and we expect to quickly and easily obtain the over 1,000 needed signatures. The key here is speed, not gathering an overwhelming number of signatures beyond what we need at this early step.

Then, while the Secretary of State and Attorney General are analyzing our summary and ensuring that it is accurate and meets legal requirements, we will hold a large, public rally to kick-off the repeal campaign and hold local trainings for leaders and members interested in circulating petitions.

RSVP here for the "We Are Ohio" rally and referendum campaign kick-off on Saturday, April 9th from 12 noon to 3 pm, at the Ohio Statehouse.

Sign up here to be a petition circulator and ensure that you get the most up to date information on referendum and circulator trainings in your area.

Circulating referendum petitions is not difficult, and you don't need any previous campaign or political experience to do so, but you will need to attend a local training on the legal do's and don'ts and the best ways to get the most signatures.

You may have already received information from your local president or Labor Relations Consultant about when the training is in your area; if not, please contact one of those people or just sign-up here to receive information about being a petition circulator.

This way, once the petition summary is approved, we can begin collecting signatures from the public to far exceed the 231,147 statewide minimum required. Our signatures are due 90 days from when the bill is officially filed with the Secretary of State's office, which will likely occur tomorrow. Because of the legal process involving the Secretary of State and Attorney General, we will likely have to wait about 14 days to begin circulating petitions and collecting the required signatures. Once we can legally begin collecting signatures, we need to be organized, trained and ready to go.

For the next two weeks, the best things you can do are to attend the April 9th rally, sign-up to be a petition circulator, attend a circulator training and recruit other members to help circulate petitions.

Together, through hard work and a focused program effort, we can collect the necessary signatures and keep the public support that we'll need to win a repeal referendum vote in November