Teachers unite against Senate Bill 5
Local teachers gathered together Tuesday afternoon at the Holiday Inn Express in New Philadelphia to learn how to campaign against Senate Bill 5 (SB5), a fight that the Ohio Education Association called the fight of teachers’ professional lives.
The Ohio Education Association, the host for Tuesday’s event, has been lobbying against the bill and is now making efforts to appeal to state representatives by having teachers correspond with them. Teachers at Tuesday’s meeting were asked to fill out postcards to State Rep. Al Landis, telling him how SB5 will affect them personally and professionally, hoping to change his mind; Rep. Landis has already been on record as supporting SB5.
“This bill does not reform collective bargaining, it creates collective begging,” said Dr. Gary Carlile, communications and political action consultant for the Ohio Education Association. “SB5 is a measure that scapegoats public employees for Ohio’s budget problems. Over the last six years, while the state had basically cut own income by 25 percent with tax cuts and other giveaways, the teachers’ unions have been making concessions, trying our best to help control spending. But this bill just takes it too far by limiting the teachers’ rights to collectively bargain for their salaries, benefits and now even class sizes.”
SB5 restricts what teachers and school support staff can collectively bargain for in contract negotiations. Salaries will be automatically set and merit pay will be decided upon a myriad of factors, including class performance on state tests, evaluations by the school board, what type of degree the teacher has and how many years the teacher has been in the classroom. The base salary for a new teacher would be set at $17,000 before any merit pay, with a cap base salary of $32,000 for every teacher, again, before any merit pay.
SB5 can also change classroom size and the number of students per teacher. Part of the negotiation process as it is now allows teachers to set a limit on the number of students per class or per teacher. SB5 eliminates this and also does away with a minimum number of support staff for schools.
“One of the more odious parts of the bill is how it would effectively make teachers at-will employees working at the will of the board of education,” continued Carlile. “If during negotiations, the superintendant and the teachers cannot reach an agreement, SB5 says that the matter is then taken up by the legislative body, the board of education, and they must vote on which contract to choose. Since the board of education chose the superintendant, which contract do you think the board will chose?
“Now, with sources saying that the governor’s budget will cut education by 20 percent, it can only mean that teachers will be laid off. Governor Kasich campaigned on promising to break the back of the teachers’ union, and now he’s making good on his promise.”
“SB5 is going to make my job much more difficult,” said John Court, a Dover High School intervention specialist and credit recovery coordinator. “My job is to help at-risk students stay in school and help junior and senior level students make up enough classes and credits to graduate on time. It’s a sort of hybrid program and is something that’s going to be difficult to assess under the guidelines of SB5, should it pass. It just makes my job that much more difficult on top of cutting my salary.”
While no elected representative were on hand to answer questions from the teachers, members of the Tuscarawas County Democratic Party were there to show their support for the teachers.
“We’re here to show our support and to let them know we don’t want this bill to pass as well,” said Ida Barlock, chairperson of the Tuscarawas County Democratic Party. “Our teachers deserve better than this, and we also are supporting any union who wants to stand up against this bill. We’ve had members of our party at rallies against SB5 in Canton and Columbus, making sure it’s known that we are against this bill.”
“I want people to know this bill will hurt our children and hurt our families,” said Kendra Rothrock, fifth grade social studies and reading teacher in the Claymont School District and president of the Claymont Education Association. “This bill will affect the quality of the education your children will receive with a higher number of students in the classroom and teachers worried about meeting performance goals just to keep their jobs. But it will also hurt the families of teachers and the economy of the area. We teachers are taxpayers, just like everyone else; we shop at local stores, eat at local restaurants and spend money here. If SB5 becomes law, it will cut our salaries, taking money out of our wallets and taking money out of the local economy; SB5 hurts everyone, not just teachers.”
The Ohio Education Association, the host for Tuesday’s event, has been lobbying against the bill and is now making efforts to appeal to state representatives by having teachers correspond with them. Teachers at Tuesday’s meeting were asked to fill out postcards to State Rep. Al Landis, telling him how SB5 will affect them personally and professionally, hoping to change his mind; Rep. Landis has already been on record as supporting SB5.
“This bill does not reform collective bargaining, it creates collective begging,” said Dr. Gary Carlile, communications and political action consultant for the Ohio Education Association. “SB5 is a measure that scapegoats public employees for Ohio’s budget problems. Over the last six years, while the state had basically cut own income by 25 percent with tax cuts and other giveaways, the teachers’ unions have been making concessions, trying our best to help control spending. But this bill just takes it too far by limiting the teachers’ rights to collectively bargain for their salaries, benefits and now even class sizes.”
SB5 restricts what teachers and school support staff can collectively bargain for in contract negotiations. Salaries will be automatically set and merit pay will be decided upon a myriad of factors, including class performance on state tests, evaluations by the school board, what type of degree the teacher has and how many years the teacher has been in the classroom. The base salary for a new teacher would be set at $17,000 before any merit pay, with a cap base salary of $32,000 for every teacher, again, before any merit pay.
SB5 can also change classroom size and the number of students per teacher. Part of the negotiation process as it is now allows teachers to set a limit on the number of students per class or per teacher. SB5 eliminates this and also does away with a minimum number of support staff for schools.
“One of the more odious parts of the bill is how it would effectively make teachers at-will employees working at the will of the board of education,” continued Carlile. “If during negotiations, the superintendant and the teachers cannot reach an agreement, SB5 says that the matter is then taken up by the legislative body, the board of education, and they must vote on which contract to choose. Since the board of education chose the superintendant, which contract do you think the board will chose?
“Now, with sources saying that the governor’s budget will cut education by 20 percent, it can only mean that teachers will be laid off. Governor Kasich campaigned on promising to break the back of the teachers’ union, and now he’s making good on his promise.”
“SB5 is going to make my job much more difficult,” said John Court, a Dover High School intervention specialist and credit recovery coordinator. “My job is to help at-risk students stay in school and help junior and senior level students make up enough classes and credits to graduate on time. It’s a sort of hybrid program and is something that’s going to be difficult to assess under the guidelines of SB5, should it pass. It just makes my job that much more difficult on top of cutting my salary.”
While no elected representative were on hand to answer questions from the teachers, members of the Tuscarawas County Democratic Party were there to show their support for the teachers.
“We’re here to show our support and to let them know we don’t want this bill to pass as well,” said Ida Barlock, chairperson of the Tuscarawas County Democratic Party. “Our teachers deserve better than this, and we also are supporting any union who wants to stand up against this bill. We’ve had members of our party at rallies against SB5 in Canton and Columbus, making sure it’s known that we are against this bill.”
“I want people to know this bill will hurt our children and hurt our families,” said Kendra Rothrock, fifth grade social studies and reading teacher in the Claymont School District and president of the Claymont Education Association. “This bill will affect the quality of the education your children will receive with a higher number of students in the classroom and teachers worried about meeting performance goals just to keep their jobs. But it will also hurt the families of teachers and the economy of the area. We teachers are taxpayers, just like everyone else; we shop at local stores, eat at local restaurants and spend money here. If SB5 becomes law, it will cut our salaries, taking money out of our wallets and taking money out of the local economy; SB5 hurts everyone, not just teachers.”
Published: March 9, 2011
