Gov Kasich "I'm done talk, talk, talking

How big of an empty promise was the Governor's offer to sit down with labor and discuss a meaningful compromise? ProgressOhio captures his flip-flop on tape.

From the Governor's press conference Wednesday 17th August, 2011

Governor Kasich, "We're inviting them to talk. We think that would be a good thing for all of us to sit down, see if we can reach some agreement."

Governor Kasich, "erm, when I was approached, err, by, by, er, by, the former Speaker Joanne Davidson, about should we sit down and talk, I said are you kiddin' me? Absolutely we should talk."

On February 26th, 2011 the Governor appeared on the Bill Cunningham radio show and told a very different story. Roll the tape.

Bill Cunningham, "Even at this late date in February are you willing to sit in a room with the representatives of the public employment unions, waway from the television and away from the radio and listen to the legitimate concerns of those that..."

Governor Kasich, interupting, "Listen, I've heard their concerns, I mean it's on TV and in the newspapers everyday. I know what their concerns is, they do not want ot give up the right to collectively bargain."

Bill Cunningham, "Meet with them Governor, You've got to get in a room with 'em Governor."

Governor Kasich, "Bill, Bill, let me explain to you. I'm not gonna let you put me in a position to say that I don't listen. I've listened. I've Heard. I've made a decision. It's not like I'm not talkin' to people. But y'know we spend a lot of time in Ohio talk, talk, talk ,talk, talkin'..."

Bill Cunningham, "And the Governor's done talkin', you;re walkin?"

Governor Kasich, "It's time to do some things."

Here's the video

As if to punctuate the insincerity of the offer ot find a compromise, here's Speaker Batchelder quoted in the WSJ regarding the offer to repeal then deal

Republican House Speaker William Batchelder rejected the unions' suggestion to craft a new law. "That dog won't hunt," said Mr. Batchelder

Urge your lawmakers to do the right thing. Call 888-218-5931 and tell your lawmakers NO DEAL until they repeal SB 5.

Update

The Governor, Speak and President sat alone waiting for a meeting they knew was not going to happen. They even went to far as to create silly cardboard name tags. When asked if they would repeal SB5 so negotiations could happen in an atmosphere of trust they said no to repeal first because it's an "ultimatum" and we would "lose leverage".

Three men, sitting alone. That's what is has come to for the proponents of SB5.

SB5 still double digits ahead, but work to do

A new poll from Public Policy Polling has been released

50% of Ohioans say they would vote to reject Senate Bill 5 if the election was today, to 39% who would vote to accept it. Those are encouraging numbers for pro-labor interests but when we last polled the state in May 55% of voters say they were against the bill to only 35% in favor of it. So the trendlines at least are working in favor of the bill remaining as law.

Democrats (69/21) are more in favor of rejecting the bill than Republicans (58/29) are of accepting it. But independents have moved from 52/40 opposition to it in May to 46/44 support for it now.

The odds are still stacked against SB 5 staying enacted but just like we saw in the Wisconsin recalls the anger is not there at the same level it was during the spring, which has to be a slight cause of concern for those working to reject it.

We discussed the liklihood of this tightening some time ago. Repeating our advice from that post

The bottom line -

• We have to work hard through the summer and fall to talk to voters and convince them that repealing SB5 is the right thing to do
• In the closing month of the election get as many people to vote early as possible
• On election day, get as many supporters of repeal to the polls as possible

That's a lot of work. Ready for it?

Below are the polling trends for SB5.

Poll	For SB5	Against SB5
PPP Mar 15th	31%	54%
Wenzel Apr 12th	38%	51%
Quinnipiac May 18th	36%	54%
PPP May 25th	35%	55%
Quinnipiac Jul 20th	32%	56%
PPP Aug 18th	39%	50%

Ohio's teacher evaluation - Flawed from the start?

The Capacity Committee of the state Board of Education yesterday to further discuss development of teacher evlauations, which as the Dispatch reports “should be a tool to inform employment and dismissal decisions (and) opportunities for advancement” and must complete the recommendations by the end of the year.

Education First has been brought in to help develop the evaluation system, but their comments at the meeting are a little troubling

Katie Cour, another consultant from Education First, stressed that the pilot program put together by the state can’t be expected to work flawlessly from the time it is put into place.

“You’ll never have a perfect system at the beginning of implementation,” she said. Cour told the committee members to think of the plan in the same way software developers thought about their products — there would be an OTES 2.0 and 3.0, which might not look anything like the first plan.

The state plan has a basic four-part system for evaluating teachers: goal setting, teacher performance, professionalism and student growth.

In keeping with the focus on student achievement — and a new state law — student growth will be half of a teacher’s evaluation.

We are apparently in such a rush that we're having to make it up as we go along, openly admitting that we are develpoing a flawed system that will be used in part to determine dismissals and RIF's.

We have obtained the documents used and presented at this meeting, you can read them below (we combined 5 documents into one for simplicity of reading, seperated by a blank page)

Combined Teacher Evaluation Docs

The White flag as seen from around Ohio

We reported on yesterday's surprising news of the Governor finally conceding that SB5 went too far and should be toned down. Here's the news of that white flag being raised, as reported from around the state.

The Cincinatti Enquirer gets a quote from the author of SB5, State Sen. Shannon Jones

The Southwest Ohio legislator who authored Senate Bill 5, state Sen. Shannon Jones, R-Springboro, dismissed suggestions that the GOP leaders’ offer reflects concern that voters might pass Issue 2, the ballot measure aimed at repealing the reform of the state’s 1983 collective bargaining law.

“I don’t think that’s a fair analysis at all,” said Jones, who represents eastern Hamilton County and all of Warren County.

“This is just a reminder that an offer that was there from the start – to sit down and talk, to look for common ideas – is still open,” she told the Enquirer. “If they want to do that, fine. If not, we’ll have an election.”

The Toledo Blade reminds us that it's difficult to change SB5 if the Legislature isn't in session, and won't be until after the August 30th deadline

"These politicians who passed Senate Bill 5 have the ability to come back and repeal the law, and that's what they should do—repeal the entire law," We Are Ohio spokesman Melissa Fazekas said. "Or they can join us and vote ‘no' in November on Issue 2."

Lawmakers, however, are on summer recess and are not scheduled to return before the Aug. 30 deadline.

The Dispatch has this choice quote from the Governor

Kasich said avoiding a fight over state Issue 2 is in "best interest of everyone, including public employee unions." He asked the unions to "set aside political agendas and past offenses."

Some might call that projection.

The Marietta Times has a quote from a teacher, one we've heard expressed many times already too

"But a divisive fight on these issues that could possibly be avoided is in the best interest of everyone, including public employees and people who support public employees," Kasich said.

Marietta resident Sarah Beaver, a 59-year-old retired teacher, isn't buying it.

"Don't trust him farther than I can throw him," she said "He's just afraid (the repeal) is going to pass and this is his way to avoid it."

This is why reapling then dealing is the only way forward.

Finally, in the 3rd of a 3 part series, Plunderbund has what might be the real reason for yesterday's developments

We’ve heard all sorts of crazy rumors shaking out today. Mostly, that Building a Better Ohio’s fundraising has been shockingly poor. We can’t confirm because Building a Better Ohio, by legal design, has organized itself to avoid having to report as regularly and as transparently as We Are Ohio… this from the same campaign that asserts unions oppose public transparency in labor negotiations.

Double digits behind in the polls, no grass roots support, poor fundraising, a record massive 1.3 million signatures collected, and lots of evidence of voter anger over SB5, those are the kinds of conditions that make any politician want to have a do over.

On SB5, full repeal or no deal

In a surprise move that could only have been prompted by terrible internal poll results, Governor Kasich (R), Speaker Batchelder (R) and Senate President Niehaus (R) sent a letter (below) to the We Are Ohio campaign asking for compromise on SB5. The letter, as you can see is rife with condesension and mistruths. Worse than the letter however was the revisionist press conference that followed shortly afterwards.

The We Are Ohio campaign issued a press release almost immediately and held a press conference of their own

Today We Are Ohio once again stood firmly with the 1.3 million Ohioans who signed petitions to repeal SB 5 by telling the extreme politicians who passed it, to repeal it. Following a press conference held by Governor Kasich, Speaker Batchelder and Senate President Niehaus, We Are Ohio issued the following statement:

“We’re glad that Governor Kasich and the other politicians who passed SB 5 are finally admitting this is a flawed bill,” said Melissa Fazekas, spokeswoman for We Are Ohio. “Just like the bill was flawed this approach to a compromise is flawed as well. Our message is clear. These same politicians who passed this law could repeal it and not thwart the will of the people. They should either repeal the entire bill or support our efforts and encourage a no vote on Issue 2.”

We Are Ohio is a citizen-driven, community-based, bipartisan coalition that has come together to repeal SB 5, the unfair attack on employee rights and worker safety. We Are Ohio includes public and private sector workers and employees, police officers, firefighters, teachers, nurses, pastors, small business owners, Republicans and Democrats, local elected officials and business leaders, students, Moms, Dads, family members, and your neighbors.

Senate Minority leader Cafaro (D) also issued a statement

"Governor Kasich and Republicans in the General Assembly have finally admitted that Senate Bill 5 went too far. If they thought they could destroy collective bargaining in Ohio and get away with it, they have been proven wrong. More than one million Ohioans have already sent a strong message that Senate Bill 5 should be repealed.

"The time to negotiate was during the legislative process, not 197 days after Senate Bill 5 was first introduced in the Ohio Senate. Unfortunately, it has taken too long for the Governor and GOP leaders to acknowledge they overreached."

Our sources indicate that no one from the We Are Ohio campaign intends to aquience to these political games and attend a Friday meeting. The message has been made clear by 1.3 million supporters of repeal. A message the Governor's desperate ploy highlights.

Without repeal there is no deal.

Letter to We Are Ohio

New Poll:What Americans believe about public education

The annual Phi Delta Kappa International/Gallup poll on public education has just been released. The poll delves into all manner of questions from teachers, including unions, salaries, hiring/firing practices, and curriculum.

People overwhelmingly support teachers and public schools

The survey shows the public has a generally positive view of teachers. Nearly three out of four of those surveyed said they had confidence and trust in teachers today, and two out of three said they would be in favor of their child becoming a public school teacher. It wasn’t just their own children they wanted to become teachers—they wanted the highest-achieving high school students to be recruited for the classroom.

“It’s clear that Americans recognize the importance of getting quality students to become the next generation of teachers,” Mr. Bushaw said.

The poll, in this way, points out some of the areas where current policy and public opinion don’t match up, said Thomas Toch, the co-founder of the Education Sector think tank and the currrent executive director of Independent Education, a Washington-area private school consortium. The public wants to find and retain the highest-quality teachers, and it wants to compensate them based on a number of factors, with student test scores being the least important. Experience, academic degree, and principal evaluations all ranked higher than test scores in the survey. Merit-pay, an important element of the Obama administration’s education agenda, calls for great emphasis to be placed on student test scores when determining teachers’ salaries.

“This poll today shows a much more sophisticated public that is willing and ready to invest in teachers,” Mr. Berry said.

There's a lot more fascinating results in the poll, including no support for firing teachers without cause or converting underperforming schools to charters, even though charters are well supported. People also believe strongly there is a funding crisis (wait till they get a load of the Governor's budget!). Here's the poll.

2010 Poll Report