Data proves voters increasingly supporting schools

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Since we launched Join the Future almost one year ago, we have been tracking Ohio's school levy election results. Below we have plotted the passage rates for New and Renewal levies, and the combined results. As you can see, passage rates have been steadily increasing since the May 2011 primary. Let's hope that voters continue to support our public schools in ever greater numbers, despite the Governor's inexplicable call to vote against school funding.

Levy Date New Renewal All
May 2011 35.3% 91.8% 58.9%
Aug 2011 19.0% 100% 32.0%
Nov 2011 28.4% 88.6% 50.8%
Mar 2012 56.6% 98.1% 75.2%

Levy Trend Results

Union member election results

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We spolighted all the union members who were running for election to the Ohio General Assembly.

Day 1: Union members running for the Ohio House
Day 2: Union members running for the Ohio House
Day 3: Union members running for the Ohio House
Day 4: Union members running for the Ohio House
Day 5: Union members running for the Ohio House
Union members spotlight - State Senate

How did they do*? 7 lost, 2 very narrowly, but 19 will advance to the general election, including 11 teachers. While Eric Spicer lost, so too did his opponent, the SB5 voting incumbent Rep. Jarrod Martin.

DISTRICT NAME UNION Result Winner
HD 7 Matt Patten (D) LABORERS Winner  
HD 16 Todd Laveck (D) OFT Narrow loss Andrew Meyer
HD 20 Marco Miller (D) IAFF (Ret.) Loss Heather Bishoff
HD 21 Donna O’Connor (D) OEA Winner  
HD 24 Maureen Reedy (D) OEA Winner  
HD 37 Tom Schmida (D) OFT Winner  
HD 45 Teresa Fedor (D) OFT Winner  
HD 47 Jeff Bunck (D) OEA Winner  
HD 57 Matt Lark (D) OEA Winner  
HD 58 Bobby Hagan (D) BLET Winner  
HD 61 Susan McGuinness (D) ONA Winner  
HD 68 Brad Schaff (D) USW Narrow loss John Ryerson
HD 69 Judith Cross (D) OEA (Ret.) Winner  
HD 71 Brady Jones (D) UAW Winner  
HD 72 David Dilly (D) UMWA Winner  
HD 73 Eric Spicer (R) FOP Loss Rick Perales
HD 76 Mary O’Toole (R) OEA Loss Matt Lynch
HD 81 John Vanover (D) USW Winner  
HD 87 Dennis Sterling (R) FOP Loss Jeff Mclain
HD 88 Bill Young (D) OEA Winner  
HD 95 Charles Daniels (D) OCSEA Winner  
HD 95 Jim Drake (D) OEA Loss Charles Daniels
HD 99 John Patterson (D) OEA Winner  
SD 6 Rick McKiddy (D) UAW (Ret.) Winner  
SD 20 Teresa Scarmack (D) OEA Winner  
SD 24 Tom Patton (R) IATSE Winner  
SD 26 Tanyce Addison (D) OEA Winner  

*As reported by the Ohio Secretary of State at 9am 3/7/2012.

Education News for 03-06-2012

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Statewide Education News

  • Ohio State Board Of Education president pays visit to Steubenville schools (WTOV 9 NBC)

    • STEUBENVILLE - Members of the Ohio State Board of Education visited Jefferson County on Monday to take a look at Steubenville City Schools. Debe Terhar, president of the Ohio education board, spoke to Steubenville City Schools Superintendent Mike McVey about the school district's achievements. Wells Academy is ranked one of the best schools in the state. Terhar said she plans to help other schools improve by putting in place common core standards. Read More…

  • Teachers at low-scoring schools to take new test (Dayton Daily News)

    • This fall, thousands of teachers in Ohio’s lowest-performing schools will be required to take new licensing tests. The requirement — a provision of the state budget law — likely would make Ohio the first state to take this step. It would impact teachers in core subject areas whose schools are in the bottom 10 percent based on Performance Index scores and are in “Academic Watch” or “Academic Emergency.” The rankings would be based on Performance Index scores on the next state report cards which come out in August. Read More…

  • Local school districts exploring using solar power energy (Newark Advocate)

    • HANOVER - A handful of Licking County school districts are exploring using solar energy to provide a portion of their electricity. The solar fields, which still are under negotiation, would supply a portion of electricity to one to three schools in the Lakewood, Licking Valley, Northridge and Southwest Licking school districts. Granville also has been exploring using solar power since at least 2010. "Obviously, you look at every possible way to cut costs you can," Lakewood Superintendent Jay Gault said. "It was going to be huge money we were going to saving over a 20-year period." Read More…

  • Senate GOP ready to act on pension fund issues (Dispatch)

    • Although a $240,000 study likely won’t be finished, years of talking about major changes to Ohio’s five public-pension systems could quickly turn into action this spring in the Ohio Senate. Senate Republican leaders say they expect to act before summer break on plans the pension systems have already proposed to address their long-term solvency issues — if their boards prove that they and their members support the changes. Read More…

Local Issues

  • Another 50 jobs could go in Lakota (Enquirer)

    • LIBERTY TWP. — When Lakota school officials began to comb through the district for cost savings, they said everything was on the table for possible elimination. Now after Monday evening’s final school board meeting reviewing a series of historically deep budget cut proposals, members will soon decide what stays and what goes – including the fate of more than 150 school jobs. Lakota officials presented the latest round of cuts – about 50 positions – to the board during its meeting at Lakota East High School before an audience of more than 120. Read More…

  • Remediation high among district grads (Vindicator)

    • Youngstown - A report from the Ohio Board of Regents shows a high percentage of city school graduates who attended college had to take remedial college courses. The report, from 2009 but released last August, shows that 72 percent of Chaney High School graduates, 83 percent of East graduates and 38 percent of Youngstown Early College graduates took either developmental math or English in college. The percentages were highlighted in February during a city schools Academic Distress Commission meeting. Read More…

  • School district expected to save with change in special education service provider (Chillicothe Gazette)

    • CHILLICOTHE - This past week, Chillicothe City Schools switched providers for special education services, a move expected to save the district money at a time when budget cuts are imminent. The board of education on Feb. 27 approved a contract with the Ross County Board of Developmental Disabilities, better known as the Pioneer Center, to provide special education services to students with multiple disabilities and preschoolers with disabilities for the 2012-13 school year. Read More…

John Kasich is not a normal Governor

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Ohio Budget Watch parses the Governor's words on his forthcoming budget plans and how education policy might be affected. They appear to revolve around using Frank Jackson's SB5 "lite" plan

Teachers unions have made clear they are opposed to many of the reforms. The Governor also hinted at what is needed strategically for him to include the Cleveland reforms. Saying there are things Jackson needs to get done in order for him to move this reform package through the legislature is code for the need to line up support from African-American Democratic legislators from Cleveland. This support will be essential to giving the Governor cover in the form of “bipartisan support” as he essentially introduces a plan to brings back many of the provisions of SB5 that were rejected by voters in November. Also interesting in the Governor’s remarks were two references to Ohio’s “urban areas” rather than Cleveland, specifically. The Governor is often an open book, unable to keep secrets about his future plans. Perhaps he’s giving up a sneak preview about future plans to expand the Cleveland reforms statewide, once they’ve had a chance to demonstrate success. Or he’s planning to introduce a budget next week that will affect all urban districts? Time will tell, but it could be very interesting.

So it looks like we might have a re-hash of SB5 in an election year. This is probably not the sleeping legislative agenda that members of the General Assembly had in mind going into an election year. There is a reason we normally do budgets in non-election years. But John Kasich is not a normal Governor. Stay tuned.

It sure looks like Frank Jackson is going to force Republican lawmakers to religislate SB5, in an election year. The only question left is, will any Democrats be drawn into the suicide pact along with them?

Your vote today

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Voting is a very personal thing. It reflects values held dear. Some people vote "their" party, some their "conscience", others their profession. Often times these things reflect parts of the same.

Today, is primary day in Ohio. We've covered a lot of the issues and candidates who will be vying for your vote.

Here at Join the Future we'd like you to consider supporting your local schools, their students and education staff. We have published a list of school levies and issues here. School's are facing a budget crisis caused not of their own largesse, but of draconian cuts made by politicians in Columbus who took a pass on making their own tough decisions, and instead passed the buck, to the tune of almost $3 billion over the next 2 years.

While many might look to the general election in November, there are also opportunities today to make a big difference in who those Columbus politicians will be next year.

We're experiencing the effects of bad budgeting and bad policy made in Columbus by out of touch, extreme politicians every day now. We can only change those policies by changing the people who represent us.

We can support candidates who chose to stand with the middle class, not against them. Who understand the importance of public education, not it's privatization.

We spent last week providing some details of candidates who have strong middle class values, who respect working people and who can replace office holders who voted for extreme legislation like SB5 and the budget.

Day 1: Union members running for the Ohio House
Day 2: Union members running for the Ohio House
Day 3: Union members running for the Ohio House
Day 4: Union members running for the Ohio House
Day 5: Union members running for the Ohio House
Union members spotlight - State Senate

So whether you live in HD21 where special education teacher Donna O'Connor is running, or HD70 where Republican cop Eric Spicer is running, understanding that the way to prevent legislation like SB5, or budgets like HB153 from happening again, is to support candidates who share our mainstream values, candidates who won't support legislation that is unfair, unsafe and hurts us all.

DISTRICT NAME UNION PRIMARY PARTY
HD 7 Matt Patten LABORERS N D
HD 16 Todd Laveck OFT Y D
HD 20 Marco Miller IAFF (Ret.) Y D
HD 21 Donna O’Connor OEA Y D
HD 24 Maureen Reedy OEA N D
HD 37 Tom Schmida OFT N D
HD 45 Teresa Fedor OFT N D
HD 47 Jeff Bunck OEA N D
HD 57 Matt Lark OEA Y D
HD 58 Bobby Hagan BLET N D
HD 61 Susan McGuinness ONA N D
HD 68 Brad Schaff USW Y D
HD 69 Judith Cross OEA (Ret.) Y D
HD 70 Eric Spicer FOP N R
HD 71 Brady Jones UAW N D
HD 72 David Dilly UMWA N D
HD 76 Mary O’Toole OEA Y R
HD 81 John Vanover USW N D
HD 87 Dennis Sterling FOP Y R
HD 88 Bill Young OEA N D
HD 95 Charles Daniels OCSEA Y D
HD 95 Jim Drake OEA Y D
HD 99 John Patterson OEA N D
SD 6 Rick McKitty UAW (Ret.) N D
SD 20 Teresa Scarmack OEA N D
SD 24 Tom Patton IATSE Y R
SD 26 Tanyce Addison OEA N D