New school year brings new trends, challenges, and opportunities

The Ohio Education Association's podcast is back for a new season, and back to shorter weekly episodes to make sure we're delivering the most impactful conversations to our listeners. In the Season 5 opener, OEA President Scott DiMauro provides valuable insights on the key issues facing public education in Ohio as the new school year begins, including educator shortages and the growing trend of new hires who are not new educators, plus the importance of political engagement, school funding challenges, the power of union organizing, and more.

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Featured Public Education Matters guest: 
  • Scott DiMauro, Ohio Education Association President
    • Scott DiMauro, a high school social studies teacher from Worthington, was elected President of the OEA in 2019 after having served as vice president for six years. Over his 34-year career as an educator, Scott has worked to provide students the critical thinking and decision-making skills they need to be successful citizens in our democracy while advocating for students, educators, and strong public schools at all levels of his union.
    • Scott’s priorities as president have included strengthening local affiliates, enhancing professional supports for members, and elevating the voice of educators in public policy to ensure all students are given access to a high-quality education that inspires their creativity, imagination, and desire to learn. As OEA President, he helped lead a successful coalition effort that resulted in the historic passage of the Fair School Funding Plan along with an increase in the state minimum teacher’s salary as part of the most recent state budget bill.
      Scott has facilitated OEA’s Board and leadership team in educating and organizing members to advocate for social, racial, and economic justice. That priority has framed OEA’s advocacy on school safety, resistance to attacks on educators’ freedom to teach and students’ freedom to learn an honest education, and a comprehensive strategy to attract and retain caring, qualified educators—both licensed and support professionals—in every community across Ohio.
    • As vice president, Scott was proud to guide the OEA Commission on Student Success to lay out a comprehensive vision for high-quality education for all students and lay the groundwork for positive implementation of the federal Every Student Succeeds Act in Ohio. He also led an initiative to increase student access to breakfast in high-poverty districts and served as national spokesperson for the Partners for Breakfast in the Classroom. At the national level, he currently serves as president of the National Council of State Education Associations.

Connect with OEA:
About us:
  • The Ohio Education Association represents nearly 120,000 teachers, faculty members and support professionals who work in Ohio’s schools, colleges, and universities to help improve public education and the lives of Ohio’s children. OEA members provide professional services to benefit students, schools, and the public in virtually every position needed to run Ohio’s schools.
  • Public Education Matters host Katie Olmsted serves as Media Relations Consultant for the Ohio Education Association. She joined OEA in May 2020, after a ten-year career as an Emmy Award winning television reporter, anchor, and producer. Katie comes from a family of educators and is passionate about telling educators' stories and advocating for Ohio's students. She lives in Central Ohio with her husband and two young children. 
This episode was recorded on August 14, 2024.
New school year brings new trends, challenges, and opportunities
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