Public Education Matters

Various student voices 0:08
Public education matters. Public education matters. Public education matters.

Scott DiMauro 0:15
This is Public Education Matters, brought to you by the Ohio Education Association.

Katie Olmsted 0:26
Welcome back to Public Education Matters. I'm your host, Katie Olmsted, and I'm part of the communications team for the Ohio Education Association and the nearly 120,000 public school educators OEA represents across the state. Educators who have dedicated their lives and careers to serving their students and their communities; educators who deserve dignity and respect as high quality professionals and as workers who are valued for what they do; educators who have a champion in the US Senate in Sherrod Brown, who is fighting for reelection so he can keep fighting for what Ohioans need.

US Sen. Sherrod Brown, speaking on NBC4's The Spectrum 1:06
I think the voters want to see somebody who gets stuff done, and they also, you know, I fight for the dignity of work. You know that it's not just a slogan to me. It's pensions, it's health care, it's minimum wage, it's wages, it's protections in the workplace.

Katie Olmsted 1:22
That was Senator Brown on NBC4 in Columbus on September 4th. His daughter Liz Brown, joined us for this podcast a few days later. And it's clear in talking to her that supporting workers and supporting public education is truly a family mission. Both of Liz's grandmothers were teachers. Liz's stepmom, Connie Schultz, teaches at the higher education level now, and Liz herself served on the Education Committee of the Columbus City Council for seven years before she became CEO of the YWCA Columbus. And she shared some really valuable insight with us about her work, her family and some of her dad's priority bills to help public educators, public education and all Ohio families. Take a listen.

Katie Olmsted 2:08
Liz Brown, thank you so much for coming in to share your perspective with us today. We are now less than two months away from election day, and it is go time, and everybody is out spreading the word about why Senator Brown is such a good candidate for public educators and for our students and for Ohio. This is not news for you, though.

Elizabeth Brown 2:38
No, I agree with that wholeheartedly.

Katie Olmsted 2:40
And it's part of your family legacy. You're all very strong advocates for public education. In your time on Columbus City Council, you were on the Education Committee. Talk to me a little bit about your work in that role and what you were able to accomplish.

Elizabeth Brown 2:57
Yeah, absolutely. Thank you for the question. I am very proud that my dad is such a such a staunch advocate for public education. Not just public education, but actually for teachers, for bus drivers, for school employees, for students. Right? For him, it's always about the people behind a system that makes it run, the people doing the work. That's why he talks about dignity of work so much. For me, my I'm a public school graduate, of course, but really one of the most important and formative experiences for me and my commitment to public education was between high school and college. I did a year in Philadelphia public schools through CityYear AmeriCorps program, right where I basically helped teachers do the really hard and grueling work of public education. And it was really eye opening for me, and helped to lay the foundation for what I hope is not just a career-long commitment to public education, but a lifelong one. On Columbus City Council, I was able to, in the professional space, interact with our Columbus City Schools, the other suburban districts that actually public, districts that serve our Columbus residents, and to learn more about the tools the district needed from the city to help expand their impact, including things like dollars for pre-K education within the Columbus schools. That was something that I cared deeply about. So I felt really privileged to be able to do that work for seven years. I was on the Education Committee my entire time on Columbus City Council, and it was a true joy and source of of passion for me to propel all the other work I did on Columbus City Council.

Katie Olmsted 4:49
And it's another one of those common threads we see in your whole family is just a passion for service, either on City Council, a passion for education. Your mom is a fantastic educator in her own right. Growing up in that family, was it always an expectation that you will give back the way that your family does?

Elizabeth Brown 5:09
That's a great question. So in my family, growing up, there wasn't really, I know this sounds kind of corny, but it wasn't about setting expectations for what we needed to achieve. It was about setting expectations for how we were going to make the world a better place. So I love the way that you asked that question, because it's really true. My grandmothers were teachers. My mom's mom, I still remember when she retired from she taught. And my mom is not Connie. My mom is a woman named Lark Richie. My parents divorced when I was young, so I'm not talking about Connie's mom. Connie's my stepmom, and she is an awesome educator at Denison university, but my mom's mother, whose name was Carolyn Ummel, was a teacher. And I will always remember as a kid when she retired, and there was a parade for homecoming, and we went down, and my grandmother had, like, a little like a car in the parade, right? Where like, "Congratulations, Mrs. Ummel, You're retiring!" And my sister and I got to sit on it with her, and the incredible reaction that the the parents and the students and the just community around her had as she came, as she went by, it really did underscore for me, you know, at the ripe old age of what was I nine or 10, that commitment and that connection that teachers have in their communities. They're really doing generational work, right? The number of people lining that parade who'd been in my grandma's classroom of all ages was so powerful.

Katie Olmsted 6:54
And then your dad, I mean, I would say an even greater impact. But how many lives he touches with the work that he does, and especially his commitment to public education and to labor. I have to say, I'm a big fan. But it's, it's truly amazing, what a listener he is. I think that's the thing that stands out, that it's not just what he's doing for people, but what he's understanding from people. Growing up and now, as in your in your role at the YWCA and all of that, what is the impact that you see through his style of leadership?

Elizabeth Brown 7:33
Absolutely. Well, when I think about my dad's work in Washington and work across Ohio to fight for Ohioans, it is, it very, I mean, it's driven by this, this concept of the dignity of work, right? He talks a lot about the dignity of work because, as I said earlier, he's always thinking about the people behind things that work in our country. And he has a very good line that I want to get right: "If you love our country, you fight for the people that make it work." He says that over and over, "if you love our country, you fight for the people that make it work." And to me, there is in his commitment to public education a true understanding of that phrase. Because, of course, it's about building a strong system, but how do we build and nurture a strong public education system through things like the Educators Expense Deduction Modernization Act, right where he is actually helping teachers better afford and get money back for the expenses that they pour into their own classrooms. Through things like the Social Security Fairness Act, where he is making sure that all public employees can actually get what they're owed in Social Security right now, teachers, bus drivers, custodians, school support staff, they all pay into Social Security, but then they do not get the full benefits that they earned when they retire. And he knows that's not right. And he recognizes, again, if you love this country, you fight for the people who make it work. And so he's focused on making sure the system actually works for those who spend their careers doing something for the rest of us. You know, and he also is always thinking about the families who are served by the public education system. That's why he fought really hard for the child tax credit. The child tax credit has helped put more money into the pockets of working families in Ohio and lift millions of Ohio children out of poverty, and he's fighting to make it permanent, because he understands that we have to make sure our teachers and school employees have what they need to get their work done, and that families are really empowered to be able to raise their children, take advantage of these educational opportunities and build a better tomorrow for future generations.

Katie Olmsted 9:53
And really that speaks to the future of public education in Ohio, because we have to make public education a sustainable career, and if you are worried about how you're going to be paying for your child care, you can't focus on the job you need to do in the classroom. If you're worried about all of those other expenses, you can't focus on the work. And so it really does come back to the dignity of work and valuing workers. Senator Brown has stood with educators on the picket lines. He has stood with, he stood with all labor across the board. What do you think when you see that commitment, when he puts that into action, not just words.

Elizabeth Brown 10:33
Yeah, what I see is someone who's really serious about trying to make lives better for the average person in Ohio. Like truly, when he stands with labor across the board, but he also stands specifically with teachers and school employees. I remember in the 2022 strike here in Columbus, when the teachers of Columbus City Schools went on strike. I remember he went to the picket lines very early to join them. My sister and I and our kids joined them. We actually went to different picket lines, right? We had - Brown family had to cover as many as possible. I'm kidding. No, but we went to our kids' own schools where their teacher was going to, teachers were going to be. And it was, it was a no brainer for him, right? That's he always is on the side, again, of the people who make our country work, and that's our public school employees every time.

Katie Olmsted 11:34
And he's willing to meet people where they are. I think one of the things that stands out about Senator Brown is that the party affiliation is not the important thing. He's willing to work across the aisle and work with people who will achieve these goals for Ohioans.

Elizabeth Brown 11:50
Yep, yep. I think that's exactly right. And one thing I have always thought about my dad, and love the opportunity to share, is that he's the exact same person you know on C-span as he is on MSNBC, as he is at the kitchen table, right, as he is on the walks to school that he does with our kids as many times a year as he can. He is the same person, interested in people's stories, interested in how he can help them. He does actually walk my kids and my sister's kids to school on a somewhat regular basis. If he's in Columbus, he'll take 20 minutes in the morning to do that. And I love it because, you know, he's grandpa, and they're climbing all over him, and it's maybe a slower walk to school, but then he gets there, and the teacher is waiting outside of Hubbard Elementary School, you know, ushering the kids in. He always stops. He talks to them. He asks what's going on? He's genuinely interested in their work and their life. And he asks these questions, not because he's staffed, not because there's a camera around, but because he genuinely wants to know how Ohioans are doing and how he can help. And I know he takes those stories back when he does his work in Washington and around the state.

Katie Olmsted 13:11
And I think that's why Ohioans are so enthusiastic and activated and ready to get out and use our collective power. One in every 100 Ohioans is an OEA member. So that is a huge amount of power at the ballot box, if we can stand together and if we can talk to the people around us, and I know educators, especially, are really on the trail with Senator Brown as you are.

Elizabeth Brown 13:43
Yeah, I thank you for saying that. That's that statistic is astounding. I love it. And this is a grassroots-powered, people-powered campaign, for sure. This is my dad's hardest race. I mean, he says that. I say that every time I'm out talking about his race. It's his hardest race yet, and the way we're going to win is by people locking arms with the campaign and doing that boots on the ground work that actually delivers votes. He will be outspent. The amount of money coming in to the state, just against my dad, not the presidential - but we're gonna see over $100 million spent on advertising against my dad. My kids will see ads come up, and it's funny, I'm at least sympathetic, because I went through that as a kid, too. And they'll see ads come up, and they'll excitedly go, 'Mom, mom, it's grandpa! He's on TV!' And I'll and I'll go look, and we all wait, and they go, is it a good one or a bad one? Right? And we know that that not to put too fine a point on it, but we know that that ratio of negative ads is going to start going up and up because of the Wall Street interests, the radical right interests that are coming into our state that want to take this Senate seat. The only way that we fight back against that is for him to work really hard, as he is, to run the best campaign possible, and for all of us to work hard on the ground. He's, they're running all 88 counties campaign, and all counties organizing program that will knock doors in every single county. They're working with the Ohio Democratic Party to do that, and to date, they've already activated 3000 volunteers and knocked on more than 300,000 doors in 82 of our 88 counties in Ohio. So the campaign is going to every community, and I encourage OEA members to talk to their friends and neighbors as well, because this is going to - we're going to win this campaign not by the money spent on television, but on the number of doors knocked, the number of conversations with neighbors to talk about who really fights for Ohio, and that's and that's Sherrod Brown.

Katie Olmsted 16:05
And I so appreciate you coming in to have this conversation with us to help share a little bit more about why Sherrod Brown is such a champion for public education, for workers and for Ohio. Thank you. Liz.

Elizabeth Brown 16:18
Thank you so much. It's great being here.

Katie Olmsted 16:24
You can learn more about the bills Senator Brown has championed to help public education and public school educators in the show notes for this episode. And while you're there, make sure you subscribe to this podcast on your favorite listening platform so you don't miss a conversation in the future. New episodes drop every Thursday this season and every week, we will continue to dive into the big education issues in Ohio with the people who are shaping the public education landscape in our state every day, because in Ohio, public education matters.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai