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 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 right now there are things happening at the state and federal levels that are going to have a huge impact on all 120,000 of those educators and all of the learners they serve. And Ohio's Public Schools need every single person to stand up and use their united voice with us to protect public education in our state and support plans that will make our public schools even better. OEA's Director of Government Relations, knows the ins and outs on all of it, so we sat down with him to walk us through some of the biggest threats we're looking at and some of the biggest opportunities if we take action now.

Dan Ramos, OEA Director of Government Relations, thank you so much for sitting down with us.

Dan Ramos 0:44
Thank you, Katie.

Katie Olmsted 0:45
What a time to be alive in Ohio.

Dan Ramos 1:30
Most definitely and in our country, given what's going on both in Columbus and in DC. So thanks for having me again, Katie, you can talk about upcoming issues both from Capitol Hill and from Capitol Square here in Ohio. I'm going to cover a couple of threats, opportunities, some good things, some bad things, but what educators can do to have an impact and what they already are doing to have an impact.

Katie Olmsted 1:53
So let's start with the medicine that we have to take. What? What are the threats we're looking at?

Dan Ramos 1:56
So very familiar with this as it's a daily a daily dose of vet medicine, both from DC and from Columbus, we're seeing a whole host of attacks on public education, from funding to privatization, on educators, voices and on students rights. So let's start with a funding conversation. You may have heard the Trump administration just unveiled what it's calling the skinny budget. And I say that with big air quotes, because it is nothing but, you know, disastrous for public education in its budget, it's looking to cut, you know, they're looking to cut domestic spending by about 22.6% for the US Department of Education. They've earmarked or identified about $12 billion which is approximately a cut of about 15.3% in US DOE funding, and as we know, the US DOE, while it doesn't, you know, dictate curriculum at the state level, it is the primary funder and funding entity for some very major programs that everyday Ohioans and students you know benefit from, from Title One to IDEA to Title Three to, you know, grants and programs to support, you know, educator part, you know, equality.

Katie Olmsted 3:08
So these are popular programs. Americans overwhelmingly, Ohioans overwhelmingly want our students to have that support.

Dan Ramos 3:15
Correct, correct. And you know, students from all stripes too, that we're not even talking about just students in the urban setting or impoverished communities. We're talking about students in rural communities, students in suburban communities, wealthy working class. There are students across the state of every type that benefit from these programs, and especially our most vulnerable kids. So under the skinny budget, it essentially takes Title One and matches it with 18 other programs yet to be identified, and it creates a single block grant. You're gonna hear me say block grant a couple of times in this, in this little part of my presentation here, because this is where the federal government's moving. And then it cuts that block grant by $4.35 billion just to put it into context. In Ohio, all federal programs from US DOE, we get about $1.5 billion from the federal government through the titles, through IDEA. So we're, we don't know yet what this looks like for Ohio specifically, but it's, it's going to be a large cut to Title One programs, which, obviously, as we all know, help underserved students. They, they are, you know, they're focused on providing wraparound services and things like that for students in underserved communities.

Katie Olmsted 4:25
But, but block grants, I say, with my my very sarcastic face on, that's the answer. What? What do they mean by that? And why isn't that the answer for us?

Dan Ramos 4:34
So the administration, you'll hear the administration and proponents of block grants say it gives it cuts away red tape from the federal government, and it cuts out the middle individuals in the process of handing dollars to the states, and essentially, they will hand Ohio a chunk of money that Ohio then generally has the authority to make determinations on where it goes. Ohio's legislature has yes and US and Department of Education. In the workforce. But we all know block grants usually lead to less funding and less accountability of that funding for our most vulnerable students. So, you know, whereas the current rules stipulate and say these dollars shall be used for these programs and are guaranteed under the current version of ESEA, which is the Every Student Support Act, a block grant would completely, you know, hand control over how those dollars are used to the states, and it is up to the determination of the like, as you pointed out, State General Assembly, Department of Workforce and Education, or educational workforce, to make that determination.

Katie Olmsted 4:34
Our, our general assembly that tends to prefer private school vouchers, correct, public school education, correct, which is what we're seeing a lot of this the state.

Dan Ramos 5:07
And what we have seen in many, in many iterations of this, and as you pointed out rightly, you know, a lot of times with the strings, you know, not attached with these dollars, states will then funnel those monies into private school programs which are even less accountable than, than what the federal government requires for traditional public schools on top of the title one stuff, though, it also block grants out IDEA all seven of the IDEA programs. And as people know that are familiar with, special ed funding at the federal level, it's only funded at 40% right now. What it should be funded at under the Trump administration's skinny budget, the federal government will only cover 13% of the federal government's obligation under IDEA. So not only is it creating a block grant, which was unaccountable, it's then cutting the amount of money that the states would get to support students with special needs, and then it wholesale eliminates title three, which is the English language acquisition program and the teacher quality partnership programs, which are grants and aid to help with, you know, deep dive professional learning for educators to support students with special needs, support students in low income settings, and English language learners. So overall, a disastrous, I wouldn't even call this the skinny budget. I would call this the disastrous budget from the Trump administration, and we cannot let this pass. So it's important that we talk about this in the context of other funding items, because it's, it's the federal, the state, the local that will ultimately, you know, make, make up what a school district has to operate.

Katie Olmsted 7:15
And it's coming at the same time that the state is trying to figure out its budget Correct. I'm talking to you on May 14th, May 16th, I believe, is the day that amendments are due. Yeah, yeah. So we don't actually know what's going to be in the Senate version yet, not yet, as I'm talking with you, by the time this podcast comes out, we'll have a slightly better idea, correct? But what do we need to see in there? And what have we seen?

Dan Ramos 7:35
Yeah. So, Katie, thank you for pointing that out. Yes, all this is happening as the State General Assembly is dealing with its or creating its biennium budget for the next two fiscal years. It's in house bill 96 which was already passed by the House and is now in the hands of the Ohio Senate. But you know, what the House passed was, was not in the direction that we wanted it to go. We've been strong proponents of the fair school funding plan, making sure that that fair, the fair school funding plan is fully updated and implemented. This was supposed to be the last two years of the phase in of the fair school funding plan of the six year roll out. And the funding plan itself would have would provide a predictable cost based, student centered program that is adequate for all districts across the state, and it's based on the actual costs of educating our kids. What the house gave to the Senate, which was a horrific piece of legislation, it essentially took away that the predictability of the fair school funding plan, and it returned us to I would a time in which I would say is unconstitutional, where we are doing residual budgeting on essentially, the legislators pick a number that they want to get to and then create the math to get to that number, not based on any actual costs or any actual facts. So if you look at what the House did, it only would give majority of, I would say, lion's share of the districts, $50 per student per year, per per the biennium, more than what they received in in fiscal year 25.

Katie Olmsted 9:06
Yeah, that's that's not enough to buy each kid a new pair of shoes, not at all. Alone actually means.

Dan Ramos 9:06
Not at all, not at all. You know, for some districts, they do see more, especially the districts that saw more growth over the last three fiscal years in their student population. But ultimately, even though, you know some school districts are going to see more money than what they may have seen under the fair school funding plan, it throws off the formula completely, so there's zero predictability. So in two more years after this, we're going to be subject to the whim, the political whims of the next general assembly, rather than relying on a cost based, student centered, adequate formula that the fair school funding plan has. And then on top of that, on top of grossly underfunding. And by the way, the House plan under funds schools by about $2.75 billion with a capital B, they are also putting your funding it from what it would what it would be, yeah, if we were to fully update and implement the fair school funding plan, it also. Creates a clawback pro a clawback provision that would essentially threaten the financial stability of school districts by requiring school districts to give back money to the to the taxpayers for any any monies that are 30% or above their 30% carry over for the from year to year. And as we know, local school districts, you know, hold on to those dollars for a whole host of different of things. You know, planning for legacy costs, as we know, you know, materials and supply costs have gone up, you know, you know, kind of supporting their their building construction, but ultimately, their carryover cash reserves are put in place for a reason that meets their needs at the local level, to help them operate. Many districts haven't put levies on the ballot for almost a decade because of their ability to have a larger carryover.

Katie Olmsted 10:47
But that's that would change. I mean, if this went into effect, some districts would be going back nearly every year.

Dan Ramos 10:52
Correct, correct. Some districts, I think Olentangy school district essentially said that they would be put into fiscal emergency.

Katie Olmsted 10:59
And as an Olentangy parent, I It blows my mind that we're even talking about this right? Like we moved to Olentangy because they have excellent schools. Yeah, support those levies because I believe in in our local school board's ability to spend our money wisely. Yeah, our property taxes are high in Olentangy, that's because the state doesn't pay its fair share. Exactly right. Directly into the microphone with all the exactly right? The state did its job, we would not be in this position.

Dan Ramos 11:24
Correct, correct. And that's why we need both to eliminate this carryover provision, because it's gonna it's gonna force districts to either have to cut programs or services or staff or return to the ballot every single year or in greater frequency to make up the loss. And then on top of it, obviously, we need to make sure that the fair school funding plan is completely phase completely phased in and updated, so we can have a predictable system, so that the Olentangy's of the world, or Columbus publics, or Cincinnati publics, all the school districts across the state have the ability to count on an adequate funding system so that they can plan for the future. So that's, that's what we've, you know, said to the to the Senate, we're working with members of the Ohio Senate and our allies in the all the all in for how kids campaign Honesty for Ohio Education Coalition, and, you know, other coalitions to basically say the same message, update and fully fund the fair school funding plan and eliminate this horrific carryover provision so that districts can, you know, have an adequate sense of what their what was, what to expect from the state.

Katie Olmsted 11:24
And I know we have a lot more that are also there, yes, but this is a really good place to talk about the opportunities because of y'all in Ohio kids COVID, because of all the opportunities to call your senators and shape the future. What can we what are we asking people to do?

Dan Ramos 12:39
Well, I can say that we've had a lot of activity thus far. You know, obviously, with every threat, there always comes an opportunity to take that and turn it on its head. We have seen educators and allies and parents and administrators and community leaders from across the state, from all all different communities in Ohio already taking action. You know, on May 1, there were rallies in many cities across the state saying, hands off our public ed. Before that, we had seen walk ins. We had seen walkouts, red for Ed days, you know, just our our action alert, loan checking in with your department Katie, we've, you know, since the beginning of that action alert, we've sent out 12,000 letters to the General Assembly, you know, demanding a fully updated and fully implemented fair school funding plan. That's, that's incredible, and we want to continue to build upon that. So at the representative assembly this past weekend, we launched a new tool that educate, that educators can use, called Protect Ohio Classrooms. And really, it's, it's a we have a flyer, an email was sent to local presidents this past week from President DiMauro, asking educators to join together in their local communities to do three things. One, send a letter to your senator using that action alert. Two, we created the Protect Ohio Classrooms petition. So sign that petition, get as many of your colleagues to do that. We want to show a strong show a force that the educators of Ohio are not standing idly by, and that they're willing to do what it takes to get, you know, adequate funding for our schools. And then three show up to lobby day. If you haven't, well, this is already to be by in the past. I hope you showed up on May 20th. But then, you know, obviously, while that's in the past, you know, take the opportunity to meet with your legislators back home. You know, obviously it's extremely important that you show up here in Columbus, but when they're back home, they take meetings, so find out where they you know, like who your state rep, who your state senator, is, and have that meeting and organize your community to sit down with them. On top of that, we have some great partner resources from Policymatters Ohio and from All In for Ohio Kids. So policymakers have put out local school district fact sheets that you can find on the website, on their website that show what a school district is receiving under the house quote, unquote bridge formula, and what it should what you should be receiving under a fully updated, implemented fiscal funding plan. And then they've also. Created a legislative district profile sheet that you can use it as a as a, you know, leave behind, or something you can give your legislator that talks about the impact of school funding in your legislative district, in particular the fair school funding plan. And then with the All In for Ohio Kids campaign, we work to develop a local school board engagement kit. We want as many school boards across Ohio to pass a resolution calling for the full implementation of the fair school funding plan and the elimination of this clawback provision. So you know, using that to build relationships and to build synergy between your board, your administration and educators, and then telling that story to your legislator, is it critically important? You know, as we said, our lobby days were behind. A lot of educators showed up. We also did have administrators show up, and that shows a legislator that it's not just the educators talking about this. It's the superintendent, it's the school board member, it's the school treasurer, it's a parent, it's the whole school community saying, we need you to do right by our schools, and that's what we need to continue to do until this budget is done.

Katie Olmsted 16:04
And in the last minute or so that we have the budget is not the only thing that we're asking people to to take action on right now. It's it's really a huge, pressing thing, but there are a lot of other bills in the in the State House right now that we really need educator voices to help support.

Dan Ramos 16:21
Yep, exactly. So, shifting to some good things here. So House Bill 205 which is a reintroduction of a bill from the last general assembly, from state representative Sean Brennan, former educator, actually a retired OEA member and Representative Don Jones, who's also a retired educator, a Democrat and a Republican, called the Future Educator Support Act, which establishes permissive rules for the Department of Education and Workforce school districts and the Department of Higher Education to compensate student teachers for their time student teaching in the classroom. We know that many student teachers and aspiring educators do not enter the profession or leave the profession because of the cost burdens that are placed on them for, you know, going to school, you know, paying their tuition, paying rent, but then not receiving any compensation when they actually go in and actually do the job of an educator as part of their their training. So this would, this bill would would fix that problem, would give the tools to those entities to compensate our educators, but what we need to support representative Brennan in all of this is, if you have a story about either a challenge or about what how this could benefit you, please send that to government relations. We are working with our aspiring educators right now to build a compendium to identify stories that we can share in testimony in support of this bill, or to support aspiring educators to show up to the General Assembly and testify before the House Education Committee when this is up for a hearing, hopefully soon.

Katie Olmsted 17:53
And hopefully a hearing soon again on a different bill from Senator Blessing.

Dan Ramos 17:58
Yes, so Senator Blessing, who might I add, has been a champion for, you know, the fair school funding plan, and an ally in the fight on the federal on the on the funding front. Republican from Cincinnati and state senator Kent Smith from the Cleveland area have proposed a Senate bill called Senate Bill 190 which is a good deal for Ohio act, and it covers a whole host of tax provisions and other provisions, but the one area of it that we are very appreciative of is if passed, this bill, would essentially continue and finish the job that we started last General Assembly in dealing with student nutrition issues at schools by making meals free, breakfast and lunch for all students in Ohio Public Schools. It's something that is unconscionable that we don't do now. We're willing to hand out billions of dollars to voucher schools and millions of dollars to, you know, billionaires that want to build stadiums, but we're not willing to invest in our kids future and invest in, you know, something that often is a distraction for many students across the state, from from being able to find them, you know, like find success in the school day.

Katie Olmsted & Dan Ramos 19:06
I mean, think about your own life. If you're hungry, you're not paying attention, you don't want to be around me. It's 1138 in the morning. This is my lunch time, and I'm ready to wrap it up because I my tummy is rumbling. I feel you there. Imagine if you don't know, you know, if you don't have that food security?

Dan Ramos 19:21
Yeah. So so two, again, recapping two things, two good bills that we're promoting and wanting to, wanting to, you know, provide stories and support. House Bill 205, the Future Educator Support Act and Senate Bill 190, a good deal for Ohio act.

Katie Olmsted & Dan Ramos 19:34
So many opportunities, and such an opportunity for educators to stand together and make their voice heard, which is so, so important. Yep, yep. Dan Ramos, thank you so much for walking us through all of this.

Dan Ramos 19:46
Oh, there's many more, to many more opportunities to do this, this General Assembly, in this Congress, but happy to be here today. And thank you again, Katie, for having me.

Katie Olmsted 19:56
Honestly this conversation with Dan was really just the tip of the iceberg with everything going through the State House and at the federal level right now, we didn't even get into the attacks on collective bargaining, and that is a really, really big deal we need to take action on. We have some links for more information about a lot of what you heard here and more in the show notes for this episode. And we have one more episode of this podcast this season. Join us next week as we hear from Scott DiMauro, who is retiring from teaching after 34 years as he finishes up his last term as OEA president this summer, we take a look back and a look forward to the future of Ohio's public schools in next week's season finale, because in Ohio, public education matters.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai