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 k-12 teachers, education support professionals, higher ed faculty members, librarians and other public school educators OEA represents across the state. And OEA members truly do represent every part of our state, from huge urban districts to small rural communities and everywhere in between. That's why we need people in the statehouse who truly understand the needs of all of our communities and who understand why public education matters. People like Representative Justin Pizzulli, a Republican who represents District 90 - so Scioto and Adams counties and parts of Brown County. He grew up in Appalachia. His mom was a bus driver, and before he got his start as a policymaker, he worked as a commercial freight conductor in Portsmouth. He is a pro-public education, pro-labor leader, and the OEA members who sit on the OEA Fund Screening and Endorsement committees agree he is the best person to represent District 90 in the Ohio House. Representative Pizzulli sat down with us to share his thoughts on some of the challenges he can help tackle when he's reelected this fall, and how he's been able to stand up against a lot of pressure and against some major attacks on public education and workers' rights, on big issues like Senate Bill 83 among others. Let's take a listen.

Katie Olmsted 2:04
Representative Justin Pizzulli, thank you for joining us for this podcast and really sharing your thoughts about public education in Ohio. What are the biggest issues when it comes to public education that you can help address when you are reelected this fall?

Rep. Justin Pizzulli 2:21
That's a great question. You know, we're really blessed in Ohio with -- you know, when I serve on Primary and Secondary Education Committee, and I serve along folks who have been previous teachers or superintendents, or, you know, school board members or what have you. So we really are blessed in Ohio with good people. You know, my goal, you know, coming on Primary and Secondary Education was to - my personal mission growing up in Appalachian Ohio was to be a voice and a representative for rural school districts, oftentimes, ones that might be maybe struggling, or have, you know, or don't have a voice. I want to be a voice for the voiceless. So I think you know, policies that help lift up our rural schools, and also policies that just support our teachers, letting our teachers actually teach. You know when I, when I talk to my teachers down here, you know they, they always share that, 'You know, I love teaching. You know I didn't necessarily sign up for, you know, to be a paperwork pusher or to be a school psychologist or the school nurse or, you know, what have you.' And many of the teachers do those things out of the goodness of their heart. But if we can get, you know, government out of the way and let teachers actually do their job, let you know they signed up to teach. And I, you know, I don't like, you know, kind of putting too much responsibilities and overbearing on our teachers, right? So those are the kind of policies that I'm always trying to support in Columbus.

Katie Olmsted 4:08
Well, and you bring up your own upbringing in Appalachia, Ohio. You've seen yourself what under resourced schools look like. You have a very, I think, important story that you share about that?

Rep. Justin Pizzulli 4:24
Yeah I do. I appreciate you asking about that. I'm a grad, proud graduate, of Green High School in a little town, one stoplight town. The stoplight is new. That's not always been there, but we do have Dollar General, so we're moving up in the world. But I graduated with a class size of 45 people, and we were always just struggling to keep the lights on. And, you know, one thing that I heard growing up as a kid was, you know, how we distribute funds was ruled unconstitutional three times. You know, that was something that as a little kid, you know, is always ingrained into me, you know, as to, you know why we were always struggling. And the you know, part of, part of it is the local community, you know, would never pass a a tax levy. But at the same time, you know that hits people's pockets. You know, we're in a very poverty-stricken area, and so you know, you can't, blame people for voting no on that, either. But the building that I went to school in, it was built in the early 1900s. It was around 1900 that it was built. Went to primary school from kindergarten until second grade in that building. It was three stories. The third floor was condemned. It was lot of structural issues. Couple of years ago, it finally was getting ready to collapse at any moment - Thank God that that was found by some structural engineers - and they pulled the kids out of the building and were able to get some mobile units set up pretty quickly. But, you know, I coming from that region, another story that I tell, it was around fifth grade, and I was really excited to be in the new science class, and I opened up the book, and, you know, the teacher says, make sure to put your name on the front page of the book. You know, claim the book, that it's yours. And the page was pretty full with names, and I look up at the very top, and my mom's name was was written up top. So she had the same book. She graduated in 1987. I graduated in in 2010. I always thought, well, I wonder if science probably changed a little bit between 1987 and, you know, 2000 the late 90s, early, 2000s there. But you know, my mom is also an alumni of the school and school bus driver. But, you know, and I don't say all those things to - you know, I'm not, you know, trashing, you know, where, where I went to school. I just do like to share personally, you know, bring light to, you know, some of the issues that our rural schools face every day. And that goes without saying that, you know, I received a great education. And the reason I did was because I had amazing teachers who invested so much in their students, you know, bought things out of pocket, past their some of their allowances, you know, for us kids, and they genuinely loved and invested in us so much more than what what was ever expected. And I received a great education, and the reason I did was because I had amazing teachers. And, you know, I think it's nice to have to have, you know, new things. It's important, and I want to make sure we have safety for our kids. You know, they shouldn't be going to school in dilapidated buildings and using 30 year old textbooks. But I, you know, I just always like to note that, you know, I'm able to, I received a great education, you know, despite all of that, and that's only possible because of our amazing teachers here in the state.

Katie Olmsted 8:12
And you bring that experience with you to the statehouse. You are a voice for rural schools, and you're a voice for educators. OEA members who sit on the screening and endorsement committee say that you are a great representative for pro-public education, pro-labor causes, and they have recommended you for reelection. What are some of the things that you've been able to accomplish in your time in the state house already?

Rep. Justin Pizzulli 8:39
Yeah, so you know, I like to just, you know, I come from the Railroad, which is also a union position, and, you know, I wouldn't want someone coming in to tell me how to do my job, you know, saying that they know how to do it better, right? I mean, if that happened at the railroad, they probably, they might get beat up on the property with some of the guys. And so, why are we doing this with our teachers? Right? And so, you know, one aspect that I try to bring to Columbus is listening to the people on the ground. I don't know why that's so complicated to do, but I, you know, I was proud to support so far, the basic increase in the salary of teachers, which, believe me, is not enough, you know, but I guess it was a start. I hope it brought joy to some folks. We've got a long way to go on that front, definitely not happy with it. It needed to be more. And then also just this GA it's been really an honor to be a part of the Science of Reading implementation. I've learned a lot about that, more than I ever thought I would know in my life sitting through many, many meetings. And I hope that's something that's going well. So far, I've received really good feedback, and love to hear from any of your listeners on that, on the implementation this year of the Science of Reading. And this might go into a little more of higher ed, but, you know, I was, you know, really trying to hold the fort on Senate Bill 83. And there was a lot of pressure coming down. Some of you that might not be familiar with Senate Bill 83 it was a union busting bill disguised to, you know, try to help higher ed. But, you know, I was kind of the last, one of the last Republicans standing. We held out for a long time. Basically it said that, you know, teachers would not be able to collective bargain. It started off not allowing teachers to strike. We all saw that many years ago. I'm, yeah, I'm old enough to remember that. You know, back in I think it was 2010 and 11 that didn't work out before. Why would we do that again? So I really tried to held, hold strong on that I'm proud of that. I was not pressured by by anyone. I stood strong, and I'll always be a voice for our unions up there.

Katie Olmsted 11:06
It's got to be hard to stay strong. I can only imagine the kind of pressures that you face as a Republican who is holding the line against other Republicans. What I guess gives you the strength to do what you need to do, and what drives you to be such a defender of public education and of labor?

Rep. Justin Pizzulli 11:28
That's a great question, too. I think just my upbringing, coming from Appalachian Ohio, you know, probably have a hard head. And, you know, I know, I don't bother, I'm not one that bothers to argue. You know, there's, there's a lot of times up there, you know, you'll see a lot of, you know, sparring and back and forth. I'm not really a debater type, you know, I just like to share, you know, my belief and why I believe that way. And if someone doesn't like it, then too bad, you know. I respect their view as well and where they're coming from. And if we disagree, that doesn't mean that we we can't be friends. And I think that's the kind of mentality we need, you know, to elect more people in Columbus who just get the big picture. You know, I sometimes I get frustrated with we get caught up in these red meat issues. And I'm not saying those aren't, you know, important or something by any means. But I will say that we have so many problems already that are bipartisan. And, you know, we have a teacher shortage, and we, you know, we have, I mean, we could name, you know, 100 things that we could fix right now in a bipartisan manner. And so we need to elect officials who see the big picture, you know, who really have the mind of their constituents and not necessarily worried about running for Congress or what their five year plan is, or they're going to be the next governor. You know, I'm here to actually get things done and to serve right now. If that leads to something else, that's great. But, you know, being involved behind the scenes. I just wish we would roll up our sleeves and get to work for for the hard working Ohioans.

Katie Olmsted 13:07
Has your time in the State House surprised you about how difficult sometimes it is to do that?

Rep. Justin Pizzulli 13:13
Well, it does put it into perspective, right? How big the bureaucracy really is. You know, I'm just one in 99 but it's important that I do my part. But, you know, I can't, you know, I can't get frustrated because, you know this, it's a big state. We have a very diverse state. You know, where I grew up in Appalachia, is so different than the than the rest of Ohio, and so there's so many different values and beliefs and opinions. And I think just, you know, there's similarities, though, and being able to find common ground. Another rep, Rep. Isaacson, you know, who's a Democrat. We don't always agree on a lot of things, but we are able to come together when it comes to, you know, both rural and urban schools. You know, he always says, If you close your eyes and you listen to the kids from rural schools and urban schools, it's a lot of the same problems that they're saying, you know, a lot of the same some of the same language you know, that they're using. So if you listen to the kids, if you listen to the teachers, that's how you fix the problems.

Katie Olmsted 14:20
Ain't that the truth? Listen to the people who can tell you what the problems are and how it affects them. You mentioned right at the beginning that you want to be a voice for the voiceless and and really help represent those rural schools especially. What's the one thing you wish your colleagues in the statehouse understood about the challenges rural schools face?

Rep. Justin Pizzulli 14:41
Well, I think just getting them down here to see the the infrastructure challenges, you know, I think not, not everybody grew up this way, right? And so I'm always inviting folks down. And I think once they, once they see it, they start to see it. And what we need, really, is, you know, and OEA does a great job of you know, letting us know the needs in Columbus. And I just really appreciate the work that they're doing. But we need, you know, we need teachers in there, too, you know, knocking on the doors of their state representatives, you know, setting meetings and, you know, and inviting us out. I know a lot of my colleagues, they like to hear from people on the ground, and they like to come out to tours, and I think just the importance of actually seeing it. Sometimes, you know, I'm always skeptical. I always say, you know, believe, you know, nothing of what you hear and half of what you see. So I like to see things for myself. And so once you actually get on the ground and see things and invite your representatives out, you know, to identify these problems. That's really how that's really how it's done.

Katie Olmsted 15:48
Well Representative Justin Pizzulli, thank you for accepting our invitation to come out and and help us understand a little bit more about who you are and why you are such a fierce advocate for public education issues at the statehouse. Good luck with your reelection.

Rep. Justin Pizzulli 16:03
Well, thank you so much, Katie, it's been an honor to be with you. Thank you for your kindness and thank you for the work you're doing.

Katie Olmsted 16:12
Representative Pizzulli really hit something important with something he said in there, and I'm paraphrasing, we don't have to agree with everyone on everything, and that's okay. OEA members' recommendations about endorsed candidates are only based on where the candidate stands on public education and labor issues. That's it. OEA members can go to the OEA website to find the full list of recommended candidates, both Republicans and Democrats who will be on the ballot this fall. Make sure you have a plan to vote, whether it's early, in person, absentee by mail or in person on Election Day, November 5th. Your vote matters! There's so much at stake in this election year, and we cannot afford to sit this one out. We will continue to have these important conversations about the public education issues and the people shaping these policies as this season of the podcast continues, make sure you subscribe on your favorite listening platform so you don't miss a thing. Because in Ohio, public education matters.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai