Public Education Matters

Amy Acton 0:00
I think all of us are exhausted of being pitted against one another. We're tired of a corrupt and broken state house taking us backwards on every single measure, including our education for our children. And together, we're going to build the Ohio we all deserve.

Various student voices 0:25
Public Education Matters. Public Education Matters. Public Education Matters.

Jeff Wensing 0:31
This is Public Education Matters. Brought to you by the Ohio Education Association.

Katie Olmsted 0:42
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 public school educators OEA represents in communities all across the state. Right now, these public school educators across the political spectrum are standing together with parents, community members, people of all different party affiliations and ideologies, different interests, different ideals, to support the pro public education candidates we need at the local, state, and federal levels to help us deliver on the promise of a great public education for every Ohio child, no exceptions. Public education isn't a partisan issue. OEA members have recommended both Republicans and Democrats for the races on the ballot this fall. More on how those recommendations are made coming up just a little bit later in this episode. But first, we're going to sit down with the OEA member recommended candidate in the race for Ohio governor, Dr. Amy Acton, because when it comes to supporting public education and the collective bargaining rights of the public school educators who have dedicated their lives and careers to serving public school students every day, the difference between Dr. Acton and her opponent could not be any clearer. Listen to him in his own words.

Vivek Ramaswamy 2:05
My perspective on the teachers' unions is, I would. That's the one area of collective bargaining that I would not rule out eliminating. If you can't beat the teachers' unions, we're going to avoid them.

Computer voiced accessibility reader 2:15
The Mansfield News Journal quoted Ramaswamy as saying at a campaign stop in Bucyrus, "I certainly have never said that I'm running a campaign for governor to eliminate teachers' unions, but I'm certainly not running a campaign not to eliminate teachers' unions either.

Vivek Ramaswamy 2:27
Hold the public schools teachers' feet to the fire, get rid of those teachers' unions.

Katie Olmsted 2:32
And that's just his anti-labor stance. Vivek Ramaswamy's positions on public education issues in our state are incredibly dangerous. He's said everything from that he wants to make our schools year-round with longer hours to cover childcare problems, without any state funding for staffing those schools, or recognition that the people who staff our schools are experienced, highly trained, qualified professional educators, not babysitters. He says he wants to consolidate Ohio's public universities and colleges because he doesn't see the value in them. His property tax plans, if you can call the half-baked promises and vague ideas plans at all, would all be done on the backs of our public school students, while he would continue funneling billions more of our public tax dollars into private school voucher schemes that benefit his wealthy buddies mostly, and not the vast majority of students in our state. Amy Acton, on the other hand, understands the real needs of our public schools and has real plans to deliver on that. We sat down with her over the summer, with just under 100 days to go until Election Day. At that point, take a listen to where she stands.

Katie Olmsted 3:54
Dr. Amy Acton, thank you so so much for coming in to tell us more about yourself and who we'll be as our next governor, hopefully.

Amy Acton 4:04
Thank you. Thank you so much for having me. I'm honored to be here.

Katie Olmsted 4:08
So you have said several times I've heard that public schools saved your life. What can you tell me about how your public school education shaped your life and how it shapes your views as a leader?

Amy Acton 4:20
Yeah. Well, absolutely. This isn't something I say as an overstatement. I've been very open about my life and my life story. I grew up in Youngstown, Ohio. Had a pretty rough childhood growing up. Moved all the time. Frequent flyer in children's services, and I know for the teachers and staff out there and the educators, you know the kids I'm talking about. They spend a little bit of time in your school, your system, and they move on often. My brother and I actually lived in a tent in the middle of winter toward the end, and we're finally removed from that situation. I moved a mile away from that, shared a bedroom with my brother all the way through high school, but we stayed in one good public school for the next six years, and then I was able to get in the BSMD Accelerated Med School here in Northeast Ohio, NEOUCOM, now called NEOMED, and so my life got a lot better, but I've always been haunted by the young people I knew as I moved around, who were just as smart and just as nice. But you could see their lives go different ways than mine, and and I've always felt my whole career has been about not looking the other way. Often it was teachers who would make sure my brother and I got a little extra attention. Often it was the library at school where I could read books and know that life could be different than the one I was leading. So I'm a big fan of what our public schools, something we invented here in Ohio, do. I'm actually married to a 43-year public school elementary school teacher and a coach. He teaches at the same school still. He's turning 65, the same school he went to since he was four. So that gives you a sense. We have two kids who are OEA members in their schools. So, so I'm absolutely committed to our public schools in Ohio, which are under duress, and I'll be doing everything I can as governor, so all kids get the same chance.

Katie Olmsted 6:31
I think it's wonderful that you have those voices of educators who are telling you about our schools and what they need.

Amy Acton 6:39
Yeah.

Katie Olmsted 6:39
I know you've been traveling all around the state, so many road trips over the last year or so. All counties, people of all walks of life, in every kind of community.

Amy Acton 6:50
That's right.

Katie Olmsted 6:50
What are you hearing from them and learning from those conversations about what our public schools do need right now?

Amy Acton 6:56
Right. Well, absolutely. I'm going to be fighting to save our public schools. Like they are under attack. We know we've watched attacks to our pension system. My husband and I are definitely paying close attention to that. But the fact that we have not fully funded the bipartisan funding plan that we finally had for our public schools is a travesty. When I am governor, we are going to fully fund our public schools. We are going to get our hands around this out of control voucher program that is completely not transparent. We've had over $2 billion so far rerouted, and we have no idea where that money is going, or how it is being held to the same standards that we hold our public schools to, this is our taxpayer dollars funding. You know, often fly-by-night institutions. We know many of the dollars went to places where kids were already going. Most of the most of the dollars, and and you know those families also facing the fact that schools then upped the tuition and they even people who didn't want to take the voucher felt that they had to take it. But in the end, we're also going to work alongside educators every step of the way to develop the 21st century schools we all dream of. I can tell you that this is a unifying issue everywhere I go in Ohio, and I've been on the ground for two and a half years now, going places. Quite frankly, a lot of Dems don't go, listening deeply to Ohioans and everyone. Everyone treasures their community, their public schools. It's the center of the way of life. It's often now where we're doing healthcare, you know, particularly in rural Ohio and small towns. You know, often schools are the center of the way of life. There aren't a lot of choices. So here are folks sending their hard-earned tax dollars to some school in Columbus that doesn't benefit their kid, and and right now we have rural hospitals collapsing, we have urban hospitals collapsing. So healthcare for our children, we we we know that that is happening in schools. Workforce training is happening in our schools for the whole community. This is a unifying issue, and we're also going to fight to make sure folks' pensions are secure. Our educators have worked hard their entire lives, and they deserve to be represented on their board and have people fighting to make sure that their pension is secure. That's something everyone can count on us for too, so I this is personal for me. Again, it's our family, and I will tell you when I started this race as not a typical politician. I'm a doctor and a lifelong public servant. I'm 60, but I I remember thinking there are 500,000 retired angry school teachers right now, over 120,000 active educators out there. We're all going to work together to make sure kids get what they need. We're going to take care of one another, and I'm honored to be in this fight.

Katie Olmsted 10:16
Making sure kids have what they need takes resources, and and you've mentioned the fair school funding plan.

Amy Acton 10:23
Yes.

Katie Olmsted 10:23
We're at the same time we're hearing what our schools need, what our students need. We're also hearing from Ohioans who love their public schools, but are feeling the squeeze because everything is more expensive. There are some Ohioans who are saying they just can't afford to pay any more in property taxes to fund our schools.

Amy Acton 10:39
That's right.

Katie Olmsted 10:40
As governor, you have a plan to help those people.

Amy Acton 10:43
Yes.

Katie Olmsted 10:43
What can you tell me?

Amy Acton 10:45
So we just released our property tax plan for Ohio, and schools are absolutely at the center of that discussion. I I can't say enough costs of living of our everyday lives. People are working harder than they've ever worked. You know, my opponent, first of all, has said people are lazy and mediocre and not working hard enough. That's why they just can't keep up with these perceived costs. That is absolutely, you know, ridiculous.

Katie Olmsted 11:15
He has to be one of the most out of touch people, right?

Amy Acton 11:17
Not just out of touch, but clearly out for himself.

Katie Olmsted 11:20
Of course.

Amy Acton 11:21
He and his billionaire friends. I just should note that he won't even say the word union. He wants to eliminate teachers' unions, and he has said so publicly several times. And that won't end there. All of of organized collective bargaining is at risk right now, but he has taken $20 million from a guy sitting in Philadelphia, whose sole goal in life is to eliminate public schools. As we know it, this guy isn't from Ohio. Look, 95% of what I hear about, and you know, when I see record crowds everywhere we go in Ohio, it does not know party. That's so important to say. What is unique about my candidacy is it just isn't about partisanship? It's everyday Ohioans pushing back and wanting public servants again, who solve the problems of our everyday life. And the biggest problem we're facing is cost. Cost. It just the math doesn't add up. So property taxes is one. Housing, childcare right now, electric bills going up, and our property tax plan is all about responsibly addressing this issue. We'd have to say that property taxes went up because we stopped fully funding our local funds, the flexible dollars that go to our schools, our first responders, you know, to fund our safety, to fund our fire, to fund disability services and mental health, and schools so much more. And the reason we have the tax burden we have is all of us are having to pay more locally and fight to keep our schools going. This is a travesty. We finally had this bipartisan funding plan. Again, I want to emphasize bipartisan agreement to meet our constitutional responsibility. See, Ohio was founded differently. It was founded on the concept that we are going to be different than the East Coast and different than Europe. Every single person in Ohio is going to have access to an education. It's what made us the great state we are. We're going to make sure that no one, particularly our seniors, but anyone who is really struggling, we're going to expand the homestead exemption because we have too many people have worked hard their whole life, and we don't want them being pushed out of their homes. We also have a sort of a tax relief mechanism for people who simply have seen their property taxes jump too high too fast, and so we have that in place. We are going to absolutely fight to make sure that we we keep these property taxes where they need to be, but the biggest part of that is we're going to fully fund our public schools. That's what will take pressure off our property taxes. And by the way, I would really encourage members. There's a wonderful article out there that explains property taxes. Taxes aren't the fun thing to talk.

Katie Olmsted 13:17
Not not super sexy.

Amy Acton 13:19
My opponent wants to eliminate all taxes so that he can give a tax break, even more of a tax break, to people at a million plus people to himself.

Amy Acton 13:59
Yeah, and he's getting, like I said, he's being funded by billionaires in Philadelphia. Elon Musk now, a lot of the attack ads you see are funded by these billionaire friends of his, but the reason he wants to even put more burden on all of us is to give this break while we are working on a working working class family tax cut for the rest of us-a child care, you know, child tax credit, an earned income tax credit. We're fighting for the rest of us basically, and that's sadly what has happened in our very corrupt state house. They're fighting for a lot of out-of-state interests. I want to say to folks at home, it isn't about Democrat or Republican or independent anymore. And as someone who's worked with five governors, most recently Republican Governor Mike DeWine, what I saw under the hood this time, and I've been working with our state house all my life, fighting for the issues we all care about. It is it is about extreme wealth, power, ideology playbooks being shoved through state houses because they think none of us pay attention, and they can pull these antics on. But I can tell you, the people of Ohio are onto it. We see a massive movement for change in this, and we are fighting for the rest of us. And I think we're going to win this.

Katie Olmsted 15:50
Do you think people understand going back to the fair school funding plan that their property taxes have been going up because the state has not paid its fair share? They've pushed that burden down to fund those vouchers.

Amy Acton 16:03
Yes.

Katie Olmsted 16:04
When Mr. Ramaswamy has his magical thinking plans, if we're calling them plans, about rolling back property taxes to pre-pandemic levels without any way to pay for any of it, it's just cut that funding, no state backfill. That'll hurt our kids. Do you? When you're talking to people, do you think they understand that?

Amy Acton 16:05
I think it's very hard to get your head around it. And I was starting to say this article I just read, and I hope you'll share it with your members by Mike Curtin.

Katie Olmsted 16:33
Okay.

Amy Acton 16:33
He was the editor of the Dispatch for many years, also a state legislator, so he understands how the state house works, and he does a little primer that I think breaks down property taxes for the rest of us to make it more understandable. And and and back in the 1970s, we actually really reached a moment where you know people couldn't get things just like now, where they couldn't afford everyday things, where things like childcare were unaffordable, things like your electric bill. I noticed it when my electric bill jumped 140 bucks last summer. I'm paying 290 this last bill for my electric bill. You know, we're we're a family that feels it just like everyone listening to this, and and and we made a fair tax system that that made all of us do our fair share. That's all anyone wants, really. We know we have to solve some problems collectively. That you know we want as much freedom and independence we all do to make the choices we want. But we gained 30 years life expectancy in the last century. Only five of them are due to what I learned in med school. That big gains we've had in our lives, in our quality of life, in our incomes, in our prosperity, came from things we have to solve together. It started with sewage systems and clean water and safe food, but then it was child labor laws. It was mandatory education that helped us all be able to work hard as I did as a kid who had nothing. But I could work three jobs and commute to Youngstown State. My opponent wants to eliminate our community colleges, our public colleges, so that he can give a tax break even more to billionaires and millionaires, and that is something a Republican governor, Governor Rhodes, did. Give us this access to publicly funded colleges and universities, so that you could get ahead. And it's these things that we solve together. We have demonized this thing called public service. We have demonized what these state houses do, but I'm not afraid of this. I've been trained to do this work. I again have worked with five governors, beginning with Bob Taft. I used to be an advocate for Children's Hospital here in Columbus. I'd work with Joanne Davidson and others. We would maybe disagree about a few things, but at the end of the day, we'd make great policy for the people of Ohio. That's why I am a public servant. That's why, you know, OEA can count on the fact that they will be at the table. Our educators will be at the table, and who we choose to lead our cabinet, who we choose to put on boards and commissions that represent all of us, because together we are going to solve the issues that we all hold dear in Ohio. And I believe we've seen a movement of Ohioans. We have had more people donate to this campaign than ever. The average gift that we outraised a self-funding billionaire, which we have, has been $24. It is every day Ohioans contributing to this movement for change. We had more people vote for this campaign and me as governor in the primary than have ever voted for. On either side of the aisle in Ohio's history, what we're seeing on the ground is a nonpartisan grassroots movement. We are winning this race. We are tied ahead in every poll, but we are up 26 points in independents, seeing tons of Republicans in this fight too, because I think all of us are exhausted of being pitted against one another, we're tired of a corrupt and broken state house taking us backwards on every single measure, including our education for our children. And together, we're going to build the Ohio we all deserve.

Katie Olmsted 20:36
And in my personal opinion, teachers' unions are part of that. Educators' unions are part of how we build that together, but your opponent has, as you mentioned, said multiple times that he is whatever magic words he uses, not not against, and all of the the soft footing he's trying to do to not have say the thing he has said over and over that he wants to eliminate teachers' unions. What do you think the role of educators' unions is in helping our state become better?

Amy Acton 21:05
Yeah, you know, I I grew up in Youngstown, Ohio. My grandfather came here from Europe to escape persecution. When I grew up, we were a big melting pot city. He came here and worked in the still mills. Proud union member, proud poll worker, proud American. He felt that being part of a union, you know, gave him a chance to build back a life and then help help move a whole generation forward. When I grew up in Youngstown, we did not know what you you know party you were in. We absolutely knew what union you were in. We knew what branch of the military you served in. We knew what food you made from the country you came from. We knew we'd always have each other's backs, our neighbors' backs. And again, I wouldn't be here today if it wasn't for people who didn't look the other way when they saw suffering. I think we're all being asked to not look the other way and use our voices. We're all seeing things like a couple did on the north side of Youngstown, who would just pull my brother and I up on their front porch and feed us breakfast because they knew we're hungry. To me, unions and collective bargaining are all about using our voices together. None of us, myself included, sometimes feel that we can face the power of these huge differentials. You know, people with a wealth that we've never seen before, using our states and our state houses. They don't even live here. They have nothing to do with Ohio, but they're going to change the way of life because of something they think is more important. So I think OEA and all the other unions, NEA, who I just had the privilege of meeting with your leadership there, I was so moved. They're here because together we're more powerful. It's really about when enough of us link arms, we can do things like push back on a self-funding billionaire and Elon Musk and all these folks, and say, "You cannot buy our state. You can't buy Ohio. You can't buy us". Every power differential in history has been ended by enough everyday people linking arms, and and that's what I think. You know, that's what's so powerful about our unions. All of us have different opinions. We're not of the same party, but we all are doing our work because we're public servants, and we're here. You know, we became teachers and educators and all the other jobs: bus drivers and cafeteria workers and librarians and everyone who's touching the lives of children like my husband and my children, who are also teachers. You know, my daughter's a nurse. We have a university professor in our family. We all do this work because we want to lift others, serve others, and and that's a privilege to do the work. We don't always get paid as much as you might in other places, but you know, you deserve to know that you're going to have a stable, good retirement that takes care of you. You deserve to have a voice fighting for you. I'm going to be the most pro labor governor that the state has ever seen. We will be a union household in in leadership when we do this, and you know, I know people can get down. You felt that you've worked hard before, and sometimes you've seen things not go the way you wanted them to. But I can tell you, Ohio is in play in this election. It's not just us. We've been doing the hard work on the ground for two and a half years, but now, you know, our race for governor is seen as the flip opportunity in 26. We've got people helping from all over the country now because Sherrod Brown's race is in play. My race now there are people actually helping do something even more important yet. We have a chance to break the supermajority in the state house. We need six more state house members. There are some great people on the ballot. I hope everyone listening, wherever you sit, pay attention to the state house. We pay attention to federal. We kind of know that we know local, but it is the black box of state houses where bad stuff's been happening to our state, you know, we do that. We get a veto that can stand. Even Governor Dewine has not had that. And then in 27, in a bipartisan way, I intend to end gerrymandering in the state of Ohio, so that we can get everywhere you sit in Ohio right now, good public servants who represent you again. I'm a governor. I'm only one person. We have an incredible slate of people running. Please pay attention to these races. But together, we're gonna have people on both sides of the game. You know, Ohio is always seen as as goes Ohio, so goes the nation. I am fighting tirelessly as a doctor and a lifelong public servant whose last race politically was in high school, but I know how to do this work. I've been trained by good people on both sides. I'll work with anyone who actually wants to solve problems instead of make them. That is my promise to Ohio. No one in this state will go unseen, but together we are going to build back the Ohio we deserve.

Katie Olmsted 26:23
And I cannot wait to watch you do this when you are our next governor.

Amy Acton 26:29
Yeah.

Katie Olmsted 26:29
Dr. Amy Acton, thank you so so much for

Amy Acton 26:31
Thank you

Katie Olmsted 26:32
Coming in and sharing all of this with us.

Amy Acton 26:33
Thank you. Honored to be in it. Honored to be with everybody at home listening. It is your relationships and your networks that matter, please come to actonforgovernor.com. We have toolkits. We have ways to get involved. OEA has ways where I'll be out there on the ground with you every step of the way. But while our voices matter, how you talk to friends and family, I can tell you that we've all been pitted against one another. But the biggest thing I hear in Ohio is all of us are exhausted of the hate and vitriol and chaos. People showing up for me do not know party. You are going to see family members who maybe believe things you don't. You are going to have coworkers, but I can tell you have have good conversations. Share the word of what we're fighting for, because people people want to come back to one another. I keep saying kindness is not weakness. You've seen the attack ads on me, lies and vitriol, all lies, and you know we have great info to show that. But we are out there now telling our positive story. Our first ad is up. We want to get good truth out there. I'm telling you that love is greater than lies, and kindness is not weakness. Kindness is a fierce commitment to justice, to seeing one another. Please use your voice in this fight. A fierce fight to make Ohio affordable, and fierce fight to end the corruption and to save our schools and our healthcare system and so much more, but this fight is one we want to fight together in a way that quits pitting us against one another. And you have my commitment to that, and I need your help and your voice.

Katie Olmsted 28:16
Thank you.

Amy Acton 28:16
Thank you.

Katie Olmsted 28:20
The link to the article Dr. Acton mentioned in our conversation is in the show notes for this episode. There's also a link for OEA members to see who their fellow OEA members have recommended in races for the Ohio House, Senate, and other critically important races that are on the ballot this fall. OEA Director of Government Relations Dan Ramos also sat down with us for this episode to break down how those recommendations are made and what every educator in Ohio needs to know and do right now.

Katie Olmsted 28:46
Dan Ramos, OEA Director of Government Relations, thank you for sitting down with us today.

Dan Ramos 29:02
You're welcome, Katie. Happy to do it.

Katie Olmsted 29:04
This is such an important election. We say it every time. This is the most important election, but this time we mean it.

Dan Ramos 29:10
I've said it a bunch of times before, and it most definitely is one of the most important elections for public education, schools, and our members in a in a generation probably because of what's on the ballot this year.

Katie Olmsted 29:22
Everything is at stake. It's that's not overstating it. Everything is at stake.

Dan Ramos 29:26
Correct, from school funding to private school vouchers to over testing to time in the classroom to our collective bargaining rights. Everything is on the ballot this year. With with what what what we're facing this November, obviously we're talking about the election of Ohio's next governor and the Ohio General Assembly. And if you're not familiar, most of education policy in state comes from the General Assembly and the state budget that this next governor will will draft in the beginning of next year. So critical issues before. The voters of Ohio this year before educators, and that's why I wanted to talk to you today, Katie, just to really impress the fact that when we go vote, when our members vote, when educators vote, we need to make sure we're informed about the issues. So right now, OEA has been sending mail to our members, households across the state, about why it's why education issues are extremely important, from education funding and the fair school funding plan to you know our retirement and retirement security and collective bargaining rights and what they all do for educators and the profession and the students they serve. So you know we really want to make sure our members are fully informed about the about these critical issues before we start thinking about the election and before we start thinking about November. But I know that's that's right around the corner, so really really important for our members to understand why voting matters, but then why voting for public education matters.

Katie Olmsted 30:59
And it's not a red issue or a blue issue. Public education is a bipartisan issue.

Dan Ramos 31:04
Correct.

Katie Olmsted 31:05
It's not political.

Vivek Ramaswamy 31:06
It's not. It shouldn't be political.

Katie Olmsted 31:07
Right.

Dan Ramos 31:08
But there are some interests here in Columbus that make it extremely political.

Katie Olmsted 31:11
It's political, but it's not partisan. I should say.

Vivek Ramaswamy 31:13
Correct. Correct. That's correct. I mean, it is not partisan. I mean, we have you know our membership. You know, the 100, the nearly 120,000 members we have across the state span the political and the ideological spectrum, and they all believe in one thing: that we should have a you know fully funded, fully equipped public education system to serve the 1.6 million kids that go to public schools. And the only way we can make sure that that is that that happens is if we elect the right people, regardless if they're Democrats or Republicans, to state office. And when we when we when when we say the right people, we mean individuals that support public education, that believe in the power of public education, that stand with us when we say public education matters. And that's the rubric in which we actually look at how we recommend candidates as well for our members. So not only are we, you know, in the process now of educating our members about the issues, but we obviously, you know, we also want to make sure our members know who are the the candidates that stand with us. Obviously, over the summer we did a lot of candidate screenings. You know, we screened every single race for the Ohio House. Half of the Senate is on the ballot this year, so every single race that's on the ballot for the Ohio Senate. We also screened statewide office holders earlier in the year as well. And the rubric in which we look at our candidate screenings is who supports public education, who supports our members' rights as as professionals to collectively bargain to have a voice in the workplace, and then who supports sound education policy that supports you know the students in the in a bright future for for for public for public education, regardless of whether they're a Democrat or Republican, and that's actually you know one of the things that I think we you know our members really pride themselves on when when conducting these candidate screenings. It's not a partisan issue. We are a union of professional educators that believe that we need to send the right people to Columbus that support public schools, and and you know that that expresses itself in our questionnaire and in the actual screening interviews. And when you look at the candidates we've recommended this year, it is not just Democrats. We have Democrats and Republicans that are coming together that are saying we believe in public education and the rights of educators, and that's why we recommend those candidates.

Katie Olmsted 33:38
And you've been using the word "we" here.

Dan Ramos 33:40
Yes.

Katie Olmsted 33:40
Who's the we? Because it's not OEA.

Vivek Ramaswamy 33:42
It's not OEA.

Katie Olmsted 33:43
It's not. It's not OEA executive directors.

Dan Ramos 33:46
Correct.

Katie Olmsted 33:46
Not OEA staff. It is OEA members.

Dan Ramos 33:49
That's correct. So we believe in a very small-d Democratic process when we do candidate screenings. Every single district association has a screening council that forms, and we, you know, assign legislative districts to those councils. Some of them have more NEOEA and Central, because of their size, have multiples. But every district that we make a recommendation in has to go through a process where candidates receive a questionnaire, they fill out that questionnaire, and then they are interviewed by that our screening committees, and those are you know at at minimum the five members of our district screening councils. But then every single school district and local association within a legislative district has the right to send members to that screening. So you know if you're you know here in Columbus and you you know we're screening let's say House District 2 you know Columbus Education Association has a right to sit at that at that screening they may have members on the council already but we want to make sure the most of our members as possible participate in the screening and and actually this year we did a did a new process where we allowed observers. So members that are just interested in watching this process unfold were able to sign up and participate in the screenings. They didn't have the ability to vote on a recommendation, but it was a good learning experience for, especially for younger members and members that are getting very, you know, getting interested in in politics and taking part in the political process through the OEA.

Katie Olmsted 35:22
And I think it's also a good learning experience for all of us here. When you're reiterating that we care about public education, we care about labor, we don't care about anything else. Party affiliation, positions on other issues.

Dan Ramos 35:35
Correct.

Katie Olmsted 35:35
None of that goes into this. It's not part of the screening. It's not part of the recommendation.

Dan Ramos 35:39
No. So our screening and our screening recommendation process is controlled by our state council, which is kind of like the board of directors for the OEA fund. And every election cycle, we refresh with the state council our guidelines and our questionnaires for all the candidates out there. And yes, I mean, Katie, you're correct. The the questionnaires that all the candidates received this year were focused on public education policies, collective bargaining rights, retirement security. Over you know for the general assembly, we also talk a lot about voucher accountability, about over testing, about privatization for our classified staff. But beyond that, no, we those are the things that we we focus all of our attention on when we're when we're conducting these candidate screenings and how the candidate responds to those questions on the questionnaire and in the interview is how we we make decisions or how our council and our members make decisions in recommending candidates for for the election.

Katie Olmsted 36:38
Do we invite every candidate to screen?

Dan Ramos 36:40
Yes, we do. So our guidelines require that we invite all the major party candidates, and we require, as part of our process, that Democrats and Republicans are invited to come and screen. And we really encourage, and we've tried to make the process easier for participation. So this year, we did all of our screenings virtually, whereas in the past we've attempted to do in person or hybrid, but we wanted to make sure that we were making it easy for both our members, as many of our members to participate, but also candidates to participate in our in our screening process as well.

Katie Olmsted 37:13
Because the more candidates that participate, the more we can learn about where people stand on education and labor issues.

Dan Ramos 37:18
Correct.

Katie Olmsted 37:19
The better off we are going to be, as Ohioans, heading to the ballot box, knowing who's going to be best for our schools and for educators and the students we serve.

Dan Ramos 37:27
That's absolutely correct. I mean, that's and you know, and I think I think we may not agree always with candidates on on where they stand on certain issues, but we welcome the conversation, even if a candidate doesn't receive an endorsement or recommendation, or we take a neutral position. It's an opportunity for a potential future elected official to have face time and build relationships with the educators in their area.

Katie Olmsted 37:52
And understand our issues from those educators.

Dan Ramos 37:54
And understand our issues from those educators. Absolutely right, and it's a way that we can continue to build a relationship where the nexus of that relationship is how can we improve public schools in Ohio for every kid.

Katie Olmsted 38:06
Well, Dan Ramos, thank you for sitting down with us to help us all understand all of this.

Dan Ramos 38:11
Thank you, Katie. Really appreciate it. And you know, obviously, you know this is a like we said at the top. This is an extremely important election. Make sure that you check your registration. Make sure that if you're not registered, if you've moved, you register to vote, and you know where to vote and how to vote. Voting is going to be right around the corner. October 6th is when early voting starts, and then November 3rd is election day. So make your plan, and when you do go vote, vote for public education. Thank you.

Katie Olmsted 38:42
That does it for this episode of Public Education Matters, a special audio and video episode that we'll be trying at different points throughout this new season. Yes, it was a long episode. No, I'm not even a little sorry about that. I cannot emphasize enough how important these conversations are if we're going to make sure we have the very best people fighting for our public schools, public school educators, and public school students in our state house, in our governor's office, and beyond. We are going to continue to have these conversations and bring you new episodes every Thursday this season, because in Ohio, public education matters.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai