Press

Share This

OFT President Cropper: Keep Ohio Schools Open by Mandating Masks

"The safety and education of our students is our highest priority. We haven’t even passed Labor Day and we already have thousands of Ohio students, teachers, and staff who have missed school due to COVID-19 infection or exposure. This has already led to school closures in multiple school districts. We need to keep our students in the classroom, and the best way to do that is with a statewide mask mandate."

Ohio Federation of Teachers, Innovation Ohio Host "Speak Out for Honesty in Education"

Today, Innovation Ohio and the Ohio Federation of Teachers co-hosted a virtual "speak out" against deceptive attacks on honesty in education which aim to prohibit schools from teaching accurate history about racism, sexism, prejudice, and other issues. Educators, parents, and allies spoke about the dangers of curriculum bans and urged Ohioans to stand for honest, accurate, diverse education in schools.

OFT Mourns the Passing of AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka

Ohio Federation of Teachers President Melissa Cropper release the following statement on the passing of AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka: "Today, we mourn for AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, a relentless champion for workers’ rights and people-powered democracy. Rich began his work in the labor movement as a coal miner before rising to become the leader of the United Mine Workers of America and then the AFL-CIO. He never forgot where he came from, providing critical support to workers in struggle throughout his career."

Ohio Federation of Teachers Thanks Retiring State Superintendent DeMaria

"From implementation of the Every Student Succeeds Act to a forward-looking strategic plan through a pandemic year, Superintendent DeMaria has demonstrated that the best way to create an education system that serves and supports all students is by bringing stakeholders to the table, truly listening to their input, providing opportunities for civil discourse, and working towards consensus,” said OFT President Melissa Cropper.
 

Legislature Makes Gains on School Funding But Fails to Enact Fair School Funding Formula

“We organized. We held town halls. We called and emailed our legislators. We came together – parents, teachers, school support staff, school administrators, community members – and we made a huge impact for our kids,” said Taylor Pennington, a public school parent in Lima, Ohio. “This legislation enacts a student-centered school funding formula for the next two years that will help all our local schools deliver world-class opportunities. We need to keep raising our voices to make this a permanent funding formula.” 
 

Worthington Libraries Staff Announce Union Effort

Today, staff at Worthington Libraries called on their library management to voluntarily recognize their union after they presented signed union cards from an overwhelming majority of library employees. The organizing campaign is led by staff from all three library branches. 
 
“We love our jobs and we love the library,” said Coleman Mahler, an adult services librarian at the Northwest Library branch. “Now we’re asking for a voice in policy that affects us, autonomy over our working conditions and a library that works as hard for us as we work for our community.”
 

House Bills Targeting School Curriculum Are a Dishonest Attack on Public Schools

"HB 322 and HB 327 are bills that were written to address a non-existent problem that was ginned up by the same bad actors who have been trying to privatize public education for decades. If these bills were to pass, they have the potential to prohibit or dissuade educators from covering important topics that are essential for students to learn our past, understand our present, and build our future."

Governor DeWine Misses Opportunity to Take Action on School Funding

OFT President Melissa Cropper released the following statement in response to Governor DeWine’s budget proposal for FY 2022-2023: "We're disappointed that Governor DeWine chose to punt on the opportunity to fix our broken and unconstitutional school funding system rather than using last year's Fair School Funding Plan, which passed the Ohio House with an overwhelming bipartisan majority, as a framework.