Nordonia Hills Education Association

I wanted to give you all a heads up on a couple of things that came across my path lately during a conference I was at last week – check out Honesty for Ohio Education – they are a pro-public education advocacy group – sign up for their newsletter and be involved – (also see some of the docs attached here) – Be aware of the bills working their way through the state house as I speak – look at the subtle and not so subtle ways the “state” is changing standards – especially be on the lookout for the “American birthright” standards working their way into our social studies standards…and we are all aware of the ways some of our students are being proactively marginalized. If you have an doubt about how ALL of this is a coordinated effort to attack public education going all they way back to standardized testing take a listen to the podcast from OEA and an interview with OEA President Scott DiMauro…I think it is the last one for this season. SEASON 3 EP 40

If you are looking at a short and sweet way to stay informed about happenings here in Ohio – both in the news and in education – check out these two local podcasts – OEA has been doing one, and yes, I did not know about this until the other day – shame on me I guess – its called Education Matters and is put out by OEA – you can find it in your podcast app!!

I also found one about happenings here in Ohio…I think it is put out by Plain Dealer/Cleveland.com – it is called Today in Ohio – (I think this is a collab between these 2 news organizations, but don’t fact check me on that – 🙂 )

So, find – like – follow – stay informed!! 

there is again a concerted effort in that area to convince you to leave your union – they call themselves the Freedom Foundation – but it not about “freedom” it is about taking away your voice, driving down wages, and taking away public pensions – READ MORE HERE 

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**BOTH LINKS WILL TAKE YOU TO SAME THING = this is how serious we are about this – we posted it twice – 🙂

VOTE NO on ISSUE 1

Google doc with some resources for voting and some information from OEA

please see links to some other sources around Ohio with commentary regarding this issue  – there are significant outlets/groups around Ohio that are coming out AGAINST this issue – it is ill-conceived and a power grab –

info from Ballot Pedia – gives a  decent explanation and some for and against arguments –

Columbus dispatch – “a yes vote would dive a dagger in Ohio’s heart”

Cleveland.com – also a vote NO **this is a letter from a reader, but is a short and sweet rationale

Cleveland City Council also is coming out against this issue –

Ohio Citizen encourages Ohio to VOTE NO

the ACLU encourages us to VOTE NO – 

OTHER OPPORTUNITIES FOR YOUR INVOLVEMENT

this measure is also out of line with other states – 38 states currently require only a simple majority for citizen-initiated laws and changes …so Ohio – is currently in step with most other states in the country – and the special interest language and language about protecting our constitution is deliberately insight rhetoric…some change is good – think about it folks – women getting the right to vote and the desegregation of schools was “special interest” politics during that time period – now we all see it as progress – !!

in recent days we have been sharing information regarding the health of STRS – overall the health of the account is good and has improved greatly since the 2008 hit, it is 80% funded for the next 30 years and the health care is funded to the tune of 175% – with that said there are forces at work to hijack our money – and they have 90 billion reasons to try and get their hands on our account – so far this group has been successful in stoking resentment among current retirees surrounding the COLA and the like with a narrative around the pay of those that manage the account and even attack ads surrounding those running for the board – this group was successful in getting 3 of the OEA supported candidates removed from the board – 2 of the 3 we/Nate have worked with personally – they were good men that were looking out for us – BE VIGILANT – the money paid to upkeep the building and pay the salaries of those at STRS is about 1% of the total fund – so keep that in mind – and those that run for the board ARE VOLUNTEERS – THEY DO NOT GET PAID – 

when many of you started working,  STRS had 4 members paying in to 1 retiree pulling $$ out – in the last years  that has switched to 1 to 1 – and if you have been paying attention is set to flip the other way as fewer and fewer professionals enter education and/or resign  – keep in mind that within about 8 years of your retirement you will have used up all the money YOU put in AND the $$ the district has put in – after that, it’s all the investments of the fund – SO WE NEED THOSE THAT SUPPORT US AS MEMBERS of the board and are working in our interests – I had occasion to “meet” Arthur Lard last night and believe he has our best interests at heart – for ALL educators – !! We are still working on bringing in a speaker about this – and there is fresh info on the retirement page about the SVB investments – that loss was only .03 % of the fund – so relax and don’t be misled by chatter on FB

here is link to the contract survey 

and a lil something else to listen to if you wonder why your students can’t/won’t read –

since we got here – just figured we would share – 🙂

take a read and pay attention to how this hits the narrative about teachers and what we do – take a read here –

there is a systematic attack on public schooling – your attention and voting matters –

take a read here – (I hope you can access it without a subscription)

just a reminder you can contribute online to this political action group that is looking out for public ed in Ohio –

hey all – just a reminder about retirement stuff – STRS – pensions – 403B – 457 – Roth IRA etc – set yourself up now – I am sure you all the saw the email from Matt Brown about the new way the district is handling retirement/ severance and all the rest – NHEA advocated for this in the contract of about 6 years ago after feedback from members to make it easier for you to get paid out upon retirement…Matt has picked this up and has done something proactive with this part of the contract = check out the email he sent about the Plan Connect portal that has partnered with the district for this –

NHEA has brought in financial advisors in the past and Matt sent around the list of those approved reps – if you find his email it is in there – there is a seminar/class being offered by Equitable coming up – follow this link to the flyer – SKM_80823011716490– there is also some contact information in there for this rep for those that might not have an advisor as of yet.

this is just NHEA reminding to not count on your pension to fully fund your retirement –

NEW staff – make sure you opt for the “defined benefit” plan for your retirement – (in NHEA’s opinion) – this is the traditional pension system – these days you have a 5 year window to make sure this is squared away and change your mind – check in on it –

all this is on our minds because the Equitable rep was in the HS today and Nate talked with him for about 30 minutes –

read this excellent piece written by Steven Dyer and Maureen Reedy

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Hello everyone, (this is a C and P from mailer we received)

It is imperative that our members are aware of HJR 6, a legislative proposal by extremist Ohio legislators which will make it more difficult for voters to make changes to the Ohio Constitution. Currently voters can place proposed constitutional amendments on the ballot after a rigorous process which is then approved by 50% plus 1 vote from voters. Secretary of State Frank LaRose and his extremist friends are proposing to raise the threshold of passage for voter initiated constitutional amendments to 60%, while allowing legislator proposed constitutional amendments to continue to enjoy the 50% plus 1 vote threshold for passage. This takes power away from all of us. Remember Senate Bill 5? Although this is not exactly the same thing, it is similar and this kind of change would make it more difficult for voters to express their will through the voting process.

This proposal would make it much harder to codify Fair School Funding in the Ohio Constitution or pass other pro-public education constitutional reforms. We as educators, voters and communities need the ability to make positive changes to the constitution.

OEA political staff is emailing out an Action Alert to all OEA members. We need everyone’s help! Please take a minute, use the form provided in the Action Alert email, and send a letter to your legislator. Feel free to personalize it with your own objections. Also, it never hurts to share the Action Alert with friends and family as this extremist proposal takes power away from us all!

Thank you for your support in helping to maintain our collective voice!