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Ohio federation fights spread of charter schools and vouchers
Despite scant evidence that vouchers and charter schools have helped raise student achievement in Ohio, Gov. Bob Taft has proposed increasing both the number of students who receive private school vouchers and the number of charter schools allowed in the state.
Ohio currently has more than 200 charter schools, enrolling about 62,000 students. More than $400 million in taxpayer money is going to these schools this year—well over half to for-profit companies. In June, a state-imposed cap of 225 charter schools is set to expire, and Taft and other Republican legislators don’t want it renewed. The governor also has proposed adding $9 million to a voucher program currently limited to schools in Cleveland.
“As educators, we certainly don’t want students to be stuck in schools that show persistently low achievement,” says Tom Mooney, president of the Ohio Federation of Teachers and an AFT vice president, “but there is no evidence that vouchers or charter schools will raise achievement.”
The OFT and its partners in a coalition of public school supporters want to maintain the current cap on the number of charter schools. The union also supports establishing a commission to look at a range of issues related to charter schools, including academic performance, accountability measures and enforcement of regulations. Many charter schools do not test students and report scores, although required by law; more than 70 percent of the charter schools that do comply with this requirement fall in the lowest performance categories, compared with just 10 percent for regular public schools.
“If Gov. Taft is serious about helping kids, he should focus on turning around our public schools that still struggle in some areas,” Mooney urges. “There are powerful research-based methods for raising achievement that we ought to use to invest in those schools.”
The OFT also opposes the governor’s proposal to make private school vouchers available to an additional 2,600 Ohio students in low-performing schools outside of Cleveland. Similar to the situation with charters, a recent research study from Indiana University shows that students in the voucher program do not perform as well as their counterparts in the Cleveland public schools.
AFT initiative spotlights early childhood educators
As part of the AFT’s ongoing efforts to address the needs and interests of early childhood education professionals, the union launched First Class Teachers—and a complementary Web site in February.
First Class Teachers is a restructuring of the AFT’s Child Care Workforce Alliance, the union’s associate membership program for the early childhood education workforce and its allies, marking “the start of a new era in securing the respect and recognition that early childhood educators deserve through an aggressive legislative and mobilizing agenda,” says AFT executive vice president Antonia Cortese.
The interactive Web site, www.FirstClassTeachers.org, is “an easy-to-use vehicle for members and supporters to connect with each other across the nation, stay informed on news and events, and take action on behalf of young children and the professionals who care for and educate them,” says Cortese. The Web site features reports, advocacy tools to promote early childhood education legislation, and access to AFT PLUS member benefits programs.
“First Class Teachers represents a bold new effort to unite early childhood educators and our allies in support of better wages, benefits, professional development opportunities and working conditions,” says Marci Young, deputy director in the office of the executive vice president who is leading the new program.
In related news, the AFT has asked locals to identify members who work with children in kindergarten and below. By identifying members who work with youngsters in schools and other facilities, such as Head Start agencies, the union can send targeted information to early childhood education professionals, including news on training opportunities.
“Decades of research have shown that a high-quality early childhood education is the launching pad for a child’s successful school career,” says Cortese. “Well-trained and professional teachers are one of the key elements to providing a safe, enjoyable and academically stimulating early childhood education environment, and the First Class Teachers campaign will help achieve this goal.”
Union, members press for teachers' rights under IDEA regulations
AFT members have testified at public hearings on changes under the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) that would restrict teachers’ ability to refer students for evaluation of a disability and limit teachers’ ability to participate in the IEP (individual education plan) process.
Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education, the hearings were held in several cities where the AFT represents school employees, including Boston where Janey Frank (pictured above), a retired special ed teacher, told the hearing participants, “The discussions and interactions at IEP meetings are crucial to everyone involved” in the IEP process, which is designed to help students progress and succeed. “Having the assessors and providers of services in the room with parents is, in my opinion, an absolute necessity.”
In Columbus, Ohio, Denise Conrad, a behavior specialist in the Toledo Public Schools and a member of the state advisory council on special education, stressed the importance of having teachers involved in both the student referral and the IEP processes.
Representatives of the Florida Education Association, the merged AFT-NEA state affiliate, testified at the Education Department hearing in Atlanta.
