CORE ALERT, March 19, 2007

From Mary Ellen Angeletti, March 19, 2007

THIS ALERT HAS BEEN APPROVED BY THE CORE BOARD OF TRUSTEES.

Russ Harris of OEA asked to speak to CORE at the CORE meeting of March 15th for the purpose of soliciting CORE's help in the dissemination of an Initiative Petition which Gary Allen discussed when he spoke to CORE on January 22nd. This Petition is being passed to obtain signatures for putting an amendment on the ballot titled "Guaranteeing High Quality Public Education". Due to the fact that this Petition contains three pages of explanation and four pages of definitions, it is too lengthy for CORE to duplicate in this Alert. A brief overview follows:

1. There are two documents, the petition itself and also a petition guideline.
2. Any Ohio registered voter may sign the petition.
3. A voter can sign only one petition.
4. A voter should not sign the petition he/she is circulating.
5. When signing the petition, the voter must use his/her address on file with the Board of Elections.
6. The petition must be signed in ink.
7. One petition has spaces for 72 signatures.
8. The date must be correct on the petition.
9. The ward/precinct referred to on the petition does NOT have to be completed.
10. All signatures must be registered voters residing in the county listed on the first page of the petition.
11. A petition circulator may circulate petitions from more than one county at the same time, provided that each county is on a separate petition.
12. All completed petitions must be returned to the Labor Relations Consultant who will then forward to Bonnie Joseph at OEA headquarters.
13. The Circulator of the petition must complete the Statement of Circulator at the back of the petition but the name and address of the employer is NOT necessary. All other information is required of the Circulator.
14. The Circulator must circulate original initiative petitions. Reproducing the petitions is not permitted.

To obtain Initiative Petitions and the Petition Guidelines, call Tom Ash at 614-846-4080 or email Bill Phillis at ohioeanda@sbcglobal.net or petitions can be picked up directly at the OEA office in Columbus. You may request as many Initiative Petitions as needed in your county, school system, Retired Teacher Association, etc.

This is an opportunity to give support to an effort to improve education in Ohio. Perhaps this collaborative effort will help to win favor with the school boards which may cause them to think more favorably on our pending Health Care legislation. A big plus for this amendment if it is successful, is that it may reduce the property taxes of senior citizens. CORE is sending this information as an Email Alert in an ongoing effort to keep members informed of what is happening in our state regarding education.