Dennis Leone lone dissenting voice in committee hearing on SB 264 re: Teacher Strikes

Columbus Dispatch, April 17, 2008
(Under Bills Heard in Committee)

SB264 TEACHER STRIKES (Carey, Jr. J) To prohibit classroom teachers employed by boards of education from striking and instead require binding arbitration to settle their unresolved collective bargaining disputes and to make an appropriation.

The committee heard from one opponent, Dr. Dennis Leone, a former superintendent of 23 years, 13 of which were in Talawanda City School District in Oxford. He showed little patience for amendments to the bill, which would close a school during a strike. He said essentially that, instead of eliminating what he viewed as union maneuvering during a strike, the amended bill would give labor groups what they purportedly want: stalled education, a portrayal of teachers as suffering for the sake of students, and financial rewards in the end. "The language in amended SB264 is a gift for the Ohio Education Association and the Ohio Federation of Teachers," he said. "It will be hell for any school board and any administrator who decides to keep schools open during a strike in the future. The old State Loan Fund made it easier for unions to strike in the 1980s. Please don't let the language in SB264 do the same in 2008."

During questioning, Leone explained further that, in his view, binding or advisory arbitration would always result in the union getting more than it had to start with, regardless of the merits. The sponsor of the bill returned to the question of school closings and student safety, asking whether the witness would really want to send his child to a striking school with the all the attendant confrontation. Leone said the most vociferous strike activity generally occurs in the first day and tapers off. Sen. Carey said the experience of his district was quite different, and suggested the bill had reached that point of mutual dissatisfaction to all involved, making it perhaps the best bill for the children rather than any adult stakeholder. "No one agrees with the bill at this point," noted the sponsor.