Faber's Tone (Fact) Deafness Due to Needle Stuck in An Irrelevant Groove

From Jim N. Reed, October 21, 2011

After listening to Senator Faber debate Dale Butland in Columbus recently I was amazed at how frequently Faber resorted to ubiquitous scripted canned responses, regardless of their incoherence or irrelevancy to questions or remarks from Butland.

This prompted a review of their early October debate at Ohio University-Lancaster. After digesting that confrontation it became even more obvious that Faber's fact needle is stuck in an irrelevant groove.

Very few times did Faber respond to a question or statement from Butland with a pertinent response. Instead the one-track senator hit the auto response button to rely with a generic or unreliable statistic or diluted fact to escape well-researched, hard facts.

It would seem that those "haven't-made-up-my-mind" voters would be insulted by such shenanigans, especially when Faber continued to contend that "most Ohioans" agreed that SB 5 was full of "reasonable reforms."

In his first attack ad Faber began his presentation with what must be assumed as his (and most pro-SB 5'ers) bell-cow statistic, a keynote "reasonable reform," the requirement that all public employees pay 10% toward their pensions and 15% toward their healthcare premiums. Even though a Butland retort offered records supporting 94% to 100% of public employees already are meeting those standards, it was though the senator turned off his ability to absorb that piece of information. Butland even offered local statistics showing Fairfield County area educators paid an average of 18% for their healthcare coverage. Never rebuffing or statistically challenging Butland's numbers, the senator-in-his-groove continued to repeat the same absurd assertion as the debate progressed, even using it in his closing remarks.

However, before he stumbled with closing arguments (after being admonished about the limited time frame of the debate) he had plenty of time to spread a wealth of other misguided assertions. A prime of example being his stand-tall claim that SB 5 proponents were operating a morally transparent campaign. His crow was, "Transparency, that's what it's all about!" Maybe he has no shaving mirror.
One of his lost disciples better proffer a definition of transparency to hijacked Grandmother Quinn!

At times his silence to Butland's contentions was deafening. He did not seem to hear the pro-collective bargaining quote from former Republican Governor Voinovich. He seemed not to know Republican Bill Seitz-he of the committee firing- who recognized SB 5 was on steroids. And not once did Faber respond to Butland's factual allegations that closing tax loopholes for his wealthy Republican campaign donors would be a better deficit cut than whacking teachers, firemen and policemen.

I have yet to hear a "reasonable reformer" defend the resolution to the diluted collective bargaining impasse segment of SB 5. The one that says if the teachers offer their plan and the Board offers its plan and there is no agreement, the Board takes its plan and goes home and the educators have no recourse.

What needs to be emphasized more intently is the comparison of the number of public worker labor stoppages since collective bargaining became the law in 1983 and those prior. This type of an unlevel playing field for professional educators will destroy morale among current staff and chase off prospective educators.

I never thought I would hear so many current/former educators hesitate when asked if they would counsel their children to enter the profession. Attacks on fair bargaining for rights of teachers and opportunities for students, standardized student testing, increasingly bulky rules to force teachers back for continued education,often will little relevance to the real tasks and challenges of the real classroom, and merit pay based on who knows. We're already seeing a 50% attrition rate after five years in the profession. These are harbingers of coming hard times for the profession and its clients.

On a personal note, I know many educators who grind their teeth at Faber's oft quoted line about "teachers getting paid for the length of time they have sat in a chair." If I were his advisor I'd suggest he drop that line. It's a losing proposition to paint teachers as free-loaders. Too many of their clients-students-will destroy your easel.

As for performance-based education that is rooted in results from standardized testing, as a four-decade educator in the public schools, my sense is that it has sorely polluted the teacher-student learning experience.

Back to the misguided senator's attempts to insult public servants. One of his final comments promised "to bring taxpayers back to the table." When did Ohio's public servants stop paying taxes at the table, including Social Security taxes to which they are not fully entitled even when quarters of pay-in qualify them? I heard no mention of Social Security-eligible educators being able to collect only about a third of what they had earned at retirement.

Now for me to be totally transparent. I was raised in a union household. My memories are strong of my factory union steward father telling us at the kitchen table about his attempts to protect the men he represented in the Furnace Room. Protecting them from unsafe working conditions and uneven work evaluations on their swing shifts and protecting their families at home.

My attitudes have also been shaped by 45 years in Ohio's public schools. I can't imagine any consistent good for students and staff that could have come from not having a sharp-minded colleague representing us in the bargaining unit.

An outspoken proponent of SB 5 should be equally transparent. At least we would know what really stokes his fire. And it would be easier to understand why, if I agreed with him, we would both be wrong!

Jim N. Reed
45-year educator
CORE