Kathie Bracy's Blog

2020-01-19T22:11:00.002-05:00

Ohio Primary Election Tuesday, March 6, 2012

To request an absentee ballot click here.

For other election information click here.

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Remember them on election day!

2019-02-01T20:53:00.003-05:00

Who Voted Against Worker Freedoms?
From John Curry, February 1, 2012

Let's not forget the politicians who looked to strip away worker rights with the stroke of a pen with Senate Bill 5/Issue 2. Below is a list of Senators and Representatives who voted YES on SB5/Issue 2. Remember their names for the 2012 elections.

To find your Senator, click here.

Senators:

Kevin Bacon (R-3), Bill Beagle (R-5), Gary Cates (Appointed to new position after YES vote), David Daniels (R-17), Keith Faber (R-12), Karen Gillmor (Resigned for new position after YES vote), Cliff Hite (R-1), Shannon Jones (R-7), Kris Jordan (R-19), Frank LaRose (R-27), Peggy Lehner (R-6), Larry Obhof (R-22), Tim Schaffer (R-31), Jimmy Stewart (Appointed to new position after YES vote), Mark Wagoner (R-2), Chris Widener (R-10), Tom Niehaus (R-14),
* David Burke (R-26) & Troy Balderson (R-20) voted YES in the House.

To find your Representative, click here

Representatives:

John Adams (R-78), Richard Adams (R-79), Ron Amstutz (R-3), Marlene Anielski (R-17), Nan Baker (R-16), Troy Balderson (Now in Senate), Peter Beck (R-67), Terry Blair (R-38), Lou Blessing (R-29), Terry Boose (R-58), Andrew Brenner (R-2), Danny Bubp (R-88), Jim Buchy (R-77), David Burke (Now in Senate), Jim Butler (R-37), Bill Coley (Now in Senate), Courtney Combs (R-54), Timothy Derickson (R-53), Mike Dovilla (R-18), Mike Duffey (R-21), Anne Gonzales (R-19), Bruce Goodwin (R-74), Cheryl Grossman (R-23), Bob Hackett (R-84), Christina Hagan (R-50), David Hall (R-97), Bill Hayes (R-91), Michael Henne (R-36), Richard Hollington (R-98), Jay Hottinger (R-71), Matt Huffman (R-4), Al Landis (R-96), Ron Maag (R-35), Jarrod Martin (R-70), Jeffrey McClain (R-82), Todd McKenney (R-43), Bob Mecklenborg (Resigned), Craig Newbold (R-1), Bob Peterson (R-85), Kristina Roegner (R-42), Cliff Rosenberger (R-86), Margaret Ann Ruhl (R-90), Kirk Schuring (R-51), Barbara Sears (R-46), Lynn Slaby (R-41), Robert Sprague (R-76), Peter Stautberg (R-34), Gerald Stebelton (R-5), Andy Thompson (R-93), Joseph Uecker (R-66), Lynn Wachtmann (R-75), Ron Young (R-63), William Batchelder (R-69)

No CORE meeting in February

2018-02-01T20:34:00.004-05:00

From CORE, February 1, 2012

CORE (Concerned Ohio Retired Educators) will not NOT hold a February meeting. We do encourage you to attend the STRS meetings scheduled to be held on Thursday, Feb. 16th and Friday, Feb. 17th, 2012 at the STRS building at 275 East Broad Street in Columbus. Parking is free in the STRS parking garage located behind the building. We always suggest that you check the STRS website (www.strsoh.org) to confirm dates and times. CORE will hold its next meeting on Thursday, April 19th, 2012.

STRS asset value as of December 31, 2011

2017-12-31T12:46:00.002-05:00

From Mario Iacone, January 25, 2012

CURRENT ASSET VALUE as of 12/31/2011
.......61.7 Billion

ASSET VALUE as of PREVIOUS MONTH 11/31/2011
.......61.7 Billion

HIGH ASSET VALUE....2007
.......approx 80 Billion

LOW ASSET VALUE...early 2009
.......approx 47 Billion

approx 18 Billion BELOW HIGH and
approx 14 Billion ABOVE LOW

How did your senator and others vote on SB 5?

2017-05-25T10:05:00.002-04:00

Click here to refresh your memory.

Find your state legislators here.

2017-05-23T08:23:00.003-04:00

A blog worth following.....

http://www.plunderbund.com/

2017-03-10T16:33:00.002-05:00

To find current, day-to-day posts -- pull your scroll bar down another inch or two (maybe three at times), just below the big red arrows (you can't miss them). Thanks.

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2017-03-09T12:49:00.001-05:00

Dennis Leone's 3/9/11 Testimony before the Ohio House Health, Aging, Retirement and Pensions Sub-Committee
Topic: Proposed House Bill 69 (State Retirement Systems)

Click here to view testimony.

2017-02-24T12:15:00.001-05:00

Find your state representative and senator here.

http://www.legislature.state.oh.us/

2013-10-19T11:15:00.000-04:00

Click image TWICE to enlarge.
Pension guarantee - egg..........9.21.10................

Note from this blogger.....

2013-09-15T12:53:00.000-04:00

In case you weren't aware, I am quite willing to post opposing views on this blog; in fact, I welcome such opportunities. If you disagree with anything you see posted on my blog, please feel free to submit your views and I will gladly post them.

Kathie Bracy
kbb47@aol.com 9/15/10.........................................

Still waiting.......

2012-05-14T11:38:00.001-04:00

Responses still pending:

Michael Nehf (Contact dates: October 30, 2009; November 8, 2009; November 12, 2009): http://kathiebracy.blogspot.com/2009/11/kathie-bracy-certified-letter-to-mike.html

Tim Myers (Contact date: December 14, 2009): http://kathiebracy.blogspot.com/2009/12/tim-myers-allegations-without.html

Posted December 17, 2009
(Click image to enlarge.)
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John Curry: Which is it, Mike? (Third request)

2012-05-13T11:43:00.001-04:00

Still waiting.....

John Curry to Mike Nehf, March 8, 2010

Mr. Nehf,

It has now been almost six months since my last (second) request for an explanation of a letter that was sent to an STRS benefits recipient, namely me. I have been patient because I know that you are a busy fellow and have lots on your plate but ....six months? Maybe you have forgotten about it but I haven't so...here it is again.

Mike, retirees with serious questions won't go away, they just keep coming back until they get an answer. It is hoped that you will find the time to answer this question this time so that future letters are not needed. Many of my fellow retirees also want to know your answer to the question asked below. Thank you.

John Curry

Previous communications:
http://kathiebracy.blogspot.com/2009/09/please-mikewe-want-to-know-too.html

http://kathiebracy.blogspot.com/2009/09/john-curry-to-mike-nehf-which-is-it.html

Posted March 8, 2010
Click above image to enlarge.

I know, it's weird.........

2012-04-29T18:03:00.000-04:00

Many posts that appear "at the top" for a while are eventually moved down, where they can be found under their original posting dates. Also, if you are confused by the postdating, this is done to keep these posts up there; otherwise, they drift down when new posts are added. It's a "blog thing" which I have no other way to control. KB

2012-02-25T21:48:00.000-05:00

E-mail addresses for STRS Board and Executive Director Mike Nehf:
Board@strsoh.org (this address reaches all Board members)
nehfm@strsoh.org

2012-02-25T21:05:00.000-05:00

E-mail contacts at STRS (Click)

Who's Who at STRS:

https://www.strsoh.org/about/1.html#staff
STRS Board Calendar:
https://www.strsoh.org/about/2.html

2012-02-24T20:31:00.000-05:00

Handy links: Contacts, information and more (short version)

2012-02-23T19:30:00.005-05:00

This is an abbreviated version of the original 'Handy links' post. Click here to view a more complete list.

HOW YOU CAN HELP

STRS Board calendar 2010-2011

CORE website Contact information for just about anybody you would want to contact re: pension and HC concerns:

Bob Stein's website: http://www.bobstein.us/

STRS Board.....STRS Senior Staff.....STRS website
E-mail contacts at STRS

Board calendar
Get free C D recordings of STRS Board meetings

E-mail contacts at STRS

Map/directions to STRS, 275 E. Broad St. Columbus, OH 43215
STRS "Membership Survey" (spoof)
State legislators.......State of Ohio website

OEA salaries: November 2009 USDL report

OEA top salaries 2008 USDL report

Rich DeColibus' PowerPoint presentation STRS' PBI Program; Does it work?: click December 21, 2008 (blog Archive) and scroll down to December 23 posts.

Wendell Potter's blog: http://www.prwatch.org/blog/35267

Writings (and other creations) of Rich DeColibus

Charts: PBI (bonus) payments

Popular links (labels): charts, graphs, investment staff, lists, spreadsheets

$TR$ Inve$tment $taff $$$

SPECIAL (must read):

Dennis Leone's INVESTIGATIVE REPORT on STRS: May 16, 2003
...Who is Dennis Leone?........(PDF version)
...More on Dennis Leone .......(PDF version)

Dennis Leone: "Catcher of Thieves"

Dennis Leone's STRS Report to ORTA, March 2007

The Plain Dealer article that opened our eyes, June 8, 2003

Historic PBI vote, January 16, 2009

Charts: PBI (bonus) payments

CURRENT POSTS IMMEDIATELY BELOW

(Thanks for visiting! KBB)

Dr. Leone remembers Kasich's Education Czar!

2012-01-26T22:16:00.001-05:00

Dennis Leone to John Curry, January 26, 2012

I know Richard Ross pretty well, as do most supts who were active in BASA and served in Ohio as supts between 1985 and 2005. Memory Lane: In 2003, when the STRS spending stuff hit the fan, Ross was called at Reynoldsburg and asked by the Dispatch to explain what in the world Jack Chapman did at Reynoldsburg when he missed 84 days of work the previous school year to due to "STRS business." Ross replied: "When he is here, we use him to supervise an in-school suspension room."

All by himself, Chapman was the trigger for new legislation in 2004 to restrict the total dollars spent by board members on their fun trips. The Dispatch followed up with a strong editorial about Chapman with this headline: "Hit the Road Jack, Less Often." The new legislation in 2004, because of Chapman's personal spending abuses as a board member, banned him personally from ever serving again as an STRS Board member.

The law also banned Hazel Sidaway and Eugene Norris from serving again. They were two more big spenders when they were STRS Board members. I recall how arrogant all three were in their belief and practice, as [former STRS Executive Director] Herb Dyer once wrote, that STRS funds were "their dollars to spend as they see fit." Terrible, terrible times (1994-2004) at STRS. I am afraid that some of it is quietly coming back.

Dennis Leone

Kasich's new Education Czar

2012-01-26T22:13:00.001-05:00

From John Curry, January 26, 2012

http://www.plunderbund.com/2012/01/25/kasich-hires-retired-superintendent-as-new-education-czar/

Kasich hires retired superintendent as new education czar

By Greg On January 25, 2012

With the resignation of Bob Sommers last week it appeared that some of the friction between the Governor’s office and the Ohio Department of Education would begin to dissipate. You may recall that Sommers had his heart set on the role of State Superintendent, but had to withdraw from consideration after lawyers informed him that ”state ethics laws would keep him from having contact with the governor’s office for a year.” At that point, Stan Heffner was plucked from the millions of Ohioans who had also not applied for the job (after backing out of his Educational Testing Service position) and “elected” as Ohio’s Superintendent of Public Instruction. Since that time the two parties have been trying to navigate the political hierarchy as they worked to establish dominance over Ohio’s educational empire.

Now, with Kasich’s appointment of Bob Sommers’ successor, it leaves little doubt that Stan Heffner can claim victory.

Retired Reynoldsburg Superintendent Dr. Richard Ross has been tagged to be the new Director of the Governors Office for 21st Century Education. Ross retired on December 31, 2007 (he was coincidentally replaced by another late dropout of the Ohio Superintendent race, Stephen Dackin), after 35 years in education. Ross began his career as a high school teacher before jumping to the high school’s principal position after only 3 years. His 3-year stint as principal ended when he took a position at Bowling Green in conjunction with earning his doctorate. In 1982, at the age of 32, he took his first Superintendent position with the Ottawa-Glendorf Schools, then moved on only 2 years later when the Bryan City Schools came calling for him to lead their district. Ross finally settled down in Reynoldsburg City Schools in 1988 when he accepted their superintendent and remained for 19 1/2 years. In 2007, the year he retired, Dr. Ross earned his School Treasurer and School Business Manager’s licenses, more evidence of his dedication to the business of operating a district.

It is obvious that Ross’ experience as an administrator is vast – he has been in an administrative role since he left the classroom in 1976, 35 years ago. Hopefully he can transform his experiences in supervising adults into an effective plan for implementing transformation teaching practices for our children that reflect their needs as learners in the 21st Century.

But best of all, Richard Ross and Stan Heffner are already acquainted and it is unquestionable that Heffner had a hand in this appointment. It was only three months ago that Heffner appointed Ross as the chair of the Youngstown Academic Distress Commission, an education commission created in 2010 after the district failed to meet adequate yearly progress for four consecutive school years (pursuant to ORC 3302.03).

Finally, Stan Heffner isn’t threatened by the possibility of the new director angling for the State Superintendent position, either. Dr. Ross opted to let both his teaching and superintendent licenses expire on June 30, 2011, removing the possibility that he could replace Heffner.

On a related note, no word from the Governor’s office on whether this appointment will impact Kasich’s position on the controversial practice of double-dipping by public employees as would be prohibited in House Bill 388.

Evangelize!

John has the solution for the perfect school....vouchers included!

2012-01-26T21:41:00.002-05:00

From John Curry, January 26, 2012

http://ateacheronteaching.blogspot.com/

Thursday, January 26, 2012

A Voucher Plan for Every Child and Every School

By John J. Viall

I've been watching a lot of Fox News lately and tuning in to Rush on radio; and I'm a huge fan of the film Waiting for Superman. So, even though I'm a retired public school teacher, I am finally forced to admit the truth. We need a voucher & lottery system for all kids and all schools, a Wild West competition, if you will. That is: we allow successful schools to thrive and unsuccessful schools to wither.

Click image to enlarge.

No more public school monopoly. No more union teachers, sitting on their fat duffs and pillaging the State Treasury.

Competition, baby--kind of like McDonalds vs. Burger King vs. Burger Chef--and may the best burger and fries win.

In fact, if you haven't seen my favorite movie, here's a Superman summary: Five great kids enter the lottery to get into superior charter schools in the cities where they live. They must flee the failing public schools, where teachers are pathetic losers and unionized malcontents. Every parent is concerned about their child, of course. The movie makes that perfectly clear because there are no bad parents in the movie. So we know bad parents do not exist. We need more vouchers, charter schools, and free and open competition.

In fact, let's look at the famous "Parable of the Schools." (I just made it up.) First, we have Joseph R. Crappy Public School. Until now, this school has enjoyed a monopoly. This school even has a monoply on children with serious handicaps and hogs all the homeless children, too. In this school they take children of all faiths, and no faith at all, and then because they have a monopoly, they can't even be bothered to read from the King James Bible--or is it the Latin Vulgate--or the Book of Mormon--or pray at the start of the school day.

Boy oh boy...those unionized teachers...they have some nerve, not even having the gumption to teach your kid good religious values any more.

Down the street we have Arne Duncan Charter School. This school can save any child from Crappy Public School. This school takes children whose parents are involved and sign their sons and daughters up for a special lottery, to gain admission. If you have seen Waiting for Superman, you know every parent (or grandparent) stands behind their child and wants them to get into this school. It is a matter of life and death, this escaping Crappy Public School.

Turn right at the next stoplight and you come to Stupendous Prep Private School. This school comes in 57 varieties, including: 1) Christian School, where religion is taught and the King James Bible rules; 2) Hideaway School, a residential facility where tuition is prohibitive and only children of the upper classes can afford to go; 3) Elite Catholic School, where the Latin Vulgate Bible is preferred, and entry is determined by scores on entrance tests; 4) Muslim School, where the Koran is favored and few listeners of Rush dare to tred; 5 thru 57) other.

Now: we all know that Joseph R. Crappy Public School is failing and why. It's crappy unionized teachers. We know good parents are demanding that their children be allowed to attend Arne Duncan Charter School, which is sure to be better, because there the crappy unionized teachers are kept at bay. Meanwhile, the students at Stupendous Prep are happy and safe and learning religious values, of various kinds, in perfect good order.

So: Here's the plan that perfects the whole. (This plan elevates me to U. S. Secretary of Education under President Newt Gingrich.) We already know that all parents are equal, that all parents are good, and that teachers in unions are minions of the Devil. So we level the playing field for every child in America.

First, we let Stupendous Prep receive regular state funding.

Second, we give every student at Crappy Public a voucher, so that now we have perfect school choice.

Third, since this is a business competition, we allow Crappy Public to operate by the same rules. That is, what works for Arne Duncan Charter and Stupendous Prep, it's got to work for Crappy, too.

I was going to say, "Suppose we take an extreme example...." But all parents are the same, as we have already mentioned. So, imagine that we have a mom and dad who cook methamphetamines in their home. And they get too busy running the family business to sign up for the lottery to get their child in the nearest charter school. Well, if the child has serious problems and scores low on standardized tests, Crappy Public School does its duty for once, loosens its monopoly grip, and gives the child a voucher--actually sends them away to Arne Duncan Charter or Stupendous Prep, down the block. These schools receive state funding, too, and we want every child to play on a level field. So: yes. Stupendous Prep can no longer deny entry based on test scores or keep kids out by charging huge fees. And Arne Duncan Charter has a civic duty to take students whose parents didn't sign them up, because charter schools exist to save kids who want to flee the failing regular schools.

Or, now: the kids the failing regular schools send them to save.

Homeless kids? Yeah, break the Crappy Public School monopoly here, too. We enter them all in a lottery and divide them up, so that Stupendous Prep gets a fair share of the pie, and next you know, these poor children are wearing monogrammed blazers and getting ready to go on to Harvard and Yale and Brown. Handicapped kids? BREAK that Crappy Public monopoly. Kids with severe behavior disorders? BREAK that monopoly.

Honestly, how can such a brilliant plan ever go wrong? From now on, in every school of every type, all kids take State standardized tests. If Crappy Public has the lowest scores in 2013, then we do our duty to the children and allow the lowest scoring students, say the bottom 50, to load onto the yellow bus and go on down the street, where Arne Duncan Charter will save them--raise them from the educational dead, like Lazarus, so to speak. You don't ask parents if they want their kids to go, lazy unionized teachers! You send those lowest scoring students away.

You can't be selfish and try to keep all the kids with the worst problems to yourselves.

In fact, the State can now close all juvenile detention facilities. We give every kid with violence issues or a criminal record a chance to escape Crappy Public and send them to Christian School to learn from the King James Bible, and sit next to Governor Kasich's children, or we send them to Hideaway School, where Davis Guggenheim, producer of my favorite film, sends his kids and then watch the business model work in education to perfection.

Family background has no bearing on what happens in schools. Schools and teachers alone shape kids. So let's send all the boys and girls who really need help to the very best schools. Open those doors wide Arne Duncan Charter School. Come on Stupendous Prep!

You've got some saving to do.

STRS: Report on January 2012 Board meeting

2012-01-23T15:27:00.002-05:00

From STRS, January 23, 2012

January Board News

Callan Associates Updates Retirement Board on Asset-Liability Study

At the January meeting of the State Teachers Retirement Board, the board's investment consultant, Callan Associates, provided additional research that the board requested in December as part of its asset-liability study. The study will help the board determine the optimal portfolio allocation for the system's assets. Last month, Callan presented five potential asset mixes for the board to review, along with the projected short- to medium-term rates of return for those mixes. At that time, the Retirement Board asked Callan to provide information on two additional asset mixes. The board will discuss these results further at its February meeting.

The preliminary results of the asset-liability study showed that STRS Ohio's current investment policy target would be challenged to achieve an 8% return during the next five to 10 years; however, based on historical data, Callan believes STRS Ohio could expect to generate an 8% to 8.5% return over a 30-year horizon. The study also confirmed that without benefit changes that STRS Ohio is currently seeking through S.B. 3 and H.B. 69, the system will eventually be unable to pay benefits. Unless the proposed changes are fully implemented soon, Callan recommends reducing the risk in the investment portfolio to meet the liquidity needs to pay benefits.

2011 Member Survey Results Presented

Results of membership surveys conducted in December 2011 show that most STRS Ohio members — active and retired — continue to have positive overall impressions of the system and the Retirement Board, and most still consider their pension an excellent or good value.

These were just a few of the findings from the annual membership surveys presented at the board's January 2012 meeting by Dr. Marty Saperstein. His Columbus-based research firm, Saperstein Associates, conducted the survey for the ninth consecutive year. The phone surveys involved 602 randomly selected participants (300 active members and 302 retirees) with surveys averaging about 20 minutes in length.

This year's survey results also showed the following:

• About two out of five active members plan to teach longer than they originally thought, and the most common reason cited for this is proposed pension benefit changes.

• About 73% of retirees consider the amount they pay for health insurance through STRS Ohio an excellent or good value.

• Most members are satisfied with system communications, including email updates. There is interest in web-based communication and services and a continued need for communication about proposed pension legislation.

• Nine out of 10 retiree households have at least one source of income in addition to STRS Ohio. On average, STRS Ohio provides 63% of retirees' income.

Retirements Approved

The Retirement Board approved 197 active members and 174 inactive members for retirement.

Other STRS Ohio News

STRS Ohio Working with Pension Trustee Advisors on Pension Reform

In December, Pension Trustee Advisors (PTA), an independent actuarial firm hired by the Ohio Retirement Study Council (ORSC) to study pension reform, sent a lengthy request for background data to all five Ohio public retirement systems. PTA requested the information as part of its work to review the pension reform plans that the retirement systems proposed — currently in Senate Bill 3 and House Bill 69. By the mid-January deadline, STRS Ohio had responded with nearly all of the data requested. Any outstanding items are being addressed. The information provided included board reports and policies, copies of our current and past Comprehensive Annual Financial Reports, 30-year funding plans, health care plan information and additional studies and research.

Call Center Service Levels Increase for Calendar Year 2011

Service levels increased significantly in the Member Services Center (MSC) during 2011. The average wait time for a representative dropped to 29 seconds compared to 85 seconds in 2010, and the abandon rate dropped to 1.9% compared to 6.5% in 2010.

Helping to increase the service level was the drop in call volume from 322,000 in 2010 to 319,000 in 2011. Call activity increased regarding counseling services, service retirement and account withdrawal, while the call volume relating to health care dropped due to an off year for dental and vision open enrollment.

The MSC has eliminated the call menu for incoming calls. Members no longer need to select from a menu of three choices when calling STRS Ohio; instead, they will hear a live person answer their call. In the past, a menu system was used to help direct calls to the appropriate staff; however, member service representatives are now trained on all STRS Ohio benefits and can take any incoming call. This change will eliminate confusion for members, as well as reduce repeat calls when members hang up and try a different option during peak calling periods in hopes of getting a faster response.

Health Care Plans' Total Enrollment Unchanged by Annual Open Enrollment

Following a successful open-enrollment period in November, the STRS Ohio Health Care Program is beginning 2012 with about the same number of enrollees as December 2011. There were 807 new enrollees and 1,080 terminations for a net decrease of 273 (0.2% decrease in total enrollment). More than 12,000 plan changes were recorded between November 2011 and January 2012. More than two-thirds of these changes (8,174) were Medical Mutual Plus Plan Medicare B only members who STRS Ohio proactively moved (i.e., the enrollee did not need to do anything additional) to the Aetna Medicare Plan (PPO). Total enrollment in the STRS Ohio Health Care Program as of Jan. 1, 2012, stands at 122,540.

Tax Reporting Season Includes New Feature for Benefit Recipients

The year-end tax reporting process for 2011 is under way — generating 161,634 Form 1099R tax statements that show slightly more than $5.7 billion in distributions and $810 million in federal and Ohio taxes withheld. Tax statements began mailing to benefit recipients on Jan. 17. Tax statements for QEBA excess benefit recipients (35) and non-resident aliens (approximately 175) are also part of this mailing.

Beginning Feb. 1, a new feature on the STRS Ohio member website will allow benefit recipients online access to reprint their 1099R forms for 2011. Copies of 2010 and earlier tax statements will continue to be available by request from our Member Services Center.

Public school educators, administrators and supporters....want to see who your enemies are?

2012-01-22T21:17:00.003-05:00

From John Curry, January 22, 2012

Could Rick Scott's "cold feet" be an indication of worry about not getting reelected? I see that Ohio is conspicuously missing from the list of states who have signed on. Could they be worried after seeing Issue 2 go down to a sound drubbing? I think so!

John

http://floridaindependent.com/64950/national-school-choice-week-rick-scott

Scott not among GOP governors declaring 'National School Choice Week'

By Marcos Restrepo | 01.19.12

Governors of 12 states, all of them Republicans, declared Jan. 22-28 “National School Choice Week,” according to organizers of the weeklong event. Not joining them: Florida Gov. Rick Scott.

According to The Birmingham News, along with Alabama, Georgia, Colorado, Indiana, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Utah, Virginia and Wisconsin have issued proclamations in support of the weeklong event that according to organizers ”spotlights great schools of all sorts – from public schools, to public charter schools, private schools, virtual schools, and homeschooling.”

Scott did not sign the proclamation despite his support for issues that fall within the “school choice” movement: eliminating more teacher tenure; paying teachers based on standardized test results; supporting and increasing charter schools (which Scott defined as public schools run by a third party); and offering scholarships.

Education Week wrote in 2004 that “at its most basic and uncontroversial,” “school choice” is “a reform movement” that gives parents “the right to choose which school their child attends,” and “creates healthy competition among schools, providing schools with an incentive to improve. That said, the concept and the issues surrounding choice are anything but uncontroversial.”

Education Week added that, “based on the ideal of the free market, the school must meet the needs of the consumer [parents and students] in order to stay in business.”

A June 2011 column published by Education News advocates for “school choice” but adds that “research shows that apart from a few truly great schools, the choice movement hasn’t boosted academic performance overall. Charter schools, for example, have roughly the same range of good, bad and indifferent as regular district schools.”

Education historian Diane Ravitch, who supported but now opposes the “reform” movement led by conservatives like former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, wrote (.pdf) in December:

The philanthropists and Wall Street hedge fund managers and Republicans and the Obama administration and assorted rightwing billionaires have some ideas about how to change American education. They aren’t teachers but they think they know how to fix the schools.

Their ideas boil down to this strategy: [No Child Left Behind] failed because we didn’t use enough carrots and sticks. They say that schools should operate like businesses, because the free market is more efficient than government. So these reformers—I call them corporate reformers—advocate market-based reforms.

National School Choice Week organizers announced last week the support of GOP political strategist Dick Morris, who wrote in 2011 that “states like Wisconsin, Florida, Ohio, Indiana, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and others have revolutionized public education passing bills to curb teacher tenure, adopt merit pay, and end layoffs based on seniority.”

Morris, a former Clinton White House advisor is now a staunch conservative commentator who frequently appears on Fox News to bash Democrats. He founded the Super PAC for America, and will speak at a School Choice Week event in South Florida city of Deerfield Beach.

The invitation to the event states that “American 15-year-olds rank 35th out of 57 countries in math and literacy, behind almost all industrialized nations,” adding that “it’s time to Restore American Exceptionalism.”

Morris has said three historical elements define that exceptionalism: The United States is the worlds only bottom-up democracy, “literally designed by the” citizenry; the “only free enterprise system” developed in the absence of government regulation; and a nation defined by immigration, because “our population is exclusively immigrant.”

Divestiture and......is Golden Boy Mandel up to his old tricks again?

2012-01-22T21:15:00.001-05:00

From John Curry, January 22, 2012

http://www.vindy.com/news/2012/jan/21/pressure-on-pension-funds/?newswatch

Pressure on pension funds

January 21, 2012
Columbus

Remember that brouhaha a few years back about how public funds shouldn’t be invested in companies that are bolstering the coffers of countries that are trying to kill Americans?

Turns out Ohio’s public employee pension systems still hold investments in companies with ties to the governments of Iran and Sudan, though most have made progress in decreasing those interests over the past five years.

And one, the Ohio Police and Fire Pension Fund, has instituted a new policy to fully divest in all such holdings — a change some state officials hope the other pension systems will adopt.

“The goal here is to maximize the returns for their beneficiaries, for their retirees and for the current plan members, which is something we all support,” said Sen. Keith Faber, a Republican from Celina who serves as chairman of the Ohio Retirement Study Council. “I believe it can be done without having to invest in companies that are doing business and helping prop up the government of Iran and the people committing genocide in Sudan.”

The divestment status report was offered during a meeting last week of the Ohio Retirement Study Council.

Legislation

In 2007, lawmakers were poised to pass legislation requiring the public employee pension systems to pull their investments in such companies.

State Treasurer Josh Mandel, a Republican who is hoping to unseat U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, was the original co-sponsor of that bill.

“The ultimate goal is they should have zero holdings in foreign companies that are drilling oil in Iran while Iran is [backing] roadside bombs against American troops overseas,” said Mandel, also a Marine Corps veteran.

Ohio was one of the first states in the country to consider such legislation, and Mandel said about 30 other states now have comparable policies in place.

But lawmakers stopped short of passing the bill at the time after pension officials adopted policies voluntarily agreeing to decrease such holdings. And they’ve done that. The Ohio Police and Fire Pension Fund holdings in such companies had a market value of about $41.8 million as of October, down from more than $251 million in June 2008.

The School Employees Retirement System held fewer shares in such companies, but the market value of its holdings increased to more than $73 million as of June 30 from about $64 million a year earlier, according to documents.

And the State Teachers Retirement System decreased the market value of its holdings to about $476 million as of the end of June from more than $1.6 billion four years earlier, according to documents.

However, at least one group says the state pension funds have not made enough progress on the issue.

“My leadership has expressed to me that they are frustrated by what they see as the state pension funds dragging their feet on divestment,” Joyce Garver Keller, executive director of Ohio Jewish Communities, said in testimony to the Ohio Retirement Study Council.

She added that the group supported the Ohio Police and Fire Pension Fund’s new attempts to fully divest in companies with ties to Iran and Sudan.

“We hope that the other pension funds will adopt this language and move to fully divest, making a strong statement that Ohio stands against genocide and terrorism by taking these actions.”

Faber later added, “I don’t think it’s good that hard-working Ohioans’ money is invested in companies that are essentially profiting [Iran and Sudan].”

And Mandel: “We hope that the pension funds would not drag their feet as they have. It’s my hope that the legislature continues to apply pressure and the pension funds continue to see that the people of Ohio reject what they’re doing.”

Marc Kovac is The Vindicator’s Statehouse correspondent. Email him at mkovac@dixcom.com or on Twitter at OhioCapitalBlog.

STRS Board retreat scheduled for January 25-26, 2012

2012-01-20T13:41:00.000-05:00

From STRS, January 20, 2012

*REVISED*

PUBLIC MEETING NOTICE

A special meeting of the State Teachers Retirement Board will be held on Jan. 25 & 26, 2012, for the purpose of a planning retreat and any other matters that may arise. The meeting will be held at the STRS Ohio offices in Columbus, Ohio.

The business agenda will begin at 9 a.m. on Wed., Jan. 25, and Thurs., Jan. 26, 2012.

*The Staff Benefits Committee will meet Wed. afternoon when the special Retirement Board meeting recesses.

Bill Gates, ALEC and public education

2012-01-18T19:49:00.003-05:00

From John Curry, January 18, 2012

According to Underwood, "ALEC's agenda includes":

• "Introducing market factors into teaching, through bills like the National Teacher Certification Fairness Act."

• "Privatizing education through vouchers, charters and tax incentives, especially through the Parental Choice Scholarship Program Act and Special Needs Scholarship Program Act, whose many spinoffs encourage the creation of private schools for specific populations: children with autism, children in military families, etc."

• "Increasing student testing and reporting, through more "accountability," as seen in the Education Accountability Act, Longitudinal Student Growth Act, One-to-One Reading Improvement Act and the Resolution Supporting the Principles of No Child Left Behind."

• "Chipping away at local school districts and school boards, through its 2009 Innovation Schools and School Districts Act and more. Proposals like the Public School Financial Transparency Act and School Board Freedom to Contract Act would allow school districts to outsource auxiliary services."

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL1112/S00117/gatess-foundation-helps-alec-undercut-public-education.htm

Gates's Foundation Helps ALEC Undercut Public Education

Bill and Melinda Gates's Foundation Helps ALEC Undercut Public Education

By Bill Berkowitz
December 13, 2011

Gates Foundation Enables ALEC's Project to Privatize Public Education

In the war being fought over the very survival of public education, the privatizers are forging the future. Is the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation aiding and abetting them?

I don't know how you feel about Bill Gates, the chairman of Microsoft, and one of the world's richest men. Many people appreciate what he's accomplished. Many think that Gates' wife, Melinda, is doing wonderful work aiding the poor in underdeveloped countries. Gates' dad, who has taken the lead in advocating higher taxes for the wealthy, has always seemed really likable.

In philanthropic circles, the work of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which gives some $3 billion annually, especially in fighting HIV/AIDS, malaria and mother-child deaths in underdeveloped countries around the world, is highly regarded.

However, there are critics concerned about what Edward Skloot, director of Duke University's Center for Strategic Philanthropy and Civil Society, recently characterized as the foundation's "brass-knuckle philanthropy." (It should also be noted that Skloot has indicated he thinks the foundation's methodology was "pretty close to the ideal.")

At a recent Hudson Institute-sponsored panel titled "Living with the Gates Foundation", Tim Ogden, editor of Philanthropy Action, said that Gates is "creating the ball, building the team, hiring the referees," and "funding the instant replay." According to The Chronicle of Philanthropy's Caroline Preston's report, Laura Freschi, of New York University's Development Research Institute, "said it's not out of the question that one day a reader might devour an article about a Gates-supported health project, printed on the pages of a newspaper that gets Gates money, reported by a journalist who received media training paid for by Gates, citing research by scientists financed by Gates."

Gates recently told Christiane Amanpour, the host of ABC's "This Week With Christiane Amanpour," that while he favored raising taxes on the wealthy, he didn't think that would solve the "deficit gap." He also said that he didn't think President Obama was waging class warfare on the rich, joking that as far as knows, there are no barricades in the streets being manned by the wealthy.

Gates does have a legion of critics. In his new biography of the late Steve Jobs, author Walter Isaacson reported that Jobs told him that Gates is "basically unimaginative, has never invented anything ... he just shamelessly ripped off other people's ideas."

Last year, I wrote a piece about the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation's relationship to the chemical company Monsanto and the agribusiness giant Cargill. The gist of the story was that the Foundation had bought 500,000 Monsanto shares worth around $23 million in the second quarter of 2010. Critics pointed out that amongst other things, Monsanto has for years had a negative impact on small farmers, especially in Africa.

And some critics are highly skeptical about some of the Gates Foundation's choices, particularly as it relates to education in the United States. According to the Gates Foundation website, their education mission in the U.S. is pretty straightforward: "... to dramatically improve education so that all young people have the opportunity to reach their full potential. We seek to ensure that all students graduate from high school ready for college and career and prepared to complete a postsecondary degree or certificate with value in the workplace."

Would it surprise you to learn that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation recently gave more than $300,000 to the American Legislative Exchange Council, a shadowy right-wing organization that has inordinate power in state legislatures across the country.

In November, the foundation announced that it has awarded the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) a grant of $376,635 earmarked for ALEC's work on an assortment of education projects, over a 22-month period. The Gates Foundation's official description of the grant reads: "to educate and engage its membership on more efficient state budget approaches to drive greater student outcomes, as well as educate them on beneficial ways to recruit, retain, evaluate and compensate effective teaching based upon merit and achievement."

Robin Rogers is an associate professor of sociology at Queens College and the Graduate Center at the City University of New York (CUNY), and the author of "Why Philanthro-policymaking Matters" in The Politics of Philanthrocapitalism, Society 2011, The Welfare Experiments: Politics and Policy Evaluation (Stanford University Press, 2004). In a recent piece at The Education Optimists titled "Billionaire Education Policy," Rogers pointed out that the Gates Foundation's grant to ALEC was aimed at "influenc[ing] state budget making - where the rubber hits the road on education policy." Rogers noted that after the grant's announcement, "Twitter was buzzing with the news" and the debate revolved around "whether this constituted a Republican takeover of the state budget process, a Gates Foundation takeover of ALEC or both. No one suggested it was a victory for democracy."

Since its founding nearly 40 years ago, the raison d'etre of the American Legislative Exchange Council has been to influence state legislatures on behalf of corporations and so-called family values advocates, but mostly corporations. As The Center for Media and Democracy's "ALEC Exposed" project points out, the organization is "not a lobby" and "not a front group": "It is much more powerful than that."

Primarily funded by corporations, corporate trade groups, and corporate foundations," and populated mainly by Republican office holders, ALEC is a non-profit organization made up primarily of a "who's who' of the extreme right."

As I reported in late March of this year, "while the Washington, D.C.-based ALEC may not be responsible for all of the mayhem going on in such states as Wisconsin, Ohio, New Jersey, Indiana, Florida, and Michigan (with more states certain to follow), it has historically played an extraordinary role in shaping pro-corporate legislation in a number of states."

According to ALEC Exposed, ALEC-sponsored "bills would privatize public education, crush teacher's unions, and push American universities to the right. Among other things, these bills make education a private commodity rather than a public good, and reverse America's modern innovation of promoting learning and civic virtue through public schools staffed with professional teachers for children from all backgrounds."

As Julie Underwood, dean of the School of Education and a professor at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, pointed out in a piece in The Nation, ALEC's mission is "to defund and redesign public schools." Underwood detailed how ALEC has been promoting "choice" and "vouchers" for more than 20 years.

However, Underwood wrote: "ALEC's most ambitious and strategic push toward privatizing education came in 2007, through a publication called School Choice and State Constitutions, which proposed a list of programs tailored to each state." Several states, including Georgia, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Florida, Utah and Indiana enacted ALEC-suggested legislation.

"ALEC's 2010 Report Card on American Education called on members and allies to ‘Transform the system, don't tweak it,' likening the group's current legislative strategy to a game of whack-a-mole: introduce so many pieces of model legislation that there is "no way the person with the mallet [teachers' unions] can get them all." Underwood wrote.

According to Underwood, "ALEC's agenda includes":

• "Introducing market factors into teaching, through bills like the National Teacher Certification Fairness Act."

Admittedly, the $376,635 grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is just a drop from the foundation's bucket, and it will not guarantee ALEC's success in achieving its goals. It certainly will help. As Underwood pointed out, "ALEC's real motivation for dismantling the public education system is ideological-creating a system where schools do not provide for everyone - and profit-driven."

What the foundation's grant might contribute to is another in a series of ginned-up reports produced by ALEC's education team. Robin Rogers wrote recently that there's a danger to extrapolate conclusions from education experiments - as it was in welfare reform: "Our measurements are imprecise at best and meaningless and misleading at worst. Most educators, advocates, researchers, philanthropists, and policymakers are well aware of the problem of measuring complex outcomes. That awareness disappears when we talk about policy experiments. We act as if testing these programs will lead to some empirical, objective truth about what works best."

Rogers added: "Policy experiments are supposed to tell us empirically how good a program or approach is. They don't do this very well. Randomized experiments are expensive, difficult, and rare. Most policy ‘experiments' aren't really experiments. They are a trial run of a program with data collection. Even then, the data is often collected haphazardly or to highlight program success and minimize failures. Politics and research also operate in different time frames - solid evaluations often take years. In short, well-funded policy evaluations take too long to actually affect policy, and ad hoc evaluations don't produce reliable findings."

In the final analysis, ALEC will take Gates money. It will likely come up with another report touting the success of charter schools and voucher programs, and more reasons to bust teachers unions. It will design sample legislation for its members to introduce in state houses across the country. The privatization of public education will move forward. This is not a project that Bill or Melinda Gates should be proud of.

ODE to charter school sponsor: Stop taking the money!

2012-01-18T13:32:00.001-05:00

From John Curry, January 16. 2912

http://www.plunderbund.com/2012/01/16/ohio-dept-of-education-to-charter-school-sponsor-stop-taking-the-money/

Ohio Dept of Education to charter school sponsor: 'Stop taking the money!'

By Greg On January 16, 2012

The Ohio Department of Education (ODE) has come out with some strong words for one of Ohio’s charter school management organizations that has the audacity to turn a profit — a practice that has existed since the for-profit charter school process was enacted in Ohio many years ago.

The management company believes it is entitled to redirect the $700,000 profit into the company’s other operations, in the same way that other for-profit companies such as White Hat Management and Altair Learning Management (ECOT) have been doing without state intervention.

But ODE disagrees:

That money is supposed to benefit the at-risk kids at [the charter], an online high school… Since 2010, the Ohio Department of Education repeatedly has told [the management company] to stop taking the money and to start letting the online high school make its own decisions.

Now, the state is trying to decide how to make sure the charter-school students receive the money meant to fund their education.

“We’re going to keep pushing this until, hopefully, we get a resolution,” said Joni Hoffman, director of the state’s office of community schools.

[Columbus Dispatch, 1/15/2012]

This is a rather confusing situation, of course. I was unaware that charter school management companies weren’t supposed to be turning a profit. In fact, I thought that premise has been a key facet of the argument against charter schools since their inception — they are redirecting public money to private entities. That’s not much of a secret, is it?

During the recent coverage of a lawsuit by some charter schools against White Hat Management in an effort to get the company to open its financial records, a letter by White Hat CEO David Brennan was released to the public. In the letter, Brennan makes it clear that he is trying to run a profitable business and, upon releasing the figures, they must honestly reveal their profits.

Clearly we have a problem in that we have not met a forecast for the bank in the last 5 years. PNC does not trust our numbers because of this failure. We must increase our enrollments and show profitability. To meet the required payments on our loan, we must show an excess of 2 million every year for the next 5, while still covering our on-going necessary capital and operating needs.

Much as we would rather not, we need to sound a cautionary note. When both financial and test result stresses are high, there may be a temptation to ‘fudge the numbers.’ This must not happen. It would be contrary to everything we are fighting for. It would give credence to all the lies that our opponents tell about us.

In the first paragraph, Brennan implies that the profits for White Hat are on the decline and that the profits must be at least 2 million per year in the 5-year forecast. But is ODE troubled by this blatant admission of profits? If so, they are keeping it a secret. The only involvement by ODE is to support the jurisdiction of Franklin County Common Pleas Court Judge John Bender in the charter schools’ lawsuit against White Hat, but nothing about the profit.

David Brennan is also a fan of the legislature, gaining access this year to rewrite much of Ohio’s charter school rules through the state budget — hardly an indication that anyone is troubled by the profitability of this company by revenue from taxpayer dollars. I suppose the fact that David Brennan and his immediate family members gave $431,721 to Ohio Republican politicians in the last election cycle doesn’t hurt, either.

But back to the management company that is incurring the wrath of ODE. They haven’t been tithing to the GOP, so they’re being punished. The worst part of the whole situation is that they have had the gall to direct the profits toward the education of other public school students!!

That’s right the London City School District is the target of ODE. London is the sponsor/management agency for the London Digital Academy, an online high school. According to London, the profit is theirs to disperse as they see fit.

The treasurer for both the charter school and the district, Kristine Blind, said officials plan to continue the “revenue sharing” method. The London district’s lawyer, Susan B. Greenberger, said it’s really not that unusual. The school was started by the district and by definition must be overseen by it.

The best part about the Dispatch article is the litany of quotes that document the indignation (and hypocrisy) of those mad that the public school district is profiting:

Now, the state is trying to decide how to make sure the charter-school students receive the money meant to fund their education.

Right, as opposed to the private companies running charters that are specifically called “for-profit.” Perhaps if London City wasn’t trying to reinvest the money in the education of their children…

In one of its letters to the district, state officials said London “seems to be operating as though the community school exists solely to increase revenues to the district.”

Replace “district” with for-profit management company and there is no investigation by ODE, no newspaper story.

Some former members of the charter school’s governing board and a former London Academy principal say the charter-school students are being cheated. “It’s a very sad situation. The bottom line is, kids aren’t getting served,” said Pete Bartkowiak, whose job as Academy principal was eliminated in December 2010.

This one is shocking. Ohio charter school students being cheated – not getting served? Who knew? If only we had a state ranking system that would provide us some measures that would expose poor-performing charters schools. Damn – if only!!!

Because London Academy is an online school, it has lower costs than a brick-and-mortar school might. That’s why it makes a profit.

Time out. Read that sentence back slowly. Online schools have lower costs and that’s why they make a profit. So, the school has lower costs, resulting in a profit, but ODE is claiming that London should be spending all of the revenue on the school. Right. So if online schools have lower costs, resulting in a profit, why is Ohio continuing to fund more and more online schools every year, including 2 that rank in the top 20 districts in the state? It couldn’t have anything to do with Kasich’s good pal William Lager’s ECOT being the largest, could it?

The Education Department might have left the situation alone if London Academy was a high-performing school, Hoffman said. But it has an F grade. Officials wonder if the school would have improved if more money was going directly to it.

Do you think ODE officials also wonder:

if ECOT’s graduation rate would be higher than 41% if CEO William Lager cut back on business profits?
if White Hat management schools would have a higher average graduation rate than 12% if he wasn’t focused on earning $2 million in annual profits?
if the other 70 charter schools assigned “F” grades by ODE would have improved if they weren’t operated by for-profit companies?
if Ohio’s PUBLIC schools would improve if more was going directly to them?

This episode still has me shaking my head. We have hundreds of charter schools in Ohio being operated by private companies receiving revenue from the state with the clearly stated intent of turning a profit for the owners. And yet, as this article clearly indicates, the Ohio Department of Education is arguing that the London City School district should not be afforded the same option, despite the fact that they are taking the “profit” and reinvesting it into the public education system.

Maybe if the London superintendent and treasurer were donating some of the profits to our elected officials this would be a non-story.

Seriously - Officials wonder if the school would have improved if more money was going directly to it.

RH Jones re: an unacceptable ORTA older retiree COLA guideline

2012-01-11T14:45:00.002-05:00

From RH Jones, January 11, 2012

To all retired teachers:

Especially for the ORTA dues paying members, I would like to communicate to you that, according to the “Winter 2012 ORTA Quarterly”, your ORTA officials on 10/27/2011 created “Legislative Guidelines for 2012” that included a guideline “STRS Ohio” which states in number 2 as a priority that: “Continue working to improve the formula for computing bases pension amounts for all recipients and to maintain a minimum COLA for older retirees.”

ORTA members, their work to continue to improve the formula base pension amounts for all recipients is, agreeably, a real priority for us in the never ending inflation of the dollar; but, however, the ORTA statement “… to maintain a minimum for older retirees” is totally unacceptable. It just lacks common sense. I cannot imagine their thinking. My dictionary states that the word minimum means: “1. Lowest possible degree: the lowest possible amount.” Do they really want that the older retirees to have the lowest possible amount of COLA? This Life Member thinks that the ORTA officials should print a retraction of that unacceptable priority goal for 2012.

Personally, I think the best way for them to eliminate this obvious mistake is to just erase “and to maintain a minimum COLA for older retirees.” As a retired teacher, I am fine with “ … improve the formula base pension amounts for all recipients. …” period; but not with keeping older retirees at a lowest possible amount. If anything, older retirees should be kept at the highest amount of the COLA. A reasonable person knows that the older STRS retiree’s present non-compounded 3% COLA does not keep retirees up with inflation.

RHJones, ORTA Life Member

STRS Board to meet January 18-19, 2012

2012-01-11T14:10:00.002-05:00

From STRS, January 11, 2012

PUBLIC MEETING NOTICE

The State Teachers Retirement Board and Committee meetings currently scheduled at the STRS Ohio offices, 275 East Broad Street, Columbus, Ohio 43215, are as follows:

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

...1:30 p.m. Disability Review Panel (Executive Session)

Thursday, January 19, 2012

...9 a.m. Retirement Board Meeting, followed by Staff Benefits Committee

The Retirement Board meeting will come to order on Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012, and begin with a Report From the Investment Department, followed by the next segment of the Asset/Liability Study, a Report From the Finance Department, the Executive Director's Report, public participation, a Report From the Communication Services Department, routine matters, old business, new business and any other matters requiring attention.

CORE to meet January 19, 2012

2012-01-05T12:55:00.002-05:00

From CORE, January 5, 2012

CORE (Concerned Ohio Retired Educators) will hold its January meeting on Thursday, January 19 at the STRS building, 275 East Broad Street, Columbus, OH. Parking is available (free) in the STRS parking garage located in the rear of the building, off E. Capital Street.

You are also encouraged to attend the STRS Retirement Board meeting on the same day. It usually begins around 9:00 a.m. in the Board Room on the 6th floor, though the time may vary from month to month. Frequently the meetings have been held most of the day on the following Friday as well as on Thursday. For this reason, we suggest you check the STRS website (www.strsoh.org) to confirm the time.

CORE meeting attendees usually leave the board meeting around 11:30 a.m. to go to the second floor cafeteria to get lunch. We eat in the small room adjacent to the cafeteria, behind the Sublett Room, where the CORE meeting begins promptly at 11:45.

A meeting agenda will be sent out via e-mail before the January 19 meeting. If you have additional suggestions for the agenda, please send them to John Curry at curryjo@watchtv,net.

Congratulations, Plunderbund, you blew 'em away this past year!

2012-01-03T13:54:00.002-05:00

From John Curry, January 3, 2012

"Overall for 2011 we served up 2.6 million pageviews and welcomed 1.5 million unique visitors. This was nearly a 300% increase over 2010. People searched for Plunderbund some 73,000 times in 2011. Driving that were several stories that we broke that were picked up by both Ohio and national outlets. We even had our first appearance on national TV, which surely had people hitting Google to find out what the heck “plunderbund” was!"

http://www.plunderbund.com/2012/01/03/the-business-of-plunderbund-2011-year-in-review/

The Business of Plunderbund 2011 Year in Review

By Eric On January 3, 2012

In terms of Plunderbund as a business, 2011 has been a big year. October marked the second anniversary of our decision to push the boundaries of political blogging in the state and take the site to new levels. In April we went live with our third major site re-design since 2005. We added several ad placements and began using a combination of Google ads and direct placements to fill out our ad inventory.

We’ve published more and better content than ever and broken more stories than any blog in Ohio has in a single year. Joseph and Modern are doing a killer month-by-month year in review series. Start here. Thanks to our great readers, we also ran away with Chris Cillizza’s quest to find the best state based political blogs.

One key reason for all this is the continued key contributions from both ModernEsquire and Joseph. They are now considered “Managing Editors” in their role here at PB. Another major contributing factor was the addition of Greg and Ben. Greg’s contributions on education were a wonderful addition and enabled us to get into this area during the SB5 fight with an energy and depth of coverage that would have been impossible without his contributions. Ben was on Josh Mandel like white on rice. It’s as simple as that. We thank them both for their great additions and are actively devising ways to keep them around.

Another great addition this year was our companion site Ohio Budget Watch and PB contributor budgetwatcher. The Kasich budget process needed a keen eye placed on it and the companion site and several posts (and cross-posts) on PB were able to do that in a way that would again be impossible without the additional posts from our new contributor budgetwatcher. We hope to keep this person around as well!

This year, we made an even more concerted effort to utilize social media in ways that benefit the site. Twitter has been a great way to network and stay on top of what’s going on as well as mix it up with mainstream media types, fans, and conservative detractors alike. Facebook has been, put simply, a traffic animal. Our biggest fans live on Facebook and we’ve benefited greatly by sharing both blog content there as well as commentary, links, and media we only share on Facebook.

Speaking of traffic. 2011 was a banner year. We simply blew away many site records.

March 3rd during the SB5 protests we set the all-time daily traffic record for the site. We had 20,000 unique vistors and 40,000 pageviews on that day alone. Our early coverage of SB5 enabled us to ride this wave of interest and the period between mid-February to mid-April was by far our biggest traffic period ever and a big chunk of our traffic for the year. We were, as they say, on fire!

Overall for 2011 we served up 2.6 million pageviews and welcomed 1.5 million unique visitors. This was nearly a 300% increase over 2010. People searched for Plunderbund some 73,000 times in 2011. Driving that were several stories that we broke that were picked up by both Ohio and national outlets. We even had our first appearance on national TV, which surely had people hitting Google to find out what the heck “plunderbund” was!

Direct traffic was the majority, showing a great base of support for the site. Social media drove 250,000 visitors to the site. Facebook alone was 242,000 of that. Truly astounding. This is one reason we’ve invested in ads on that platform to drive our reach there even further. We’ve seen great success with this strategy and plan to continue it in 2012.

Our top 5 posts for 2011 were:

State Rep Mecklenborg likely arrested with a stripper

Governor’s Office Salaries Going WAY Up Under Kasich

Senate GOP Leader awards huge, retroactive pay raises to staff

Kasich declares MARCH 17th, Martin Luther King, Jr. day in Ohio

Kasich on public employees: “we are at war with these people”

The top two were far and away the leaders, followed by the next three which were about the same in terms of traffic.

Advertising made serious gains in 2011. We’re still not where we’d like to be in terms of being able to regularly pay contributors or even have a managing editor “on staff”. It’s still basically a volunteer effort, but we have been able to offset any expenses related to travel to cover events and have even given back to our readership by hosting cocktail hours and special events. We have more of those planned for 2012 also. Look for us at Rootscamp! I’m hopeful that 2012 can see us move in the direction of regularly compensating contributors on some level.

Looking ahead to 2012, which will obviously be a big year with the election, we hope to surpass all these numbers and grow our advertising and other fundraising to a point where we can continue to invest in the business and grow our reach and staff. Things to look for in 2012: A new and improved store making it easier to get PB stuff, an editor to review posts for spelling/grammar, local advertising support, email newsletters, a PB insider’s subscription plan, great election coverage, and more great photoshops!

We hope you’ve enjoyed the past year. We know it’s been a pretty crazy ride for us. We also hope that our loyal readers and fans will continue to spread the word and we’ll continue to enjoy strong support from advertisers so we can do the kinds of things we have planned next year. Should be fun.

Thanks again to everyone for your support. We surely can’t do this without you and our readers are foremost in our minds in everything we do. Thanks for spreading the word among your friends, sharing our content on Facebook, commenting on the site or Facebook, picking up a PlunderTee or bumper sticker, and generally being an awesome community of readers!

As always, we are eager to hear your feedback on how you think we did and what you’d like to see us do. We are always listening and our best ideas come from our readers. Just hit us up in comments or send an email to crew @ plunderbund.com.

Wishing everyone the best for a great 2012!

Evangelize!

For those who hate taxes.....

2012-01-02T12:04:00.003-05:00

From John Curry, January 2, 2012

http://www.addictinginfo.org/2011/11/07/102-things-not-to-do/

102 Things NOT To Do If You Hate Taxes

November 7, 2011

By Stephen D. Foster Jr.

So, you’re a Republican that hates taxes? Well, since you do not like taxes or government, please kindly do the following.

1. Do not use Medicare.
2. Do not use Social Security
3. Do not become a member of the US military, who are paid with tax dollars.
4. Do not ask the National Guard to help you after a disaster.
5. Do not call 911 when you get hurt.
6. Do not call the police to stop intruders in your home.
7. Do not summon the fire department to save your burning home.
8. Do not drive on any paved road, highway, and interstate or drive on any bridge.
9. Do not use public restrooms.
10. Do not send your kids to public schools.
11. Do not put your trash out for city garbage collectors.
12. Do not live in areas with clean air.
13. Do not drink clean water.
14. Do not visit National Parks.
15. Do not visit public museums, zoos, and monuments.
16. Do not eat or use FDA inspected food and medicines.
17. Do not bring your kids to public playgrounds.
18. Do not walk or run on sidewalks.
19. Do not use public recreational facilities such as basketball and tennis courts.
20. Do not seek shelter facilities or food in soup kitchens when you are homeless and hungry.
21. Do not apply for educational or job training assistance when you lose your job.
22. Do not apply for food stamps when you can’t feed your children.
23. Do not use the judiciary system for any reason.
24. Do not ask for an attorney when you are arrested and do not ask for one to be assigned to you by the court.
25. Do not apply for any Pell Grants.
26. Do not use cures that were discovered by labs using federal dollars.
27. Do not fly on federally regulated airplanes.
28. Do not use any product that can trace its development back to NASA.
29. Do not watch the weather provided by the National Weather Service.
30. Do not listen to severe weather warnings from the National Weather Service.
31. Do not listen to tsunami, hurricane, or earthquake alert systems.
32. Do not apply for federal housing.
33. Do not use the internet, which was developed by the military.
34. Do not swim in clean rivers.
35. Do not allow your child to eat school lunches or breakfasts.
36. Do not ask for FEMA assistance when everything you own gets wiped out by disaster.
37. Do not ask the military to defend your life and home in the event of a foreign invasion.
38. Do not use your cell phone or home telephone.
39. Do not buy firearms that wouldn’t have been developed without the support of the US Government and military. That includes most of them.
40. Do not eat USDA inspected produce and meat.
41. Do not apply for government grants to start your own business.
42. Do not apply to win a government contract.
43. Do not buy any vehicle that has been inspected by government safety agencies.
44. Do not buy any product that is protected from poisons, toxins, etc…by the Consumer Protection Agency.
45. Do not save your money in a bank that is FDIC insured.
46. Do not use Veterans benefits or military health care.
47. Do not use the G.I. Bill to go to college.
48. Do not apply for unemployment benefits.
49. Do not use any electricity from companies regulated by the Department of Energy.
50. Do not live in homes that are built to code.
51. Do not run for public office. Politicians are paid with taxpayer dollars.
52. Do not ask for help from the FBI, S.W.A.T, the bomb squad, Homeland Security, State troopers, etc…
53. Do not apply for any government job whatsoever as all state and federal employees are paid with tax dollars.
54. Do not use public libraries.
55. Do not use the US Postal Service.
56. Do not visit the National Archives.
57. Do not visit Presidential Libraries.
58. Do not use airports that are secured by the federal government.
59. Do not apply for loans from any bank that is FDIC insured.
60. Do not ask the government to help you clean up after a tornado.
61. Do not ask the Department of Agriculture to provide a subsidy to help you run your farm.
62. Do not take walks in National Forests.
63. Do not ask for taxpayer dollars for your oil company.
64. Do not ask the federal government to bail your company out during recessions.
65. Do not seek medical care from places that use federal dollars.
66. Do not use Medicaid.
67. Do not use WIC.
68. Do not use electricity generated by Hoover Dam.
69. Do not use electricity or any service provided by the Tennessee Valley Authority.
70. Do not ask the Army Corps of Engineers to rebuild levees when they break.
71. Do not let the Coast Guard save you from drowning when your boat capsizes at sea.
72. Do not ask the government to help evacuate you when all hell breaks loose in the country you are in.
73. Do not visit historic landmarks.
74. Do not visit fisheries.
75. Do not expect to see animals that are federally protected because of the Endangered Species List.
76. Do not expect plows to clear roads of snow and ice so your kids can go to school and so you can get to work.
77. Do not hunt or camp on federal land.
78. Do not work anywhere that has a safe workplace because of government regulations.
79. Do not use public transportation.
80. Do not drink water from public water fountains.
81. Do not whine when someone copies your work and sells it as their own. Government enforces copyright laws.
82. Do not expect to own your home, car, or boat. Government organizes and keeps all titles.
83. Do not expect convicted felons to remain off the streets.
84. Do not eat in restaurants that are regulated by food quality and safety standards.
85. Do not seek help from the US Embassy if you need assistance in a foreign nation.
86. Do not apply for a passport to travel outside of the United States.
87. Do not apply for a patent when you invent something.
88. Do not adopt a child through your local, state, or federal governments.
89.Do not use elevators that have been inspected by federal or state safety regulators.
90. Do not use any resource that was discovered by the USGS.
91. Do not ask for energy assistance from the government.
92. Do not move to any other developed nation, because the taxes are much higher.
93. Do not go to a beach that is kept clean by the state.
94. Do not use money printed by the US Treasury.
95. Do not complain when millions more illegal immigrants cross the border because there are no more border patrol agents.
96. Do not attend a state university.
97. Do not see any doctor that is licensed through the state.
98. Do not use any water from municipal water systems.
99. Do not complain when diseases and viruses, that were once fought around the globe by the US government and CDC, reach your house.
100. Do not work for any company that is required to pay its workers a livable wage, provide them sick days, vacation days, and benefits.
101. Do not expect to be able to vote on election days. Government provides voting booths, election day officials, and voting machines which are paid for with taxes.
102. Do not ride trains. The railroad was built with government financial assistance.

The fact is, we pay for the lifestyle we expect. Without taxes, our lifestyles would be totally different and much harder. America would be a third world country. The less we pay, the less we get in return. Americans pay less taxes today since 1958 and is ranked 32nd out of 34 of the top tax paying countries. Chile and Mexico are 33rd and 34th. The Republicans are lying when they say that we pay the highest taxes in the world and are only attacking taxes to reward corporations and the wealthy and to weaken our infrastructure and way of life. So next time you object to paying taxes or fight to abolish taxes for corporations and the wealthy, keep this quote in mind…

“I like to pay taxes. With them, I buy civilization.” ~Oliver Wendell Holmes

2012-01-01T19:45:00.000-05:00

STRS Board retreat scheduled for January 25-26, 2012
Details here

2012-01-01T14:15:00.000-05:00

STRS Board to meet January 18-19, 2012

Details here

2012-01-01T13:02:00.000-05:00

CORE to meet January 19, 2012

Details here.

2011 in pictures...not all was bad for Ohio's public servants

2011-12-28T09:55:00.000-05:00

From John Curry, December 27, 2011

..........................................................

Workers under siege at the Postal Service need solidarity help

2011-12-27T11:03:00.002-05:00

From RH Jones, December 27, 2011

To all:

Solidarity is not over. The GOP members of congress are presently coming after our brothers and sisters in the United States Postal service. Like with us, they want to get their hands on postal worker's money "to privatize a piece of the pie for themselves and their supporters". Please read this letter (below) that appeared in the Beacon today, and I think you may want to help them as they helped us in the fight with the Ohio GOP over their terrible SB 5 -- that had to be recalled through expensive repeal legislation in the way of our voting no on Issue 2.

Let us do stay solidly together so we can defeat the Republican party of the powerful greedy "robber barons" that would keep the American dream only for themselves and lord over the rest of us in a 2-class society. Contact your Washington reps and let them know of our nationwide solidarity movement that will certainly follow us into our voting booths all over our beloved America.

RHJones, a proud CORE member and multi-union member

http://www.ohio.com/editorial/vop/letters-to-the-editor-dec-27-1.252261

Under siege at ?the Postal Service

The U.S. Postal Service has issued a moratorium on post office plant closings and consolidations until May 15, as reported in the Beacon Journal (“Postal Service to delay cutbacks,” Dec. 14). This moratorium was issued at the request of approximately 20 senators across the nation. It is designed to give Congress more time to work on postal reform, but I am afraid they may not come up with a viable solution to keep the Postal Service running well into the future.

The problem lies in the U.S. House. The House Oversight and Budget Committee, which oversees postal issues, is led by Rep. Darrell Issa of California, the same man who introduced the anti-union legislation H.R. 2309, which passed through the committee a few weeks back.

Isssa is blocking any attempts to have H.R. 1351 brought before the House for a vote. H.R. 1351 would return all of the money the Postal Service has overpaid into its federal retirees health benefit plan (roughly $50 billion to $75 billion) and change current legislation that requires the Postal Service to make 75 years worth of payments into this plan in a 10-year period. This bill was signed into law by former President George W. Bush in 2006, as a way for Congress to get its hands on the earnings of the Postal Service at that time.

Republican members of Congress such as Issa are attempting to pass postal reform that would not only guarantee that the Postal Service will never see any of its own money, but also lead to thousands of layoffs and the demise of the Postal Service. They want privatization, and a piece of the pie for themselves and their supporters.

There are currently some decent bills in the House and Senate, such as the H.R. 1351, but you can be sure that the Republican and tea party members will not let the bills see the light of day. They don’t have the money the Postal Service overpaid. And they certainly do not want the people to know that the deficit is actually about $50 billion to $75 billion more than they are stating.

Sherrod Brown is the only senator from Ohio trying to do the right thing to keep the Postal Service running and a valuable service. Sen. Rob Portman is doing absolutely nothing to support the Postal Service and the jobs that our communities need. Please contact your representatives and tell them enough is enough.

Timothy J. Manning
Branch president, Local 304
National Postal Mail Handlers Union
Canton

Teach for America, Inc. getting $55K for each teacher and a $4K-$5K 'Finder Fee'?

2011-12-21T22:40:00.002-05:00

From John Curry, December 21, 2011

http://www.plunderbund.com/2011/12/21/teach-for-america-inc-will-collect-55000-for-each-ohio-teacher/

Teach for America, Inc. will collect $55,000 for each Ohio teacher

By Greg On December 21, 2011

The Cleveland Plain Dealer wrote on Friday that Teach for America will receive more than $2 million to bring their corps members to Northeast Ohio schools next fall. The funding will come from the Cleveland, George Gund, Nord and Stocker foundations, along with a contribution from the Lennon Trust, and will pay for the national program to recruit and train college graduates who majored in subjects other than education and help them move to the area.

According to Teach for America vice president Mike Wang who is working to bring the program to the region, the money will help bring at least 30 teachers to school districts and charter schools in Cuyahoga and Lorain counties.

We exposed the flawed logic behind the Governor’s and GOP’s push to bring Teach for America to Ohio back in March, and despite the passage of laws enabling the program to expand to Ohio, neither the facts nor our stance have changed:

House Bill 21 & Senate Bill 81 lower the quality of teaching for future children by lowering these current standards for teacher preparation. Teach for America is touted as bringing the best and the brightest to the classroom, but we have always done so in Ohio through existing state law requiring universities to provide rigorous teacher preparation programs.

House Bill 21 & Senate Bill 81 would require the Ohio Department of Education to issue a Resident Educator license to all TFA participants, including those who have never set foot in an Ohio classroom.

In that particular post, we only addressed the erroneous thinking of the legislators who claimed the law was necessary from an educational reform perspective. We didn’t speak to the flawed economics that prop up the Teach for America program and undermine any stated rationale for certifying the program in Ohio.

While Teach for America only requires 50 hours of cooperative teaching during a summer school program, Ohio state law requires that prospective teachers complete a minimum of 460 hours of field experience, including 12 weeks of teaching, with typically 6 of those weeks being full days of independent instruction, under the supervision of a university professor. These programs come at a huge price to students who make significant personal and financial investments in pursuing a career in the field of education at Ohio’s universities.

Did we mention the $4,000-$5,000 “finder’s fee” that school districts pay to Teach for America for every corps member hired?

Let’s do some quick calculations about this report of TFA’s emergence in NE Ohio.

Private funds totaling $2 million
Hiring at least 30 TFA members [we'll generously round it to 40]

$2,000,000 / 40 members = $50,000 per TFA corps member brought to Ohio. That’s right around the average salary of an existing teacher in Ohio and well above the average starting salary. But this money isn’t for those new teachers. Instead, this money goes directly to TFA to cover the brief summer training session and mentoring.

Okay, that’s not true, the funding doesn’t cover all of the training and mentoring.

Check out this final sentence of the Plain Dealer article that is crucial in understanding the economics of the TFA program:

The grants will not cover teacher salaries, which will be paid by the schools. Schools will also contribute toward the training.

That’s right, the $50,000 per member isn’t even enough to cover the five-week training. Schools will have to chip in for that, too. And the “education reformers,” especially those in Ohio’s legislature and their private donors, are griping amount providing adequate funding to schools? And here we have foundations doling out checks to pay for training that costs $10,000 per person per week? Does anyone want to guess what the Plain Dealer or Dispatch would write if a public school district sent a group of teachers to a five-week summer institute at a cost of $50,000 each?

Even more, can you imagine the type of professional development a teacher could receive if a district was allocated $50,000 per year? School districts would drool over even 1/10th of that amount if they were able to involve their career educators in such development work.

But alas, the GOP and private corporations have the misguided belief that we’re all somehow better off throwing enormous sums of money at temporary educators instead of making an investment in individuals who have dedicated their lives to teaching children. Individuals who have spent years in both college and PK-12 classrooms learning how to become professionals in an underappreciated career field. Individuals who have willingly committed to give up their evenings and weekends forever, and have spent an incalculable amount of their personal income on their students knowing they will never be submitting an expense report to their boss for reimbursement.

No, let’s just write a check to a large organization to find short-term educational hitmen, then let that organization charge schools an additional fee on top of that amount. The GOP wouldn’t DREAM of shelling out $55,000 for a top graduate from an accredited university’s college of education, but if they’ve got middle-of-the-pack credentials in some other field of study (minimum 2.5 GPA – no slackers!), open up the pocketbook, because the money is begging to be spent. Throw that money at a five-week summer class with minimal student exposure on the basics of being in a classroom, then charge the districts an extra fee for the right to put the graduate of that 5-week training, now a “licensed teacher,” in front of a room full of high-need students and cross your fingers that they last more than a week.

That’s reality.

In a nutshell, the entire situation with TFA in Ohio demonstrates the lack of respect that is given the teaching profession in our country. Whether we are talking about a young adult exploring the career of teaching through a high school program or a teacher with 30+ years of experiencing in meeting the needs of hundreds of unique children, TFA supporters don’t care — they think you’re not worthy.

And to revisit some basic math that is too complicated for Governor Kasich and the GOP leadership, using the TFA-type of privately funding process to replace classically-trained teachers will result in a dramatic leap in required educational funding. Given that Ohio currently replaces approximately 4,000 teachers annually, the TFA price structure (2-year commitments = $27,500 per year) would require an additional $11 million per year. Once the 2-years-and-out hired guns get embedded in the process and begin rolling out of their jobs on a more regular basis then the costs would begin growing every year, with absolutely ZERO effect on salaries and no reduction to other district expenses.

Maybe such extreme numbers should be considered hyperbole. But why would the Governor speak so highly of a program, and why would foundations pay an additional $55,000 per teacher for a program if they didn’t want it to have amazing success? If this program, as the Governor has famously claimed, will bring in outsiders to save our children, wouldn’t that at least imply a commitment to funding such a process and using the model to reform teaching and teacher education in Ohio?

Kasich said Teach For America participants are “the cavalry.”

“They’re going to ride on white horses with white hats into our schools and be able to interject a tremendous amount of enthusiasm, talent, capability and real-world understanding,” the governor said.

(Columbus Dispatch, April 27, 2011)

For $2 million, Ohio’s children deserve more than 40 white hats and 40 white horses. Ohio’s children deserve well-prepared teachers who have committed their lives to becoming professional educators.

America needs to start supporting legitimate teacher education programs that are researching innovative practices and working to develop future teachers by working with career educators with years of practical classroom experience. If public schools received anywhere near the same level of support and latitude that politically-favored programs do, we could experience sustainable long-term improvements instead of the endless stream of drive-by initiatives that only serve to bind schools in a perpetual state of tumultuous transformation.

Tom Curtis re: STRS Fitness Center Membership Through Aetna Medicare Advantage

2011-12-20T11:59:00.000-05:00

From Tom Curtis, December 20, 2011

Hello STRS Retirees,

Recently, I wrote about the Free Fitness Center Membership for Aetna Medicare enrollees. Aetna has contracted with a company called Healthways to administer this benefit for Medicare age retirees.

In my prior letter, I complained about the many hours I spent on the phone over a 3-day period attempting to get approval for a fitness center I was told was not on the approved list. I was told this by various people at Aetna and by one lady at STRS. I tried to reach Healthways, but after being placed on hold for the next available customer care person, no one ever answered their phone any of the 3 times I called them. Consequently, I was unable to verify the information with them.

Greg Nickell from STRS called me last week because he had read my prior letter on Kathie Bracy’s Blog and was highly concerned about what I had to say. He realized just how frustrated I had become. He offered to review the process and to check the next day with the North Canton YMCA to see if he could be of any assistance in getting this facility onto the listing of providers. Greg has always been very kind and considerate concerning any issue I have talked with him about.

The next day I went to the YMCA fitness center and handed them my Aetna card. They processed it with Healthways and offered me a free membership. They told me they had been approved for sometime now, but that due to the presence of a large hospital in my area (Mercy), they are never listed as a provider for this service. This is probably because Mercy Hospital offers a fitness membership at their facilities and Mercy tries to eliminate all of their competition. Their facilities have minimal equipment and facility usage compared to any other I visited.

I called Greg back the next day to pass along the above information and to let him know that most YMCA’s of Stark and Summit County accept Aetna’s fitness offering through Healthways.

I am ecstatic that I was able to receive a membership at the North Canton YMCA, which has about 3 times the offerings of equipment and facility as does any fitness program in this area. It is located 5 minutes from my home.

What I am very unhappy about is the amount of time I spend on the phone each week educating service providers like Aetna, STRS and Healthways about the services they provide. Employees are paid well and receive wonderful benefits to do their job, but often do not do their job for their customer. I do not get paid to do their job for them, but I am forced to do so to receive the benefits I am entitled to by utilizing their service. I face this problem day in and day out with many of the service providers I utilize (banks, doctor’s offices, government offices, etc.). This is sickening to me! If the customer doesn’t fight for the benefits they are supposed to receive, the company’s profit line improves and the customer goes without.

In today’s world, the customer is not being considered very well. We are often given misinformation by customer care representatives that are not knowledgeable about the services their company provides and are not willing to research the situation for the proper information. These representatives tell the customer what they believe to be the answer, or transfer the customer to another person that does not know the information either. This even happens when a supervisor is asked for and responds to a question. So, in the end, the customer has to become dogged to receive some of the benefits that are available to them. I am sure many retirees are not willing to do this. So the provider wins.

In closing, if you have been told a fitness center in your area is not on the approved list, do not believe it until you take your Aetna insurance card to that facility and ask them to see if they are accepted by Healthways. You, as I, may find that they will offer you a free fitness center membership.

Continuing to be a disgruntled retiree,

Tom Curtis

Joe says, "Coal" to Huffman.....

2011-12-18T11:13:00.009-05:00

From John Curry, December 18, 2011
Legislature's map makers should get coal in their stockings

Joe Hallett

http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/editorials/2011/12/18/legislatures-map-makers-should-get-coal-in-their-stockings.html

Columbus Dispatch, December 18, 2011
By Joe Hallett

Credit (or blame) state Rep. Matt Huffman for uttering the year’s most cynical statement.

On Wednesday, the Lima Republican called a bill that lays out new congressional districts “a little bit of a Christmas gift to the folks of Ohio.”

No fair-minded Santa would ever deliver it.

This gift virtually ensures that Huffman’s party will control 12 of Ohio’s 16 districts through this decade.

This gift mocks the goal of keeping together communities of interest. The new 15 {+t}{+h} district, for example, combines big swaths of Appalachia with Upper Arlington and Downtown Columbus.

This gift makes hash out of redistricting principles such as compactness and contiguousness. Summit County is ridiculously spliced into four districts. The new 9 {+t}{+h} district, stretching along a sliver of Lake Erie shoreline from Toledo to Cleveland, needs a bridge to be connected and is drawn solely to pit incumbent Democrats Marcy Kaptur and Dennis J. Kucinich against each other.

This gift eliminates the need for general elections in congressional races. Many primaries will be coronations for extremists, rendering to the wilderness the desires of Ohio’s vast political center.

This gift protects incumbents by allowing them to choose their voters.

This gift is the worst possible Christmas present for Ohioans, relegating them to another decade of bad government.

This gift was wrapped by Republicans controlling the Statehouse. Make no mistake, if Democrats were in charge, you’d be receiving the same gift, wrapped in blue instead of red.

The only worthwhile gift surrounding the decennial process of creating new congressional districts is the one by a courageous watchdog group exposing the sordid and secretive — and maybe even illegal — ways in which it was done.

The Ohio Campaign for Accountable Redistricting — 25 good-government organizations, including the League of Women Voters of Ohio and Ohio Citizen Action — used public records to pull back the cover on a process whose aim was “to gain maximum political advantage” for the GOP, the group reported.

“The result was the approval of new districts that will provide for largely predetermined elections where we will know which party will win before we even know who the candidates are.”

A glance at the partisan indexes of the 16 districts proves that point: The most “competitive”is the new 6th District sprawling along the Ohio River, where Republicans have only a 7.7 percentage-point advantage.

The redistricting map enacted in September — with minor alterations approved last week — was drawn out of public view in a Downtown hotel room that Republicans called the “bunker” and paid for with $10,000 of your money. Two GOP legislative veterans, Ray DiRossi and Heather Mann, concocted the contorted maps, each earning $105,000 in about three months — also your money.

The shots were being called by Tom Whatman, a top political aide to U.S. House Speaker John Boehner of West Chester, whose aim is to gerrymander a national map to improve GOP chances of becoming a permanent House majority. Accommodations to maximize fundraising were made to include the Timken Co. in Rep. Jim Renacci’s Canton-area district (he’s already received $210,000 from company officials) and to include Downtown Columbus in Rep. Steve Stivers’ 15 {+t}{+h} district.

Clark County was removed from the 15 {+t}{+h} because it might make it slightly more competitive than the current 13-point GOP advantage. A last-minute change was made to split Mercer County into three congressional districts so state Sen. Keith Faber’s home could be moved into the 4 {+t}{+h} District in case he might want that seat.

“This is not a map that is about the voters of Ohio,” said Catherine Turcer of Citizen Action.

Redistricting never will be about the voters unless they take the process away from the politicians. That would be a perfect Christmas gift.

Joe Hallett is senior editor at The Dispatch.

jhallett@dispatch.com

Another one of those Christmas cards featuring Santa

2011-12-18T11:05:00.001-05:00

From John Curry, December 18, 2011

Matt Huffman is still having problems with the truth!

2011-12-17T21:52:00.007-05:00

From John Curry, December 17, 2011

http://www.plunderbund.com/2011/12/17/school-voucher-bill-appears-dead-for-now/

School voucher bill appears dead...for now

By Greg On December 17, 2011 ·

In a press conference this week, State Rep. Matt Huffman suggested dramatic alterations to the components of his school voucher proposal, House Bill 136. The changes are so significant, in fact, that he even stated that he believes that the bill will should be re-introduced as new legislation instead of trying to revamp HB136 after it has already passed the House Education Committee. At the Monday press conference, Huffman stated:

These are significant changes to this program. I don’t think that it’s appropriate to simply try to do this as a floor amendment to the bill. I’m working with a couple folks on the other side of the aisle towards essentially restarting this process. So we may do this as a separate bill and that’s probably the most appropriate way to do it.

Essentially, Huffman got his ass handed to him by the 300+ public school districts that have adopted resolutions in opposition to his bill and has been forced to rapidly back off from pushing this legislation any further. While many might rejoice at this apparent victory, we find ourselves cautious of the future legislation and bitterly disappointed that even in his revisions Huffman continues peddling misdirection and blatant factual errors.

Huffman offered five key changes:

Voucher would be limited to the amount of state aid per pupil spending by a district.
Local district keeps all excess funds.
Number of vouchers limited to 1% of district enrollment.
Voucher eligibility tied to Medicaid S-CHIP eligibility.
Elimination of Educational Savings Account provision.

Huffman Can’t Be Believed

The first change that limits the amount of state aid to per pupil spending by a district is the first foundational error in Huffman’s proposition. In HB136, the funding amount was inflated but was definitively calculated on a district’s per pupil funding by the state, not spending. Since a calculation of ”state aid per pupil spending by a district” doesn’t exist, we figure this was a mistake, albeit an important flub for the sponsor of this bill and member of the House Education Committee. HOWEVER…. Huffman explains that the problem with the voucher deduction amount being greater than the voucher in HB136 can be blamed on a change that occurred after House Bill 153 (state budget) was enacted. Huffman stated that the change in the school funding formula altered the interpretation of the voucher funding formula. We were almost ready to take him at his word if not for legislative documents that suggest otherwise. The funding component that Huffman is referring to first appeared in a Fiscal Note released by the Legislative Service Commission on June 10, 2011 (excerpt below).
[Click images to enlarge]

....................................................................

This information conflicts with Huffman’s blaming of HB153 (that he voted for) since the budget wasn’t finalized until after weeks after this date as shown:

...................................................................

Mistake or spin? Huffman’s second deceptive offering is his use of the 1% of enrollment number as a means to placate districts worried a disproportionate decline in enrollment. Huffman does not elaborate on this figure during his presentation to explain whether it is calculated annually to accommodate the phase-in of existing private school students. The inclusion of these students in a district’s student membership will artificially inflate the total enrollment and increase the number of vouchers available to students in that district. And finally, Huffman’s biggest miscue came when he discussed the change to the income cap as it relates to voucher eligibility. In his recommended changes, Huffman spoke about linking voucher eligibility to a student’s Medicaid S-CHIP eligibility, a federally-connected program that is already in place statewide, thus streamlining the collection of data. According to Huffman, who overheard a reporter mention it at the press conference, SCHIP eligibility is 300% of the federal poverty level, or $67,050 a year. Reports from around the state confirmed Huffman’s dispersal of this information:

Under Huffman’s latest proposal, vouchers would be available to families with household incomes up to 300 percent of the federal poverty level, or $67,050 a year for a family of four. (Marietta Times)

Rep. Huffman also mentioned several other changes that would be improvements over his original bill. The eligibility family income threshold would be reduced from $95,000 per year to about $67,000 a year for a family of four, or 300% of the poverty level. (Innovation Ohio)

Under the proposal Huffman outlined yesterday, vouchers would be available to families in any school district with household incomes up to 300?percent of the federal poverty level — $67,050 a year for a family of four. (Columbus Dispatch)

Applicants also would have to meet income eligibility requirements — about 300 percent of federal poverty guidelines, or about $66,000 for a family of four. (Dix Capital Bureau)

The message of this proposed change in eligibility has certainly been consistent, but it is also inaccurate.

In Ohio, the Department of Job and Family Services administers the SCHIP program and they report that eligibility is based on a family income up to 200% of the federal poverty limit:

.....................................................................

We are [not] shocked – a Republican making up his own version of the facts about his legislation.

Seriously, is it unreasonable to ask that our legislators have a minimum of say, 50% of their facts correct before holding a press conference? Regardless of the purported improvements to the voucher program, how can anyone believe the spoken words of Huffman, the Majority Floor Leader, when he spews such distorted details?

Evangelize!

Who will be the "new" ORSC replacement for Aristotle Hutras?

2011-12-17T16:15:00.005-05:00

From John Curry, December 17, 2011

I know there is one applicant that I certainly wouldn't want to see lead this body....see if you can spot "her!"*

John

• Christopher Angles, who worked 13 years at the Ohio Police & Fire Pension Fund until September, most recently as a manager of the health-care trust.

• Bethany Rhodes, deputy legal counsel for Ohio House Republicans. She previously was senior legislative aide to Rep. Lynn Wachtmann, R-Napoleon, who sits on the commission.

• William Twitty, a health-care manager who spent 15 years at the Ohio Police & Fire Pension Fund. He has been a substitute math teacher for Columbus Public Schools since September 2010.

http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2011/12/15/pension-panel-appoints-interim-director.html

* That's right, Bethany......formerly a senior legislative aide to Rep. Lynn Wachtmann R - Napoleon. If you will remember, Wachtmann was the politician who said that all public servants should have their pensions figured on a FAS (final average salary) that was calculated by "averaging" all of their annual salaries, not the best 3! Now do you see why I am not happy?

John

Pension panel appoints interim director

Search for permanent leader widens
The Columbus Dispatch, December 15, 2011

This Ohio’s pension oversight body will have an interim director while lawmakers conduct a nationwide search for a permanent leader.

Anne Erkman, staff attorney for the Ohio Retirement Study Council, will temporarily head the council after longtime director Aristotle Hutras retires at the end of this month.

Erkman was appointed in a unanimous vote yesterday by the commission. She does not intend to apply for the permanent job.

The board also has extended the deadline to apply for the position until Jan. 13 and has decided to advertise in national retirement publications and on more websites. The goal is to make a hire in February.

Three people have applied so far to replace Hutras:

• Christopher Angles, who worked 13 years at the Ohio Police & Fire Pension Fund until September, most recently as a manager of the health-care trust.

• Bethany Rhodes, deputy legal counsel for Ohio House Republicans. She previously was senior legislative aide to Rep. Lynn Wachtmann, R-Napoleon, who sits on the commission.

• William Twitty, a health-care manager who spent 15 years at the Ohio Police & Fire Pension Fund. He has been a substitute math teacher for Columbus Public Schools since September 2010.

One of the new director’s primary responsibilities will be helping the Ohio legislature develop public-pension policy and legislation, according to the job description posted on the commission’s website.

Two years ago, in order to get on steadier fiscal ground, Ohio’s five pension plans proposed higher retirement ages, lower cost-of-living adjustments and bigger deductions from employee salaries.

But before moving forward, the commission chose an outside consultant last month to give independent advice on pension reforms.

The five retirement systems, with $163 billion in assets, cover more than 1.5 million public workers, retirees and their beneficiaries.

deggert@dispatch.com

RHJones on: ORTA is on Facebook

2011-12-15T14:36:00.003-05:00

From RH Jones, December 14, 2011
To all:

Please read the message from the ORTA webmaster below.

In my opinion, my ORTA has finally become perceptive to the wishes of the reasonably minded ORTA members who have been contacting ORTA officials to get moving forward on the blizzard of negative legislation coming out of the Statehouse since Gov. Kasich's like-minded politicians gained control last November. Personally, this member applauds ORTA's new assertiveness and hopes that the membership roles will now grow in leaps and bounds in the coming new year 2012.

Please disperse the word among all your retired/active teachers so that they are fully informed of the new ORTA policy. It is a breath of fresh air at this festive time of year.

Note: credit for saving ORTA should be given to the ORTA members who have been active in the CORE movement, and especially ORTA President Bob Dengler who recently did his duty during a time of his wife's illness. If ORTA will now go about it's business as intended in it's constitution, we CORE members can disband with peace of mind; but, nevertheless, with vigilance forever. Tolerance of incompetence within our ORTA is never an option.

RHJones, Life Member ORTA

From RH Jones, December 14, 2011

Subject: ORTA is on Facebook

An update from the ORTA webmaster:

We invite you to visit the Facebook page of ORTA as well as the ORTA website at www.orta.org. Just go to the website and click on the Facebook logo to view our attempt to connect you with articles that apply to the Ohio retired teacher. You may also click here to visit the Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Ohio-Retired-Teachers-Association/233057373417288#!/pages/Ohio-Retired-Teachers-Association/233057373417288?sk=wall

Happy Holidays!

5 years plays tricks on peoples' memories, doesn't it?

2011-12-14T20:34:00.000-05:00

From John Curry, December 14, 2011

Today, the Franklin County Retired Teachers Association (FCRTA) had a meeting at which an honorary membership was bestowed upon former STRS spokesperson Laura Ecklar!

And then.....the new officers of the FCRTA were announced with Joe Endry being announced as the FCRTA new Vice President. Let's turn the clock back just 5 years to see just how much still out of tune the FCRTA really is..........

John

Cleveland Plain Dealer: 4 more convicted in pension case

Ex-board members took gifts from firm

Cleveland Plain Dealer
Wednesday, September 20, 2006
Reginald Fields
Plain Dealer Bureau

Columbus -- Four more former members of the state teachers retirement board, including the past president of the state's largest teachers union, have been convicted of taking gifts from an investment firm doing business with the $65 billion pension system.

That makes six former State Teachers Retirement System board members and its past executive director who have been convicted of ethics violations for, in part, accepting Broadway play tickets in 2003 while the group was in New York City on official business.

Michael Billirakis, former president of the Ohio Education Association, Joseph Endry, Eugene Norris and Deborah Scott agreed to plea deals that spared them jail time.

The four each pleaded no contest in Franklin County Municipal Court Tuesday to one count of conflict of interest in return for prosecutors dropping related charges for taking other gifts and falsifying financial disclosure statements required by the state.

Billirakis, Norris and Scott were given $250 fines, suspended jail sentences, one year probation, 60 hours of community service and ordered to pay $275 in restitution to the board. Endry's deal is similar, but contains 30 hours of community service and no restitution, because he later repaid the Frank Russell Investment Group for his tickets.

"I think it is clearly overkill," said attorney H. Ritchey Hollenbaugh, who represented Endry and Scott. "The system is unfair to people that make an innocent mistake.

"It's very clear they were given tickets as they entered the theater, and it wasn't until much later that they became aware that the tickets weren't paid for by the state teachers retirement system, but had been provided by a vendor," Hollenbaugh argued.

Columbus assistant prosecutor Lara Baker disagreed.

"There was an itinerary provided to each of the individual board members that specifically stated that Frank Russell was hosting," Baker said of the tickets to the musical "Hairspray."

David Freel, executive director of the Ohio Ethics Commission, which investigated the case and recommended criminal charges, said the board members had come to expect royal treatment, but as volunteers for a state board they should have known better.

"It is particularly suspect when you think that this is a retirement system of public money," Freel said. "Why would these members have ever thought public retirement system money could pay for their personal entertainment?"

Former board member Hazel Sidaway took her case to trial in April and lost. She was convicted of accepting the musical tickets and for taking tickets to a Cleveland Indians game in 2001 from another investment firm.

Former member Jack Chapman pleaded guilty to three misdemeanor charges in June for taking sports and theater tickets.

And former executive director Herb Dyer pleaded no contest last September to failing to report gifts he received and was fined. Dyer was forced out in 2003 following revelations of extravagant spending by the teachers retirement system.

To reach this Plain Dealer reporter: rfields@plaind.com, 1-800-228-8272

An Ohio Statehouse Christmas Poem

2011-12-13T22:48:00.000-05:00

.....................................................
'Twas the Night before Christmas Statehouse Poem

By John Curry

'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the Statehouse
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that a Tea Party soon would be there.

Republican legislators were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of lobbyists danced in their heads.
And mamma in her kerchief, and I in my cap,
Had just settled our brains for a long winter’s nap.

When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters to survey the crash.

The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow
Gave the lustre of mid-day to characters below.
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a carbon-covered dolt, and eight tiny reindeer.

With a little old driver, so cunning and quick,
I knew in a moment it must be Kasich.
More sneaky than weasels his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name!

"Now Niehaus! now, Hite! now, Jones and Wachtmann!
On, Batchelder! On, Faber! on, on Martin and Huffman!
To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!
Now lie away! Lie away! Lie away all!"

As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,
When they meet with the truth, they’d fabricate a lie.
So up to the Housetop the coursers they flew,
With the sleigh full of BS, and Governor Kasich too.

And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof
The posturing and uttering of each little goof.
As I drew in my head, and was turning around,
Down the chimney Governor Kasich came with a bound.

He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,
And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot.
A bundle of Promises he had flung on his back,
And he looked like a peddler, just opening his pack.

His eyes-how they twinkled! his dimples how merry!
His words all rang hollow, his words all rang scary!
The thoughts in his brain were still quite alive,
He was still on a mission to reincarnate SB 5.

The frown on his face was an obvious observance,
Of the contempt he still held for Ohio’s public servants.
He had a broad face and a little round belly,
That shook when he laughed, like a bowlful of jelly!
He was cunning and shy, a despicable elf,
And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself!
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,
Soon gave me to know I had everything to dread.

He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
He left threats for instructions, just like a jerk.
And laying his finger aside of his nose,
And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose!

He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.
But I heard him exclaim, ‘ere he drove out of sight,
"Happy Christmas to all you idiots, and to all a good-night!"

.....................................................................

2011 Cane and Coal Awards Announced

2011-12-13T22:45:00.000-05:00

From John Curry, December 12, 2011

[See criteria for nominations in post below this one. Items below were submitted by readers.]

2011 Cane and Coal Awards

Cane to all the Ohio policemen (and women) and firemen (and women) who really put some "zing" in a movement to repeal a 200+ page bill (SB 5/Issue 2) that was far more than just a "corrective measure."

Coal to Senator Shannon Jones (R) for being the sole sponsor (but certainly not the author) of Senate Bill 5.

Coal to ORTA for not caring about retirees.

Coal to Americans for Prosperity President Tim Phillips (aka Teabagger Tim), the Koch brothers close friend, for coming to Ohio from his home in Virginia to pass out pro SB 5 T-shirts on the steps of the Ohio Statehouse.

Coal to Keith Faber (R) for being the "mouthpiece" for Issue 2.

Coal to Matt Huffman (R) for introducing HB 136 (the vouchers bill)

The entire coal yard to Gov. Kasich for the hostile environment that he has created in Ohio.

Cane: John Curry and Kathie Bracy for unprecedented service to retirees.

Cane to Kalida Local Schools Superintendent Horstman for exposing the inequities of Rep. Matt Huffman’s House Bill 136 and Representative Wachtmann’s attempts to sell it!

Coal to former Representative Bob Mecklenborg [R] who discovered that Viagra, strippers, booze and Lawrenceburg, IN just don’t mix well together. Bob also supported SB 5…now he and SB 5 are both history.

Coal to Senate Majority Whip Shannon Jones [R] (sole author of SB 5) whose anti public servant bill was destroyed at the polls and whose husband couldn’t even win a township trustee race in Warren County this election cycle.

Coal to the Ohio chapter of the Chamber of Commerce for backing the Shannon Jones’ SB 5.

Coal to Republican Representative Lynn Wachtmann who said that Ohio public servants should have their Final Average Salaries (FAS) figured by averaging ALL of their service years instead of the best 3.

Cane to Columbus City Schools educator (and Plunderbund article contributor) Greg Mild who has repeatedly exposed John Kasich’s desire to punish public schools and reward charter schools in this state.

Coal to Ohio School Board President Debe Terhar for being a Teabagger and close friend of Governor Kasich.

Cane to CORE’s Kathie Bracy for tending to her excellent education blog that has the courage (unlike the “other” retired teacher organization that begins with an “O” and ends with an “A”) to put controversial education issues before the public and take a stand on them.

Coal to former STRS Board Member and former friend of CORE, John Lazares, who said that STRS’s offering healthcare (in 1974) to STRS retirees was a “mistake.”

Coal to some non-progressive county ORTA chapters who refuse to educate their constituents as to what is happening with SB 5 and how SB 5 will have a detrimental effect on STRS funding.

Cane to those progressive county ORTA chapters who, in fact, did inform their constituents as to the negative effects of SB 5 upon STRS funding.

Coal to Governor Kasich for giving Bob Evans $8 million of Ohio taxpayers' moneys to move their headquarters from Columbus, Ohio to New Albany, Ohio….a move of less than 10 miles!

Coal to Governor Kasich who wants to give Sears $400 million of Ohio taxpayers’ moneys to move from Illinois to Ohio.

Coal to Wisconsin Governor Walker for attempting to destroy collective bargaining for Wisconsin’s public servants.

Cane to Dave Parshall, President of Core, Mary Ellen Angeletti and the entire CORE Board as they have continued to fight for retirees when others have not stepped forward.

Coal to Representative Matt Huffman for putting lipstick on his pig (the voucher bill) and for trying to resell it to the public since it failed the first time ‘round.

My nomination for CANDY CANES is Kathie Bracy and John Curry!

Coal to BASA for catering to the Teabaggers

Cane to Kalida Local Schools Superintendent Don Horstman and Findlay Schools Treasurer Mike Barnhart for standing up and speaking out against Rep. Matt Huffman’s “Catholic Schools Stimulus Bill” (aka the vouchers bill).

[Thanks to those who sent our names in. Hey, this is what we do.

: ) Kathie & John]

STRS Asset Value as of November 30, 2011

2011-12-12T00:21:00.000-05:00

From Mario Iacone, December 11, 2011
(Click image to enlarge.)

................................................................................

Kasich's gift of ineptitude shines in school rankings (Part 5)

2011-12-11T23:46:00.005-05:00

From John Curry, December 11, 2011

What we have here is typically called an “unfunded mandate.”

http://www.plunderbund.com/2011/12/11/kasichs-gift-of-ineptitude-shines-in-school-rankings-part-5/

Kasich's gift of ineptitude shines in school rankings (Part 5)
[Click images to enlarge.]

Word association!

You say: John Kasich

We say: Gifted!

That’s probably the last thing you thought we would say, right? Alas, Kasich and his Ohio Legislative Syndicate have dabbled in the realm of gifted education, if only in name. Much like everything else Kasich doesn’t understand (pretty much everything) he has mucked up this item, too. This is our 5th post in a series in which we are dissecting the new school ranking system imposed by the Ohio GOP as a part of this year’s budget bill. You can find our first four entries at the following links:

We have reached the 6th and final ranking criteria identified by the Kasich Education Cartel, the one they obviously know the least about — gifted education.

Again, the six criteria that were adopted in the final bill as follows [bold added for emphasis]:

Performance index score;
Student performance growth … using the value-added progress dimension;
Performance measures required for career-technical education;
Current operating expenditures per pupil;
Of total current operating expenditures, percentage spent for classroom instruction;
Performance of, and opportunities provided to, students identified as gifted using value-added progress dimensions, if applicable, and other relevant measures as designated by the superintendent of public instruction.

The department shall rank each district, community school, and STEM school annually in accordance with the system developed under this section.

#6 - Performance of students identified as gifted using value-added. First, let us be clear that we fully support gifted education opportunities for children and we believe that schools should provide gifted services to identified students. The Ohio Department of Education has a website dedicated solely to Learners With Special Needs and Talents, specified as “exceptional children – children with disabilities, gifted children and limited English proficient (LEP) children.”

To be 100% clear, we support gifted education and the funding of gifted education programs, just like the Governor. Governor Strickland, that is.

You have to understand, the inclusion of this ranking criterion is no more than a smokescreen deployed by Ohio’s GOP to make you think they give a damn about the Ohio’s highest achieving students. In reality, they don’t care about the education these students who will easily pass the state tests. They don’t care about extending their learning opportunities by categorizing specific state funds for districts to implement programs for all special needs children. In May, we posted about some of this in Kasich Cuts Funding for “Best and Brightest” in Ohio.

Before we share the evidence of Kasich’s duplicity, however, let’s dismiss the measure’s misleading hook of using data, specifically value-added data, as an to attempt to pacify parents and advocacy groups of gifted children (who have been fighting the battle for gifted education longer that he has).

Ranking criteria do not include specific performance measures for other exceptional children — LEP or with disabilities
Value-added scores were already used (questionably) in the 2nd criterion, resulting in a district being measured twice on the same data (3 times when we count use of same assessments in #1)
Value-added measures do not exist for a majority of students, and rushing them into implementation will negate any legitimate measures (see Part 2)
Sample size of gifted students in many schools is too small to provide statistically reliable data
Only 544 of the 1001 districts would have relevant achievement data to produce value-added scores for students identified as gifted

Maybe it’s a small victory that advocacy groups were able to get gifted education recognized as one of only 6 criteria for ranking districts. But as a measure that can be implemented equitably, it’s a farce. And that leads us to the funding. After all, we must remember that this wassupposed to be a budget bill. And as John Kasich stated in his budget Reform Book about education, Budgets are about more than money. Budgets express an administration‘s priorities.

First, we’ll take a look at the 2010-2011 budget of Ted Strickland. In order for us to know what was in place before the current administration, we must know what the prior administrations priorities were around gifted education.

Straight out of Strickland’s budget

Note that the 2010-2011 budget was increasing district funding for Gifted Education substantially. Elsewhere in Strickland’s budget book it explains:

John Kasich’s Republican-driven budget, the very same budget that will rank districts based on the performance of gifted students, opted for a different approach to funding gifted education — cut it.

Note that the descriptive paragraph about the program is copied directly from Strickland’s budget, except for the last three sentences where Kasich clearly states: The spending requirements for gifted education are eliminated. Not exactly what we would term ambiguous. What we have here is typically called an “unfunded mandate.” This isn’t the only time Kasich’s budget bill assaults gifted education.

Other changes to Ohio Revised Code included:

Eliminated option for a community school to apply for funding for a gifted unit (but retained option for special needs preschool funding)
3317.018 (D)(5) …. no units for gifted funding are authorized for after fiscal years 2010 and 2011 year 2009. [strikethrough indicates language cut; underline indicates language added]
Cut 3317.024 (L) that appropriated money to school districts for gifted units.
Adopted a new provision, Sec. 3324.08, that says that any person employed by a school district, such as a principal or any other position may serve as the district’s gifted education coordinator, if qualified to do so pursuant to the rules adopted by the state board of education under this chapter (no rules exist in the chapter identifying qualifications – seems like a low bar)

And finally, despite the elimination of specific spending requirements, the Ohio Department of Education is charged with requiring each school district to report data annually so that the Department may monitor and enforce the district’s compliance with their spending of gifted education funding. And as we’ve discussed already, ODE has SOOO much extra time on their hands as it is.

In our final post in this series, we will publish our projection of the state rankings utilizing these measures (when applicable, of course) and demonstrate why trying to implement such a rudimentary ranking system is ill-conceived at best and more likely to end up in litigation.

Evangelize!

The treasurer of the Findlay City Schools speaks out about Representative Matt Huffman's revisions to his voucher bill

2011-12-11T23:32:00.003-05:00

From John Curry, December 11, 2011

"...this is nothing but a Catholic Schools Stimulus Bill"

Mike Barnhart · Treasurer at Findlay City Schools

I'll wait and see what Rep Huffman's final amendments look like. I'm not optimistic. The whole premise of the bill is still wrong. The fact that he's waiting to release proposed changes until this week concerns me. I'm fearful that he will permit this to turn into a "kitchen sink" piece of legislation where he will permit various pet projects from his colleagues to be added so he can win over enough votes. The timing is a concern too. He knows this is not a popular bill and those in his home district are doing a great job of holding him accountable on this bill. I'm worried it will not get the attention needed if all these changes become public over the Christmas holidays or if he tries to rush this through without proper public input on the amendments.
Whether Mr. Huffman is willing to acknowledge it or not, this is nothing but a Catholic Schools Stimulus Bill. Halloween has long since passed, and it is time to stop disguising this as school choice. I say this as a proud product of St. Gerard and LCC and I am still a practicing Catholic and member of St. Michael parish in Findlay. The simple truth is that Mr. Huffman resides in an area where the elementary Catholic school system is struggling for enrollment even with the ability to receive revenue from those coming in from the Lima voucher program. ODE reports show Lima's St. Charles, St. Gerard, and St. Rose have K-8 enrollments of 413, 153, and 109 respectively while LCC is at 331 for 9-12. Apparently Lima City voucher children are not enough and he wants to use this bill as a method to funnel money into LCC and its feeder schools from Shawnee, Elida, Bath, and Perry residents. By the way, Lima's Catholic school system is already slated to receive over $681,000 this year in state funds, or $677.36 per pupil in state funding. This is on top of the public school system's financial obligation to provide transportation for many of its residents to the Catholic schools.
I suggest that one of Mr. Huffman's constituents contact his office and make a public records request for all incoming and outgoing correspondence (including emails) from and to representatives of the Toledo and other dioceses of Ohio (e.g. bishops, priests, principals, etc.) as well as any correspondence he may have sent or received from LCC, St. Gerard, St. Charles, and St. Rose in the past year. Don't let this slide under the radar.

Huffman revises school voucher bill

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

December 9, 2011
COLUMBUS — The sponsor of legislation to expand private-school vouchers in Ohio says the plan will change to address concerns from public schools and their allies.

School district officials opposing the measure say it wrongly steers money away from public schools and away from public accountability.

Republican state Rep. Matt Huffman of Lima tells The Columbus Dispatch (http://bit.ly/uksbqa) he's willing to drop or redraw parts of his bill. He's planning a news conference next week on a new plan.
Huffman has said his goals are to meet the needs of students, give parents more options and make the system fairer.

His current bill would provide private-school tuition vouchers for low- and middle-class parents regardless of school performance. Right now, the scholarships are available for students at schools that do poorly.

Superintendent Stan, the Teabagger man, and next week at BASA...

2011-12-11T23:12:00.003-05:00

From John Curry, December 10, 2011

http://www.plunderbund.com/2011/12/10/caretaker-of-ohio-schools-to-headline-exclusive-tea-party-groupthink/

Caretaker of Ohio schools to headline exclusive Tea Party groupthink

By Greg On December 10, 2011
[Click images to enlarge.]

State superintendent Stan Heffner is really making the rounds lately. On November 14, Heffner presented to the Ohio School Board Association with a PowerPoint titled Renewing Ohio’s Place in the World. The third slide in to his presentation was remarkably Kasich-ian in appearance, while the fourth slide had a strange sense of irony about Kasich’s efforts.

Slide #3

Heffner’s talking point: “Since 2000, Ohio has lost over half a million jobs. Students today are depending on our teachers, principals, and school leaders to prepare them for the jobs of tomorrow. Good enough is no longer good enough.”

Slide #4

Heffner’s talking point: “These jobs will not come back. The jobs our students will get will be the ones they create. For Ohio students to be competitive, they need to have a strong knowledge and skill base.”

The only place we have seen job loss statistics like this are in John Kasich-funded commercials. And the fourth slide is like some ultra-depressing reality-check and/or admission of some unspoken truth about our future.

Then last week, Heffner was the Opening Keynote Speaker for the Ohio Alliance of Public Charter Schools’ annual conference. By all accounts, his inspiring speech was little more than a series of ultra-critical talking points delivered to an audience with blinders on during which the superintendent heavily criticized the less-than-accountable public-fund-draining institutions of lower-learning. At the end, however, he fully endorsed all of their work

And next week, clear your schedule! The Buckeye Association of School Administrators (BASA) is hosting “The Mohican Institute – A Think Tank for Superintendents.” The stated mission of BASA is to inspire and support its members, develop exemplary school system leaders and advocate for public education. So in order to fulfill that mission, BASA is running out a lineup of Tea Party and Charter School speakers to this exclusive event limited to the first 50 registrants.

Tom Zawistowksi, President – Ohio Liberty Council
Stan Heffner
Bill Sims, President and Chief Executive Officer – Ohio Alliance for Public Charter Schools
Terry Ryan, Vice President for Ohio Programs and Policy – Thomas B. Fordham Institute (Formidable charter school proponents)

As you can see from the BASA agenda, the discussion will be Tea, Tea, and more Tea, with bottomless glasses of Charter School Flavor Aid

And our state superintendent will be right in the middle of it all, promoting his own Tea Party agenda.

We’re not done with Stan just yet, friends. The man’s jaw-dropping hypocrisy goes back much further than this.

#fail

What read education reform looks like...

2011-12-11T23:09:00.002-05:00

From John Curry, December 10, 2011

As the revelations of 2011 prove, students aren't helped by billionaire-executives-turned-education-dilettantes who leverage their riches to force their faith-based theories into schools. Likewise, they aren't aided by millionaire pundits sententiously claiming that we just “need better parents.” And kids most certainly don't benefit from politicians pretending that incessant union-busting, teacher-bashing and standardized testing represent successful school “reforms.”
Instead, America's youths need the painfully obvious: a national commitment to combating poverty and more funds spent on schools in the poorest areas than on schools in the richest areas — not the other way around.

http://www.tahoedailytribune.com/article/20111209/NEWS/111209851

David Sirota: What real education reform looks like

December, 9 2011

As 2011 draws to a close, we can confidently declare that one of the biggest debates over education is — mercifully — resolved. We may not have addressed all the huge challenges facing our schools, but we finally have empirical data ruling out apocryphal theories and exposing the fundamental problems.
We've learned, for instance, that our entire education system is not “in crisis,” as so many executives in the for-profit education industry insist when pushing to privatize public schools. On the contrary, results from Program for International Student Assessment exams show that American students in low-poverty schools are among the highest-achieving students in the world.
We've also learned that no matter how much self-styled education “reformers” claim otherwise, the always-demonized teachers' unions are not holding our education system back. As The New York Times recently noted: “If unions are the primary cause of bad schools, why isn't labor's pernicious effect” felt in the very unionized schools that so consistently graduate top students?
Now, at year's end, we've learned from two studies just how powerful economics are in education outcomes — and how disadvantaged kids are being unduly punished by government policy.
The first report, from Stanford University, showed that with a rising “income achievement gap,” a family's economic situation is a bigger determinative force in a child's academic performance than any other major demographic factor. For poor kids, that means the intensifying hardships of poverty are now creating massive obstacles to academic progress.
Because of this reality, schools in destitute areas naturally require more resources than those in rich ones so as to help impoverished kids overcome comparatively steep odds. Yet, according to the second report from the U.S. Department of Education, “many high-poverty schools receive less than their fair share of state and local funding.” As if purposely embodying the old adage about adding insult to injury, the financing scheme “leav(es) students in high-poverty schools with fewer resources than schools attended by their wealthier peers.” In practice, that equals less funding to recruit teachers, upgrade classrooms, reduce class sizes and sustain all the other basics of a good education.
Put all this together and behold the crux of America's education problems in bumper-sticker terms: It's poverty and punitive funding formulas, stupid.
Thus, we arrive at the factor that decides so many things in American society: money.
As the revelations of 2011 prove, students aren't helped by billionaire-executives-turned-education-dilettantes who leverage their riches to force their faith-based theories into schools. Likewise, they aren't aided by millionaire pundits sententiously claiming that we just “need better parents.” And kids most certainly don't benefit from politicians pretending that incessant union-busting, teacher-bashing and standardized testing represent successful school “reforms.”
Instead, America's youths need the painfully obvious: a national commitment to combating poverty and more funds spent on schools in the poorest areas than on schools in the richest areas — not the other way around.
Within education, achieving those objectives requires efforts to stop financing schools via property tax systems (i.e., systems that by design direct more resources to wealthy areas). It also requires initiatives that better target public education appropriations at schools in low-income neighborhoods — and changing those existing funding formulas that actively exacerbate inequality.
Policy-wise, it's a straightforward proposition. The only thing complex is making it happen. Doing that asks us to change resource-hoarding attitudes that encourage us to care only about our own schools, everyone else's be damned.
In America's greed-is-good culture, achieving such a shift in mass psychology is about the toughest task imaginable — but it's the real education reform that's most needed.

Report on STRS December Board meeting

2011-12-09T18:07:00.002-05:00

From STRS, December 9, 2011

Dec. 9, 2011

December Board News

Callan Associates Presents Preliminary Results of Asset-Liability Study; Retirement Board Requests Actuarial Experience Review
At the December meeting of the State Teachers Retirement Board, the board's investment consultant, Callan Associates, shared its preliminary findings from the asset-liability study that began in August. Asset-liability studies take into account an investor's risk tolerance, investment goals and cash flow needs paired with capital market expectations to determine the optimal portfolio allocation into broad asset classes.
As reported in last month's Board News, Callan concluded that STRS Ohio's current investment policy target would be challenged to achieve an 8% return during the next five to 10 years; however, based on historical data, Callan said STRS Ohio could expect to generate an 8% to 8.5% return over a 30-year horizon. Callan created a liability model for the system and ran simulations of various asset allocation mixes to project expected return rates and how that growth meets the expected growth in the system's liabilities. The preliminary results of the study confirm that without the benefit changes that STRS Ohio is currently seeking through S.B. 3 and H.B. 69, the system will eventually be unable to pay benefits. Unless the proposed plan changes are fully implemented soon, Callan recommends reducing the risk in the investment portfolio to meet liquidity needs to pay benefits.
The asset-liability study and annual actuarial valuation (received last month) are two important tools for the Retirement Board to assess the financial health of the pension fund. During the December meeting, the board voted to request one additional study — an actuarial experience review. This study assesses all of the pension fund's actuarial assumptions to determine if any adjustments are necessary. Data presented by the board's actuarial consultant in November indicated that assumptions used for payroll growth and individual teacher salary growth are higher than what has been experienced during the past several years.
An experience review is typically conducted every five years — STRS Ohio's last review was in fiscal year 2008. Even though it has been only three years, the board voted to carry out a comprehensive experience review in early 2012 so that it could have up-to-date analysis as it continues discussion of STRS Ohio's financial condition. The board plans to resume that dialogue at its January meeting and also during the Board Retreat later that month.
2011 Annual Financial Statement Audit Completed
Clifton Gunderson reported the results of its audit of the STRS Ohio financial statements for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2011, at the December Retirement Board meeting. The report noted that the system's financial statements were fairly stated in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles; further, no material weaknesses in internal controls or instances of statutory noncompliance were found. As a result, STRS Ohio received a "clean" audit known as an unqualified opinion, which is the highest level of opinion that an organization can receive.
STRS Ohio's financial statements are included in the 2011 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, which will be posted on the STRS Ohio website by Dec. 30, 2011. Copies of the report can also be requested by calling STRS Ohio's Member Services Center toll-free at 1-888-227-7877. In addition to the financial statements noted above, the report includes investment, actuarial and statistical information about STRS Ohio.
Board Approves Three Goals for 2012–2025 Health Care Strategic Plan
The Retirement Board continued its deliberation on strategic health care planning and approved three goals to improve the sustainability of STRS Ohio's Health Care Program. The vote followed presentations by the Member Benefits Health Care Department in November and December. Staff recognized that the current health care program is only expected to remain solvent until 2024, and there is little likelihood for additional funding.
The three goals adopted at the December meeting resolve to:
...• Establish Medicare as the health care program's cornerstone
...• Achieve 30 years of solvency by 2016
...• Extend forecasted solvency to 65 or more years by 2025
The board directed staff to begin drafting a strategic plan document and to explore potential actions to achieve the newly adopted goals. While laying the groundwork for the long term, the strategic plan will include specific initiatives for 2012–2015. Some of the ideas discussed are designed to better align the non-Medicare program with the marketplace. These ideas included consolidating the Plus and Basic plans into a single plan and phasing in higher annual deductibles and out-of-pocket limits in order to lower monthly premiums. Plan details will be presented and voted on at future board meetings.
Retirement Board Salutes Retiring ORSC Director
Board chair Jim McGreevy presented Aristotle Hutras with a resolution honoring Hutras' 22 years of service as Ohio Retirement Study Council director. Hutras is retiring at the end of December. The resolution recognized Hutras for providing "guidance, direction and counsel to STRS Ohio in both good and challenging times." Hutras, who noted that he graduated with an education degree "before the Statehouse bug bit me," thanked the board and staff for working closely with him over the past two decades.
Retirements Approved
The Retirement Board approved 100 active members and 64 inactive members for service retirement benefits.
Other STRS Ohio News
STRS Ohio Receives $43 Million from Early Retiree Reinsurance Program (ERRP)
On Dec. 8, STRS Ohio received ERRP payments of $20.4 million for calendar year 2010 and $22.6 million for calendar year 2011 requests. In addition, staff received approval on the claim files for the regional fully insured plans — Kaiser, AultCare and Paramount for 2010 and 2011; the amounts are $1.1 million and $1.6 million respectively. Staff expects the regional fully insured requests will be added to the pending list of outstanding reimbursement requests. To date, STRS Ohio has received a total of $72.7 million from the ERRP project and is awaiting payment for an additional $3.3 million for the regional fully insured plans AultCare and Paramount. Last month, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced that, as of Oct. 27, they have paid out $4.1 billion of the total $5 billion available for ERRP payments.
Update on contract negotiations between Express Scripts, Walgreens
Walgreens and Express Scripts have not come to terms to continue Walgreens' participation in Express Scripts' pharmacy network in 2012. Overall, departure from the Express Scripts' network will likely lead to reduced program costs for STRS Ohio and enrollees. On Nov. 22, Express Scripts began mailing letters to Medicare and non-Medicare enrollees who fill prescriptions at Walgreens. The letter provides information regarding local alternative network pharmacies and instructions should enrollees decide to transfer their prescriptions. On average, there are one or more network pharmacies within one-half mile of a Walgreens' pharmacy. Medicare enrollees who do not use Walgreens will receive an informational letter per Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services guidelines. All letters include a reminder that mail service is available for maintenance medications and how to locate in-network retail pharmacies via Express Scripts' toll-free phone number or by visiting Express Scripts' website. Non-Medicare enrollees who do not have active prescriptions at Walgreens will not receive a letter.
Retirement Board Election Process is Under Way
In spring 2012, an election for one contributing member seat on the State Teachers Retirement Board will be held. The election process began this fall, when individuals interested in running for this seat could first request petitions from STRS Ohio. Those eligible for nomination are individuals presently contributing to STRS Ohio or those who have contributions on deposit with STRS Ohio. STRS Ohio retirees who are reemployed in an STRS Ohio-covered position are not eligible for nomination.
Individuals interested in running for this seat can request petitions from STRS Ohio by calling toll-free 1-888-227-7877. The deadline for returning petitions is Feb. 24, 2012. STRS Ohio members will receive their ballots and voting information in April; they will have through May 7, 2012, to cast their vote. The winner of the election will begin his or her four-year term on the board on Sept. 1, 2012.

Dennis Leone: Testimony on Cyberbullying Before Ohio Senate Education Committee December 6, 2011

2011-12-08T11:07:00.009-05:00

Hannah News Service Legislative Update, December 6, 2011

BILLS HEARD IN COMMITTEE
SENATE EDUCATION Sen. Lehner: Tue., Dec. 6, 2011

Senate Bill 127 SCHOOL BULLYING POLICIES (SCHIAVONI J) To enact the "Jessica Logan Act" to require that public school bullying policies prohibit bullying by electronic means and address certain acts that occur off school property and to require staff training on the bullying policy.

Carrie Davis, staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Ohio, gave testimony as an interested party. She said that "simply requiring schools to have a policy against bullying is not enough." She stated that Ohio's anti-bullying law, codified at Revised Code Secs. 3313.666 and 3313.67, is inadequate and needs to be strengthened. The ACLU of Ohio supports legislative efforts that "enumerate protections, require in-service training for faculty and administrators, require student instruction, and enact enforcement mechanisms that include both state oversight and penalties and provide a private cause of action," she said.

Davis also urged the Legislature to "exercise caution and be mindful of constitutional limits in addressing so called 'cyber-bullying.'" She stated that there are constitutional limitations on discipline for out-of-school speech and that there are alternatives for addressing cyber-bullying within constitutional limits.

Sen. Hite asked how specific instruction should be. Davis said, "We are not the P.C. (Politically Correct) Police. Bullying is a persistent pattern of harassment and intimidation. It cannot simply be an offhand offensive comment." Hite said that he just didn't want to have 600 school districts sued over unclear policies.

Sen. Obhoff asked where the line was drawn for cyber-bullying. Davis said there are "tricky, gray areas that should only be deemed bullying if there is a decided, repeated pattern." Sen. Coley asked if it happens at school, is it "exempt from criminal law?" Davis said, "We are not trying to deputize teachers." Hite asked if there was any protection for the principals. Davis replied that allowing kids to report anonymously would give protection to administrators.

Dennis Leone, former superintendent of the Chillicothe City School District, gave opposition testimony to SB127, saying it "invites litigation." He gave several examples of federal courts across the country who "have not been supportive of school officials who have taken disciplinary action against students for what they do, or say, or write while they are off school property during non-school hours." Sen. Lehner pointed out that the examples Leone gave "don't show a persistent pattern" of bullying. "It's not surprising that the courts overturned these incidents."

- - - - -

Testimony Before the Senate Education Committee
December 6, 2011
Proposed Senate Bill 127

My name is Dennis Leone. While I am currently an educational administration professor at Ashland University, I am speaking today as a former principal and as a former superintendent of schools who suspended and expelled many, many students between 1980 and 2010. In my 30 years of administrative work, I served 23 years in Ohio as a superintendent. My last district was the Chillicothe City School District. I was sued a lot in my career after I disciplined students, which is one reason I am here today. Proposed Senate Bill 127 commands school administrators to take disciplinary action against students if they engage in cyber-bullying off school property during non-school hours, which means to me that it positively invites litigation.

I addressed this committee several months ago. Much has happened since then. Senator Schiavoni held a public hearing in Cleveland about this bill in an attempt to drum up support for it, and a few federal court decisions have been rendered in other states. In the past six months, many states have adopted laws to address cyber-bullying concerns, but most of these laws are much different than proposed Senate Bill 127. Most states have properly determined that cyber-bullying off school property during non-school hours is a criminal issue, and NOT an issue for schools to take action against those who do it.

When I spoke to you last, I also gave you several examples in current Ohio law (like the habitual absence statute) of how the courts, not the schools, hold parents legally and financially responsible for matters involving their children. Cyber-bullying off school property during non-school hours should be no different. It cannot be an enforcement responsibility of school districts.

Federal courts all across the country recently have not been supportive of school officials who have taken disciplinary action against students for what they do, or say, or write while they are off school property during non-school hours. Unless it is a matter of a student threatening to blow up the school or shoot students and staff, school officials have not succeeded in making the argument that student expression off school property during non-school hours is disruptive of school operations (affecting all students). This committee needs to familiarize itself with some of the federal court decisions of the past eight months:

The 3rd Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Pennsylvania, in two separate cases, struck down the suspension of high school students after they posted ugly, offensive, and highly inappropriate comments on their MySpace and Facebook pages. The school districts argued that the postings were both patently false and disruptive of school operations. The court determined that while what the students wrote was indeed false and highly offensive, it occurred off school property during non-school hours - and therefore was protected free speech pursuant to the U.S. Constitution. The students did what they did at their home, or at grandma's house, on a computer. They did not do it at school, at school activities, on a school bus, at a school bus stop, or even walking to school.
The 7th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Illinois ruled against high school officials in Naperville after they disciplined students for their actions on a day that was designed to show sensitivity for gay and lesbian students and draw critical attention to harassment. When faculty wore a t-shirt that day that said "Be Who You Are," the students who were disciplined wore a t-shirt with the words "Be Happy, Not Gay." The school district argued in court that what the students wore was potentially disruptive. The federal court disagreed, saying: "A school that permits advocacy of the rights of homosexual students cannot be allowed to stifle criticism of homosexuality." The court said that the students were engaged in protected free speech activity pursuant to the U.S. Constitution.

This committee also needs to be reminded of the decision by a federal district court right here in Columbus, Ohio, in 2005. A student in the Northern Local School District was suspended after he refused to remove his t-shirt or wear it inside out. The boy's parents sued. The t-shirt said:

Homosexuality is a Sin
Islam is a Lie
Abortion is Murder

The school district argued in court that the t-shirt was potentially disruptive because the school had gay students, Muslim students, and female students who had experienced abortions. Federal District Court Judge George Smith determined that while the wording on the t-shirt might have been offensive in the eyes of many, it was an exercise of protected free speech pursuant to the U.S. Constitution.

This committee needs to recognize that the Illinois and Ohio court decisions I have referenced occurred ON school property. Can you imagine how the courts would have reacted if the students had been disciplined because they - at the mall on Saturday - said nasty, mean things about other students, or because they wore t-shirts with mean-spirited messages, or because they wore extremely revealing clothing? If anyone here truly believes that federal courts in Ohio will support the suspension of a student who, for example, calls another a "slut" - even multiple times - off school property over the weekend with a home computer at grandma's house, you need to think again. I'd like to ask this committee this question: How is cyber-bullying off school property during non-school hours any different than students verbally "bullying" each other with mean comments at the mall on Saturday? It is not one bit different.

What matters to federal judges is whether the U.S. Constitution has been violated. In fact, I am not sure I understand how members of a state-level Education Committee think that it is their role to adopt any law that pertains to a U.S. Constitutional issue. Is cyber-bullying off school property during non-school hours mean, offensive, and inappropriate? Yes. Is it legally protected by the U.S. Constitution? Yes, unless and until the U.S. Supreme Court determines otherwise. (Note that in Canada, lawmakers are attempting to pressure Facebook into blocking acts of cyber-bullying.)

While proposed Senate Bill 127 is well-intentioned and is designed to empower school officials to discipline students for what they do electronically off school property during non-school hours, it actually will empower parents to sue if they feel their child's education has been disrupted due to cyber-bullying. Further, it also will empower judges to reject the disciplinary decisions, which means that it also will empower lawyers to drain the financial resources of school districts. I join the Cleveland Plain Dealer in concluding that proposed Senate Bill 127 is an "overreach." Thank you for allowing me to share my concerns here today.

Plain Dealer: Cyberbullying bill goes too far

2011-12-08T11:02:00.000-05:00

http://www.cleveland.com/opinion/index.ssf/2011/09/cyberbullying_bill_goes_too_fa.html

Cyberbullying bill goes too far: editorial
Cleveland Plain Dealer, September 28, 2011
By The Plain Dealer Editorial Board

Click image to enlarge.

State Sen. Joe Schiavoni, a Democrat from the Mahoning Valley, no doubt is motivated by the best of intentions. But he should tread carefully with an anti-cyberbullying proposal that inadvisedly dumps enforcement on schools and may well pose constitutional problems as well.
Senate Bill 127 would prohibit electronic harassment of students via cellphones, computers and other personal devices if it caused "substantial disruption to the educational environment," even if the offense occurred off school property.
The courts have frowned on school attempts to limit students' free speech and have been skeptical about districts that suspend youngsters for off-campus misbehavior, such as creating embarrassing MySpace pages.
School districts can and should help educate students and parents about proper Internet behavior and punish bullying or other misdeeds that occur on school grounds. Parents should handle the rest. No court can stop them.

Plain Dealer: Huffman's bill bad for public schools and Ohio

2011-12-05T22:30:00.002-05:00

From John Curry, December 5, 2011

http://mobile.cleveland.com/advcleve/db_/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=lRhPNrM0&full=true#display

Ohio voucher school expansion bill is a mistake: editorial
The Plain Dealer Editorial Board
December 5, 2011

Rep. Matt Huffman, a Republican from Lima and school-choice advocate, may not intend to gouge holes in the budgets of public schools that are already on the ropes, but that's exactly what his voucher bill will do if the Ohio General Assembly passes it.

And that's the primary reason why House Bill 136, which has passed out of the House Education Committee, is bad for Ohio's public schools and bad for Ohio.

Maybe Huffman has an inkling of the troubled waters ahead because late last week he said he would "change the bill significantly" because of concerns that it would damage local public schools.

He ought to go further and just shelve it. Currently, vouchers are given primarily to low-income youngsters who would otherwise be locked in the state's worst schools. Liberating such youngsters from that system is critical.

The same can't be said for Huffman's generous voucher system, which would be open to families that earn up to $95,000 a year, even if their youngsters attend highly rated schools.

According to officials from the excellent-rated, property-tax-rich Fairview Park school district in Cuyahoga County, House Bill 136 could snatch as much as $5,700 out their budget for every private-school-bound child -- even though the district receives just $837 in state aid per student. The rest of the district's money comes from pinched taxpayers, who shouldn't be forced to subsidize private schools with their voted public-school tax dollars.

'Robbing Peter to pay Paul is not how to reform school finance in Ohio, nor is it the proper way to help parents struggling to pay for private schooling. They should not be bailed out at the expense of public schools that serve all residents -- or by means of the voted property-tax dollars that were intended solely for those schools.

Accountability is another issue that Huffman takes too lightly. He says he's not worried about unscrupulous private school operators suddenly awash in Ohioans' tax dollars. Everyone would be closely watched, he promises. But that hasn't happened with charter schools, where some operators have racked up millions of dollars in questionable expenses.

Now imagine trying to review the books of religious and independent private schools, which are naturally opaque institutions.

As the independent Center on Education Policy report on vouchers said last July, vouchers are not a "comprehensive solution" to states' educational problems.

Public schools are likely to continue to educate most children, as the CEP report also noted. Huffman and his supporters should not make it harder for successful schools to do the job.

State Board (Ohio Department of Education) minutes...can you believe this?

2011-12-05T17:04:00.000-05:00

From John Curry, December 5, 2011

Note from John....the letter below was sent to me by a concerned retired public servant interested in the unfair (Kasich) method of teacher evaluation that does so by student testing. Where were "our" state board representatives when it came time for a vote? The following transcript came from the minutes of a recent [October 2011] Ohio Board of Education meeting.

P.S. See if you can make any sense out of what Sen. Lehner was saying....I couldn't!

John, I was just looking at the State Board of Ed website at past meeting minutes and found these two pages. Looks like a couple members had concerns but a this Sen Lehner gave a line of BS and they all voted "yes"!!! Maybe you already saw this crap but thought I'd sent it on.

- - - - -

11. RESOLUTION OF INTENT TO ADOPT THE OHIO TEACHER EVALUATION SYSTEM (OTES) FRAMEWORK

The Capacity Committee

RECOMMENDS that the State Board of Education ADOPT the following Resolution:
WHEREAS section 3319.61 of the Revised Code requires the Educator Standards Board to develop model teacher evaluation instruments and processes; and

WHEREAS at its April 2011 business meeting the Educator Standards Board passed a resolution to recommend to the State Board of Education the adoption of the Ohio Teacher Evaluation System model that they had developed pursuant to section 3319.61 of the Revised Code; and

WHEREAS House Bill 153 of the 129th General Assembly requires each school district to adopt a standards-based teacher evaluation policy that conforms with the framework for evaluation of teachers developed under section 3319.112 of the Revised Code; and

WHEREAS House Bill 153 of the 129th General Assembly requires the State Board of Education to develop, by December 31, 2011, a standards-based state framework for the evaluation of teachers that is aligned with the standards for teachers adopted under section 3319.61 of the Revised Code, and that provides for multiple evaluation factors, including student academic growth which shall account for fifty percent of each evaluation; and

WHEREAS the Capacity Committee, at its July 2011 meeting, voted to recommend to the full State Board of Education the adoption of a resolution of intent to evaluate the Ohio Teacher Evaluation System model utilizing Education First, the findings of which would be made available in August 2011; and

WHEREAS the Capacity Committee, at its August 2011 meeting, heard the findings and recommendations of Education First regarding the proposed Ohio Teacher Evaluation System, as well as the Ohio Department of Education’s Minutes of the October 2011 Meeting of the State Board of Education of Ohio 14 responses to the findings and recommendations, and the Department’s proposed changes to the Ohio Teacher Evaluation System, and approved of the changes; and

WHEREAS the Capacity Committee requests that school districts currently piloting the Ohio Teacher Evaluation System be periodically invited to provide testimony to the Committee regarding the progress of the pilot program; and

WHEREAS the Capacity Committee asks the Department to evaluate the testimony that is provided in relation to the Ohio Teacher Evaluation System pilot program, and to make recommendations to the Committee regarding changes to the system as it goes forward; and

WHEREAS the Capacity Committee resolves to completely review the Ohio Teacher Evaluation System in the late spring of 2012 in order to determine any changes that need to be made to the system; and

WHEREAS the Capacity Committee will continue to work with the Department to determine the recommended student academic growth measures that will account for fifty percent of each teacher evaluation: Therefore, Be It

RESOLVED, That the State Board of Education hereby declares its intent to adopt the Ohio Teacher Evaluation System Framework in accordance with section 3319.112 of the Revised Code.

It was Moved by Mr. Gunlock that the above recommendation (Item 11) be approved.

Ms. Oakar stated that she had concerns that students and their environment are not considered when evaluating teachers.

Mr. Reardon and Mrs. Cain stated that they supported the concern that Ms. Oakar had raised.

Mr. Mims urged the Board to promote unification around the indicators that improve conditions for student achievement.

Senator Lehner stated that she believed a balance must be found where any type of excuse for failing certain populations is not present at the same time recognizing certain types of populations are more difficult to educate, but the challenge is to fully educate all students.

President Terhar called for a roll call vote.

YES VOTES

Angela Thi Bennett
Deborah Cain
Tess Elshoff
Joe Farmer
Dannie Greene
Thomas Gunlock
Jeffrey Hardin
Robin C. Hovis
C. Todd Jones
Kathleen McGervey
Kristen McKinley
Jeffrey Mims
Mary Rose Oakar
Dennis Reardon
Debe Terhar
Bryan C. Williams

Motion carried.

Note from John....."Mr. Reardon" [Dennis Reardon] was the former (now retired) Executive Director of the Ohio Education Association.....AND HE STILL VOTED "YES" AFTER QUESTIONING THIS (UNFAIR) 50% PROVISION??????????? AND THERE WAS NOT A SINGLE "NO" VOTE? Give me a break!

(Part III) Kasich's unworkable school ranking system........by Columbus City Schools educator Greg Mild

2011-12-04T18:02:00.000-05:00

From John Curry, December 4, 2011

This is simply one more half-baked idea hatched up by Kasich and his self-absorbed education adviser, Robert Sommers. Sommers, infamous liar, must have been too busy running for state superintendent and pushing his teacher testing provision to have stopped Kasich from adding this component. As you can see from his resume for State Superintendent from May, Sommers is a former Vocational Education teacher (agriscience certificate now expired), and with his 10 years of experience in leading a career and technical focused district, he absolutely must have known the flaws in attempting to rank these districts and their individual programmatic needs against all of the other Ohio districts and their standardized curricula. Perhaps Sommers doesn’t care about the students and their schools, either.

http://www.plunderbund.com/2011/12/03/kasichs-unworkable-school-ranking-system-part-3/

Kasich's unworkable school ranking system (Part 3)

by Greg On December 3, 2011

This is our third in a series exploring the new school ranking system created by Governor John Kasich and the Republican legislature. In our first post, we explained how Kasich cut funding to the Ohio Department of Education while adding major new requirements to the agency, a decision that undercuts the likelihood of the ranking system ever being implemented. We also detailed the simplistic ignorance in pretending to use the Performance Index Scores in an objective ranking system. Our second post broke down Kasich’s choice to include value-added data, highlighting the inequity across schools and cost-prohibitive nature of the Governor’s decision. We recommend you read those posts before jumping into this one.

In this post we will investigate the erroneous inclusion of item #3 in the list of ranking criteria.

Again, the six criteria that were adopted in the final bill as follows [bold added for emphasis]:

Performance index score for each school district, community school, and STEM school and for each separate building of a district, community school, or STEM school. For districts, schools, or buildings to which the performance index score does not apply, the superintendent of public instruction shall develop another measure of student academic performance and use that measure to include those buildings in the ranking so that all districts, schools, and buildings may be reliably compared to each other.
Student performance growth from year to year, using the value-added progress dimension, if applicable, and other measures of student performance growth designated by the superintendent of public instruction for subjects and grades not covered by the value-added progress dimension;
Performance measures required for career-technical education under 20 U.S.C. 2323, if applicable. If a school district is a “VEPD” or “lead district” as those terms are defined in section 3317.023 of the Revised Code, the district’s ranking shall be based on the performance of career-technical students from that district and all other districts served by that district, and such fact, including the identity of the other districts served by that district, shall be noted on the report required by division (B) of this section.
Current operating expenditures per pupil;
Of total current operating expenditures, percentage spent for classroom instruction as determined under standards adopted by the state board of education;
Performance of, and opportunities provided to, students identified as gifted using value-added progress dimensions, if applicable, and other relevant measures as designated by the superintendent of public instruction.

The department shall rank each district, community school, and STEM school annually in accordance with the system developed under this section.

#3 – Performance measures required for career-technical education. At the core of this criterion’s failing is the fact that Ohio Career-Technical Education (CTE) performance reports are not generated by individual public school districts. Instead, a report exists for each of the state’s 91 Career-Technical Planning Districts (CTPD) that lists its member school districts’ combined performance.

While the ranking system includes a total of 1,002 districts, the state of Ohio only produces 91 reports comprised of CTE data, of which only 25 represent a single school district. In addition, the Ohio Department of Education reports either 48 or 51 community schools (out of over 300 statewide) with CTE program offerings, depending on whether you look at the top or bottom half of their 2010 Fact Sheet. Regardless of which set of numbers is accurate, it is obvious that not all schools or districts have the capacity to implement a CTE program, including many community schools that only offer an education to students in the younger grades. Unless Newt Gingrich gets his way and we enter our elementary children into the workforce early, many schools will never have any data that is remotely equivalent to CTE data.

The criterion references 20 U.S.C. § 2323, a section of U.S. law whose purpose is to establish a state performance accountability system to assess the effectiveness of the state in achieving statewide progress in vocational and technical education in order to optimize the return of investment of federal funds in vocational and technical education activities. This federal law proceeds to detail the state requirements for reporting student achievement, including academic factors.

In Ohio, the indicators can be found in the Secondary Statewide Workforce Development Performance Report, ODE's tool for accountability and continuous improvement.  Among the components of this report are:

Academic Attainment—Reading/Language Arts (1S1) – Scored at or above the proficient level on the Ohio Graduation Reading Test.
Academic Attainment—Mathematics (1S2) – Scored at or above the proficient level on the Ohio Graduation Mathematics Test.

With criteria like these included in the CTE reports, schools that do have CTE programs will be double-counted on these student test results. Ohio Graduation Test results have already been counted in the Performance Index Score (#1), so including the results a second time would either unfairly help or hurt the accountable district.

According to ODE, in 2011-2012, there are 97 CTE programs that span 16 career fields, meaning that even within the required ranking and comparison of districts that actually do have reported data, Governor Kasich wants us to believe that our children are replaceable cogs without unique minds talents across career paths as diverse as:

horticulture,
performing arts,
medical management and support,
carpentry,
early childhood education,
financial services.
dental assistant,
pharmacy technician,
culinary and food service operations,
cosmetology,
network systems,
criminal justice,
welding and cutting,
auto technology,
and 83 other unique programs.

Beyond it being unreasonable to attempt to compare the individual successes of these programs, it is simply ignorant to believe that our children should also be required to demonstrate uniform and arbitrary success measures at a time when we are supposedly encouraging them to hone their unique talents in a career path of their own choosing.

Going back to the number of districts involved, if we believe the ODE fact sheet to be relatively accurate, and if ODE is somehow able to separate the data by individual school district, we must then overlook the likely scenario that district programs will not include enough students to provide statistically reliable results. But even if we can get past that flaw too, we still only have results for 562 of the 1,002 districts in the rankings, leaving us with a category that would only include 56% of the state’s districts.

There’s also the problem of the uniqueness of CTE programming, described as:

organized educational activities that include competency-based applied learning that contributes to the academic knowledge, higher-order reasoning and problem-solving skills, work attitudes, general employability skills, technical skills, and occupation-specific skills, and knowledge of all aspects of an industry, including entrepreneurship, of an individual.

In the end, we are again left questioning how, in his infinite wisdom, Governor Kasich expects the Ohio Department of Education to find this item comparable to the other criteria Ohio will use to scrutinize the performance of schools that only serve children in grades K-5.

In our next post in this series, we will tackle the two criteria directly related to school finances. We’ll offer you a Kasich promise and try to keep it concise. And by a “Kasich promise” we mean that we’ll actually do whatever the hell we want.

(Part IV) Kasich's school rankings exeplify ignorance about K-12 education....

2011-12-04T17:58:00.000-05:00

From John Curry, December 4, 2011

http://www.plunderbund.com/

Kasich's school rankings exemplify ignorance about K-12 education

By Greg On November 26, 2011

Back in April, when Kasich’s budget was still being analyzed, we posted about the Governor’s proposed criteria for ranking Ohio’s public school districts and how that ranking connected to his proposed school funding numbers. Our analysis was based on the budget bill (HB153) as it existed at that current time, a listing of five criteria applied to public school districts. The budget was modified between that time and its final passage, adding a sixth criteria and definitively including all community schools within the final ranking.

The Ohio Department of Education (ODE) recently released a “preview” of these rankings for schools and districts, a simplistic ranking based solely on Ohio’s standardized test results as reported in Performance Index Scores. This release was so underwhelming that even The Columbus Dispatch broke out the sarcasm when covering ODE’s announcement:

The Ohio Department of Education has issued an official ranking of schools and districts by test-score performance. Never mind that this information already was available and easily sortable, if you wanted to rank them on your own.

(Columbus Dispatch, 11/10/2011)

We aren’t satisfied either, so we’ve been working on trying to assemble the rankings as described in the budget bill (and listed below). It hasn’t been easy, and we have learned more through the process of assembling the data than we did by actually constructing the final list.

This is the first of a series of posts in which we will dissect the Governor’s ranking system, explain why it is flawed in ways that can best be described as naive, at best, or at worst, vengeful. Finally, in the end, we will publish our comprehensive list of school districts, a list full of defects and exceptions due to the uninformed and unrealistic expectations laid upon ODE by Governor Kasich and his devotees.

The six criteria were adopted in the final bill as follows [bold added for emphasis]:

Performance index score for each school district, community school, and STEM school and for each separate building of a district, community school, or STEM school. For districts, schools, or buildings to which the performance index score does not apply, the superintendent of public instruction shall develop another measure of student academic performance and use that measure to include those buildings in the ranking so that all districts, schools, and buildings may be reliably compared to each other.
Student performance growth from year to year, using the value-added progress dimension, if applicable, and other measures of student performance growth designated by the superintendent of public instruction for subjects and grades not covered by the value-added progress dimension;
Performance measures required for career-technical education under 20 U.S.C. 2323, if applicable. If a school district is a “VEPD” or “lead district” as those terms are defined in section 3317.023 of the Revised Code, the district’s ranking shall be based on the performance of career-technical students from that district and all other districts served by that district, and such fact, including the identity of the other districts served by that district, shall be noted on the report required by division (B) of this section.
Current operating expenditures per pupil;
Of total current operating expenditures, percentage spent for classroom instruction as determined under standards adopted by the state board of education;
Performance of, and opportunities provided to, students identified as gifted using value-added progress dimensions, if applicable, and other relevant measures as designated by the superintendent of public instruction.

The department shall rank each district, community school, and STEM school annually in accordance with the system developed under this section.

One of the most important things to highlight before going any further is the amount of additional work that is placed on the Ohio Department of Education in this tiny section of HB153. Numbers 1, 2, and 6 all require the department to develop (technically says designate, but items don’t exist at this time) measures to cover gaps in this legislation. That means that half of the requirements are incomplete. Of greater significance is the fact that the Ohio Department of Education has also been tasked with creating other new processes out of thin air, most significantly a performance-based pay system and a new evaluation process for teachers and principals (neither of which have any real-world examples to pull from). But wait, there’s more! Earlier in November it was announced that the state is taking over sponsorship of eight charter schools whose sponsor was revoked because of changes elsewhere in Kasich’s budget (ODE is permitted to manage up to 20).

But if you remember nothing else about this explanation of ODE’s additional workload, know this: Just two days after he was hired, State Superintendent Stan Heffner was forced to layoff 26 employees (with more pending) because the same budget that assigned them additional work also cut operating funding for the ODE by $6.3 million, or 12.6 percent, over the next two years. Again, we’re not in the Stan Heffner Fan Club, but he explicitly advocated against these cuts in his Senate Finance Committee testimony:

However, we have some concern about ODE’s ability to assume all of the new responsibilities included in the budget bill, many of which I have already described, in addition to maintaining our ongoing regulatory and administrative responsibilities, given the cuts to our operations included in the House version of the bill. We understand that every agency must take its fair share of reductions to address the budget shortfall, but respectfully ask that administrative funding be restored to the levels proposed by the Executive version of the budget.

The combination of those details positively informs us that the Governor’s supposed implementation of high-quality education reforms is no more than lip-service (and ignorance). How can we expect high-quality reforms from an agency that is forced to cut staffing while also being tasked with crafting innovative new systems? We can’t, plain and simple.

If you aren’t pessimistic about the viability of the rankings yet, we’ve got more.

Let’s tackle these six criteria first.

#1 – Performance Index Scores. This is the easiest to obtain and provided the basis for the ODE-released scores. We said easy, not accurate or fair. Since these scores are based on standardized test results, only school districts with tested students with have a score (grades 3-8, 10). ODE’s simply opted to solve this issue by exempting the 65 school districts with a PI score from the released rankings. The legislature’s solution to this gap in data was to direct the Ohio Department of Education to create a comparable measure (within the next year). John Kasich somehow believes that ODE can whip up a measure of student evaluation that is of equal validity to the Ohio testing system that has been in use for 20 years. Does Kasich have the first clue about student evaluation or testing? Validity? Reliability? Drawing their naiveté out even further, we can point out that entire research papers have been devoted to the notion that standardized testing has many biases, with poverty being significant. We won’t dwell on this topic much in this post, but the chart below compares school districts’ PI scores with the percentage of economically disadvantaged students (often described as poverty level). Using the trend-line as a guide, it’s easy to see that in Ohio as poverty increases, the test results and connected PI scores decrease measurably. [Click image to enlarge.]

We could post graph after graph displaying this connection, but again, entire papers have been dedicated to proving this negative relationship between test scores and poverty. We point it out because it also demonstrates a bias with this first measurement against districts serving low-income students. Most significantly in Ohio, this negatively impacts the large urban school districts and, since they exist predominantly in low-income districts, Ohio’s charter schools. While we are certainly on record as being opposed to the charter school movement in Ohio, the effect of this criterion on charters supports the notion of Kasich’s ignorance surrounding these rankings. Kasich and his loyal followers (and his financial backers) are huge charter school advocates and have pushed for the expansion of charter schools across the state. At the same time, the inclusion of PI scores as a key statistic in ranking his friends’ schools puts a roadblock in their path to success.

This one single measure required in the rankings illuminates the incompetence of Kasich et al on many different levels.

That leaves only five more criteria that they’ve screwed up…..

We’ll expose the failures of more of the school ranking criteria in the next post in this series. If you have questions, please use the comments section below and we’ll try to address them throughout the posts.

Tom Curtis: Letter to retirees

2011-12-03T22:42:00.000-05:00

From Tom Curtis, December 2, 2011

Dear STRS Retirees,

I choose to switch my insurance from AultCare to Aetna for the coming year. STRS subsequently made that change effective for me as of 12.1.11, which is the date I became eligible for Medicare. I thought that my Aetna coverage would not be effective until the beginning of 2012, but I was wrong. I received a notice from AultCare on 11.29.11 telling me my coverage with them expired on 11.30.11. Just one more surprise from STRS!

It was my understanding that if retirees chose to go to the Aetna plan, retirees were told that if "ANY" facility excepts Medicare, that they will honor their services.

Well, that is absolutely "not" true for the free fitness membership. I can only imagine when this type of situation will occur with another service I desire and/or require. STRS seems to always have exceptions to the rules as they are presented to us. Gee, does that sound familiar?

Because Aetna has now captured my/our traditional Medicare coverage, we are no longer on a traditional Medicare plan. Thus, we are restricted by whatever STRS has agreed too with that insurer.

We are not permitted to use the Silver Sneakers fitness plan that is offered through the traditional Medicare program. That is because Aetna/STRS have contracted with a subcontractor by the name of Healthway for the fitness membership and they only permit us to use the providers they have on a list.

I will not bore you with but a few more details. I have spent 3 days and 5-10 hours of time on the phone, and going to look at 3 facilities that are close to my home, all of which accept Medicare. Out of those 3, I am only permitted by our contract with Aetna/Healthways to enroll in one of those facilities. The one I am permitted to enroll in, has about 1/4th of the area and equipment that the YMCA has. The YMCA will accept the Medicare Silver Sneakers program, but because Aetna/Healthways does not accept the YMCA, I am not permitted to use that facility. Oh yeah, they are sorry for this inconvenience. Someone telling me they are sorry means absolutely nothing today.

Renee Beckum, in our STRS HC area tells me this is the only glitch in the Aetna insurance program and that no exceptions can be made. WHY do I not believe this will be the case?

I thought my anger with the management and board of the STRS had subsided. I guess I was wrong! Maybe the stress of what the STRS has put us retirees through over the past decade will cause me to have a 2nd heart attack. Why don't they get it? The stress they have placed on retirees because the board and management failed to properly fund our HCSF is making us all sick. I guess that works out for them, we die, they get to stop paying benefits.

Currently, my out-of-pocket HC costs for 2011 is in excess of $20k - over 50% of my pension. My wife is in a nursing home, due to her complications with dementia. I can no longer live within my means, due to my medical costs. This is all making me wonder if having died after my heart attack would not have been the better outcome?

Tom Curtis
Angry again.

Next CORE meeting to be held in January

2011-12-02T14:14:00.004-05:00

From CORE, December 2, 2011

CORE (Concerned Ohio Retired Educators) will not NOT hold a December meeting due to the fact that the STRS board meeting is scheduled to be held the first week in December and our last CORE/STRS meetings were held just a week before Thanksgiving. We do encourage you to attend the STRS open board meeting scheduled to be held on Thursday, Dec. 8th at the STRS building at 275 East Broad Street in Columbus. Parking is free in the STRS parking garage located behind the building. We always suggest that you check the STRS website (www.strsoh.org) to confirm dates and times. CORE will hold its next meeting on Thursday, January 19th, 2012.

STRS Board to meet December 7-8, 2011

2011-12-01T21:02:00.004-05:00

From STRS, December 1, 2011

PUBLIC MEETING NOTICE

The State Teachers Retirement Board and Committee meetings currently scheduled at the STRS Ohio offices, 275 East Broad Street, Columbus, Ohio 43215, are as follows:

Wednesday, December 7, 2011
11 a.m. Disability Review Panel and Final Average Salary Committee (Executive Session)

Thursday, December 8, 2011
9 a.m. Audit Committee, followed by
Retirement Board Meeting

The Retirement Board meeting will come to order on Thursday, Dec. 8, 2011, following a 9 a.m. Audit Committee meeting. The agenda includes: a Report From the Investment Department, the Asset/Liability Study, Executive Director's Report, public participation, a Report From the Human Resource Services Department, a Report From the Member Benefits Department - Health Care, routine matters, old business, new business and any other matters requiring attention.

More Principals speak out against DOE testing madness but....

2011-11-30T12:58:00.001-05:00

From John Curry, November 30, 2011

...unlike Ohio, NY also rates principals, as well as educators, by test results. IT ALL DEPENDS UPON WHOSE OX IS GORED, DOESN'T IT? Maybe that's why Ohio principals still remain silent about Ohio's testing madness. Naw..that couldn't be, could it?

John

http://www.nytimes.com/schoolbook/2011/11/29/more-principals-speak-out-against-state-evaluation-system/

What...Principals staging a REVOLT? Yes, you read that correctly.........this is a first!

2011-11-28T22:08:00.000-05:00

From John Curry, November 28, 2011

Active educators..please share this one with your principal!

John

ODE....are YOU WATCHING?

http://www.schoolsmatter.info/

New York Principals Standing on Principle, Revolt

"It’s education by humiliation,” Mr. Kaplan said. “I’ve never seen teachers and principals so degraded.”

NYC principals are standing up for teachers and to the state DOE and for the first time in history are finally revolting - a revolt that needs to take place and go viral all across the country. The lack of respect and degradation has finally reached a tipping point. It's about time.

Michael Winerip in the NYT reports How Principals are Protesting the Role of Testing in Evaluations:

Through the years there have been many bitter teacher strikes and too many student protests to count. But a principals’ revolt?

“Principals don’t revolt,” said Bernard Kaplan of Great Neck North High School on Long Island, who has been one for 20 years. “Principals want to go along with the system and do what they’re told.”

But President Obama and his signature education program, Race to the Top, along with John B. King Jr., the New York State commissioner of education, deserve credit for spurring what is believed to be the first principals’ revolt in history.

As of last night, 658 principals around the state had signed a letter — 488 of them from Long Island, where the insurrection began — protesting the use of students’ test scores to evaluate teachers’ and principals’ performance.

Their complaints are many: the evaluation system was put together in slapdash fashion, with no pilot program; there are test scores to evaluate only fourth-through-eighth-grade English and math teachers; and New York tests are so unreliable that they had to be rescaled radically last year, with proficiency rates in math and English dropping 25 percentage points overnight.

Mr. Kaplan, who runs one of the highest-achieving schools in the state, has been evaluating teachers since the education commissioner was a teenager. No matter. He is required by Nassau County officials to attend 10 training sessions, as is Carol Burris, the principal of South Side High School here, who was named the 2010 Educator of the Year by the School Administrators Association of New York State.

“It’s education by humiliation,” Mr. Kaplan said. “I’ve never seen teachers and principals so degraded.”

The trainers at these sessions, which are paid for by state and federal grants, have explained that they’re figuring out the new evaluation system as they go. To make the point, they’ve been showing a YouTube video with a fictional crew of mechanics who are having the time of their lives building an airplane in midair.

“It was supposed to be funny, but the room went silent,” Ms. Burris said. “These are people’s livelihoods we’re talking about.”

Last year New York was awarded $700 million as one of 11 states, along with the District of Columbia, to win a Race to the Top grant. The application process was chaotic, with Dr. King’s office making the deadline by just a few hours. To win a grant, states had to pledge to follow policy priorities of the Obama administration, like evaluating teachers by student test scores, even though there were no implementation plans yet.

New York committed to an evaluation process that is based 60 percent on principal observations and other subjective measures, and from 20 to 40 percent on state tests, depending on the local district.

In written responses to questions, Dr. King said while there are bugs in the system, “we are confident that as the state law on teacher evaluations phases in over the next couple of years, those educators charged with ensuring its successful implementation will do so professionally.”

Asked if he was surprised by the number of principals who had signed, he wrote, “It’s not at all surprising” that the introduction of a new evaluation system “would produce anxiety.”

Although testing is central to the education reform movement, the word “testing” is considered crude in elite education circles, and in a three-page response to questions, the commissioner never actually used the t-word. However, he did include multiple euphemisms like “data on the growth in student learning.”

“A significant body of research,” he wrote, “demonstrates that an educator’s past impact on student learning is a strong predictor of that educator’s future impact on student learning and a useful component of a fair, transparent, and rigorous multiple measures evaluation system.”

Merryl H. Tisch, chancellor of the Board of Regents, said that because of the new “scientific, objective” evaluation system, the public would see that teachers were being held to a rigorous standard and would not dislike them so much. “I’m seeing a much more positive focus about teaching, and I like that,” she said.

It is hard to overstate how angry the principals who signed are. Mario Fernandez, principal of Stillwater High School near Saratoga, called the evaluation process a product of “ludicrous, shallow thinking.”

“My gosh, it seems to be slapped together,” he said. “They’re expecting atornado to go through a junkyard and have a brand new Mercedes pop up.”

Katie Zahedi, principal of Linden Avenue Middle School in Red Hook in Dutchess County. said the training session she attended was “two days of total nonsense.”

“I have a Ph.D., I’m in a school every day, and some consultant is supposed to be teaching me to do evaluations,” she said. “It takes your breath away it’s so awful.”

She said one good thing about the new evaluation system was that it had united teachers, principals and administrators in their contempt for the state education department.

Several interviewed said the most reliable way to evaluate teachers was to make 5-to-10-minute “walk through” visits to their classes several times a month. “My principal is frequently in my class, and that’s the way it should be,” said Marguerite Izzo, a fifth-grade teacher in Malverne, on Long Island, who was the 2007 state teacher of the year.

Ms. Izzo calls students up to her desk, one by one, every day to discuss their work. “It’s the same for children or teachers: immediate feedback is best, while it’s still fresh in their minds,” she said.

The principals’ letter was drafted last month by Ms. Burris and Sean Feeney of the Wheatley School. “We tried and tried to talk to the state, but they don’t listen to us,” Ms. Burris said.

In his responses, Dr. King wrote, “The principals do raise some legitimate concerns that we are carefully addressing.” But he also wrote, “The structure of the evaluation system — including the use of data on the growth in student learning — is set in state statute.” (Translation: Testing full speed ahead.)

About 300 principals out of 4,500 in the state had signed by early November, when Newsday wrote a front-page story about the letter. There has been steady growth since. Three-fourths of Long Island principals have placed their names on the list.

Outside of Long Island, Westchester County has the most principals on the letter, 31.

Only 18 out of 1,500 from New York City have signed. Ms. Burris is not sure if the principals are not aware, or if they fear retribution from Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, who is a big supporter of using data to calculate growth in student learning.

2011-11-25T21:50:00.000-05:00

It's that time of year again!

From John Curry, November 25, 2011

Yes, it's that time of the year once again. Santa's shop is open to suggestions as to your recommendations on who to nominate this Christmas to receive an award of either a candy cane or....coal for those who have acted selfishly, stupidly, incompetently, greedily or...for simply performing "no-brainers." Please email me [curryjo@watchtv.net] so that I can make a master list that will be released shortly before Christmas Eve. Please be sure to tell me which award (Cane or Coal) each entry is eligible for, who the proud person or group is to receive this distinguished award, and what they did to win this prestigious honor.

John
.................................................................................................

2011-11-24T21:27:00.000-05:00

STRS Board to meet December 7-8, 2011
Details here

There will be no CORE meeting in December.
CORE will meet in January.

2011-11-24T11:04:00.000-05:00

2011-11-24T11:02:00.000-05:00

107 Stores with Senior Discounts

Thanks to Mary Lou Guizzo for sending this one.
11/27/11
http://www.bradsdeals.com/blog/2011/06/28/stores-with-senior-discounts/

Top 5 FOX myths to debunk this Thanksgiving

2011-11-24T10:46:00.000-05:00

Top 5 FOX myths to debunk this Thanksgiving

http://front.moveon.org/top-5-fox-myths-to-debunk-this-thanksgiving/?id=33178-18975019-ZuzuvOx

MYTH #1: The congressional Super Committee failed because both sides refuse to compromise.

REALITY: The Super Committee failed because Republicans' number one, non-negotiable priority is to protect millionaires and billionaires from paying even one more penny in taxes.¹ Democrats repeatedly offered to make deep spending cuts—far deeper than most progressives would like—in exchange for raising taxes on the wealthy and closing corporate loopholes, only to be refused again and again.² So even though the vast majority of Americans say they want to protect Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid benefits, and raise taxes on the rich and corporations,³ that won't happen until Republicans put aside their extremist stance.

MYTH #2: Nobody knows what Occupy Wall Street is about.

REALITY: Occupy Wall Street may not have a formal list of demands, but anyone who's been paying attention understands the core problems that occupiers are protesting—that corporations have far too much power in our political system, that Wall Street banks crashed our economy but were never held accountable, and that the richest 400 Americans have more wealth than half of all Americans—156 million people—combined.⁴

MYTH #3: Occupiers should stop protesting and just get a job.

REALITY: As anybody who's looked for a job in the last few years knows, there just aren't jobs out there. That's a big part of why occupiers are protesting. In September, there were four times as many unemployed people as job openings.⁵ And for those who are lucky enough to find a job, median wages today are lower than they were a decade ago.⁶

MYTH #4: Occupy Wall Street is intent on provoking violence, especially against banks and the police.

REALITY: Occupations across the country have committed themselves to nonviolent protest, in the greatest traditions of protest movements. Some of their protests have been met with acts of police violence—tear gas, pepper spray, rubber bullets⁷—but in many cases, protesters have reminded police that the police officers are part of the 99%, too.⁸ And in the few cases when people have shown up at Occupy demonstrations and committed acts of vandalism, other protesters have even repaired their acts of vandalism.⁹

MYTH #5: The biggest crisis facing our country is out of control government spending.

REALITY: The two biggest drivers of our deficit—by far—are the economic crash and the Bush tax cuts.¹⁰ We have millions of people out of work, corporations hoarding cash, and factories sitting idle. If we put all those people back to work—rebuilding infrastructure, educating our children, and researching new technologies—it'll shrink the deficit and make our economy stronger for the long haul. And we can easily afford it if we make sure the rich—who are taking home a larger percentage of income than any time since 1917¹¹—pay their fair share.

Sources:

1. "No, 'both sides' aren't equally to blame for supercommittee failure," The Washington Post, November 21, 2011
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=268071&id=33178-18975019-ZuzuvOx&t=4

2. "Wonkbook: In supercommittee, Dems moved right and Republicans moved righter," The Washington Post, November 22, 2011
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=268072&id=33178-18975019-ZuzuvOx&t=5

3. "CNN Poll: What The Super Committee Produced Is...Exactly What We Don't Want," Talking Points Memo, November 21, 2011
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=268073&id=33178-18975019-ZuzuvOx&t=6

"Medicare, Social Security & The Deficit," National Committee to Preserve Social Security & Medicare, September 2011

http://www.ncpssm.org/pdf/poll.pdf

4. "Michael Moore says 400 Americans have more wealth than half of all Americans combined," Politifact Wisconsin, March 10, 2011
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=268074&id=33178-18975019-ZuzuvOx&t=7

5. "Fact: 4 job seekers per opening in U.S.," CNN, September 12, 2011
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=268075&id=33178-18975019-ZuzuvOx&t=8

6. "Median household income," Wikipedia, Accessed November 22, 2011
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=268076&id=33178-18975019-ZuzuvOx&t=9

7. "Occupy movement: police reaction in pictures," The Guardian, November 21, 2011
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=268077&id=33178-18975019-ZuzuvOx&t=10

8. "Occupy Demonstrators Mark Two Months of Protests," NPR, November 17, 2011
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=268078&id=33178-18975019-ZuzuvOx&t=11

9. "Occupy Oakland protesters assist in cleanup efforts," News 10 ABC, November 3, 2011

http://www.news10.net/news/article/161383/2/Occupy-Oakland-protesters-assist-in-cleanup-efforts-

10. "Economic Downturn and Bush Policies Continue to Drive Large Projected Deficits," Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, May 10, 2011
http://www.cbpp.org/cms/?fa=view&id=3490

11. "Income Inequality Is At An All-Time High: STUDY," The Huffington Post, September 14, 2009

http://www.moveon.org/r?r=268079&id=33178-18975019-ZuzuvOx&t=12

From John Curry, November 23, 2011

Are you paying attention, Lynn Wachtmann and Matt Huffman?

2011-11-23T10:38:00.001-05:00

From John Curry, November 23, 2011

You are about to get an education in Public Education Funding 101 from a Superintendent in your own area! Let's hope your supporters also read this letter.........

John

http://putnamsentinel.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&SubSectionID=1&ArticleID=10947

Kalaida superindendent says: Public schools could be as efficient as private schools

Jared Denman
Staff Writer
November 23, 2011

KALAIDA - During the legislative report at last Wednesday's regular Kalida school board meeting, Superintendent Don Horstman publicly criticized H.B. 136 and State Representative Lynn Wachtmann's co-sponsorship of the bill. "I'll take exception, Representative Wachtmann is just flat out wrong. Rep. Wachtmann is not apologetic for the fact that he does not consider himself a fan of public education. If you look at H.B. 136 and how it works, they want to tout the efficiencies of private education. It'd be really easy to be as efficient as private education if we could follow the rules that private education does. It's very frustrating when Rep. Wachtmann and other members of the legislature refuse to put things in place to force those people [private schools] to follow the same rules we do. If it's such a great plan we have, make them follow our rules. And if our rules are so bad, that it's keeping us from operating efficiently, then let us do what they're doing."
Horstman went on to illustrate where public schools bear the cost of providing services to private schools such as LCC: "I have shared with the board a letter from LCC that their cost to educate a kid in 2009 going into 2010 was roughly $7,400. If you go back to 2009-2010, half of the districts in this county were within $500 a kid of LCC. Let us operate the way LCC does. Shawnee provides all of their busing, their guidance counselor, a math teacher who's on extended time. Two years ago we bought an $80,000 bus. If we don't have to buy an $80,000 bus because we're going to be able to force some other school district to bus our kids, we're going to save a lot of money. It's easy to be efficient when you don't have to operate under the rules the state puts in place. You're not given the freedom to operate the way the schools that supposedly are the most efficient which are your parochials. It would be an interesting if you took our spending per pupil and you wiped out all our bus expenses, our special education expenses and the cost of one of our math teachers and our guidance counselor. We can do it for almost the same amount of money as LCC and we pay our people better. So are you really more efficient?"
However, comparing LCC which resides in a city of 38,711 and outnumbers the entire population of Putnam County which comes in at 34,499 according to the 2010 Census, is comparing apples and oranges. A closer comparison would be to look at the per pupil cost of Sts. Peter and Paul in Ottawa which, according to their business manager, is $4,450 with the church subsidizing 50 percent of that cost with an additional $65,000 to $85,000 coming from an endowment.
According to Ohio Department of Education numbers, for the 2009-2010 school year, it cost $9,238 to educate a pupil in the Kalida school district. Building operations expenditures contributed $1,205 of that per pupil cost. Even subtracting this from the per pupil cost, which yields $8,033, it's still $3,583 more than what it costs at a comparable private school. If each school age child in Putnam County (7,126 children K-12 according to Census Bureau figures) were to receive the maximum scholarship amount of $4,626, it would save the county an estimated $5,353,056-$19,333,120.
When asked in a follow-up interview about families who decide to send their children to private schools paying for a service they do not use, Horstman's first point was that private schools don't share the cost of getting levies on the ballot and secondly that we pay for many services through taxes that no longer benefit us. "What did that private school have invested in collecting those tax dollars and running a levy?
There's also a cost associated with that. So once again, they're receiving the benefit of a public tax levy that they didn't have to do any of the work to get to pass. And as far as the argument I'm paying the taxes but I'm not using the service, I pay taxes and I've never been to Hocking Hills State Park in my whole life. It doesn't mean it's not a valuable service to provide. I have elderly relatives. They pay taxes and they don't drive anymore. Their taxes are still going to pay for snow removal and things like that. I think you've got to be careful about saying I'm not using the service I shouldn't have to pay the tax because then your school levies are only going to be taxed to people to have kids in school. You could make that argument. I no longer have a kid in school so I'm not going to pay my portion of the property tax that goes to the school district. As a society, we've made some decisions over the last 250 plus years that we need some level of taxes to provide some basic services that everyone's going to benefit from."
However, a school levy involves property taxes on all owners in a given school district and is enforced by local and state government. Not only is the cost burden of public education born by all in the school district, if you fail to pay property taxes fines could be leveled or you could be taken to court. Families that send their children to private schools on the other hand, bear the complete cost burden of educating children by the tuition they pay and the subsidies of private organizations.
Park lands like Hocking Hills are not entirely funded by tax monies. They make profit with entrance fees and site rentals like cabins and picnic shelters. Roads are largely paid for by the tax on gasoline and even if an individual no longer drives, they benefit from the transportation of goods along these roads. Services such as busing and special education provided by public school districts are already paid for via property taxes families have paid.
"It would be easy to compete against Rep. Wachtmann's water company, Culligan Water, if he had to provide all of the shipping costs for my company. If he's forced to provide a service to me through shipping all of my product that I don't have to pay, and then I can claim that I'm more efficient and therefore I have a better product. I think he'd have a problem with that," stated Horstman in closing.

Laura, you hit the public education nail right on the head!

2011-11-22T13:05:00.001-05:00

From John Curry, November 22, 2011

http://www.ohio.com/editorial/the-debt-we-owe-to-public-education-1.246699

The debt we owe to public education

By Laura Ofobike
Beacon Journal chief editorial writer
November 21, 2011

A couple of weeks after Election Day, the giddiness — or the dyspepsia, depending on which side of the Issue 2 fault line you lined up — likely is fading. Behind us, I hope, are the raw emotions, the overblown rhetoric and ads. But still staring us in the face are some stark facts we need to absorb, both as individuals and as communities, if we are serious in Ohio about maintaining a public school system that can carry the weight of the future.

The majority of new school levies on the Nov. 8 ballot failed. That hardly passes as news anymore. A floundering economy has left masses of shell-shocked taxpayers who appear to be in no mood to vote for new property taxes for schools.

But that is not all the reason local schools have been coming up short so many times on financial support. In many districts, the percentage of residents who have children in the public school system is very low. (About 20 percent of Akron residents have children enrolled in the Akron Public Schools, for instance.) The declining number is not simply because private and charter schools and home-schoolers are drawing away households that otherwise would be part of the public system. Without question, state legislative policies in recent years certainly make that a factor. More important, though, is that current demographic trends are not always on the side of schools. Add a graying population to the fact that younger people are having fewer children, and you have a situation where fewer households have a direct and immediate interest in issues relating to schools.

Economists tell us we are fairly rational beings who make pocketbook decisions on the basis of how much we expect to benefit, sooner or later, from a transaction. In other words, we calculate how much of our assets to put on the line, how much skin to put in the game, based on what we expect to gain in return. In that sense, we play a pocketbook-versus-expectations game in which, unfortunately, levies for public education are coming out at the short end much too frequently.

[Read entire article here.]

Flashback to January 18, 2010: Message to CORE members from Dave Parshall

2011-11-21T21:51:00.000-05:00

From Dave Parshall, January 18, 2010

To CORE members

Dear CORE members,
Please find below a letter for you to use to send to the media or any interested group you wish. This letter was board approved and is the product of the CORE Media Committee. You can use it as whole or any part you wish. It is time to start to get our side of the pension issues to the public. Also, we need to be politically smart. There are groups out there that wish to do us harm for a host of reasons. While the legislature is deciding what to do with Ohio Public pensions, we need to stop the public attacks on STRS. CORE will still bring up some of the STRS issues we have with Mr. Nehf in February. All educators need to stand together during these difficult times. We can’t afford to hurt our own cause.
Yours truly,
Dave Parshall, President of CORE

You Asked the Wrong Question!

Recent attacks by the media on public employees and their pensions were asking the wrong question. The real question the private sector should demand an answer for is, “What has happened to my pension?” Retirement was meant to be a three-legged stool: Social Security, an employer provided pension, and personal savings. 401k plans were never intended to be the foundation of anyone’s retirement, yet they have become so today. Corporations have been allowed to undermine pensions and depress salaries to increase their bottom lines, enrich investors, and inflate CEO’s golden parachutes at the expense of workers. It is simply the product of corporate and Wall Street greed that has taken pensions and helped drive this country into the ditch.

Recent research published by the National Institute on Retirement Security, www.nirsonline.org entitled “More Bang for the Buck,” points out that a defined benefit pension is the best retirement plan for all Americans. U.S. News and World Report, August 2008, states “401k plans save employers money because workers fund a portion of the plan. But a new analysis says 401ks are an inefficient way to finance a secure retirement.” The Financial News, August 2009, points out that “defined contribution schemes such as 401k plans are more expensive for employers to implement even as companies shift toward them and away from defined benefit schemes.” Time Magazine, Oct 2009, tells us, “Why it is Time to Retire the 401k...the ugly truth is that the 401k is a lousy idea, a financial flop, and a rotten repository for our retirement reserves.” And that is the real problem.

Public employees have a “defined benefit pension”--more accurately a deferred contribution pension--and so should you. However, there are some truths about public pensions and State Teacher’s Retirement System (STRS) in particular that the corporate-dominated press will never tell you.

In the first place, by state law teachers fund their own pensions. Their pensions are deferred compensation acquired through negotiations. The moment teachers sign a contract to teach, their contributions to STRS become part of their salary. The school board’s contribution to STRS is part of that contract. The school board’s 14% contribution to STRS has not changed since 1984. Over the same time period, an individual teachers’ contribution rate has increased 42.9 % to the current 10% of salary. The truth is teachers fund their own retirements. Switching public pensions to defined contribution plans is just a bad idea and will cost the state more.

Ohio teachers’ pension system was designed to replace Social Security and provide a decent retirement. To this day, teachers don’t pay into or receive Social Security. (Those teachers who worked enough quarters in the private sector get a greatly reduced payment. Social Security has a true compounded COLA, cost of living adjustment, based on the Consumer Price Index.) The STRS COLA is not compounded and is based on final salary average and never increases during a retiree’s life time. Teachers’ salaries are still low compared to similar degreed professionals. The media loves to quote the salaries of large urban school districts like many in Franklin County. What they don’t tell you is that about half of the teaching force works in rural districts and are paid far less. In many districts in southern Ohio, after a 35 year career a teacher is lucky to earn $40,000. Currently, 37,000 30-year retirees have pensions of $30,000 or less, and 62,000 retirees receive a pension less than $39,000. With Social Security, a company pension, and a 401 K or IRA plan, professionals in the private sector still fare much better during their career and into their retirement.

Until recently active teachers did not have the option of paying into Medicare. Consequently, about 10,000 retired teachers do not get Medicare Part A. STRS retirees have no spousal subsidy for health care. A retiree couple pays well over $1000 a month for health care. This is a big hit to a small monthly pension. STRS retirees fund 95 % of their health care and yet the fund is running dry. It will be the crisis for Ohio’s taxpayers if nearly 170,000 older retirees are added to the state’s Medicaid and Welfare roles.

Teachers and their leaders continue to work to find ways to solve the shortfall generated by the current market drop. Some changes have already been made. It is understandable that the public is upset with their own lot, and the feeling that they have lost control of their own retirement, but public pensions are not the problem.

The question needs to be redirected. The real revolt will come when those 30 or 40 year old workers finally realize that with a 401k foundation they will never be able to retire. Perhaps the media attack on public pensions was an attempt to redirect attention away from what has happened to private pensions and the unconstitutional funding of Ohio schools. It is time to finally ask the right questions so we all will be on the same side. Corporations and Wall Street will be on the other side where they have always been.

A proud member of CORE: Concerned Ohio Retired Educators.

Minutes for the November 17, 2011 CORE Meeting

2011-11-21T21:04:00.004-05:00

From CORE, November 21, 2011

After a rather lengthy morning STRS Board Meeting session, President Dave Parshall opened the November meeting of the Concerned Ohio Retired Educators (CORE) at 1:15 p.m. As president he welcomed new retiree Tom Batdorf and then had the other ten CORE members present introduce themselves as well.

The first item of official business was to accept the October minutes. Mary Ellen Angeletti moved that they be accepted; Richard Stearns seconded it. The minutes were accepted as written.

The president, who is also acting treasurer, announced that our treasury currently is fine.

President Parshall congratulated all who worked on the defeat of Senate Bill 5/Issue 2. He warned that we all must be wary and extra vigilant about what might lie ahead, however. The president also noted that ORTA did finally vote to oppose Issue 2 although it wasn’t a unanimous vote. In fact, it’s unclear if perhaps it was a narrow vote. Mary Ellen volunteered to make inquiries about the vote since it should be public knowledge (or at least knowledge to ORTA members).

The president spent the remainder of the meeting talking about GASB – and how it’s a potential problem for STRS, based on what was said at the board meeting earlier in the day – and the COLA, which is not a true “cost of living” adjustment. He concluded his comments by directing retirees to the “You asked the wrong question” paper, which is available on-line through Kathie Bracy’s Blog or on the CORE website.

Our brief meeting adjourned at 1:30 in order for members to return to the afternoon session of the STRS Board Meeting set to resume at 1:30. As we were leaving, President Dave reminded us that there would be no CORE meeting the month of December; our next meeting will be on January 19, 2012.

Respectfully submitted,

Marie M. Fetters

CORE secretary