Missing context? Start here:

When CORE organizers in OEA submitted their NBI, they anticipated a bloated price tag, but none of us expected the outright absurdity of the final number: $52.4 million, almost ten times more expensive than the 2023 signature drive to enshrine abortion rights in Ohio.

Organizers knew that if they had any chance of getting the assembly to back the collective bargaining initiative, the price tag would have to come down. A lot.

In accordance with the NBI proposal process, the maker of the motion received a phone call the Wednesday before RA to discuss any challenges or questions. As expected, the challenge with the NBI was cost and the lack of existing labor partnerships with the state affiliate. Still, there was a mutual desire to hear member voices on the floor.

To ensure those voices were well-informed, CORE organizers brought flyers on the morning of the RA to hand out just before delegates entered the designated floor. We got shut down. A woman from the planning committee came up and asked who had given us permission to flyer. An organizer responded, “No one, because my understanding was you only needed the President’s permission for materials distributed on the floor.” She went to ask the OEA President, came back, and delivered the verdict: he said no.

Later, we looked in the RA manual. We were right; “on the floor” was the exact language. A pair of organizers approached the woman again, and she disputed our interpretation; leadership considered the entire building hosting the event as “the floor.”

Once the RA began, CORE organizers worked diligently with the OEA legal team and financial director to amend the language to capture exactly what the caucus wanted. Though this process was lengthy, it was true union work and showed the incredible resources members can actually access. They helped us to craft the NBI language down to the exact word, asking clarifying questions along the way and providing helpful insight.

The group was able to get the NBI cost down to $246,000—a nominal fee for a union as big as OEA—reflecting the true ask: utilize the institution’s lawyers to assist in drafting a statewide ballot initiative supporting a constitutional amendment to retain and restore collective bargaining rights, the right to strike, and the right for all workers to form and join a union.

The amendment also included OEA communicating with labor partners and soliciting interest in the effort. The opposing amendment, which ultimately succeeded in killing our motion, focused exclusively on this part. Our amendment would have allowed the institution to do both: invest in members and garner interest. However, that detail was lost on members because of tactics from leadership, and only the latter would survive.

Regardless, this was to be done by the 2026 November election, the most favorable upcoming election we have: people will be turning out for midterms, and we have the gubernatorial election. Leadership disagreed, claiming during debate that this work could hurt the union’s efforts to elect Amy Acton.

Despite decades of union-busting capitalists suppressing the working class, CORE believes Ohioans are pro-union. We saw this constitutional amendment as only helping Amy Acton and communicated that to membership. Amy Acton is pro-public education and pro-union; our amendment would only add to her platform and sway voters.

In the end, leadership would succeed in obfuscating these nuances through procedural smoke and mirrors. We expected those and other kill tactics within the norms of parliamentary law, but what we experienced was an extreme deviation.

The Chair spoke openly against the NBI, and all points of information were forwarded through the Chair to an OEA staffer (who was also openly hostile to CORE organizers) instead of allowing the maker of the motion to respond. Through this weaponization of the request for information, no rationale or sense of urgency for the NBI was communicated to the membership. CORE members had to reprimand the Chair for taking a stance twice; if he wanted to speak for or against the motion, he needed to relinquish the Chair to a neutral party.

CORE members fiercely defended the original language of the NBI. The maker of the motion pointed out that as much as she wished this move were proactive, we were already on defense. Senate Bill 1 is now Ohio law, banning faculty in higher education from going on strike.

Another speaker, quoting the OEA President from earlier in the day, asked, “If not now, when?” while urging the assembly to consider the power we have in every school in every county in the state.

The amendment that killed the motion was put forward by an OEA Director, who was awarded the opportunity by the Chair to speak twice while others waited. When the amendment was first ruled out of order (it sought to amend language that had already been struck by the maker of the motion through our own amendment), the Chair tepidly conceded, “I am going to ask [Director] to withdraw his motion.” The Chair also spoke openly about “the plan” when speaking of amending CORE’s NBI. This shows the Chair of the meeting was helping to implement strategy against a member-driven and proposed new business item.

Throughout the debate, the Chair and several OEA Directors revealed a contemptuous stance toward the union’s democratic structures. This contempt was aided by the failure of both Parliamentarians to ensure the Chair followed parliamentary procedure.

Ultimately the motion was amended and passed as an effort in which OEA will gauge interest in and explore the feasibility of protecting collective bargaining rights and bring forward something to the OEA general assembly at the spring 2028 RA. Leadership left the process and timeline for doing so intentionally vague.

OEA will now spend $250k to collect data and decide if the effort is “worth it” with no clear deadline—in other words, to do nothing—by 2028 instead of spending $250k to give rank and file members a shot at protecting our collective bargaining rights.

Still, the fight is far from over. The membership absolutely resonated with CORE members’ message, as our caucus has continued to grow since the RA. CORE will continue organizing, and at the Spring RA, we’ll be back to fight like hell for every educator, student, and worker in Ohio. We’re the ones we’ve been waiting for.

On Sunday, November 30th CORE organizers submitted a New Business Item (NBI) for the Ohio Education Association (OEA) delegates to discuss and vote on at the upcoming Representative Assembly (RA) on Saturday, December 6, 2025.

The NBI calls for OEA to create and fund a statewide ballot initiative to retain and restore collective bargaining rights for all Ohio workers, not just OEA members. CORE organizers believe their state affiliates should proactively lead the fight for organized labor in Ohio instead of playing nice with politicians and hoping for the best.

The emergency NBI responds directly to the Ohio legislature’s attempts to weaken educator unions and escalate the damage of Senate Bill 1 — the law signed by Governor DeWine on March 28, 2025 that stripped higher-ed faculty of academic freedom and the right to strike. We know they’re coming for K-12 educators next and other unions soon after — Senate Bill 5 wasn’t so long ago, after all.

In true educator fashion, CORE organizers aren’t just defending their own rights; they’re fighting for every worker in Ohio. An attack on one union is an attack on all.

The complete language of the NBI is as follows:

Collective Bargaining Rights NBI

Because the Ohio legislature has demonstrated hostility to the public education profession through targeted attacks, the Ohio Education Association will:

Create and fund a statewide ballot initiative for a constitutional amendment for the 2026 November election cycle which retains and restores:

• Collective bargaining rights

• The right to strike

• The rights of all workers (public and private sector) to unionize.

To accomplish this task the Ohio Education Association will:

• Utilize existing partnerships with labor sectors to fund this statewide ballot initiative

• Utilize its infrastructure of membership to organize efficiently and productively to gather the required signatures throughout the process

• Notify the members of the General Assembly on the progress of this New Business Item on a monthly basis

Rationale: Ohio General Assembly has signaled an escalating effort to erode collective bargaining rights and undermine union power. Lawmakers have recently removed academic freedom and the right to strike from higher education institutions through the passage of Senate Bill 1. This was not a stand-alone effort. This is part of a targeted series of efforts which will break union protections across all sectors one piece at a time. The signature requirements and process of a statewide ballot initiative is extensive, this constitutes an emergency action by OEA which will not be feasible if brought any later than the 2025 Fall Representative Assembly.

The NBI was written by CORE members representing 5 local unions. It has been put forward by CORE organizers Kelsey Gray from the Columbus Education Association and Natalie Geer from Delaware City Educators Association.

November 4th’s election night brought public education wins to city, suburb, and rural districts across the state, though notably avoiding Columbus. Below is a quick recap.

Levies and Bonds

Olentangy Local Schools Bond - Yes 56%

• Will fund the construction of a new high school and an elementary school, along with other infrastructure and safety updates.

Jonathan Alder Local School District Bond - No 50.13%

• This would have funded construction of a new middle school and to renovate, repair, expand, improve and construct additions to current facilities. There may be hope for JA yet, as the result was close enough to likely trigger a recount, and the Board of Education is considering legal action against the Union County Treasurer Office.

King Local School District 1% Income Tax - Yes

Westerville City Schools, Earned Income Tax Levy - Yes, 60%

• Local unions and school boards alike should be taking note of the victory for Westerville City Schools, who also voted in union-endorsed Board of Education members, resulting in a 100% union-backed school board, in edition to a funded district, despite the continued divestment from the state. The passage of this earned income tax levy, which WEA members mobilized in droves to support, avoids $20 million in cuts.

Walnut Township Local School District Emergency Levy No - 53%

Southwest Licking Local School District Bond No - 70%

Delaware City Schools Tax Levy Yes - 52%

• Delaware City Education Association activated over 10 percent of their membership to canvass and partake in a text campaign in support of the levy.

Jefferson Local School District Income Tax Levy Yes - 69%

School Board races

Southwestern City Schools

The Democrat slate of Kelly Dillon, Chelsea Alkire, and Camile Peterson won. The slate, endorsed by South Western EA, faced an attack when the opposing Republican slate created a deepfake AI generated video of the endorsed candidates expressing false opinions.

While this has been a voiced fear from the tech industry and content creators alike, this was the first time (to CORE’s knowledge) we saw it interfere in a very real way. While social media can be a friend to campaigns, it reminds us that in-person, real-life member and community engagement will bring us the wins we need!

Pickerington

A notable candidate on the Pickerington ballot was Brooke Lagrosso, CCS educator, CORE-Columbus EA member, and special needs parent. Running on a platform of classroom teacher representation, community engagement, and board involvement, she gained both Pickerington EA and Columbus EA endorsements.

Through CORE organizing she was able to fund a crucial part of her campaign, as a CORE-CEA organizer who sits on the union’s PAC put forward a motion for monetary support to Lagrosso’s campaign. Educators supporting educators - we love to see it.

Upper Arlington

Board of Education President Lou Sauter was unseated by a former-admin-now-Board-member, and though we always have speculation when a former boss becomes a bigger boss, newly elected Francis (Kip) Greenhill seems to be teacher-friendly and very much in support of progressive education. In other great news, Board member Nidhi Satiani, known and appreciated for her activism and transparency, retained her seat.

Columbus

The Columbus EA slate and the Franklin County Democratic Party slate differed by one candidate, and it was an important one. Organizers made videos and slide decks for union leadership to educate fellow members on the importance of the race, though those materials went unused, and member mobilization totaled 13 out of 4,300. The community saw another election bought and paid for by the Franklin County Democratic Party.

While two of the three seats were won, the union did not flip its hostile board of education, despite a contract re-opener on the table and going on 4 years post-strike.

Canal Winchester

With no current PAC and no endorsements, CWEA chose a path of transparency that brought educators and community together: they hosted a candidate night for their school board race.

Candidates were asked pre-determined questions without the ability to prepare an answer. Questions rotated, providing every candidate a chance to answer first, and responses were held to a one minute time limit.

Attendees (educators, parents, and community members alike) said hearing the candid replies helped them make an informed decision, and perhaps most impressive of all, was the high school student that stepped into a leadership role and facilitated the event.

Looking for us to cover your district? Let us know by sending an email to info@core4ed.org.

Why Didn’t Columbus Educators Endorse Emmanuel Remy? Ask CORE.

One of CORE’s founding principles is fair and full funding for our public schools. Ohio’s lawmakers have abandoned the Fair School Funding Plan in order to funnel public dollars into private pockets via never-ending voucher and charter expansions which destroys public education.

We must fight privatization at every opportunity, including local elections. If a politician takes vouchers, they should not get our endorsement. This logic would seem relatively uncontroversial, but unfortunately, the Columbus Education Association’s leadership disagrees.

Emmanuel Remy is the Columbus City Councilman for District 4. This fall he was up for reelection and ran unopposed. His spouse is a CEA member, his children have been in CCS schools, and he has said nice things about public education, so this kind of endorsement would normally get rubber stamped without a second thought.

Political endorsements are a process that starts with CEA’s Political Action Committee (PAC): Teachers for Better Schools (TBS). TBS screens candidates and issues and makes a formal recommendation to the union’s Board of Governors, who are elected union officials that represent hundreds of members and faculty representatives. If the Board of Governors approve the recommendations, it then goes to the union’s Legislative Assembly (the body of all elected faculty representatives), who have the final vote on the matter.

A CORE-CEA member currently serves on the board of TBS. The TBS Board had, for the first time, chosen to not endorse Zach Klein, Columbus City Attorney, based on his use of vouchers for his children’s education.

The TBS Board had voted to endorse Emmanuel Remy; however, shortly after the screening of candidates, she received (and verified) the word that Remy takes vouchers for his kids to attend a private Catholic school. She notified a CEA Governor and CEA’s president, and attended the next CEA Board of Governors meeting to urge the Governors to reconsider Remy’s endorsement.

The ensuing discussion, while dynamic and passionate, ultimately landed on the idea that Remy “shouldn’t be punished for following the law,” conflating legality with morality. It’s perfectly legal for a union member to cross a picket line, but to say they shouldn’t be treated differently for it would be asinine.

Regardless, the CEA Board of Governors voted to approve Remy’s endorsement (with some noted dissent), and it moved to the Legislative Assembly. CORE members would have to step up, defy leadership, and toss the dice of democracy.

Democracy only functions in concert with functional media; an uninformed public cannot vote for their values. To ensure members are informed on the issues for which union caucuses stand, they create alternative streams of information through which otherwise sunken stories can resurface and be rescued.

Similarly, if the Board of Governors had managed to defeat our plucky underdog’s spirit, CEA union reps wouldn’t know they were endorsing a voucher recipient for city council.

CORE members tend to be nothing if not persistent, however, so she sent an email to CORE-CEA members (i.e. CEA members who had signed up for the caucus) in an effort to inform them of the situation and that the endorsement was in direct conflict with CORE’s central demands.

The email encouraged the caucus to embrace the democratic structures of a union by contacting their elected union representation—the governors—or partaking in discussion at the upcoming Legislative Assembly.

Leadership found out and didn’t take kindly to that.

Some Governors took offense to the email as though being elected to union leadership insulates an official from disagreement. Others fundamentally misunderstood how caucuses work and accused CORE of some unspecified impropriety. They also took the move as an unethical use of member information, overlooking the fact that the email only went to CORE-CEA members.

On the day of the Legislative Assembly, the endorsement issue started right off the bat in public comment, as CEA leadership invited Remy’s spouse, a fellow CEA member, to speak and urge the faculty representatives to endorse her husband.

The CEA member owned her family’s use of vouchers, specifying the exact Catholic school they chose, their children’s educational path, and, in all due fairness, the fact that one of their three children still attends CCS.

As qualified and careful as the message was, it established a palpable tension. As the speech came to a close, whispers rippled around the room—“There are some good high schools in that area...what’s wrong with them?...Everything we do is political; we’re educators.”

CORE does not say any of this to tarnish our fellow member’s reputation. If these political critiques feel personal, perhaps the point has been demonstrated: “personal” and “political” are a false dichotomy.

The meeting finally reached New Business and the formal recommendation of the Board of Governors to endorse some great candidates—Jesse Vogel chief among them—, some unsurprising institutional choices, and one now-controversial name.

Immediately after reading the New Business Item, the president relinquished the chair, signaling his intent to speak on the New Business Item. Now addressing the floor as a fellow member, he spoke to “realpolitik,” the pragmatic benefit of endorsing someone like Remy, with whom he will have to meet either way. There were some generalities about Remy’s contributions to our schools, but apparently nothing memorable enough to specify.

His speech would be the last in support of Remy that evening.

As he spoke, a CORE member who was motivated to act by the caucus email started a line at the mic to make a motion. She moved to amend the main motion by removing Remy’s endorsement, emphasizing the damage being done to public schools while our taxes subsidize wealthy elites. Our schools crumble, our district faces a $50 million deficit, and meanwhile, lawmakers bend over backwards to fund private schools.

Another CORE-CEA member sprang up to second her motion, acknowledging the hard work of our union officers—nothing personal, after all—before pivoting to draw a hard line: the purpose of vouchers is to destroy public education, full stop. If we never stand up for our principles and defend public education, nothing will change.

A third CORE-CEA member brought it home by holding up his voting credential card to remind members that they may vote for whatever they think is right. What gives us the right to judge Remy’s use of vouchers? That card. Leadership has made their recommendations, and now the legislative body can decide whether his choice, while legal, crosses an ethical line for our union.

None of the Governors spoke against the motion to strike Remy from the endorsements.

The chair called for a standing vote, and the Legislative Assembly made its stance known: approximately 75% rose in support. The rest voted against, and it was done. Without much fanfare, the main motion continued as amended, passed unanimously, and found publication that evening:

And by the next morning, a local independent journalist already picked up the thread:

That’s the power of rank and file members organizing through a caucus. Instead of taking the path of least resistance, CORE-CEA helped members to be informed, unify behind their shared values, and to act upon them through democratic structures.

Library Workers, Stoners, and Baristas

Columbus Metropolitan Library Workers Are Unionizing!

Columbus has one of (if not *the*) best library system in the country, and it’s about damn time their workers are compensated for it. It’s no secret the Ohio Federation of Teachers (OFT) has been helping public libraries organize like crazy the past few years, from Worthington, Upper Arlington, Grandview, and now Columbus.

Two of CORE’s central demands are fair and full funding and academic freedom, and we proudly include public libraries and their workers in these points. Show your support for CML workers by signing their pledge and keep an eye out for their campaign material. If it’s anything remotely close to the CML tiktok content (@columbuslibrary), it will definitely be worth the read/watch.

Stoners on Strike

The employees at Herbal Wellness Center on East Main street in Columbus have been on strike since September 27th. The union has been in contract negotiations with their bosses for over a year, and with the company refusing to bargain in good faith, the members have been holding their picket line strong for weeks due to the unfair labor practices. Follow their instagram @hwcunited for updates and opportunities to support their picket lines, and until they get that contract, buy your marijuana somewhere else!

Starbucks Workers Hold That Line

Starbucks Workers United (SBWU) is going on two weeks for their nationwide ULP strike. Not only has the union been very strong in central Ohio, but they shut down one of the largest Starbucks distribution centers with their picket line, undoubtedly hitting the company’s bottom line. Keep on the right side of history and don’t cross that picket line until the workers get a fair contract!

Columbus Metropolitan Library Workers Unionizing

Columbus has one of (if not *the*) best library system in the country, and it’s about damn time their workers are compensated for it. It’s no secret the Ohio Federation of Teachers (OFT) has been helping public libraries organize like crazy the past few years, from Worthington, Upper Arlington, Grandview, and now Columbus.

Two of CORE’s central demands are fair and full funding and academic freedom, and we proudly include public libraries and their workers in these points. Show your support for CML workers by signing their pledge and keep an eye out for their campaign material. If it’s anything remotely close to the CML tiktok content (@columbuslibrary), it will definitely be worth the read/watch.

Stoners on Strike

The employees at Herbal Wellness Center on East Main street in Columbus have been on strike since September 27th. The union has been in contract negotiations with their bosses for over a year, and with the company refusing to bargain in good faith, the members have been holding their picket line strong for weeks due to the unfair labor practices. Follow their instagram @hwcunited for updates and opportunities to support their picket lines, and until they get that contract, buy your marijuana somewhere else!

Starbucks Workers Still on Strike

Starbucks Workers United (SBWU) is going on two weeks for their nationwide ULP strike. Not only has the union been very strong in central Ohio, but they shut down one of the largest Starbucks distribution centers with their picket line, undoubtedly hitting the company’s bottom line. Keep on the right side of history and don’t cross that picket line until the workers get a fair contract!

Emmanuel Remy is the Columbus City Councilman for District 4. This fall he was up for reelection and ran unopposed. His spouse is a CEA member, his children have been in CCS schools, and he has said nice things about public education, so this kind of endorsement would normally get rubber stamped without a second thought.

Political endorsements are a process that starts with CEA’s Political Action Committee (PAC): Teachers for Better Schools (TBS). TBS screens candidates and issues and makes a formal recommendation to the union’s Board of Governors, who are elected union officials that represent hundreds of members and faculty representatives. If the Board of Governors approve the recommendations, it then goes to the union’s Legislative Assembly (the body of all elected faculty representatives), who have the final vote on the matter.

A CORE-CEA member currently serves on the board of TBS. The TBS Board had, for the first time, chosen to not endorse Zach Klein, Columbus City Attorney, based on his use of vouchers for his children’s education. The TBS Board had voted to endorse Emmanuel Remy; however, shortly after the screening of candidates, she received (and verified) the word that Remy takes vouchers for his kids to attend a private Catholic school. She notified a CEA Governor and CEA’s president, and attended the next CEA Board of Governors meeting to urge the Governors to reconsider Remy’s endorsement.

The ensuing discussion, while dynamic and passionate, ultimately landed on the idea that Remy “shouldn’t be punished for following the law,” conflating legality with morality. It’s perfectly legal for a union member to cross a picket line, but to say they shouldn’t be treated differently for it would be asinine. Regardless, the CEA Board of Governors voted to approve Remy’s endorsement (with some noted dissent), and it moved to the Legislative Assembly. CORE members would have to step up, defy leadership, and toss the dice of democracy.

Democracy only functions in concert with functional media; an uninformed public cannot vote for their values. To ensure members are informed on the issues for which union caucuses stand, they create alternative streams of information through which otherwise sunken stories can resurface and be rescued.

Similarly, if the Board of Governors had managed to defeat our plucky underdog’s spirit, CEA union reps wouldn’t know they were endorsing a voucher recipient for city council. CORE members tend to be nothing if not persistent, however, so she sent an email to CORE-CEA members (i.e. CEA members who had signed up for the caucus) in an effort to inform them of the situation and that the endorsement was in direct conflict with CORE’s central demands. The email encouraged the caucus to embrace the democratic structures of a union by contacting their elected union representation—the governors—or partaking in discussion at the upcoming Legislative Assembly.

Leadership found out and didn’t take kindly to that.

Some Governors took offense to the email as though being elected to union leadership insulates an official from disagreement. Others fundamentally misunderstood how caucuses work and accused CORE of some unspecified impropriety. They also took the move as an unethical use of member information, overlooking the fact that the email only went to CORE-CEA members. Capping things off, the president called another CORE member at 7:30 AM on a school day to air his grievances. Talk about boss behavior.

On the day of the Legislative Assembly, the endorsement issue started right off the bat in public comment, as CEA leadership invited Remy’s spouse, a fellow CEA member, to speak and urge the faculty representatives to endorse her husband.

The CEA member owned her family’s use of vouchers, specifying the exact Catholic school they chose, their children’s educational path, and, in all due fairness, the fact that one of their three children still attends CCS. As qualified and careful as the message was, it established a palpable tension. As the speech came to a close, whispers rippled around the room—“There are some good high schools in that area...what’s wrong with them?...Everything we do is political; we’re educators.”

CORE does not say any of this to tarnish our fellow member’s reputation. If these political critiques feel personal, perhaps the point has been demonstrated: “personal” and “political” are a false dichotomy.

The meeting finally reached New Business and the formal recommendation of the Board of Governors to endorse some great candidates—Jesse Vogel chief among them—, some unsurprising institutional choices, and one now-controversial name.

Immediately after reading the New Business Item, the president relinquished the chair, signaling his intent to speak on the New Business Item. Now addressing the floor as a fellow member, he spoke to “realpolitik,” the pragmatic benefit of endorsing someone like Remy, with whom he will have to meet either way. There were some generalities about Remy’s contributions to our schools, but apparently nothing memorable enough to specify.

His speech would be the last in support of Remy that evening.

As he spoke, a CORE member who was motivated to act by the caucus email started a line at the mic to make a motion. She moved to amend the main motion by removing Remy’s endorsement, emphasizing the damage being done to public schools while our taxes subsidize wealthy elites. Our schools crumble, our district faces a $50 million deficit, and meanwhile, lawmakers bend over backwards to fund private schools.

Another CORE-CEA member sprang up to second her motion, acknowledging the hard work of our union officers—nothing personal, after all—before pivoting to draw a hard line: the purpose of vouchers is to destroy public education, full stop. If we never stand up for our principles and defend public education, nothing will change.

A third CORE-CEA member brought it home by holding up his voting credential to remind members that they may vote for whatever they think is right. What gives us the right to judge Remy’s use of vouchers? That card. Leadership has made their recommendations, and now the legislative body can decide whether his choice, while legal, crosses an ethical line for our union.

None of the Governors spoke against the motion to strike Remy from the endorsements.

The chair called for a standing vote, and the Legislative Assembly made its stance known: approximately 75% rose in support. The rest voted against, and it was done. Without much fanfare, the main motion continued as amended, passed unanimously, and found publication that evening:

And by the next morning, a local independent journalist already picked up the thread:

That’s the power of rank and file members organizing through a caucus. Instead of taking the path of least resistance, CORE-CEA helped members to be informed, unify behind their shared values, and to act upon them through democratic structures.

November 4th’s election night brought public education wins to city, suburb, and rural districts across the state, though notably avoiding Columbus. Below is a quick recap.

Levies and Bonds

Olentangy Local Schools Bond - Yes 56%

• Will fund the construction of a new high school and an elementary school, along with other infrastructure and safety updates.

Jonathan Alder Local School District Bond - No 50.13%

• This would have funded construction of a new middle school and to renovate, repair, expand, improve and construct additions to current facilities. There may be hope for JA yet, as the result was close enough to likely trigger a recount, and the Board of Education is considering legal action against the Union County Treasurer Office.

King Local School District 1% Income Tax - Yes

Westerville City Schools, Earned Income Tax Levy - Yes, 60%

• Local unions and school boards alike should be taking note of the victory for Westerville City Schools, who also voted in union-endorsed Board of Education members, resulting in a 100% union-backed school board, in edition to a funded district, despite the continued divestment from the state. The passage of this earned income tax levy, which WEA members mobilized in droves to support, avoids $20 million in cuts.

Walnut Township Local School District Emergency Levy No - 53%

Southwest Licking Local School District Bond No - 70%

Delaware City Schools Tax Levy Yes - 52%

• Delaware City Education Association activated over 10 percent of their membership to canvass and partake in a text campaign in support of the levy.

Jefferson Local School District Income Tax Levy Yes - 69%

School Board races

Southwestern City Schools

The Democrat slate of Kelly Dillon, Chelsea Alkire, and Camile Peterson won. The slate, endorsed by South Western EA, faced an attack when the opposing Republican slate created a deepfake AI generated video of the endorsed candidates expressing false opinions.

While this has been a voiced fear from the tech industry and content creators alike, this was the first time (to CORE’s knowledge) we saw it interfere in a very real way. While social media can be a friend to campaigns, it reminds us that in-person, real-life member and community engagement will bring us the wins we need!

Pickerington

A notable candidate on the Pickerington ballot was Brooke Lagrosso, CCS educator, CORE-Columbus EA member, and special needs parent. Running on a platform of classroom teacher representation, community engagement, and board involvement, she gained both Pickerington EA and Columbus EA endorsements. Through CORE organizing she was able to fund a crucial part of her campaign, as a CORE-CEA organizer who sits on the union’s PAC put forward a motion for monetary support to Lagrosso’s campaign. Educators supporting educators - we love to see it.

Upper Arlington

Board of Education President Lou Sauter was unseated by a former-admin-now-Board-member, and though we always have speculation when a former boss becomes a bigger boss, newly elected Francis (Kip) Greenhill seems to be teacher-friendly and very much in support of progressive education. In other great news, Board member Nidhi Satiani, known and appreciated for her activism and transparency, retained her seat.

Columbus

The Columbus EA slate and the Franklin County Democratic Party slate differed by one candidate, and it was an important one. Organizers made videos and slide decks for union leadership to educate fellow members on the importance of the race, though those materials went unused, and member mobilization totaled 13 out of 4,300 (5 of which were CORE-CEA members). As a result, the community saw another election bought and paid for by the Franklin County Democratic Party.

While two of the three seats were won, the union did not flip its hostile board of education, despite a contract re-opener on the table and going on 4 years post-strike.

Canal Winchester

With no current PAC and no endorsements, CWEA chose a path of transparency that brought educators and community together: they hosted a candidate night for their school board race. Candidates were asked pre-determined questions without the ability to prepare an answer. Questions rotated, providing every candidate a chance to answer first, and responses were held to a one minute time limit. Attendees (educators, parents, and community members alike) said hearing the candid replies helped them make an informed decision, and perhaps most impressive of all, was the high school student that stepped into a leadership role and facilitated the event.

Looking for us to cover your district? Let us know by sending an email to info@core4ed.org.

Today marks the start of a nationwide strike of Starbucks Workers United (SBWU), and educators around the country are raising mugs of home-brewed coffee in solidarity.

For years the union has reported on stalled negotiations, abhorrent union-busting tactics, and abysmal working conditions, all while their CEO commutes by private jet, and raked in $96,000,000 for working 120 days in 2024.

Despite the company spending $240,000,000 on union-busting lawfirms, the workers have organized themselves to the picket line on Starbucks’ most profitable time: the launch of their iconic holiday Red Cup Day.

Unionized workers need to not only stand together in solidarity and hold strong picket lines, but SBWU members have an awful lot in common with educators, as CORE reported in our August edition of The Member Action Tea. These conditions include (but aren’t limited to) work environments over 80 degrees, being sick from stress on the job, skyrocketing medical coverage costs, and severe understaffing.

Central Ohio is a concentrated area of unionized Starbucks locations, and they’re kicking the strike off with a rally at 4pm at their store on West 5th ave in Columbus. Though most educators are still in the classroom until at least 3:30, you can donate to their strike fund, sign their pledge, or easiest of all: stop buying Starbucks until they get their contract!

On Tuesday, October 21st, Ohio New Educators (a group of OEA members from across the state, in years 0-10 of the profession) held a town hall meeting with four legislators: Louis W. Blessing, III (R - District 8), Jason Stephens (R - District 93), Nickie Antonio (D - District 23) and Dani Isaacsohn (D - District 24). The event was advertised (as pictured above) to discuss collective bargaining, pensions, and funding.

Four questions were posed to legislators over the course of one hour. The event was moderated by a staff member of OEA, and panelists were not held to a time limited response, nor were answers given in any sort of order. It was all a bit loosey goosey around topics that are anything but.

Question 1 asked the panelists, “What does a successful graduate look like to you?”, in which Blessing (R) gave a refreshing answer that highlighted the importance of general education for all amidst programs and companies pushing for career tech starting as low as middle school.

Teen isolation, mental health struggles, and the failure to teach younger generations on how to navigate the digital world were all voiced by Isaacsohn (D), with an emphasis on the role of public education being to bring students together and have real life experiences that they (and we) learn and grow from.

Stephens (R) brought up the need to have schools provide the practical resources they used to, such as driver’s education. Access to driving is a serious barrier for the majority of rural Ohioans, and is felt within the city districts too, due to Ohio’s lack of public transportation.

Antonio (D) said kids should know their options, have experiential learning, and while she pushed back on the recent child labor expansion, she said all graduates should have a mandatory one year of service after high school graduation.

Question 2 dealt with school funding and asked legislators how to balance it with property taxes. While Blessing said the Fair School Funding Program is property tax relief in itself, he also voiced a need for a Constitutional Amendment that would allow local school boards to raise property taxes/pass levies without the issue going to the ballot box. He stated that the “aspect of democracy” remains in the fact that school board members are elected, so constituents can use the avenue of electing school board members if they are unhappy with not having a say in the amount of taxes they pay.

CORE would like to take a moment and remind readers that in June, the Ohio legislature reduced the mostly-elected-19-member State Board of Education to 5 appointed members. The Ohio legislature does not value elected school boards, what makes us think they will protect that democracy at the local level?

Stephens called for simplicity to local funding, and made the call to get rid of term limits so there is “more expertise” on “how we govern”. (Yes, you read that correctly. And no, the moderator did not ask any clarifying questions nor was it challenged by anyone on the panel.)

Antonio said the state needed to pay more and, regarding the further gerrymandering of Ohio’s legislative maps, “we’re going to have to figure it out. If not now, then down the road.” Isaacsohn called for a Constitutional Amendment for the state to pay for 50% of public school funding.

Question 3 was, “What recommendations do you have to improve teacher retention and recruitment?” Blessing acknowledged that while some love the “but they get summers off” talking point to explain abysmal salaries, it’s clearly countered by the severe teacher shortage, and called to “sweeten the pot” for teachers.

Stephens said we need to make it easier for people to be teachers, and there are several barriers to entry, such as getting an education. While it sounded like what he could have meant was the wildly climbing costs to licensing, that’s not what he said. Antonio looked into the audience and said, “We need you, we need teachers to run for office”. (Note to self: find time to run for office between differentiation, PBIS, public school works, dyslexia testing, RIMPS, and buying classroom supplies.) Isaacsohn swooped in with a voice of a reason and said they were making it too hard: pay teachers more, give them better benefits, and improve their working conditions.

The moderator posed a follow-up question only to Antonio, who had earlier highlighted that she was a special education teacher: What can we do for special education recruitment and retention? Antonio voiced that we are all better people because of special education, and bringing people of different abilities together is important for society. While this is unequivocally true, Antonio gave no actions steps to this answer. Antonio taught special education in the 1980s, with her last teaching license expiring in 1992.

Question 4 was not one from the list of submitted questions by union members for the town hall, but rather a question the moderator said he wanted to ask. The last question posed was, “Can you tell us about an educator that impacted you?”. While it could have been an acceptable icebreaker or introduction question, it instead mimicked a tactic that’s helped keep an entire profession exploited: Remember your why.

The turnout for the town hall was quite small, with no more than 30 people total, several of whom were union staff and not educators. Most educators present were already in Columbus for OEA’s lobby day; very few were able to make it to the union’s headquarters in downtown Columbus by 5pm on a workday.

The reception that followed brought more union staff and even fewer educators. With the panel not even addressing the concerns of collective bargaining or our pensions (which was how it was advertised), the moderator not sticking to questions posed by educators, and the vast inaccessibility of the town hall, it leaves one wondering: Who was this event for?

The Power of Direct Action in Our Schools

Too often, Rank & File members think of their union as the elected officials. Organizing direct action in your workplace empowers every worker and build solidarity.

How do unionized workers go about effecting change? One common way is through the service model, which has become the predominant mode of union operations. For many, this is the only way they’ve ever understood union work.

The service model relies on a few (usually elected) members of a local taking problems to management on behalf of the group. These leaders use the strength of membership numbers to legitimize their position and negotiate solutions. When issues become too big, too complex, or too legal, the state affiliate often steps in to take a seat at the table. Larger state affiliates like OEA, OFT, and OAPSE also operate within this model. They also use the service model through lobbying efforts at the state and federal levels.

The service model can be effective, but only when both sides are committed to reaching a common goal. Problems arise when management stops listening and members have grown accustomed to relying on leadership to speak for them. When the collective voice of educators isn’t being used, cracks in this model begin to show, and the rank-and-file feels the pain.

Direct action is what it sounds like: when an entire building or unit says, “This issue matters, and we’re going to do something about it.” It is more powerful than passing a concern to someone else who wasn’t there and can only speak on our behalf. Direct action comes from the people who are directly affected, using their own voices and standing together as one.

One building in Central Ohio recently showed the strength of this approach when staff members felt mistreated by a district administrator. Instead of waiting for someone else to intervene, they took matters into their own hands and drafted an open letter. Over 80% of members in the building signed it, and they sent it directly to district leadership. Within one week the administration responded, and the superintendent was held accountable.

At a Central Ohio high school, an enrollment increase led to vastly inequitable class sizes when compared to other schools in the same district. Members drafted emails and scheduled them to be delivered to their school board all at the same time. Their unified message could not be ignored, and the staff was allocated several more teachers.

In several Central Ohio districts, union members have utilized the classic march on the boss: showing up to a board meeting in union shirts. Whether it’s Columbus, Westerville, South-Western, or Delaware City, this tried and true tactic always shows power and solidarity in the room, and has been especially popular in the last year.

Direct action is about more than solving one issue. It is about standing together, making our voices impossible to dismiss, and showing that we understand the power we hold as a group. This is why collective bargaining matters so deeply: our right to speak and act together is protected. When we exercise that right, we make our schools better places for educators and students alike.

When an issue comes up in your building, ask yourself and your colleagues: Is this important enough to take action on? Is the issue deeply and widely felt? If the answers are yes, stand together, act together, and make your voices heard. If you need help organizing a direct action, or want to talk an idea through, reach out to info@core4ed.org.

Workers Over Billionaires: Labor Day Recap

CORE joined several allies to take the streets for Labor Day, and two CORE members took the mic to fight for public education.

It’s a long road to May Day 2028, the day labor leaders such as Chicago Teachers Union and the United Auto Workers have pinned for a nationwide strike. We must be patient, methodical, and persistent to get there, building solidarity across industries one day at a time.

To that end, CORE joined several allies, such as the Party for Socialism and Liberation, the Starbucks Workers United, the Columbus Education Justice Coalition, Pint Size Protestors, 50501, and the Ohio State University Nurses Union, to protest the current state of affairs with a unifying demand: Workers over Billionaires. As much as the left tends to get bogged down by debates on theory and the ideal qualities of a just society, this succinct message, hailed around the country in other cities’ Labor Day protests, cuts through the noise and provides a means of consolidating our efforts.

Similarly, leftists of every stripe can unify behind the importance of education for revolutionary ends—uneducated and uncritical workers can be manipulated into believing the billionaire class is their friend. As such, CORE had the opportunity for two of our members to speak to a huge crowd at the Labor Day protest.

Their speeches cut to the heart of our dilemma as one member put it, “We are teachers, but we are also human. We are burdened with ever-increasing class sizes, a lack of essential resources, and salaries that simply don’t keep up with the cost of living. We are told to do more with less, to innovate and inspire while being stretched to our breaking point. All while billionaires like the Haslams and Wexners have more money in their pockets than they know what to do with.” The disparity between “haves” and “have-nots” only continues to widen, and public educators witness it firsthand.

The crises we face in public education are manufactured: Ohio funds its schools on the back of the working class’s property taxes, thus pitting workers against each other. Workers, including educators, who struggle to feed their own families will not support tax levies to improve their schools’ conditions, thus creating resentment between educators and their communities—and between educators themselves. Plenty of resources exist to properly fund our schools, but billionaires hoard the wealth created by Ohio’s workers and use it to lobby lawmakers, keeping their own taxes low while our struggle only grows.

These remarks did not come without a glimmer of hope. CORE’s second speaker highlighted the beauty of the crowd’s diversity, comprising an intersection of race, gender, age, sexuality, ability, and creed, all fighting for each other. That’s the America of our dreams. As we see increased attacks on educators and other professionals for exercising their free expression, however, this dream will need to become a reality sooner rather than later. Otherwise, billionaires will continue to implement their vision: an America in which their prosperity is the only thing that matters. Only through solidarity can we break the stranglehold and achieve liberation for all.

Legislative Battles: 5 Harmful Education Bills in Ohio

On the 2nd Thursday of every month, CORE joins our partners at Honesty for Ohio Education for legislative updates and action items. Below are the bills coming at us that were discussed during October’s meeting.

HB 485: “Baby Olivia Act”

What it does: Requires schools to show a misleading, anti-abortion “fetal development” video every year starting in 3rd grade

Status: 2nd hearing to be held on October 28, 2025

Details: Sponsored by Melanie Miller who admitted there is not a parental opt-out option written into the bill, but was willing to add an amendment “if people want it in writing.” The “Baby Olivia” video is AI animation.

Action: Tell the committee to reject HB485

HB 486: “Charlie Kirk American Heritage Act”

What it does: States that when providing instruction on the topic of American history, educators in public schools (including higher education) may provide instruction on the positive impacts of religion on American history. It also declares the following to be true:

• “The teaching of the historical, positive impact of religion on American history is consistent with the First Amendment to the US Constitution.”

• “An accurate and historical account of the influence of Christianity on the freedom and liberties ingrained in our culture is imperative to reducing ignorance of American history, hate, and violence within our society.”

• “Accurate historical instruction regarding verifiable, historical impacts of religion on American history is factual and is not proselytization or a violation of the First Amendment.”

Status: 1st hearing was held on October 7, 2025

HB57: Saving Lives with NARCAN and … LifeWise?

What it does: Ensures that schools have a policy for maintaining life-saving overdose reversal drugs in emergency situations. Realizing this would be a rare W for education, the legislature added more release time for religious instruction (RTRI), and many Democrats still voted for it.

Status: Unfortunately this bill is on its way to DeWine’s desk where it will undoubtedly be signed.

SB 172: Immigration

What it does: Requires state and local public offices/officials to allow the arrest or detention of anyone who is, or is suspected of being, unlawfully present in the US and allows those to happen anywhere in Ohio under any circumstances. This applies to arrests or detentions conducted by a federal, state, or local law enforcement agency or officer, with or without a warrant, and regardless of whether the proceedings are administrative, civil, or criminal in nature.

Action: Find your rep and tell them to vote no, and print some red cards.

HB 455: 568 pages of updated Ohio’s “Parents’ Bill of Rights”

What it does:

• Still requires an alert to parents if their student wishes to identify differently than their sex assigned at birth. However, it adds an exception to not report changes if there is reasonable belief that telling a students’ parents would harm the child.

  • In those cases, educators must report changes to law enforcement or child protective services, which is a severe concern, especially for Black and brown LGBTQ+ youth.

• Removes “other mental health” changes from required reporting.

• Only requires parents to be informed of mental health updates if their student exhibits suicidal ideation, or persisting symptoms of depression or “severe anxiety.”

• Clarifies rules governing “sexuality content” and adds visual instruction to the definition.

• Currently, parents have the opportunity to review any instructional materials that involve sexuality content and can refuse to allow their student to participate. House Bill 455 would have parents review the content of the lessons, not the specific instructional materials.

• Public districts would no longer have to annually report their compliance with various state mandates.

• Charter school sponsors would no longer have to report their annual expenditures to the state.

• Eliminates the requirement for DEW to employ a full-time physical education coordinator.

• Removes the Tutor Ohio Kids Program, a remedial program that offered tutoring to students in participating charter and public schools.

• No longer requires online schools to unenroll and report students to the state if they miss state assessments two years in a row.

It’s hard to hold hope in times like these, and with advocacy clearly falling on deaf ears, we are planning the next moves. Across the state educators are getting ready to fight, because we know one thing to be true: when we fight, we win.

Learn How To Participate in Your Union

Feeling like your union is a club only for certain members? Wanting to ask questions at a meeting, but aren’t sure how? Wishing your union would take action on something, but don’t know how to present it? Come learn with CORE!

Join rank and file union members from different labor sectors to learn the ins and outs of Robert’s Rules of Order. This training will cover things such as how to make a motion, pose questions, keep democracy alive on the floor, and help get important New Business Items and Resolutions passed. In true educator fashion, this training will be interactive and participatory, which means not boring and actually useful.

In solidarity,

Central Ohio Rank and File Educators

But this history doesn’t exist in a vacuum. The so-called “frontier” where teachers worked for room, board, and apples was itself a project of colonization: Indigenous lands taken, communities and people often completely obliterated, new towns built, and teachers deployed to “civilize” in the name of progress.

The apple, then, carries a double truth. It honors the persistence of teachers who kept schools alive despite poverty, and it reminds us that public education’s roots are tangled with both exploitation and expansion. But it lives as a symbol of mutual aid between the undervalued worker and the communities they not only educate, but also live in.

While the origin story and current day are separated by hundreds of years, much has remained the same. Perhaps we are finally upon a time where we can reimagine what the apple means to us. It will always undoubtedly serve as a reminder of the heartbeat of public education: nourish the mind, nourish the body, nourish the soul.

On Tuesday, October 21st, Ohio New Educators (a group of OEA members from across the state, in years 0-10 of the profession) held a town hall meeting with four legislators: Louis W. Blessing, III (R - District 8), Jason Stephens (R - District 93), Nickie Antonio (D - District 23) and Dani Isaacsohn (D - District 24). The event was advertised (as pictured above) to discuss collective bargaining, pensions, and funding.

Four questions were posed to legislators over the course of one hour. The event was moderated by a staff member of OEA, and panelists were not held to a time limited response, nor were answers given in any sort of order. It was all a bit loosey goosey around topics that are anything but.

Question 1 asked the panelists, “What does a successful graduate look like to you?”, in which Blessing (R) gave a refreshing answer that highlighted the importance of general education for all amidst programs and companies pushing for career tech starting as low as middle school.

Teen isolation, mental health struggles, and the failure to teach younger generations on how to navigate the digital world were all voiced by Isaacsohn (D), with an emphasis on the role of public education being to bring students together and have real life experiences that they (and we) learn and grow from.

Stephens (R) brought up the need to have schools provide the practical resources they used to, such as driver’s education. Access to driving is a serious barrier for the majority of rural Ohioans, and is felt within the city districts too, due to Ohio’s lack of public transportation.

Antonio (D) said kids should know their options, have experiential learning, and while she pushed back on the recent child labor expansion, she said all graduates should have a mandatory one year of service after high school graduation.

Question 2 dealt with school funding and asked legislators how to balance it with property taxes. While Blessing said the Fair School Funding Program is property tax relief in itself, he also voiced a need for a Constitutional Amendment that would allow local school boards to raise property taxes/pass levies without the issue going to the ballot box. He stated that the “aspect of democracy” remains in the fact that school board members are elected, so constituents can use the avenue of electing school board members if they are unhappy with not having a say in the amount of taxes they pay.

CORE would like to take a moment and remind readers that in June, the Ohio legislature reduced the mostly-elected-19-member State Board of Education to 5 appointed members. The Ohio legislature does not value elected school boards, what makes us think they will protect that democracy at the local level?

Stephens called for simplicity to local funding, and made the call to get rid of term limits so there is “more expertise” on “how we govern”. (Yes, you read that correctly. And no, the moderator did not ask any clarifying questions nor was it challenged by anyone on the panel.)

Antonio said the state needed to pay more and, regarding the further gerrymandering of Ohio’s legislative maps, “we’re going to have to figure it out. If not now, then down the road.” Isaacsohn called for a Constitutional Amendment for the state to pay for 50% of public school funding.

Question 3 was, “What recommendations do you have to improve teacher retention and recruitment?” Blessing acknowledged that while some love the “but they get summers off” talking point to explain abysmal salaries, it’s clearly countered by the severe teacher shortage, and called to “sweeten the pot” for teachers.

Stephens said we need to make it easier for people to be teachers, and there are several barriers to entry, such as getting an education. While it sounded like what he could have meant was the wildly climbing costs to licensing, that’s not what he said. Antonio looked into the audience and said, “We need you, we need teachers to run for office”. (Note to self: find time to run for office between differentiation, PBIS, public school works, dyslexia testing, RIMPS, and buying classroom supplies.) Isaacsohn swooped in with a voice of a reason and said they were making it too hard: pay teachers more, give them better benefits, and improve their working conditions.

The moderator posed a follow-up question only to Antonio, who had earlier highlighted that she was a special education teacher: What can we do for special education recruitment and retention? Antonio voiced that we are all better people because of special education, and bringing people of different abilities together is important for society. While this is unequivocally true, Antonio gave no actions steps to this answer. Antonio taught special education in the 1980s, with her last teaching license expiring in 1992.

Question 4 was not one from the list of submitted questions by union members for the town hall, but rather a question the moderator said he wanted to ask. The last question posed was, “Can you tell us about an educator that impacted you?”. While it could have been an acceptable icebreaker or introduction question, it instead mimicked a tactic that’s helped keep an entire profession exploited: Remember your why.

The turnout for the town hall was quite small, with no more than 30 people total, several of whom were union staff and not educators. Most educators present were already in Columbus for OEA’s lobby day; very few were able to make it to the union’s headquarters in downtown Columbus by 5pm on a workday.

The reception that followed brought more union staff and even fewer educators. With the panel not even addressing the concerns of collective bargaining or our pensions (which was how it was advertised), the moderator not sticking to questions posed by educators, and the vast inaccessibility of the town hall, it leaves one wondering: Who was this event for?

On the 2nd Thursday of every month, CORE joins our partners at Honesty for Ohio Education for legislative updates and action items. Below are the bills coming at us that were discussed during October’s meeting.

HB 485: “Baby Olivia Act”

What it does: Requires schools to show a misleading, anti-abortion “fetal development” video every year starting in 3rd grade

Status: 2nd hearing to be held on October 28, 2025

Details: Sponsored by Melanie Miller who admitted there is not a parental opt-out option written into the bill, but was willing to add an amendment “if people want it in writing.” The “Baby Olivia” video is AI animation.

Action: Tell the committee to reject HB485

HB 486: “Charlie Kirk American Heritage Act”

What it does: States that when providing instruction on the topic of American history, educators in public schools (including higher education) may provide instruction on the positive impacts of religion on American history. It also declares the following to be true:

• “The teaching of the historical, positive impact of religion on American history is consistent with the First Amendment to the US Constitution.”

• “An accurate and historical account of the influence of Christianity on the freedom and liberties ingrained in our culture is imperative to reducing ignorance of American history, hate, and violence within our society.”

• “Accurate historical instruction regarding verifiable, historical impacts of religion on American history is factual and is not proselytization or a violation of the First Amendment.”

Status: 1st hearing was held on October 7, 2025

HB57: Saving Lives with NARCAN and … LifeWise?

What it does: Ensures that schools have a policy for maintaining life-saving overdose reversal drugs in emergency situations. Realizing this would be a rare W for education, the legislature added more release time for religious instruction (RTRI), and many Democrats still voted for it.

Status: Unfortunately this bill is on its way to DeWine’s desk where it will undoubtedly be signed.

SB 172: Immigration

What it does: Requires state and local public offices/officials to allow the arrest or detention of anyone who is, or is suspected of being, unlawfully present in the US and allows those to happen anywhere in Ohio under any circumstances. This applies to arrests or detentions conducted by a federal, state, or local law enforcement agency or officer, with or without a warrant, and regardless of whether the proceedings are administrative, civil, or criminal in nature.

Action: Find your rep and tell them to vote no, and print some red cards.

HB 455: 568 pages of updated Ohio’s “Parents’ Bill of Rights”

What it does:

• Still requires an alert to parents if their student wishes to identify differently than their sex assigned at birth. However, it adds an exception to not report changes if there is reasonable belief that telling a students’ parents would harm the child.

  • In those cases, educators must report changes to law enforcement or child protective services, which is a severe concern, especially for Black and brown LGBTQ+ youth.

• Removes “other mental health” changes from required reporting.

• Only requires parents to be informed of mental health updates if their student exhibits suicidal ideation, or persisting symptoms of depression or “severe anxiety.”

• Clarifies rules governing “sexuality content” and adds visual instruction to the definition.

• Currently, parents have the opportunity to review any instructional materials that involve sexuality content and can refuse to allow their student to participate. House Bill 455 would have parents review the content of the lessons, not the specific instructional materials.

• Public districts would no longer have to annually report their compliance with various state mandates.

• Charter school sponsors would no longer have to report their annual expenditures to the state.

• Eliminates the requirement for DEW to employ a full-time physical education coordinator.

• Removes the Tutor Ohio Kids Program, a remedial program that offered tutoring to students in participating charter and public schools.

• No longer requires online schools to unenroll and report students to the state if they miss state assessments two years in a row.

It’s hard to hold hope in times like these, and with advocacy clearly falling on deaf ears, we are planning the next moves. Across the state educators are getting ready to fight, because we know one thing to be true: when we fight, we win.

The service model relies on a few (usually elected) members of a local taking problems to management on behalf of the group. These leaders use the strength of membership numbers to legitimize their position and negotiate solutions. When issues become too big, too complex, or too legal, the state affiliate often steps in to take a seat at the table. Larger state affiliates like OEA, OFT, and OAPSE also operate within this model. They also use the service model through lobbying efforts at the state and federal levels.

The service model can be effective, but only when both sides are committed to reaching a common goal. Problems arise when management stops listening and members have grown accustomed to relying on leadership to speak for them. When the collective voice of educators isn’t being used, cracks in this model begin to show, and the rank-and-file feels the pain.

Direct action is what it sounds like: when an entire building or unit says, “This issue matters, and we’re going to do something about it.” It is more powerful than passing a concern to someone else who wasn’t there and can only speak on our behalf. Direct action comes from the people who are directly affected, using their own voices and standing together as one.

One building in Central Ohio recently showed the strength of this approach when staff members felt mistreated by a district administrator. Instead of waiting for someone else to intervene, they took matters into their own hands and drafted an open letter. Over 80% of members in the building signed it, and they sent it directly to district leadership. Within one week the administration responded, and the superintendent was held accountable.

At a Central Ohio high school, an enrollment increase led to vastly inequitable class sizes when compared to other schools in the same district. Members drafted emails and scheduled them to be delivered to their school board all at the same time. Their unified message could not be ignored, and the staff was allocated several more teachers.

In several Central Ohio districts, union members have utilized the classic march on the boss: showing up to a board meeting in union shirts. Whether it’s Columbus, Westerville, South-Western, or Delaware City, this tried and true tactic always shows power and solidarity in the room, and has been especially popular in the last year.

Direct action is about more than solving one issue. It is about standing together, making our voices impossible to dismiss, and showing that we understand the power we hold as a group. This is why collective bargaining matters so deeply: our right to speak and act together is protected. When we exercise that right, we make our schools better places for educators and students alike.

When an issue comes up in your building, ask yourself and your colleagues: Is this important enough to take action on? Is the issue deeply and widely felt? If the answers are yes, stand together, act together, and make your voices heard. If you need help organizing a direct action, or want to talk an idea through, reach out to info@core4ed.org.

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In September, however, one of the democratic safeguards nearly went up for a vote, revealing just how fragile our structures are—and how willing our leaders can be to abandon democracy when they don’t think anyone is paying attention. If that can happen in a union as strong as CEA, it can (and does) happen in smaller locals, too.

At the local’s final LA of the 2024-25 school year, a member presented a New Business Item (NBI) that would alter the power of elected union positions. The presented NBI in May 2025 would strike the “Prohibition” article in their By-Laws, which states that no union member may hold more than one elected position at a time. The member presenting the NBI was serving as a Senior Faculty Representative in a building and had just won a District Governor position by acclimation. The NBI was presented verbally and by the article number, meaning faculty representatives had no printed proposal to consider, nor did the maker of the motion explain what the article they proposed to remove even said.

All NBIs must be read twice before membership takes a vote on the measure, and the readings cannot happen at the same meeting; thus, the union’s faculty representatives were to have discussion and cast a vote on the NBI at their first meeting of the year in September… or so they thought.

It was somewhat obvious, to members who are familiar with Robert’s Rules, that CEA leadership felt a certain way about the NBI, because the Chair was relinquished during the meeting—meaning the Chair (traditionally the President) handed the responsibility of running the meeting over to someone else, so they could speak either in favor or against the NBI during discussion. Unfortunately, members did not hear leadership’s position on this undemocratic proposal, because the then-presiding Chair told the elected body the maker of the motion wished to withdraw it. With confusion rippling through the room, the then-presiding Chair instructed the legislative body they could unanimously allow the motion to be withdrawn without objection; if anyone wanted to object, they may force the body to proceed with a second reading.

While the body voted to allow the maker of the motion to withdraw the proposed NBI, most members were left confused on what had just happened with no explanation from anyone and no acknowledgement from any level of the local’s leadership that the union’s Board of Governors had been knowingly violating it’s own Constitution & Bylaws for months, and those months were of great importance. Though one might think “It’s summertime, so there’s not a whole lot of union business happening,” it’s actually quite the opposite. June, July, and August were filled with the NEA Representative Assembly (at which the Board of Governors met and took at least one important vote), contract negotiations (of which the member served on the core bargaining team), and the start of school (of which the member served as Governor for the district and had no report at the first meeting, despite units in that district having major concerns).

The move sheds light on several aspects of the local that CORE organizers are trying to change: lackluster democracy, disengaged membership, and deficit of knowledge about union structures and responsibilities. CORE members are taking matters into their own hands by calling on some experts to teach us how to interact with and stand up for our principles at our union’s most democratic meetings.

Join us on Saturday, November 1st for a training on Robert’s Rules of Order. We’ll cover motions, procedures, strategies, and the basic flows of meetings. Registration is required (space is limited) and can be found on our website. Democracy and solidarity forever!

What is BDS?

Started in 2005 by Palestinian civil society, BDS is a nonviolent global movement calling on people, institutions, and governments to pressure Israel to follow international law and respect Palestinian rights.

• Boycott: Don’t buy products or support companies that enable or profit from Israel’s oppression of Palestinians.

• Divest: Urge schools, pensions, and institutions to pull investments from those same companies.

• Sanction: Demand governments apply economic and political pressure, just as they did against apartheid South Africa.

BDS is a peaceful, powerful way to advocate for freedom, justice, and equality.

Why does this matter to educators?

Public education is under attack through book bans, defunding, DEI rollbacks, and dismantling of public systems. These attacks are connected to the same structures of oppression that uphold genocide abroad and injustice at home.

Our classrooms serve and reflect students from over 100 countries, speaking nearly 100 languages. We have a responsibility to stand in solidarity, not just in word, but in action.

At the 2025 NEA Representative Assembly held July 8th in Portland, OR, the majority of our 7,000 member delegates voted to divest from the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), citing the ADL’s role in silencing pro-Palestinian voices and undermining anti-racist education. This reflects a growing movement among educators to reject partnerships with institutions misaligned with justice.

Tech giants are constantly seeking to infiltrate education for a reason: public dollars are up for grabs, and empty promises can move school boards. It is incumbent upon us to push our districts to spend public funds responsibly for students and the global community alike.

Reimagine BDS for Educators:

• Boycott companies that harm public education, DEI, or Palestinian rights.

• Divest school funds and pensions from corporations upholding injustice.

• Sanction institutions that profit from systemic harm, locally and globally.

Perhaps most importantly, we can educate our students and our school communities about the efficacy of concerted action. In the context of globalized neoliberal capitalism, profits are everything: we can only make an impact if we organize our resistance together to hit where it hurts. The BDS movement offers a proven framework to join the global fight for Palestinian liberation, and we can use these methods for our own local and national struggles, too.

Share these ideas to spread the love, and the resistance.

• Click here to learn more about the NEA/ADL vote.

• Click here to learn more about the BDS Movement and how to take action.

**Note: Criticizing Israel or supporting Palestinian rights is not antisemitic or anti-jewish. Antisemitism is hatred toward Jewish people; BDS is a call to hold the Israeli state accountable for human rights violations. We stand in solidarity with Jewish communities and against all forms of hatred and genocide. Learn more about the Jewish Voice for Peace

The flow of the NEA RA is rather simple: All Ohio delegates meet every morning for 2 hours, before the start of the RA, to review the day’s upcoming NBIs as a state caucus. Ohio delegates can then debate and vote on whether to support, oppose, or take no position on each item. To assist with this task, the Ohio caucus has a “steering committee”, which is apparently meant to help guide delegates to make decisions in a timely manner, though when asked questions about NBIs, the steering committee answered when they could, but mostly relied on canned comments. Some of the oppositions the Ohio caucus took were influenced by the steering committee urging delegates “NEA already does this work”, so we shouldn’t spend more money on it. However, if NEA was actually doing the work, delegates wouldn’t be bringing forth NBIs that call for more effective work and money to support it.

There were several Ohio caucus positions that delegates in CORE found worth sharing with other union members. Ohio Caucus positions do not dictate how delegates vote, and one can always dissent. Below are just a few of those NBIs with a short description, the Ohio Caucus position (decided by majority vote in the morning state caucus sessions), CORE’s position (reflected in our hearts and votes), and ultimately, the decision of the NEA RA.

NBI 20: NEA National Day of Action against specific detrimental policies and actions of the Trump administration, as identified and prioritized by the NEA membership. NEA would supply local presidents with a toolkit for said day of action.
Ohio Caucus position: Oppose
CORE position: Support
NEA RA decision: Support

NBI 25: NEA will coordinate with state affiliates to introduce and advocate for state legislative resolutions in support of IDEA Full Funding Act. State affiliates would be given sample resolution language that has passed and been effective in states, as well as supporting materials like organizing calendars, guidance on securing rally venues, speakers and local partner organizations, talking points, and check lists.

Ohio Caucus position: Oppose
CORE position: Support
NEA RA decision: Support

NBI 76: NEA will collect and publicly share the positions (YES or NO) of federal and state elected officials and candidates on the following 3 issues:

• Support for ending Citizens United v FEC through constitutional amendment or legislative means

• Support for taxing political campaign contributions or expenditures above $1 million annually

• Support for passing and enforcing common-sense gun laws to reduce gun violence in schools and communities

Ohio Caucus position: Oppose
CORE position: Support
NEA RA decision: Support

NBI 80: NEA will develop and deliver comprehensive Supreme Court education training that includes materials, case study modules, and interactive workshops.

Ohio Caucus position: Oppose
CORE position: Support
NEA RA decision: Support

NBI 63: NEA opposes ICE kidnapping of student leaders and supports students’ right to organize against ICE raids and deportations.

Ohio Caucus position: Oppose
CORE position: Support
NEA RA decision: Support

NBI 9*: NEA will create a committee to explore naming the American Teachers Association* (ATA) a legacy organization of the NEA. The committee will provide a report to the NEA Board of Directors for implementation by June 20, 2026. The ATA gave up its identity during the ATA/NEA merger. It is time to visibly acknowledge its rich heritage, educate our members on the rich history of the ATA and all of its state affiliates, creating visible recognition.

Ohio Caucus position: Oppose
CORE position: Support
NEA RA decision**: Support

*The ATA formed because the NEA would not let Black educators into the union.

**During debate for this NBI, an amendment was proposed, and the maker of the NBI (Cecily Myart-Cruz, UTLA President) stated the committee referral was unfriendly to the NBI (meaning, please don’t refer this to committee because it will kill it). Ohio leadership instructed the OH Caucus to support the committee referral. Thankfully, delegates of the floor ultimately denied the referral, and the NBI passed.

It’s a long road to May Day 2028, the day labor leaders such as Chicago Teachers Union and the United Auto Workers have pinned for a nationwide strike. We must be patient, methodical, and persistent to get there, building solidarity across industries one day at a time.

To that end, CORE joined several allies, such as the Party for Socialism and Liberation, the Starbucks Workers United, the Columbus Education Justice Coalition, Pint Size Protestors, 50501, and the Ohio State University Nurses Union, to protest the current state of affairs with a unifying demand: Workers over Billionaires. As much as the left tends to get bogged down by debates on theory and the ideal qualities of a just society, this succinct message, hailed around the country in other cities’ Labor Day protests, cuts through the noise and provides a means of consolidating our efforts.

Similarly, leftists of every stripe can unify behind the importance of education for revolutionary ends—uneducated and uncritical workers can be manipulated into believing the billionaire class is their friend. As such, CORE had the opportunity for two of our members to speak to a huge crowd at the Labor Day protest.

Their speeches cut to the heart of our dilemma as one member put it, “We are teachers, but we are also human. We are burdened with ever-increasing class sizes, a lack of essential resources, and salaries that simply don’t keep up with the cost of living. We are told to do more with less, to innovate and inspire while being stretched to our breaking point. All while billionaires like the Haslams and Wexners have more money in their pockets than they know what to do with.” The disparity between “haves” and “have-nots” only continues to widen, and public educators witness it firsthand.

The crises we face in public education are manufactured: Ohio funds its schools on the back of the working class’s property taxes, thus pitting workers against each other. Workers, including educators, who struggle to feed their own families will not support tax levies to improve their schools’ conditions, thus creating resentment between educators and their communities—and between educators themselves. Plenty of resources exist to properly fund our schools, but billionaires hoard the wealth created by Ohio’s workers and use it to lobby lawmakers, keeping their own taxes low while our struggle only grows.These remarks did not come without a glimmer of hope. CORE’s second speaker highlighted the beauty of the crowd’s diversity, comprising an intersection of race, gender, age, sexuality, ability, and creed, all fighting for each other. That’s the America of our dreams. As we see increased attacks on educators and other professionals for exercising their free expression, however, this dream will need to become a reality sooner rather than later. Otherwise, billionaires will continue to implement their vision: an America in which their prosperity is the only thing that matters. Only through solidarity can we break the stranglehold and achieve liberation for all.