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You have probably seen a number of stories about the explosive expansion of private school vouchers in Ohio because now every family, regardless of income, is eligible for tax dollars to help attend a private school.

In the last school year, the state spent nearly $1 billion on private school vouchers.

Why should teachers, firefighters, nurses, cafeteria workers, school bus drivers, police officers and everyone else in this state be concerned?

Private school vouchers are supported by the pro-privatization billionaires like Betsy DeVos and the Koch Family because they help to weaken unions.

A long time ago, vouchers were sold to Ohioans and the American public as a way to help poor families escape poor performing schools.

Today, they are a refund and a rebate for wealthy families who never had any intention of enrolling their children in public schools. Ohio’s millionaires, even our billionaires, are eligible for voucher money and voucher money comes 100 percent from public tax dollars.

This is not benign. Public schools are not funded at constitutional levels and there are hundreds of school districts in this state that need help to build up-to-date safe school buildings in their communities.

There is a direct impact on public schools.

Private school voucher money comes from the same line-item in the two-year state budget that pays for public schools so a dollar more for private schools is a dollar less available to pay for public schools.

Private schools are overwhelmingly religious and non-union. 

And the teachers, education staff and support staff in those schools are not part of the state pension plan so they are not paying into the public pensions. 

In fact, moving $1 billion out of the public school system into private hands is costing the public pension funds more than $100 million a year.

A coalition of public schools has formed to sue the state over the constitutionality of the EdChoice private school voucher program, and the trial is set to begin on Monday, Nov. 4 in Franklin County.

Last week, a group called Citizens Not Politicians turned in more than 700,000 signatures so that you can vote this November to change the way our legislative and congressional districts are drawn.

The group that has worked so hard to collect these signatures is non-partisan, and the commission that will be created to draw fair districts so we can have fair elections will be free of politicians.

See, the reason we have an extreme out-of-touch state legislature is because for decades politicians, not regular people, have been drawing their own districts. In other words, politicians pick their voters to ensure they stay in office and retain their power instead of voters picking their elected officials.

The system is rigged and this is the reason Ohio is falling behind other states in job growth, economic development and so many other areas because our legislature is extreme and dysfunctional. 

Instead of working to improve Ohio, our extreme lawmakers are busy trying to deny collective bargaining rights to working people..

…or giving hundreds of millions of dollars to private school operators and wealthy families through a universal voucher program that undermines our public schools…

…or trying to raise the threshold to change our Ohio Constitution to 60 percent instead of a one person one vote simple majority of 50-plus one that has been our right for more than 100 years.

If citizens, not politicians, would draw legislative districts, then we would have fair elections and the laws will reflect the ideas of everyday Ohioans instead of repeatedly defying the will of the people.

For more information, go to https://weareohio.com/cceg/

A little early, but Happy Independence Day!

Thirteen years ago, on June 28, 2011, we launched the Million Signature March and delivered an historic 1,209,301 signatures to the Ohio Secretary of State’s office so voters that November could veto SB 5, the unfair, unsafe attack on collective bargaining rights that hurt us all.

In the past few weeks, you have responded once again to a threat to our collective bargaining rights being pushed by extreme anti-worker lawmakers like state Sen. Jerry Cirino, the sponsor of SB 83.

With your help, we sent nearly 500 emails to lawmakers asking them not to sign a letter of support for SB 83 and to vote no if the anti-worker bill actually went to the Ohio House floor. It didn’t.

We have to continue to be vigilant because Cirino has said he wants to bring the bill back in the lame duck sessions that will follow the November elections.

House Minority Leader Allison Russo said…”My caucus is opposed to Senate Bill 83 because this is an unprecedented attack on organized labor and it has very concerning anti-labor provisions. I think Ohio has shown over and over again that we are a state that values collective bargaining and values labor and workers. Every version of S.B. 83 that we have seen so far still has that major concern for us.”

The American Association of University Professors calls SB 83 the “Higher Education Destruction Act.”

Cirino, likes so many anti-worker bullies in the state legislature, doubled down after the Ohio General Assembly did not vote on SB 83 before breaking for the summer and the November elections.

Cirino said he is thinking about putting an anti-striking provision back into SB 83 when he reintroduces it in 2025 if it does not pass in lame duck this year.

The anti-worker senator can boldly plan for 2025 although he is up for election this November because his district is one of the many gerrymandered to ensure his victory.

It’s also why he can continue to ignore the will of people of Ohio while trying to impose his extreme views on the state.

You helped to stop him, but stay tuned because we may need your help again.

Sincerely,

We Are Ohio

It is not a joke in Ohio that when the extreme anti-worker legislature is in session, no one is safe.

Lawmakers are in Columbus this week and there is a continuing push to pass SB 83, the worst attack on collective bargaining rights since SB 5 in 2011.

You responded in a huge way last week by sending an email to your local Ohio House member asking them to refuse to sign on to a letter of support for SB 83 and to vote no if the bill hit the Ohio House floor.

Thank you.

We need your help again in the final push this week. 

Click here, put in your address, and the email address for your Ohio House representative will come up so you can send an email to them. There is an email already written for you to send or you can compose your own, but please take this important step by clicking here.

Please join workers across the state and stand up to these anti-collective bargaining bullies. 

Protect your voice, your rights, your freedom in the workplace to stand up for your wages, benefits, safety, pension and your coworkers.

Click here and send an email asking your Ohio House member to not sign a letter of support for SB 83 and to vote no if the bill goes to the Ohio House floor.

This is our best chance of stopping this attack on working people in Ohio. Please help by standing strong together.

This is not a drill.

Extreme anti-worker, anti-union lawmakers in the Ohio House are trying to pass Senate Bill 83, the worst attack on collective bargaining rights since Senate Bill 5 in 2011.

Senate Bill 83 is a direct threat to our voice, our rights and our freedom to speak out for ourselves in the workplace.

We need your help!

Click here and input your address to automatically identify your representative and send them a personal email telling them to NOT sign a letter of support for Senate Bill 83 and to vote NO on the bill if it comes to the House floor.

We stood together against Senate Bill 5 and protected collective bargaining rights. Please stand together now by sending an email to your lawmaker.

In solidarity,

We Are Ohio