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| Invite you to sign the SB5 Referendum Petition WEDNESDAY MAY 11 5:30-6:45 p.m. at COFFMAN PARK on Coffman Park Drive (the corner of Coffman Rd and Emerald Pkwy) Please also consider attending the |
A smart and interesting post at Plunderbund, discusses which of the Columbus schools might be susceptible to a parental takeover, now that the Ohio house has reduced their statewide parent trigger provision to a trial in Columbus.
As reported by ODE for 09-10, 21 percent of the students at Weinland Park are at the school for less than one year. That also means that the number of parents involved enough to sign the petition is around 80%, with the student population constantly changing. So if 50% of the parents need to sign, but only 80% are around, the parent(s) leading this effort must obtain the signatures of approximately 63% of the parents. And Weinland Park serves a population categorized as 93.7% “economically disadvantaged” in a building that already runs a non-standard year-round schedule. For additional perspective, the number of economically disadvantaged students is 43% statewide. I’m going to take a wild guess and project that these families have greater concerns than taking over a school. Just a guess.
This is a smart and reasonable observation, but as we pointed out in an article a while ago, it's not the only consideration to account for. Indeed, other provisions included in the budget bill could have a significant impact too.
The other question to be asked is this;
How much money could a for-profit charter make by sponsoring an effort to take over one of these Columbus schools?
With an empty promise to desperate parents to fix things, and a paid effort to garner the required parental support for the takeover, these schools might be easy marks, with easy profits to follow.
All day today, people from all over central Ohio formed a steady stream of petitioners at OEA HQ, downtown Columbus. Volunteers from the Columbus Education Association worked shifts manning tables and assisting people signing the petitions.
Even with incessant April showers people still came to show their support for public education and express their disgust with SB5.
Ten down, 230990 more to go!
All around Ohio this weekend, citizens in their thousands lined up to sign the petitions. Here's a news sampling
Nice job to everyone who helped organize these efforts all around the state. There's a lot of work left to do, but we're off to a flying start!
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In an excellent example of "Say one thing, do another", on March 4th Governor Kasich told Gongwer
"This is hard for people and anything that's hard - I want to be respectful of other people's feelings their thoughts and their emotions," he said.
"My only word to union families are: what we are doing in this state is designed to make sure that your kids have a future in this state, that your kids can stay in this state, that they can have jobs in this state and your family can be prosperous," he said. "This is not an attack on you, this is not a political operation. I could care less about the politics. This is what is part of an overall plan to help fix our state."
This afternoon we learn from the Dispatch and our Email inbox's
The bill was delivered today to the governor's office for his signature after being processed by Ohio Senate Clerk Stacy Lilly. The signing will take place at 7 p.m. in the Statehouse State Room.
[...]
The governor announced he would sign the bill today through a campaign fundraising email sent out this morning.
In Kasich's email, he said passage of the bill by the Ohio House and Senate was "a victory for Ohio taxpayers." The email also asks for donations of "$20, $10, or even $5" to "help us continue to return the balance of power."
"There is a reason that the union bosses opposed these changes; because it strips power from the union leaders and returns it to the taxpayers and workers," Kasich's campaign email said.
Does a campaign fundraising email sound respectful and apolitical? If it doesn't, you'd be right.
UPDATE
Plunderbund puts the video together
[flickr photo=5490431105]The major news today, which I am sure you are all aware of was the passage of S.B.5 through both the House (on a 53-44 vote) and the Senate (a repeat 17-16) vote. The Governor is expected to sign the bill tomorrow. It will then go into effect 90 days later.
Or so they wished.
It is certain that labor groups and those who believe the middle class should remain strong will seek to place a referendum on the ballot this November. If enough signatures are collected the law will be suspended before going into effect. You can read about how this "Citizens Veto" will work here.
Coverage of yesterdays attack on the middle class can be found across all the major newspapers:
If you believe as we do that S.B.5 must be repealed, please sign up to receive our email alerts. We will be needing people to help get a repeal initiaive on the ballot and show out of touch lawmakers that working people won't just sit by and let hard earned rights be taken from us.
It is being widely reported that the shiny new S.B.5 is not going to have any time to be read by anyone before being voted on. Another clear sign, if we needed another clear sign, of bad dealing by the house Republican majority. They ignored the protests, phone calls, emails and even the petition of 64,000 people to kill the bill
