Recently SB5 passed in Ohio and was signed into law by Governor Kasich. The law bans strikes by public workers and limits collective bargaining and will make Ohio the first state to use “performance pay” for their teachers. Here is Governor Kasich on an interview with Bill Cunningham:

This means Ohio would be the first state to replace automatic pay hikes for teachers with a “performance-pay” system.

Kathy Christie, Chief of Staff for the Denver-based Education Commission of the States, a nonpartisan group that researches education policy had this to say:

“That is the type of component that really, really resonates with the public. If you are not pulling your weight, if you are not getting performance, if you are not tenacious and really trying to learn and all those sorts of things you want to see teachers doing, then you don’t move up at all.”

Here is a document for education reform in Ohio with facts and proposals Transforming Ohio for Growth. Highlights are:

• Ohio is being passed by as the global economy evolves.
• Evidence is “money isn’t the answer.”
• Stimulus money is gone and isn’t coming back.
• Ohio must “do more with less.”
• Adults must take responsibility for students’ success.
• When adults compete for the right to educate, the students win.

Solutions proposed are:

• Improve educator licenses processes.
• Reward superior educators.
• Support innovative schools and close those schools who underperform.
• Expand school choice.
• Invest in schools, not bureaucracies.
• Make higher education more affordable.

These proposals are not going over well with teachers as there are plans for a referendum on the November ballot to overturn SB5. Matt Dotson of OEA had this to say:

“We are concerned about it because currently there aren’t any student growth measures that exist that are designed to be valid and reliable for high stakes decisions like teacher compensation.”

231,000 valid signatures are needed by June 30 to get the referendum on the ballot. As a reader of the Toledo Blade they reported long lines several days ago to sign the petitions. But then again, Toledo is a large union town.

Crossposted at Unified Patriots