President of the Ohio Federation of Teachers, Melissa Cropper, joined America’s Work Force Union Podcast to share updates about legislature impacting teachers in Ohio.
Cropper discussed the proposed rule by the Federal Trade Commission to ban non-compete clauses with workers. Known mostly in the business world to prevent trade secrets being shared to competitors, non-compete clauses still impact teachers. Some teachers, mostly Charter school teachers, face fines and possible license holding if they leave their jobs. The clauses have gone so far as to prevent some teachers from taking their custom educational tools with them, Cropper added. Cropper is hopeful the FTC will implement the rule but strike down non-compete clauses.
She shared the issues the state faces with the Fair School Funding Plan and expanded charter school vouchers being implemented. The Fair School Funding Plan is there to fund public schools more equitably than in the past. However, with the extended charter school vouchers, taking tax payer money that should go to the public schools and will instead go to a charter school. These two plans work in direct opposition of each other, and Cropper believes there’s no way to implement both plans successfully.
Cropper warned of the drawbacks to passing Ohio’s Senate Bill 1. The bill is meant to create a separate education board under the direction of the Governor that will handle curriculum and policy decisions. This takes power away from elected Board of Education members, who traditionally handle these decisions. Cropper believes the bill bypasses the democratic process.
Listen to the entire episode to learn more about these topics.