--- title: Teachers helping to better educate Ohioans on special August election description: The America’s Work Force Union Podcast is the nation’s premier daily labor program. Melissa Cropper with OFT-AFT joined us on today’s show. image: https://awf.labortools.com/hubfs/OFT%20mic%20blue.jpg --- 1 min read Season 4, Episode 141 # Teachers helping to better educate Ohioans on special August election [ awfblog ](https://awf.labortools.com/listen/author/awfblog) July 18, 2023 [Labor Issues](https://awf.labortools.com/listen/tag/labor-issues) [Event](https://awf.labortools.com/listen/tag/event) [America's Work Force Union Podcast](https://awf.labortools.com/listen/tag/americas-work-force-union-podcast) [American Federation of Teachers](https://awf.labortools.com/listen/tag/american-federation-of-teachers) [Jobs](https://awf.labortools.com/listen/tag/jobs) [AWF](https://awf.labortools.com/listen/tag/awf) [AFT](https://awf.labortools.com/listen/tag/aft) [Government Affairs and Policy](https://awf.labortools.com/listen/tag/government-affairs-and-policy) [Community Involvement](https://awf.labortools.com/listen/tag/community-involvement) [Economic Impact](https://awf.labortools.com/listen/tag/economic-impact) [Union Issues](https://awf.labortools.com/listen/tag/union-issues) [Ohio Federation of Teachers](https://awf.labortools.com/listen/tag/ohio-federation-of-teachers) ![AWF-Blogo-Logos-Template-400x400_oft](https://awf.labortools.com/hs-fs/hubfs/AmericasWorkForce/podcast%20logos/AWF-Blogo-Logos-Template-400x400_oft.png?width=400&height=400&name=AWF-Blogo-Logos-Template-400x400_oft.png)   Guest Name: --- Melissa Cropper Guest Website: --- [https://www.oft-aft.org/](https://www.oft-aft.org/)  Guest Social Media: --- [ Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/OFTunion) [ Twitter](https://twitter.com/OFTunion) [ YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/) [ LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/) Supportive Documents: --- Melissa Cropper, President of the [Ohio Federation of Teachers](https://www.oft-aft.org/), joined the America’s Work Force Union Podcast and spoke about Ohio’s upcoming August special election. Cropper also talked about a rally in Cincinnati with John Legend and Ohio’s student voucher program. Cropper spoke about the “Vote No to Issue 1” initiative, which is a joint effort by organized labor in Ohio to educate the public about the special election. Even though teachers are on summer break, they have helped to spread the word about the election and get as many people to the polls as possible. Cropper is positive the OFT’s message is getting through and noted that Ohioans' ability to make changes to policy has always served as the last line of defense against poor lawmaking decisions. She also discussed an upcoming OFT rally in Cincinnati that will feature John Legend. Cropper will introduce Legend to the crowd, and the Ohio native will help to spread the message about the August Special Election. She encourages people to visit with Legend, then cross the street and vote or vice versa. The most important thing, she stressed, is for everyone to vote. Cropper also shared her thoughts on the implementation of Ohio’s student voucher program. Recent changes to the program now make all students in Ohio eligible for at least 10 percent of a school voucher. These vouchers will help fund private schools with public money, as $2 billion was set aside in Ohio’s biennial budget for the voucher program. However,  she noted that despite the vouchers, any special needs and accommodations needed still must be provided by public schools. Listen to the entire episode to learn more. --- America’s Work Force is the only daily labor podcast in the US and has been on the air since 1993, supplying listeners with useful, relevant input into their daily lives through fact-finding features, in-depth interviews, informative news segments and practical consumer reports. America’s Work Force is committed to providing an accessible venue in which America's workers and their families can hear discussion on important, relevant topics such as employment, healthcare, legislative action, labor-management relations, corporate practices, finances, local and national politics, consumer reports and labor issues. America’s Work Force Union Podcast is brought to you in part by our sponsors: AFL-CIO, American Federation of Government Employees, American Federation of Musicians Local 4, Alliance for American Manufacturing, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes-IBT, Boyd Watterson, Columbus/Central Ohio Building and Construction Trades Council, Communication Workers of America, Mechanical Insulators Labor Management Cooperative Trust, International Association of Heat and Frost Insulators and Allied Workers Local 50, International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Crafts, International Union of Painters and Allied Trades District Council 6, Ironworkers Great Lakes District Council, Melwood, The Labor Citizen newspaper, Laborers International Union of North America, The National Labor Office of Blue Cross and Blue Shield, North Coast Area Labor Federation, Ohio Federation of Teachers, United Labor Agency, United Steelworkers. - [Tweet](https://twitter.com/share) ##### SUBSCRIBE ON: --- [![Group 342](https://awf.labortools.com/hs-fs/hubfs/AmericasWorkForce/podcast%20logos/Apple%20Podcasts%20Button-Dark.png?width=171&name=Apple%20Podcasts%20Button-Dark.png)](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/americas-work-force-union-podcast/id1511224946) [![Group 341](https://awf.labortools.com/hs-fs/hubfs/AmericasWorkForce/podcast%20logos/Spotify%20Button-Dark.png?width=100&name=Spotify%20Button-Dark.png)](https://open.spotify.com/show/0GzkHxFSBxiXvuX0lZpQBn) [![Group 343](https://awf.labortools.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Group%20343.png?width=135&name=Group%20343.png)](https://www.iheart.com/podcast/americas-work-force-union-podcast-62567752/) [![Group 339](https://awf.labortools.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Group%20339.png?width=110&name=Group%20339.png)](https://www.pandora.com/podcast/americas-work-force-union-podcast/PC:47979) [![Group 397](https://awf.labortools.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Group%20397.png?width=125&name=Group%20397.png)](https://americasworkforceradiopodcast.podbean.com/) [![Group 397](https://awf.labortools.com/hs-fs/hubfs/YouTube_button.png?width=125&name=YouTube_button.png)](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuQo1PAtRAel1_tS7-PQOkA)   #### [Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen on the Union Pacific Merger Threat](https://awf.labortools.com/listen/brotherhood-of-railroad-signalmen-on-the-union-pacific-merger-threat) : July 6, 2026 # Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen on the Union Pacific Merger Threat Brandon Elvey, Secretary-Treasurer of the [Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen](https://www.brs.org/),... [Read More](https://awf.labortools.com/listen/brotherhood-of-railroad-signalmen-on-the-union-pacific-merger-threat) #### [AFL-CIO's Fred Redmond on the Convention, AI and America at 250](https://awf.labortools.com/listen/afl-cios-fred-redmond-on-the-convention-ai-and-america-at-250) : July 3, 2026 # AFL-CIO's Fred Redmond on the Convention, AI and America at 250 Fred Redmond, Secretary-Treasurer of the [AFL-CIO](https://awf.labortools.com/), joined the [America's Work Force...](https://awf.labortools.com/) [Read More](https://awf.labortools.com/listen/afl-cios-fred-redmond-on-the-convention-ai-and-america-at-250) #### [C/COBCTC's Dorsey Hager on Drones, Data Centers and Growth](https://awf.labortools.com/listen/c/cobctcs-dorsey-hager-on-drones-data-centers-and-growth) : July 2, 2026 # Dorsey Hager on Drones, Data Centers and Central Ohio's Building Boom Dorsey Hager, Executive Secretary-Treasurer of the [Columbus/Central Ohio...](https://columbusconstruction.org/) [Read More](https://awf.labortools.com/listen/c/cobctcs-dorsey-hager-on-drones-data-centers-and-growth) ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@type" : "BlogPosting", "author" : { "@type" : "Person", "name" : "awfblog", "url" : "https://awf.labortools.com/listen/author/awfblog" }, "dateModified" : "2023-07-18T20:13:17.886Z", "datePublished" : "2023-07-18T20:13:17.000Z", "headline" : "Teachers helping to better educate Ohioans on special August election", "image" : [ "https://awf.labortools.com/hubfs/OFT%20mic%20blue.jpg" ], "mainEntityOfPage" : { "@id" : "https://awf.labortools.com/listen/teachers-helping-to-better-educate-ohioans-on-special-august-election", "@type" : "WebPage" }, "publisher" : { "@type" : "Organization", "logo" : { "@type" : "ImageObject", "url" : "https://awf.labortools.com/hubfs/labor-tools-logo-white.png" }, "name" : "BMA Media" } } ```