1100 Wayne St., Suite 2522, Troy, 45373 www.woea.org February, 2012

PRESIDENT Valerie Roldan

VICE-PRESIDENT Ella Jordan Isaac

SECRETARY David Young

TREASURER Nola Brooks

PAST PRESIDENT RETIRED

Dawn Wocik

OEA UNIT I Sophia Rodriguez

OEA UNIT I I Sandy Lewis

OEA UNIT I I I Sandy Coe

OEA UNIT IV Becky Whited

WOEA AREA 1 Annette Johnson

WOEA AREA 2 Carol DeMaio

WOEA AREA 3 Terr i Browning

WOEA AREA 4 Deb Scott

WOEA AREA 5 David Young

WOEA AREA 6 Rita Adams

WOEA AREA 7 Christ ine Wiseman

WOMEN’S CAUCUS Janifer Trowles

WOEA-R Jane Rahn

ESP At-Large Selena Crace

WOEA At-Large Joni Watson

OEA At -Large Janifer Trowles

Off ice Manager Kim Honeycutt

Welcome to a new year! This is the time so many of us often reflect on our lives and resolve to make positive changes. Like I have, some of you have made resolutions to lose weight, get

your finances in order, exercise more, or develop a deeper spiritual commitment.

I wonder how many of us have added the act of advocacy to our list of resolutions?

Though the passage of Senate Bill 5 was a grueling test for public employees; it was also an eye opener for many of us to realize the urgency and necessity for each one of us to be an advocate. We must not lose the momentum we gained in the defeat of SB5. Our best strategy is to be diligent in advocating for education friendly politicians who support educators.

The task ahead of us is not as powerful as the strength within us. Become an ACE, contribute to FCPE, stay abreast of current political decisions, trends and events and regularly visit:

www.educationvotes.nea.org.

Justin Dart, advocate for disability rights said it best - “Get into politics as though your life depended on it. It does.”

Have a safe and happy 2012.

Valerie Roldan WOEA President

WOEA MISSION STATEMENT The purpose of this Association shall be to afford opportunities for its members to improve their professional knowledge, to foster sound education policies, and to promote the best interest of children.

From OEA Legislative Watch 2 NEA Education Superstars 2 WOEA Elections 3 NEA RA 3 WOEA Awards 3 WOEA Teacher Appreciation Dinner 3 NEA Member Benefits 3 Congressional Redistricting Map Insert Declaration of Candidacy Form Insert February Calendar Back

P A G E 2 Gavel to Gavel

News from OEA Legislative Watch

Deal Reached on Single Primary, Congressional Redistricting

On the final day of the legislative session for the year, the House and Senate adopted House Bill 369 to set Congressional districts and provide for a single primary election in 2012 to be held on Tuesday, March 6. After months of deadlock on redistricting, the bill passed the House 77-17 and the Senate 27-6 and secured the two-thirds majority to pass it as an emergency measure. Passage of HB 369 replaces the Congressional map passed earlier this year (HB 319) that was being challenged by an effort to repeal the law through referendum. Additionally, the bill will eliminate the expense of a second primary in June for Congressional and Presidential candidates. The newly adopted map is included with this newsletter and can be downloaded from the WOEA website, www.woea.org

Additionally, HB 369 calls for the creation of a bipartisan legislative task force on redistricting. The eight-member panel will have an equal number of Democrats and Republicans, hold public hearings, and issue redistricting reform proposal for the General Assembly to consider. The task force is to issue their report by the end of June 2012.

Huffman Announces Changes to Voucher Proposal

Representative Matt Huffman (R-Lima) held a press conference on Monday, December 12, 2011 to outline changes to a proposed statewide voucher program. The “PACT” scholarship program was proposed in House Bill 136 which had narrowly passed the House Education Committee and has yet to reach the House Floor. OEA strongly opposes HB 136, a bill which has also drawn loud criticism from school boards and superintendents around Ohio.

Huffman outlined the following changes to the bill: limit the scholarship amount to the state per-pupil spending by district; local districts retain excess funds; limit participants to one percent of district enrollment; set eligibility for household income at 300% of poverty (approximately $67,000 for a family of four); and eliminate the education savings account provision of the bill. Huffman indicated he does not anticipate HB 136 to move forward, but that the revised proposal may be introduced as separate legislation or added to another bill.

To be clear, OEA strongly opposes this revised proposal. The expansion of vouchers statewide is a fundamentally flawed idea. Vouchers drain scarce resources from public schools where the vast majority of Ohio’s students are served. Public schools are already dealing with harmful budget cuts that have led to lost academic programs, layoffs and reduced opportunities for students. Taking taxpayer money to fund private school tuition for some students, including those already enrolled in private school, is the wrong choice for Ohio.

News from NEA - EDUCATION SUPERSTARS!

The NEA family won a number of important victories in Congress this year -- victories that would not have been possible without the activism of educators and others who care about children and public education. You sent over 530,000 emails, made over 8,300 phone calls, and made thousands of visits to Members of Congress to help achieve these victories.

Your e-mails and phone calls to Congress help amplify our voice and make sure that the concerns of educators are part of policy debates in Washington, DC. Sharing educators’ first-hand experiences is the most effective way to influence education policy and ensure that Congress crafts laws that will work for real students in real classrooms. We hope all NEA cyber-lobbyists will continue to share your expertise with your elected representatives and encourage your colleagues to do the same. Together, we are strong force that cannot be ignored.

From Capitol Hill to the classroom, your voice AND your membership matter! This year, some in Congress looked to replicate at the federal level the unprecedented state-level attacks on educators and other public employees. At the same time, Congress sought to reduce the deficit by slashing funding for education and balancing the budget on the backs of our nation’s working families, children, and seniors. Together, we stopped some of the most dangerous and attacks and protected public education, students, and educators.

During the first session of the 112th Congress of the United States, the NEA‘s advocacy:

Saved health care for millions of low-income children. Efforts to slash Medicaid, which serves one-third of our nation’s children, failed in Congress. Half of the 68 million people covered by Medicaid in 2010 were children under the age of 19. Children who lack access to health care services are less likely to come to school healthy and ready to learn and to succeed academically.

Saved schools serving dependents of military families from elimination – A proposal to eliminate the highly successful schools serving the children of our nation’s military families was blocked.

Protected health care for millions of uninsured families – Efforts to

repeal the landmark Affordable Care Act failed. The historic law provides health care for 32 million uninsured Americans, enables children to stay on a parent’s policy until age 26, ends abuses such as lifetime coverage limits and dropping people when they get sick, and more.

Staved off multiple attacks on workers’ rights – Bills that would weaken the ability of the National Labor Relations Board to protect workers were blocked. Several attempts to undermine wage protections were stopped by bipartisan votes.

Stopped devastating cuts to education – a proposal that would have slashed education funding by $17.7 billion or more than 18 percent in fiscal year and by $250 billion over 10 years was defeated. The proposed cuts would have meant ballooning class sizes, devastating cuts in services for the most vulnerable students, and elim-ination of core programs that help ensure student success.

Blocked dangerous budget gimmicks that would decimate education funding and jeopardize economic recovery – Congress defeated spending caps and balanced budget constitutional amendments that could have resulted in the largest federal spending cuts in modern history. It would not have been possible to achieve the proposed spending levels without massive cuts in education, Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and other programs that meet crucial national needs.

Preserved Social Security benefits – Proposals to raise the retirement age and cut Social Security benefits were blocked in Congress. Teachers and education support professionals, like the majority of middle class Americans, rely on Social Security for their future. Cutting benefits would have harmed millions of workers who were counting on Social Security for a secure retirement.

Blocked passage of private school vouchers for military dependents – An attempt to create private school vouchers for military children with special needs failed.

Protected public pensions – Proposals to undermine public employee pensions were blocked.

P A G E 3 Gavel to Gavel

WOEA Awards at Spring R.A. WOEA will present two awards at the 2012 WOEA Spring Representative Assembly on Wednesday, April 11 at Northmont High School. The following awards will be presented:

WOEA Friend of Education Award WOEA ESP of the Year Award

Nominations for following WOEA Board of Director positions are being excepted for the offices listed below. For all WOEA positions, use the WOEA Declaration of Candidacy Form which is due by March 1, 2012 to the WOEA Office. *The OEA Unit 1 application was due to OEA January 28, 2012. For more information, visit the WOEA Election page on the WOEA website, www.woea.org. Forms are included with this newsletter.

Members interested in the OEA Unit I position must be a member from one of the following local associations: Anna, Ansonia, Arcanum-Butler, Auglaize, Bethel, Bradford, Celina, Coldwater, Covington, Edison State, Ft. Loramie, Ft. Recovery, Franklin Monroe, Greenville, Hardin Houston, Marion Local, Miami East, Milton Union, Minster, New Bremen, Mississinawa Valley, Newton, Parkway, Piqua, Russia, St. Marys, Sidney, Tri- Village, Troy, Versailles, Wapakoneta, or Waynesfield-Goshen.

Members interested in the WOEA Area 2 position must be a member from one of the following local associations: Ansonia, Arcanum Butler, Bethel, Bradford, Covington, Edison State, Franklin Monroe, Greenville, Miami East, Milton Union, Mississinawa Valley, Newton, Piqua, Tri-Village, Troy, or Versailles.

Members interested in the WOEA Area 3 position must be a member from one of the following local associations: Brookville, Eaton, Educators of Montgomery County, Jefferson Twp., National Trail, Preble Shawnee, Tri County North, Trotwood Madison, Twin Valley, or Valley View.

Members interested in the WOEA Area 4 position must be a member from one of the following local associations: Huber Heights, Mad River, Northmont, Northridge, or Vandalia Butler.

Recording Secretary - 2 year term Treasurer - 2 year term WOEA At-Large - 3 year term WOEA ESP At-Large - 3 year term

WOEA Area 2 - 3 year term WOEA Area 3 - 3 year term WOEA Area 4 - 3 year term *OEA Unit 1 - 3 year term

WOEA Announces Board of Director Elections

The WOEA Gavel to Gavel Newsletter is published 8 times annually for its members. Editor: Kim Honeycutt

Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

1 WOEA Collective Bargaining Comm. Meeting 5 pm Panera Bread, Miller Lane

2 OEA Collective Bargaining Conference

3 OEA Collective Bargaining Conference

4 OEA Collective Bargaining Conference

5 6 WOEA Professional Efficacy Comm. Meeting 5 pm Panera Bread, Miller Lane

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13 14 WOEA Board of Directors Meeting 5 pm WOEA Office

15 WOEA Local Development and Training Comm. Meeting 5:15 pm Panera Bread, Miller Lane

16 WOEA Member Rights & Protection Comm. Meeting 5 pm WOEA Office

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19 20 President’s Day

21 22 WOEA Organizing Strategy Comm. Meeting 5 pm Panera Bread, U.D.

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1100 Wayne St., Suite 2522 Troy, OH 45373

800-598-WOEA or 937-339-9509 FAX: 937-335-0323 E-Mail: woea@woea.org Web: www.woea.org