FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 11, 2025
Contacts: Neil Bhaerman (OFT), nbhaerman@oft-aft.org; Sara Kilpatrick (OCAAUP), sara@ocaaup.org; Katie Olmsted (OEA), olmstedk@ohea.org
Ohio’s Education Unions Call for Amendments to SB 1
COLUMBUS — Ohio’s three largest educator unions are asking the Ohio Senate to delay an expected vote on SB 1 until there has been time for stakeholder input and consideration of amendments submitted by the Ohio Conference of the American Association of University Professors (OCAAUP).
The Ohio Education Association (OEA) and the Ohio Federation of Teachers (OFT) join OCAAUP in supporting these amendments to SB 1, a far-reaching bill that subjects Ohio’s public colleges and universities to legislative micro-management, more than 100 unfunded administrative mandates*, content bans, and restrictions on collective bargaining rights. The amendments were submitted to SB 1 sponsor Senator Jerry Cirino (R-Kirtland) and the Ohio Senate Higher Education Committee on February 6.
“As Senate Bill 1 moves forward, we’re calling on legislators to consider and adopt amendments that would mitigate the potential harm of this bill and help find some common ground on these issues,” said OCAAUP Executive Director Sara Kilpatrick. “Students are rightfully concerned that SB 1 will drive up the cost of tuition and put limits on what they can learn and discuss; faculty are concerned about an erosion of their rights at work and a climate of fear that would chill academic freedom; and Ohioans across the state are concerned about degrading local institutions that provide economic and cultural benefits to their communities. There are common sense adjustments that can be made to this bill to alleviate many of these concerns.”
To address concerns about workers’ rights, the proposed amendments would:
- Eliminate language that prohibits faculty from negotiating over fundamental collective bargaining subjects and removes their right to strike over unfair treatment.
- Remove the section on post-tenure review that allows for tenured faculty to be terminated at any time without due process.
To address concerns about academic freedom, the proposed amendments would:
- Revise language on "intellectual diversity" to clarify that faculty fully maintain academic freedom and are not forced to teach ideas about which there is no consensus within their academic discipline.
- Modify the American civic literacy course section to allow instructors to have control of the curriculum, as is required for accreditation.
- Delete the broad definition of "retrenchment," which as written would grant administrators unlimited authority to shut down academic programs and layoff faculty at whim.
To address concerns about unfunded mandates and administrative micro-managing, the proposed amendments would:
- Modify the faculty evaluation section to allow boards of trustees to maintain or modify current evaluation systems that are already in place.
- Remove the section on degree program elimination, which contains arbitrary metrics, and replace it with a proposal to study the issue.
- Eliminate language banning programs and services for underrepresented students.
- Allow universities to post general syllabi online for public information instead of overly detailed syllabi.
“Ohio’s public colleges and universities are cornerstones of our communities and essential drivers of our economy. They’re too important to subject them to major policies without taking the time to stop and see if improvements can be made,” said OEA President Scott DiMauro. “We’re asking the Senate to pump the brakes and make this bill better.”
To allow public participation and meaningful consideration of these amendments, the unions are asking that Senators refrain from voting on SB 1 this week.
“As currently written, SB 1 will put Ohio’s world-class system of higher education at risk by stifling academic freedom, raising administrative costs, impeding recruitment and retention of talented faculty, and pushing more young adults out of Ohio,” said Melissa Cropper, OFT President and Secretary-Treasurer of the Ohio AFL-CIO. “The Senate can avert the worst of these risks by taking the time to consider amendments and make this bill better.”
SB1 is the worst attack on organized labor since SB 5 in 2011, and the bill is broadly opposed by Ohio labor unions.
* SB 1 would add 105 additional usages of the word “shall” to the Ohio Revised Code.
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