I'm Ohio's Teacher of the Year. Proposed state budget changes betray our students.

(Stock photo from Getty Images)
Recently, I received a message from my son's teacher, excitedly letting me know he passed his Math Ohio state test. When my son was diagnosed with a neurological disability, I worried about the ways he might struggle, not only physically and emotionally, but academically. I found peace in knowing that Ohio's public schools would support him through protections provided by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).
What I didn't expect was the depth of care, commitment and expertise his public school teachers would bring. They see him. They celebrate his brilliance, advocate for his growth, and make sure I am part of a team.
This is why it is devastating to watch our state systematically strip resources from public education while funneling hundreds of millions of dollars more into private and charter schools that are not held to the same standards. This isn't just a financing shift. It's a shift in values.
Early in my career, I worked in charter schools, and while that experience shaped me as an educator, it also exposed me to harsh realities. I saw how poor accountability led to inefficiency and blatant disregard for students. These schools prioritized profit over people, with faceless management sending impersonal directives from beach homes in Florida.
I watched students be discarded for not fitting an image and dedicated educators penalized for speaking up. My experiences confirm these are not the schools that best serve Ohio's children, yet our state continues to prioritize them over public schools that educate all students – no exceptions.
Our public schools don't pick and choose. They don't push out students who need more support. They don't quietly ignore civil rights protections like IDEA. My child thrives today because of this commitment, but I worry—for how much longer?
Proposed education budget changes feign a preference for school choice, but reflect a deeper truth: Ohio is abandoning its responsibility to educate all children.
Underfunding public education puts supports like my son's at risk. As an educator and a parent, I know what questions to ask and what rights to fight for, but many parents do not. Without the legal oversight and rules public schools must follow, too many students with disabilities may receive inadequate support, or be denied support, and their families may not even realize it. My child, and every child, deserves an education that meets their needs, not one that depends on whether a school chooses to serve them.
Voucher and charter schools are not bound by the same transparency, equity, or admissions requirements as public schools. They can, and do, exclude students of color, LGBTQ+ students, students in poverty and students with disabilities, further damaging how these students feel seen and valued in the world. Yet, they're receiving hundreds of millions more in taxpayer dollars.
Meanwhile, public schools are expected to do more with less. Because Ohio refuses to fund public education fully, districts are forced to rely on local property taxes. When those levies fail, as they did recently in my own communities of Twinsburg and Stow-Munroe Falls, students pay the price. Teachers stretch their resources, families scramble for support, and achievement gaps widen, particularly for rural and urban districts already struggling.
I'm proud to be Ohio's Teacher of the Year, but this title means little if I don't speak up. My colleagues in my district, the educators so tenderly caring for my baby in his, and those across the state working every day to make public schools places of learning, belonging, and possibility for every child can't do it alone, and shouldn't have to.
Ohio's children deserve better—all of them.
SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Learn with AIFact CheckingText to SpeechAI Summary

Related Articles

Yahoo

an hour ago

• Yahoo

Social Security Benefits Are an Estimated 8 Years Away From Being Slashed -- and the Cuts Are Even Bigger Than Initially Forecast

Most retirees rely on their Social Security income, to some varied degree, to make ends meet. The 2025 Social Security Board of Trustees Report is calling for an even steeper reduction to retired-worker and survivor benefits come 2033 than was forecast last year. Ongoing demographic shifts are (mostly) responsible for Social Security's financial woes. However, the longer Congress waits to implement reforms, the costlier it'll be on working Americans. The $23,760 Social Security bonus most retirees completely overlook › Social Security represents more than just a monthly check for most retirees. To many, it's a financial lifeline that surveys and studies have shown they'd struggle to make do without. For 23 consecutive years, national pollster Gallup surveyed retirees to determine how important their Social Security income was to covering their expenses. Every year, no fewer than 80% of respondents noted it was necessary, in some capacity, to cover their costs. A separate analysis from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities found that Social Security pulled 22 million people above the federal poverty line in 2023, including 16.3 million adults aged 65 and above. If the Social Security program didn't exist, the poverty rate for this group would be nearly four times higher (37.3%, estimated) than it was in 2023 (10.1%). For lawmakers, ensuring the financial health of Social Security should be of paramount importance. But based on the latest Social Security Board of Trustees Report, America's leading retirement program is on anything but stable ground. In January 1940, the Social Security program doled out its very first retired-worker benefit. Since then, the Social Security Board of Trustees has published an annual report intricately detailing how the program generates income, as well as where every dollar in outlays ends up. But what tends to garner even more attention is the Trustees' forecasts of what's to come for Social Security. Specifically, the short- (10-year) and long-term (75-year) projections, which are regularly updated to reflect fiscal policy changes, monetary policy shifts, and an assortment of demographic adjustments. Last week, the 2025 Social Security Board of Trustees Report was released -- and it contained some rather chilling news for current and future retirees. To begin with, the program's long-term unfunded obligation continues to widen. Every annual report since 1985 has pointed to a 75-year funding deficit between projected income to be collected and forecast outlays, which includes annual cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs). In present-day dollars, discounted to Jan. 1, 2025, this 75-year deficit stood at a staggering $25.1 trillion. However, the more worrisome news is the short-term forecast for the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance trust fund (OASI). This is the fund responsible for doling out monthly benefits to retired workers and survivors of deceased beneficiaries. Beginning in 2021, the OASI began outlaying more in benefits than was being collected in income. This outflow from the OASI's asset reserves is expected to grow with each passing year. By 2033, the OASI's asset reserves are projected to be completely exhausted. Before going any further, let's make clear that the OASI doesn't need a penny in asset reserves to remain solvent and continue to pay benefits to eligible recipients. With the lion's share of Social Security income collected from the 12.4% payroll tax on wages and salary, there will always be income to disburse to qualified beneficiaries. But if the OASI's asset reserves are depleted in eight years, as the latest Trustees Report predicts, the current payout schedule, inclusive of COLAs, won't be sustainable. The Trustees are forecasting a 23% cut to payouts may be necessary for retired workers and survivor beneficiaries by 2033 -- this is up from an estimated 21% cut outlined in the 2024 Trustees Report -- to sustain monthly benefits without the need for any further reductions through 2099. With Social Security providing a financial foundation to retirees for more than eight decades, the obvious question for current and future retirees is simple: How did Social Security get into this mess? What can be said with certainty is that "congressional theft" and "undocumented migrants receiving traditional Social Security benefits," which are two common myths/scapegoats mentioned by some people online, are the wrong answers. Rather, Social Security's worsening financial outlook is a function of numerous ongoing demographic shifts, as well as inaction on Capitol Hill. Some of these shifts are well-documented and understood by the public. For example, baby boomers reaching retirement age and leaving the workforce in larger numbers are weighing down the worker-to-beneficiary ratio. Likewise, people are living longer today than they were when Social Security initially began paying retired-worker benefits in 1940. To be somewhat blunt, the program wasn't designed to dish out payments to retirees for two or more decades, as is somewhat commonplace today. But a number of these demographic shifts aren't nearly as visible -- nevertheless, they're playing a key role in weakening the program. For starters, the U.S. fertility rate (i.e., hypothetical lifetime births per woman) hit an all-time low in 2023. A laundry list of factors, ranging from people waiting longer to get married and have children, to concerns about the health of the U.S. economy, have reduced the number of children being born and will, eventually, weigh down the worker-to-beneficiary ratio. Rising income inequality is another issue for Social Security. Based on data from the Social Security Administration, approximately 90% of all earned income (wages and salary, but not investment income) was subject to the 12.4% payroll tax in 1983. By 2023, only 83% of earned income was subject to this program-funding tax. In simple terms, the wages and salaries for high earners have been increasing at a faster pace than the National Average Wage Index, which determines the upper range of earned income exposed to the payroll tax. In short, more earned income is escaping the payroll tax as time passes. Insufficient net migration into the U.S. has been problematic, too. Social Security relies on younger people migrating to the U.S. and contributing to the program for decades via the payroll tax before earning a retirement benefit for themselves one day. Since 1997, the net migration rate into the U.S. has dropped off dramatically. The final culprit is the aforementioned lack of action by lawmakers in Washington, D.C. Although plenty of bills have been proposed, the cavernous ideological gap between Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill as to how best to strengthen Social Security has led to an ongoing stalemate. If there's a silver lining here, it's that lawmakers do have a knack for coming to Social Security's rescue in the 11th hour. But the longer Congress waits to tackle this issue, the costlier it's going to be on working Americans to fix. If you're like most Americans, you're a few years (or more) behind on your retirement savings. But a handful of little-known could help ensure a boost in your retirement income. One easy trick could pay you as much as $23,760 more... each year! Once you learn how to maximize your Social Security benefits, we think you could retire confidently with the peace of mind we're all after. Join Stock Advisor to learn more about these Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Social Security Benefits Are an Estimated 8 Years Away From Being Slashed -- and the Cuts Are Even Bigger Than Initially Forecast was originally published by The Motley Fool Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data

Fast Company

an hour ago

• Fast Company

Small talk isn't worthless. Here's how to use it to accelerate your career

BY Listen to this Article More info 0:00 / 5:06 'I heard it's supposed to rain this weekend.' 'How about those Cubs?' 'Did you hear Ed, the escaped zebra from Tennessee?' If you groan at the thought of small talk, you're not alone. More than 70% of Americans said they'd prefer to just sit in silence over talking about the weather, sports, or current events, according to a survey by the online education site Preply. While small talk is often viewed as the unnecessary fluff that comes before something real is discussed, that attitude doesn't do its importance justice, says Deb Feder, author of Tell Me More: Building Trusted Client Relationships through Everyday Interactions. 'I think small talk is where the 'real' is found,' she says. 'It's where the depth of a relationship can really be cemented. It's taking conversations and allowing them to evolve by getting curious and by taking time to get to know others.'

Washington Post

an hour ago

• Washington Post

Andrew Cuomo wants to be New York's mayor. Do Democrats want him back?

NEW YORK — The room pulsed with hundreds of hotel, casino and maintenance workers wearing 'Union Strength is Built at the Ballot Box' T-shirts like armor against an uncertain economic future. They chanted loudly for the man they once helped push to resign from office in disgrace. 'CUOMO! CUOMO! CUOMO!' Andrew M. Cuomo stepped onto the stage and welcomed the two powerful unions gathered before him. Four years ago, the workers and their leaders joined a widespread Democratic movement to force Cuomo out of the governor's mansion amid allegations of sexual harassment from 11 women. But on this day in June, they were trying to help him become New York's next mayor.