Vouchers hurt educators' pensions. Plus, OEA support of the One Fair Wage campaign.

As public employees, OEA members pay into - and count on - public pensions to provide an adequate retirement when they leave our public schools. But, as OEA Secretary-Treasurer Mark Hill explains, the explosion of vouchers using public tax dollars to pay for private school tuition in Ohio is creating a very concerning threat to the future sustainability of Ohio's public pension systems. We also hear from the campaign manager behind the ballot initiative to raise Ohio's minimum wage about the impact of that move on some Ohio educators and the families of the students that nearly all Ohio educators serve.

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Featured Public Education Matters guests: 

Mark Hill, Ohio Education Association Secretary-TreasurerMark Hill began his career in public education in 1988, first as a middle school math teacher with Columbus City Schools and later with Worthington City Schools. Mark served as President of the Worthington Education Association from 2010-2018 and has served as a member of the OEA Board of Directors. Mark served as chair of the OEA Resolutions Committee as well as numerous committees for Central OEA/NEA. Mark was also elected to serve two four-year terms on the STRS Board from 2010-2018, serving as Chair and Vice Chair of the Board for each of those terms.
Mark’s experience in leadership was shaped by the crises of Senate Bill 5 and pension reform. The SB5 attack on collective bargaining took place in Mark’s first year as president of Worthington EA, and he led his local association to participate in the statewide repeal effort. In the same year, as the STRS pension fund faced a solvency crisis, Mark worked with the rest of the STRS board to bring long term sustainability to the pension so that its members could count on a secure retirement.
As Secretary-Treasurer, Mark has continued to advocate for a budget that reflects OEA priorities including supporting locals, organizing members to support public education, providing professional resources for members, and advocating for high-quality education for all students regardless of race or economic circumstances.
Mark led the Board of Directors to adopt policies that make it easier for locals to recruit members and to ensure OEA has a streamlined process to hire quality staff to consult with locals. Additionally, Mark provides Local Treasurer’s Training differentiated by experience, and offers locals advice on financial reporting, membership enrollment, and issues with local elections.Mariah Ross, One Fair Wage Ohio Campaign ManagerClick here to learn more about Mariah's professional experience on LinkedIn

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About us:

The Ohio Education Association represents about 120,000 teachers, faculty members and support professionals who work in Ohio’s schools, colleges, and universities to help improve public education and the lives of Ohio’s children. OEA members provide professional services to benefit students, schools, and the public in virtually every position needed to run Ohio’s schools.Public Education Matters host Katie Olmsted serves as Media Relations Consultant for the Ohio Education Association. She joined OEA in May 2020, after a ten-year career as an Emmy Award winning television reporter, anchor, and producer. Katie comes from a family of educators and is passionate about telling educators' stories and advocating for Ohio's students. She lives in Central Ohio with her husband and two young children. Katie often jokes that her children are walking petri dishes because they are always bringing one kind of 'bug' or another home from preschool and daycare. As you can hear in this episode, Katie was battling yet another one of those illnesses while recording the interviews for this episode. Katie believes she has a good chance of developing an unstoppable immune system by the time her kids are both in elementary school. 

This episode was recorded on December 2, 2023, and May 2, 2024.