Facts on SB5
Myth : "Collecting bargaining FACTS:
rights for public employees are • Before the 1983 collective bargaining law there were an average of 60
not working." strikes a year by public workers because public workers felt they had no
other voice other than to go on strike.
• Under the current law, strikes have been minimal, especially by teachers.
There were 7.4 teacher strikes per year from 1984-92, costing less than
0.7 percent of total instructional time. Those numbers have been even
smaller in recent times: two strikes in 2006, four in 2007, two in 2008,
one in 2009, zero in 2010. Nine teacher strikes in five years hardly seems
inflexible. (James J. Brudney of the American Constitution Society)
• Collective bargaining has not caused Ohio's deficit. Budget deficits for
states without collective bargaining for public employees are actually
higher on average than the budget deficits of states with collective
bargaining (Policy Matters Ohio).
• Ohio Republican State Senator Tim Grendell stated that Senate Bill
5 was unconstitutional before the Ohio Senate on March 30,
2011 based on the 1989 Ohio Supreme Court case City of Rocky
River v. State Employment Relations Board.

Myth : “Private sector workers FACTS:

in the state have faced cutbacks, • A quick review of media stories from 2008-10 discloses multiple instances
while public workers haven’t of teachers from Cleveland, Akron, and Columbus, and tens of thousands
sacrificed anything.” of health care and other government workers across the state, who
accepted wage freezes, health premium increases, mandatory furloughs,
and other givebacks in the face of the economic crisis. ((James J. Brudney
of the American Constitution Society)

Myth : “Salaries and benefits FACTS:

paid to public employees are way • On average, including salary and benefits, public employees make 6.8%
out of line compared to private less than their private sector counterparts (Economic Policy Institute,
sector workers.” Rutgers University)
• Over half of state and local public employees have a college degree, while
fewer than 30 percent of private sector workers do.
• Educators’ salaries start at $30,000 a year while those in professions with
similar education—architects, engineers and accountants—start at around
$50,000 a year, mid-career earnings for architects, engineers and
accountants are around $70,000, mid-career earnings for educators are
around $50,000 (Bureau of Labor Statistics, www.moneywatch.com)

Myth : “It isn’t fair that FACTS:

taxpayers pay for teachers’
retirement.”
• Teachers earn compensation in two forms: cash salaries and deferred
salaries. The cash salary is their paycheck. 10% of each paycheck is
deducted and contributed to their retirement. An amount equal to 14% of
the cash salary is contributed on behalf of the employee as deferred
salary to their retirement. Teachers’ accepted deferred salaries in lieu of
cash salary increases. (tax.com, Rick Ungar of Forbes magazine)

 
  
Myth : “We should pay FACTS:
teachers based on merit because • Requiring merit pay for teachers with 50% of criteria for evaluation based
this will encourage teachers to on standardized test scores will cause teachers to teach to the test and
work harder and perform better.” narrow the curriculum. A reduction in creative and innovative classrooms
will occur, ultimately causing decreased student motivation and
engagement in learning.
• Requiring administrators to evaluate every teacher for at least 30 minutes
twice every year will increase administrative costs and mean that more
money is spent on administrative costs instead of less.
• Value-added formulas for teacher performance based on standardized
test are not statistically valid and reliable. (Economic Policy Institute, New
York Times, National Education Policy Center)
• Students often receive instruction from multiple teachers, which makes it
difficult, if not impossible, to determine which teacher is responsible for
student achievement.
• Merit pay systems for teachers have been tried in New York City,
Chicago, Washington D.C. and Nashville where studies have shown that
they did not increase student achievement (Mathematica Policy Research,
Economic Policy Institute, National Educational Policy Center)
• Vanderbilt University and the RAND Corporation concluded that
“rewarding teachers with bonus pay, in the absence of any other support
programs, does not raise student test scores.”
• According to University of Washington economist Dan Goldhaber, about
60% of student achievement is attributable to non-school factors, such as
family income and poverty
• Research has shown that collaboration among teachers improves the
quality of instruction, but merit-pay systems based on standardized test
scores for the students of individual teachers creates incentives opposed
to collaboration and cooperation
• Merit pay based on standardized tests punishes teachers for working with
students who have disabilities or are disadvantaged

Myth : “Charter schools FACTS:

outperform traditional public
schools.”
• According to a 2009 Stanford University study, only 17% of charter
schools perform better than public schools while 37% of charter schools
perform worse than public schools
• According to an analysis of the 2006 Ohio state report cards, 1 in 2
charter schools were either in academic emergency or academic watch,
while only 1 in 11 traditional public school buildings were in academic
emergency or academic watch
• 3 out of 4 public schools are rated excellent or effective, while only 1 in 6
charter schools are rated excellent or effective.
• There are twice as many failing charter schools as successful ones

Myth : “Charter Schools are FACTS:

less expensive and more efficient • According to the Ohio Dept. of Education, in Franklin County the average
than traditional public schools public school receives $3,957.94 per student in state funding, while the
because they operate under free average charter school receives $9,416.81 per student
market principles.” • In 2010, Ohio charter schools received over $184.4 million in federal
funding in addition to state funding

 
  
Sources:

“Ohio Senate Bill 5, and Why We Need Collective Bargaining,” James J. Brudney, American Constitution Society, April 13,

2011.

“The Wisconsin Lie Exposed – Taxpayers Actually Contribute Nothing To Public Employee Pensions,” Rick Ungar, Forbes,

February 25, 2011.

“Really Bad Reporting in Wisconsin: Who 'Contributes' to Public Workers' Pensions?” David Cay Johnston, www.tax.com,

February 24, 2011.

“Why States Shouldn’t Adopt Defined-Contribution Pensions,” Felix Salmon, Reuters, March 1, 2011.

“A Bad Deal for Taxpayers,” Teresa Ghilarducci, The New York Times, February 28, 2011.

“The Myth of Charter Schools,” Diane Ravitch, The New York Review of Books, January 13, 2011.

“Multiple Choice: Charter School Performance in 16 States,” Center for Research on Education Outcomes (CREDO),

Stanford University, June 2009.

“An Evaluation of the Teacher Advancement Program (TAP) in Chicago: Year Two Impact Report,” Steven Glazerman and

Allison Seifullah, Mathematica Policy Research, Inc., May 17, 2010.

“The Children Must Play: What the United States could learn from Finland about education reform,” Samuel E. Abrams,

The New Republic, January 28, 2011.

“Evaluating New York Teachers, Perhaps the Numbers Do Lie,” Michael Winerip, The New York Times, March 6, 2011.

“Neither Fair Nor Accurate • Research-Based Reasons Why High-Stakes Tests Should Not Be Used to Evaluate Teachers,”

Wayne Au, Rethinking Schools, Winter 2010.

“Teacher bonuses not linked to better student performance, study finds,” Nick Anderson, Washington Post, September

21, 2010.

“Getting Teacher Assessment Right: What Policymakers Can Learn From Research,” Patricia H. Hinchey, National

Education Policy Center, December 7, 2010.

“Problems With the Use of Student Test Scores to Evaluate Teachers,” Eva L. Baker et al., Economic Policy Institute,

Briefing Paper #278, August 27, 2010.

“What the U.S. Can Learn From the World’s Most Successful Education Reform Efforts,” Steven L. Paine and Andreas

Schleicher, McGraw-Hill Research Foundation.

Created by americansocietytoday.blogspot.com, April 2011.