Past Actions & Events

May 2023 – Written testimony on HB 33 budget bill for full implementation of the Fair School Funding Plan (link)

March 2, 2023 – Meet and Greet with 4 state elected officials in newly drawn districts. (link)

July 11, 2022 – With the help of Attorney Ken Kowalski, we filed an Amicus Brief in support of the Franklin County Court of Appeals hearing the Vouchers Hurt Ohio case.  (link)

March 24, 2022 – League of Women Voters Forum on Fair School Funding (link)

February 23, 2022 Are Vouchers Legal:  A Public Forum:  Explanation of background, impact and importance of the Vouchers Hurt Ohio Lawsuit filed January 4, 2022 with the support of 100 public school districts on the constitutionality of the Ohio EdChoice Voucher program.  Link to all materials and the video of the forum (link)

May 20, 2021 Redistricting Forum – League of Women Voters Volunteers Kate Rivet and Rob Thompson presented on Fair Districts; how the process works and what we can do to help the legislature draw fair maps.  Video of forum (LINK); PDF file of the slides including live links with action steps starting on slide 26 (LINK);Speaker Notes for slideshow (LINK); Links to resources (LINK)

May 2021 – Testimonies collected from our endorsers and friends on the Fair School Funding Plan, mostly before the Ohio Senate Primary and Secondary Education hearings. (link)

March/April 2021 – Book Discussion followed by action groups.  We led a virtual book discussion on Derek Black’s Schoolhouse Burning: Public Education and the Assault on American Democracy.  In the first session the author introduced the book to us before we broke into smaller groups to discuss the book using our guided questions.  In the third session participants chose an action group to discuss next steps both long and short term.  All materials available (here).

February 10, 2020 – School Funding in Ohio: The Possibilities and Challenges of Creating a Solution. We hosted a forum where Bill Phillis, from Ohio Equity and Adequacy laid out the constitutional requirements for public school funding from the DeRolph school funding cases (starting in 1997).  He was followed by Rep. John Patterson who explained the Cupp-Patterson plan for school funding (HB305).  FLYER LINK  Video starting with Patterson (link)

May 1, – June 19, 2019 – Budget and State Takeover Advocacy– we encouraged members through several action alerts and opportunities to write letters and make calls together at endorsers homes.  We kept endorsers up to date on what was transpiring in Columbus as much as possible by giving talking points, suggestions on which representatives to call/email/write. (link to How Can CHUH survive EdChoice statement)

February 6 & 13, 2019 – Book DiscussionThe Testing Charade: Pretending to Make Schools Better (link)  More than fifty people gathered to discuss Daniel Koretz’s important book and  to learn how Campbell’s Law—“The more any quantitative social indicator is used for social decision making, the more subject it will be to corruption pressures and the more apt it will be to distort and corrupt the social processes it is intend to monitor.”—explains the damage caused by federally required standardized testing and the high stakes consequences attached by our state. We explored the book itself and, thanks to participation from across Northeast Ohio, we were also able to examine the implications of high stakes standardized testing across many school districts.

November 15, 2018 – The Election is over:  Now what?  We met to review our position statement so that we could all make a pitch to a neighbor about endorsing.  We reviewed the lay of the landscape after the elections, then heard from two school Board members about the Do’s and Don’ts of having your voice heard.  We discussed the best ways to reach state elected officials and the important parts about giving testimony.  Lastly we each committed to actions we would personally take in the next few weeks. (flyer)(Summary) (Advocacy Talking Points)

February 26, 2018 – State Representatives Janine Boyd, Kent Smith were joined in a panel with State Board of Education Member Meryl Johnson and Ohio Federation of Teachers Legislative Director Darold Johnson to present their thoughts on how to approach elected officials on various issues.

February 12, 2018 – table discussions led by Jan Resseger.  Discussions compared the NAACP stance on Charters versus the point of view of the Network for Public Education.  We compared Betsy DeVos and Eva Moskowitz with the principles of John Dewey.  Check the link to the readings, guiding questions, and PDF’s of the handouts used (link)

January 29, 2018 – Superintendents Fight Back: Jim Lloyd of Olmsted Falls, Walter Davis of Woodridge, and Talisa Dixon of Cleveland Heights University Heights spoke about the way they have been advocating for public education in the midst of state policy that hurts their students and communities.  (link here for a summary) or (link here to watch the video)  (Flyer for Winter Democracy Series)

October 10, 2017 – we present the documentary “Backpack Full of Cash” with several co-sponsors.  About 140 people attended. (click here to learn more)

Spring 2017 – Listening Project with Charter School Families (link to our info)

February 22, 2017 – Steering Meeting decided there were to be 4 aspects to our work:  Education, Action, Creative Resistance, Connections with Like-Minded Organizations.

January 2017 – Taking Back Our Public Schools – Guest Speaker Dr. Karl Wheatley (link to all materials)

January 9, 2017 – Presented a letter opposing the confirmation of Betsy DeVos for the position of Secretary of Education signed by 20 education and civic groups to Senator Rob Portman’s staff and to Senator Sherrod Brown’s staff.

October 6, 2016 – WALK – IN.  As part of the National Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools and over 200 schools nationwide. (Gallery)

September 2016 – ESSA Stakeholders meeting.  Members attended regional meetings to make sure that the Ohio Department of Education knew what was important to us.  Also sent a letter to State Superintendent Paolo DeMaria stating our positions. (letter sent to Supt DeMaria)

June 2016 – at our urging the CHUH Board of Education adopted a resolution taking a stand on charters and invoiced the state for money lost to our district.

May 2016 – Movie Night – Standardized:  Lies, Money, and Civil Rights at Grace Lutheran Church

April 7 and 13, 2016 – A Community Book Discussion: “The Schools our Children Deserve” by Alfie Kohn. (link)

February 17, 2016 – We are more than a score – rallies at each of our elementary schools.

December 2015 – Our coalition asked the CHUH Board of Education to invoice the state of Ohio for monies lost from our district to charter schools.  The Board passed a resolution in June 2016. (link to resolution)

September 21, 2015 – Held an open meeting with candidates for board of education to discussion high-stakes testing.

September 1, 2015 – Asked the CHUH Board of Education to condemn House Bill 70, the Youngstown takeover bill and they acted.

March 24, 2015 – Forum:  The Myth of Failing Students  HOPEFULLY COMING SOON
Video part 1 of 4,  Video part 2 of 4,  Video part 3 of 4,  Video part 4 of 4

January 28, 2015 – Forum:  The Myth of Failing Teachers

November 10, 2014 – Forum:  The Myth of Failing Public Schools with featured speaker Rob Weil.

Fall 2014 – Formulated a position statement and purpose

April 2014 – Asked the CHUH Board of Education to endorse the “Principles that Unite Us.”  They voted to endorse.

Spring 2014 – Heights Coalition for Public Education – organizational meeting

January 22, 29, and February 5, 2014 – Community Book Discussion – Reign of Error by Diane Ravitch. Read about our formation and see the materials we used for our discussions.

Fall 2013 – initial discussions about a community book discussion