Ohio
National Council on Teacher Quality Report Card: Ohio Teacher Policy
Legend
 | Best practices. |
 | State meets goal. |
 | State nearly meets goal. |
 | State partially meets goal. |
 | State meets a small part of goal. |
 | State does not meet goal. |
| Full Report – National Council on Teacher Quality | |
Meeting NCLB Teacher Quality Objectives: D
| Goal A Equitable Distribution of Teachers |
| Goal B Elementary Teacher Preparation |
| Goal C Secondary Teacher Preparation |
| Goal D Veteran Teachers Path to HQT |
| Goal E Standardizing Credentials |
| Goal A Defining Professional Knowledge |
| Goal B Meaningful Licenses |
| Goal C Interstate Portability |
| Goal D Teacher Prep in Reading Instruction |
| Goal E Distinguishing Promising Teachers |
Teacher Evaluation and Compensation: D
| Goal A Evaluating Teacher Effectiveness |
| Goal B Using Value-Added |
| Goal C Teacher Evaluation |
| Goal D Compensation Reform |
| Goal E Tenure |
State Approval of Teacher Preparation Programs: D
| Goal A Entry Into Preparation Programs |
| Goal B Program Accountability |
| Goal C Program Approval and Accreditation |
| Goal D Controlling Coursework Creep |
Alternate Routes to Certification: D
| Goal A Genuine Alternatives |
| Goal B Limiting Alternate Routes to Teachers with Strong Credentials |
| Goal C Program Accountability |
| Goal D Interstate Portability |
Preparation of Special Education Teachers: F
| Goal A Special Education Teacher Preparation |
| Goal B Elementary Special Education Teachers |
| Goal C Secondary Special Education Teachers |
| Goal D Special Education Teacher and HQT |
Political contribution statistics from 2004 political cycle.
Union Political Contribution Totals
| Amount | Union |
| $ 458,400 | Ohio Education Assoc/oea |
| $ 155,587 | Ohio Federation Of Teachers/oft |
| $ 10,400 | Ohio Federation Of Teachers Political Education Fund |
| 1.91% experienced (3+ years) teacher firing rate |
0.39% teacher firing rate |
9.8% |
Data obtained from the Department of Education's 2007-2008 Schools and Staffing Survey.
Statewide Unions
Ohio Education Association
Total Revenue: $ 50,901,649
Total Expenses: $ 46,940,538
Total Assets: $ 43,770,806
Ohio Federation of Teachers
Total Revenue: $ 1,106,143
Total Expenses: $ 974,268
Total Assets: $ 1,239,806
Data obtained from the Internal Revenue Service's Master Data File 2005-2006.
Largest Non-Statewide Unions
| Union Name / District | Affiliation | Total Rev. | Total Exp. | Total Assets |
| Columbus Education Association Columbus Public Schools |
NEA | $ 1,593,034 | $ 1,273,662 | $ 1,357,123 |
| Cleveland Teachers Union Cleveland Public Schools |
AFT | $ 4,119,800 | $ 3,973,897 | $ 2,598,888 |
Other Unions
| Name | City | Total Rev. | Tax Period |
| Ohio Education Assn | Columbus | $ 50,901,649 | 2003 |
| Ohio Education Assn | Columbus | $ 50,901,649 | 2003 |
| American Federation Of Teachers | Cleveland | $ 4,119,800 | 2003 |
| American Federation Of Teachers Inc | Cincinnati | $ 2,361,064 | 2004 |
| American Federation Of Teachers | Toledo | $ 1,864,949 | 2003 |
| Columbus Education Association | Columbus | $ 1,593,034 | 2003 |
| Ohio Federation Of Teachers | Columbus | $ 1,106,143 | 2003 |
| South-western Education Association | Grove City | $ 1,073,445 | 2003 |
| American Federation Of Teachers | Columbus | $ 536,550 | 2002 |
| Akron Education Association Incorporated | Akron | $ 528,111 | 2003 |
Teacher Contracts
| Name | District | Occupation | |
| Lakota Education Association | Lakota Local Sd | Teachers |  |
| Lakota School Support Association | Lakota Local Sd | School Employees | |
For this massive new project, the Center for Union Facts filed freedom of information requests with dozens of America’s major school districts.
From the stacks of paperwork that ensued, we have calculated a variety of statistics that document how teachers unions – and the laws and policies they defend – keep bad teachers in classrooms. Read on to discover just what all that dues money pays for in many cities around the country.
Columbus Education Association, Ohio Education Association, and Ohio Federation of Teachers: Protecting Bad Teachers
How We Discovered These Facts
This information comes from the Columbus City Schools response to a public information request filed by the Center for Union Facts, which asked for teachers who were terminated, as well as those who resigned or retired in lieu of termination.Click here to read our full letter to Columbus City Schools.
The Columbus Education Association (CEA) is the exclusive bargaining agent for teachers from Columbus Public Schools. According to school district records, however, policies defended by CEA and its state parent, the Ohio Education Association (as well as the other state teachers union, the Ohio Federation of Teachers), mean that practically no teachers are ever fired by the school system.
In Columbus there are approximately 4,700 teachers. Records procured by the Columbus school district for the Center for Union Facts indicate that, between the 2003-04 and the 2006-07 school years, only five teachers were fired. Put another way, the district's response means that Columbus Public Schools fires less than 0.03 percent of its teachers annually.
The typical union response to such abysmally low statistics is that teachers are commonly "counseled out" of their jobs if they're not fit to teach – that is, they are persuaded to resign or retire in lieu of being fired. But the district's response to a Center for Union Facts research request (asking for teachers who "resigned or retired in lieu of termination") produced evidence that, between the 2003-04 and the 2006-07 school years, three teachers resigned or retired in lieu of termination. Using the district's response, that's a "counseled out" termination rate of a mere 0.02 percent of teachers a year.
It's easy to believe that the vast majority of public schoolteachers in Columbus are doing a good job, but it's a near-impossibility that fully 99.95 percent of its teachers deserve to be in front of kids; any group of people that size is bound to have at least a few more bad apples than the ones noted above.
The best explanation for these numbers, in our opinion, is that the Columbus Education Association, the Ohio Education Association, and the Ohio Federation of Teachers are protecting bad teachers with an outmoded employment system. At the state level, the Ohio Education Association and the Ohio Federation of Teachers safeguard the law that turns teacher termination cases into equivalents of a criminal trial, and at the local level the Columbus Education Association helps bad teachers use this system to protect themselves.
Source: Columbus Public Schools
Data current as of January 25, 2008
© 2010 Center for Union Facts