By Ben Velderman
EAGnews.org

LORAIN, Ohio — Ohio’s teacher unions scored a huge political victory last fall when voters repealed SB 5, a law-in-waiting that would have placed strict limits on the collective bargaining powers of public employee unions.

But a new government report reveals what a hollow victory it really was.

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According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the Buckeye State shed 12,000 state and local government jobs in 2011. Teachers accounted for 3,000 of the lost positions. The government report reaffirms that by handing Big Labor a big victory, Ohio voters effectively condemned their public schools to fewer teachers, reduced academic and extracurricular opportunities for students, and in some cases, bankruptcy.

SB 5 would have given school boards the power to lower runaway labor costs without union consent, so they wouldn’t have to balance their budgets on the backs of students. But the unions cried about the loss of worker rights, and the voters fell for the ploy.

The Lorain City School District exemplifies the pain and financial misery that’s afflicting many Ohio schools. The 7,500-pupil district is beginning the new school year with 72 fewer teachers and 84 fewer staff members, due to long-term financial troubles.

Also gone is the district’s all-day kindergarten program, along with busing for high school students, art and music classes, two foreign language programs and the cheerleading program. (The football and basketball teams were almost cut, but their history of being money-makers for the district rescued them from the chopping block – for now, reports 19ActionNews.com.)

The layoffs and program cuts shaved more than $7 million from LCSD’s current budget deficit, but the district is still $4.7 million in the red. The Lorain school board projects that the deficit will grow steadily over the next four years, until its back around $11 million in 2015.

In November, Lorain voters will decide the fate of an emergency real estate tax levy that would provide the district with $21 million over seven years, reports The Morning Journal.

The Lorain Education Association, the local teachers union, is in the middle of a voluntary two-year pay freeze, and is using it as a public relations tool to “encourage the community to support their schools by passing any levy or any form of tax,” the Journal reports.

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(The LEA has made it clear that when the freeze is over, teachers will jump ahead to their proper places on the pay schedules, quickly undoing any financial gains the pay freeze offered.)

Even if taxpayers give in to the pressure and pass the levy, it still won’t be enough. The district expects to be insolvent by next April.

“I won’t have the cash to finish out the school year,” LCSD Treasurer Dale Weber admitted to the Chronicle-Telegram in June.

The school district will probably declare a fiscal emergency next year, which will allow it to access a multi-million, interest-free loan from the Ohio Department of Education. In return, a state-appointed panel will be take over LCSD’s financial decisions, which “would likely mean more cuts,” reports the Chronicle-Telegram.

Lorain’s former Interim Superintendent Ed Branham told the newspaper that a state pannel would cut the district down to the bare essentials; all sports teams and extracurricular activities will have to be scrapped. He added that the pain of the state takeover usually lasts until voters get tired of all the cuts and agree to pass new tax levies.

That seems to be the education establishment’s game plan in Lorain and throughout Ohio: Wear down taxpayers with steep cuts to the classroom and incessant pleas for tax increases until they give in.

Buckeye families have no way of fighting back. The state’s school employee unions have their boots on taxpayers’ throats, and everyone will soon realize that resistance is futile.

This nightmare could have been avoided if voters had ignored union propaganda and voted to curtail labor costs through SB 5. Unfortunately that now falls under the category of “could have, should have, but didn’t.”

A different approach in Wisconsin

Over in Wisconsin, the 21,000-pupil Green Bay Area Public School District is facing many of the same budget problems as Lorain City Schools. But the solutions are much different, thanks to Wisconsin voters’ recent affirmation of Act 10, the state’s new collective bargaining reform law that is very similar to Ohio’s SB 5.

Earlier this year, the Green Bay district was projecting a $9 million deficit. But instead of taking programs and services away from students, the district is requiring employees to make sacrifices.

School support staff will pay more toward their own health insurance and retirement benefits, reports the Green Bay Press Gazette. That move will save taxpayers $2.2 million this year. The district also switched to a less expensive health insurance and prescription drug plans, saving another $3.86 million, the paper reports.

Green Bay schools are still facing multi-million deficits for the next couple of years, but officials don’t have the sense of desperation and hopelessness that’s plaguing Lorain City School leaders. Green Bay officials now have the tools to control their long-term labor costs without union interference, and they can plan their budget accordingly.

The Press Gazette reports the Green Bay school officials are considering a new program that would provide personal computers to each of the district’s sixth- and ninth-grade students. They’re also looking at making technology upgrades and adding new academic programs, which would require more teachers and staff.

The district’s final budget proposal is expected later this month.

Of course, Green Bay isn’t the only Wisconsin district that’s been rejuvenated by Act 10. The Heartland Institute reported earlier this year that many school districts are finally digging out of their perpetual budget holes.

“Many districts have balanced their budgets for the first time in years,” wrote Maureen Martin, a senior fellow with the Institute. “Some even have surpluses and are hiring more teachers and reducing class sizes.”

As more states watch their schools slide toward insolvency, lawmakers and taxpayers are able to look at the Ohio/Wisconsin comparison and judge for themselves the effect collective bargaining has on public education.

Nobody should be too surprised if Americans decide that Wisconsin’s “cruel to be kind” approach is the best for students, taxpayers and teachers.