Governor Kasich got bored one day and decided to cut local budgets just for fun, and that’s why school districts around Ohio can’t make ends meet!

So say the Ohio Education Association (OEA) and Ohio Association of Public School Employees (OAPSE – also known as AFSCME Local 11). Coincidentally, OEA and OAPSE bargain for unsustainable pay, benefits, and automatic increases with local politicians they helped elect… then turn around and spend millions in member dues demanding more from the rest of us.

Now mean King Kasich – who sneaked Senate Bill 5 through with no opportunity for Democrat amendments – is seeking input on merit pay, allegedly to ensure it’s a well-designed cost saving tool for local governments. The unions are not enthused:

Kasich requests suggestions for an obvious need that will be a challenge to implement, and the OEA simply pouts that cost savings and quality are mutually exclusive.

Anyone who’s ever had more than one teacher knows some teachers are better than others. If the OEA and OAPSE cared about effective, affordable public education, they would jump at the chance to incorporate merit into salary formulas. Even a cynic would expect the unions to realize schools can’t be effective for long if they aren’t affordable… and can’t be either if bad teachers are paid big bucks.

But the unions can’t admit bad teachers exist, because the union business model says all members are beautiful, unique snowflakes who deserve raises just for hanging around. Pay your dues, and you’re subject to the same condescending treatment and byzantine rules as everyone else. Last in, first out screws young teachers but works great for the unions. Step increases suck for taxpayers but work great for the unions. Who do you think the unions are looking out for?

Though it would be unprecedented, there’s a possibility I’m wrong! Maybe a forever-increasing flow of taxpayer dollars is what school districts and local governments need to excel. After all, that’s worked wonders at the Department of Education…

Follow me on Twitter: @jasonahart

Cross-posted from that hero.

Governor Kasich, whose reign includes such war crimes as cutting 4% of the Columbus City Schools budget, is making all sorts of enemies. This week protestors in Mahoning County – bluer than blue on the electoral map, redder than red financially – complained that the GOP budget “passes the buck,” forcing local governments to operate with fewer state dollars.

“We know the games are being played,” said Youngstown City Councilman Mike Ray. “It’s just a shell game, and like I said, it’s just pass the buck, and we need to work together.”

“We need to work together,” or in other words, “Ohioans need to pay more taxes to fund Youngstown government.” Democrats are all for passing bucks as long as they’re going from The Rich to Democrat constituencies. Does Councilman Ray think increased taxes will bring residents (down 8.1% since 2000) and jobs (down 15.6%) back to Mahoning County?

It isn’t news that class warfare plays well in Youngstown – and as the saying goes, “all politics is local.” Tip for Progressive readers: Don’t try explaining that saying to the farmer in Miami County or the barber in Hancock County whose state taxes wind their way from Columbus into the pockets of Youngstown politicians!

Throughout the state, professional leftists insist governor’s office salaries preclude any conservative criticism of local pay. As usual, there’s an obvious difference the left refuses to acknowledge: if I think John Kasich pays his staff too much, I can vote for somebody else. I’ve got no say over who Youngstown voters elect, but Democrats take it as given that I should be on the hook for Youngstown’s budget decisions.

Follow me on Twitter: @jasonahart

Cross-posted from that hero.

Despite passage of Senate Bill 5, which requires all teachers to kick the shins of no less than three (3) Democrats daily or be subject to a firing squad, Ohio conservatives should remember where much of the state GOP stands. Being more fiscally responsible than the Democrat alternative is hardly an achievement; we need to do a better job of weeding out Democrat-lite candidates during the primaries.

When the House proposed stronger voter identification rules this spring, Speaker Batchelder et al. took fire from the usual quarters, with the race card played early and often. Secretary of State Jon Husted (R, by Ohio standards) opposed the bill’s photo ID requirement, based on the assumption that it’d take more than a friend’s utility bill and 5 minutes at your computer to forge an AEP statement.

The gentle, moderate legislation passed last week by the Ohio Senate enjoyed effusive praise from Cleveland Democrat Shirley Smith:

“This bill in its current form is oppressive. It is racist. It is discriminatory,” Smith said.

Of course, the House requirement for photo ID was coupled with the guarantee of free cards for indigent Ohioans, but the Senate’s even-less-demanding legislation is still racist. Any bill that requires any likely Democrat voter to put forth even the tiniest effort is “racist,” as far as totally non-racist Democrat senators like Shirley Smith are concerned… yet these are the colleagues Ohio GOP senators feel compelled to please.

As soon as the House budget arrived in the Senate, the Senate began adding water to the original bill’s cuts and reforms. Senators decided the transparently wasteful policy of multiple-prime contracting should be tweaked instead of eliminated. First steps to a merit pay system for public employees are apparently something GOP senators will oppose with the public unions:

What’s more, rigorous performance evaluations in these states are not just in place to help determine which teachers to let go. They also will help identify and reward highly effective teachers and tailor professional development in ways that help improve instruction. Ohio should do the same, and the teacher-evaluation language presented to the Senate achieved just that.

Unfortunately, the Senate has dropped these provisions from its version of the budget, preferring instead to maintain Ohio’s status as a laggard state with archaic laws that force districts to consider only seniority when making layoff decisions.

The budget fight leads to the same question as Senate Bill 5: are voters serious about getting government out of our way? Forget the hitch – the Ohio Democratic Party’s entire wagon is class warfare, leaving the GOP to make a case for smaller, cheaper state government. Though every budget is a biennial tug-of-war, a union victory this November would mean Ohio politicians dare not challenge the unions’ costly influence again.

Voters ought to have a clear choice come referendum time – bow to leftist demands for higher taxes, or support reforms that empower the taxpayer for a change. Mercifully, enough Republican state senators voted for SB 5 to give us the second option!

Follow me on Twitter: @jasonahart

Cross-posted at that hero and Third Base Politics.