Ohio Democrats want to help students and teachers with two new bills. The legislation aims to increase availability of school lunches and raise teacher pay. The sponsors of the bill believe these improvements will make strides toward improving public education; however it’s not clear whether the Republican supermajority will allow the bills to survive.
Increasing School Lunch Access
House Bill 408, introduced by state Rep. Darnell Brewer, D-Cleveland, and state Rep. Ismail Mohamed, D-Columbus, would “require public schools to provide meals and related services to students.” This legislation takes a step beyond the changes made in the latest operating budget that requires schools to provide no-cost meals to any student who qualifies for reduced-price or free meals.
According to the Ohio Capital Journal, the bill would also prohibit a requirement that a district discard a meal after it has been served “because of a student’s inability to pay for the meal or because money is owed for previously provided meals” or “publicly identify or stigmatize a student who cannot pay for a meal or who owes a meal debt.”
Increasing Teacher Salaries
House Bill 411 seeks to increase the base teacher salary to $50,000 per year statewide. The current base salary of $35,000 for teachers with a bachelor’s degree, which is significantly lower than the US average.
The bill’s sponsor, state Rep. Joe Miller, D-Amherst, believes this bill will address the deficiency in Ohio teacher’s wages. The Ohio Capital Journal reports that Ohio’s average teacher salary has remained lower than the U.S. average since 2014, according to an analysis by the Legislative Service Commission, which showed an 11.2% increase in Ohio salaries from fiscal year 2012 to 2021, where U.S. salaries grew by 17.9%.
A 2022 study by the Economic Policy Institute found that average weekly wages for teachers have remained “relatively flat” since 1996, with teachers making more than 14% less in Ohio when compared with other college-educated workers.
Miller believes that, “This is a genuine way of bringing in quality teachers into the state of Ohio.” Miller told NBC 4 that he is taking aim at the teacher workforce issue across the state while he said there is a “massive teacher shortage” in Ohio.
“The number of college students that are going into education that are graduating with a teachers license is a lot lower in Ohio,” he said.
Because both bills are led by Democratic sponsors, the possibility of advancing them in a Republican supermajority Ohio General Assembly, is unlikely.
The bills still need to be assigned to a committee for consideration before public comment and possible votes can take place.