Responsible Republicans Against Kasich

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Monday, May 23, 2011

SB5 not polling well. Trouble for Republicans.

http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2011/05/19/big-majority-favors-repealing-sb-5-poll-shows.html?sid=101

Posted by Responsible Republicans at 6:01 PM

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How should Republican teachers, firemen, police, and other government workers react to Governor Kasich and Republican legislators who support his irresponsible reforms?

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About Me

Responsible Republicans: As a lifelong Republican, I've never seen so many members of my party disgusted with one of our own. Governor Kasich is single-handedly driving policemen, firemen, and teachers out of our party. The impact of the loss of these voters will have a chilling effect on the Republican agenda for a long time to come.

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This page is for Republicans, Libertarians, Constitutionalists, and (regretful) Kasich voters who are wondering what on earth this man is doing, primarily in regards to his attempts to destroy both the educational system and the Republican Party in Ohio.

As conservative-minded people, we believe the following:

Ohio must have a balanced budget. It's the law and it's good policy.

In order to balance the budget sacrifices need to be made by everyone- including teachers, firefighters, policemen and other public workers. These groups have made concessions in the past and are willing to do so in the future. We don't oppose reasonable reforms such as paying a little more for health insurance or pensions, especially during challenging economic times.

The NEA & OEA often go too far in their support for Democrats and advocacy for matters that have no substantial relation to education. We WELCOME measures, such as union opt-out and requiring consent to use dues for political purposes that give us the teeth to stand up to the unions to demand either change or the loss of large numbers of their members.

While we support collective bargaining and protection from administrative excesses and arbitrary punishment, we also support reasonable reforms to tenure in order to remove poor teachers. That said, we realize that most poor teachers with tenure find themselves in that position because administrators didn't do their job when they had every opportunity to remove them from the classroom. We know that elimination of tenure, however, will have a chilling effect on our ability to have open and critical conversations with district and building administrators. Denying tenure is much easier now because Ohio recent reformed tenure rules, requiring seven years before one can apply.

A statewide health insurance pool would save Ohio considerable money.

Charter schools and vouchers can play a role in school reform, as long as there is a high level of accountability.

The federal government should play little to no role in education policy.

98% of our policemen, firemen, and teachers are good people who have sacrificed much to serve the public. They are not the cause of our current economic situation and should not be treated as the scapegoats. Freddie, Fannie, and the unscrupulous practices of financial institutions are the roots of our problems.

We also know that the governor's reforms are NOT CONSERVATIVE:

SB5 & the budget drastically reduce local control of education by taking the authority to formulate pay structures and a variety of other things away from local school boards. Conservatives believe in local control. Republicans who support these reforms, from the governor to members of the General Assembly, would be throwing fits if the federal government was doing to Ohio exactly what they're doing to local governments.

Less money spent on education at the state level opens the door for the federal government to increase aid to fill part of the vacuum. With federal aid come expensive federal mandates that will eventually lead to federal, rather than local (or state) control of a variety of things, including curriculum and performance standards. Should Department of Education bureaucrats in Washington be dictating the content taught by social studies or language arts teachers in local Ohio districts?

Republicans understand that incentives, such as stable and good pay, attract quality employees. The best and brightest will not go into education if salaries are decimated. Make no mistake. That's what this legislation does. We are smart enough to realize that the "merit" pay provisions are political cover and, in reality, reduce the salaries of most good teachers.

SB5 and the budget create a vast new bureaucracy. Formulating and implementing the new "merit pay" system will require a large number of new state bureaucrats and an even larger number of administrators in local school districts. Thus, a higher percentage of education dollars than now will be spent on administration and bureaucracy instead of in the classroom.

Conservatism, by definition, is a philosophy based on maintaining traditional institutions and making gradual, measured change when necessary. SB5 and the budget blow up the system and destroy the positive along with the negative. These are reckless rather than prudent measures.

Republicans believe in an honest, transparent and deliberative legislative process. We rightfully objected when President Obama, Nancy Pelosi, and Harry Reid rammed Obama Care through Congress. The actions of Governor Kasich and the Republican legislature are even worse. Yanking fellow Republicans off of committees and embedding statutory provisions into the budget in order to undermine the will of the people in a recall effort are shameful and unprincipled.

Passing this SB5 and the budget will result in the demise of the Republican Party and thus the Republican agenda for decades to come. Is it really worth it? (read less)

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