FOR ISSUE 2

Teacher pay, tenure key for Springboro official

School board member testified in favor of SB 5.

New pool at 'The Heights' opens
5/27/12
Huber Heights suing consultant for more than $50,000
5/26/12
4 arrested for OVI at Kettering checkpoint
5/26/12
Man found dead at bar; police seek suspect
5/26/12
Turner adopts role for Romney campaign
5/26/12
> More headlines

By Margo Rutledge Kissell, Staff Writer 11:37 PM Sunday, September 18, 2011

Springboro Community City Schools board member Kelly Kohls supports Senate Bill 5 because of what she calls a “severe lack of parity between government unionized workers and the community that supports them, in pay and benefit systems.”

Kohls testified in favor of the Republican-sponsored collective bargaining bill that is Issue 2. It would empower management, weaken the voice of unions and pull back years of negotiated work conditions for 360,000 government workers across the state, including more than 180,000 teachers.

Kohls said she takes issue with K-12 teachers being granted continuing service contracts after three years, and college professors receiving tenure.

“If you last three years, you’re automatically granted a continuous contract, which means it would take a significant, probably more likely a criminal act, to fire you,” she said. “That’s a system unlike anything paralleled in the private sector.”

In her testimony before lawmakers this spring, Kohls said collective bargaining has resulted in the school district’s employees paying less for health insurance (15 percent) than the national average prior to 1999.

“It’s a matter of fairness,” she said last week. “The system is a service industry meant to service the children. Why are we cutting their services first and not going to the labor agreements?”

Senate Bill 5 would require workers to pay their entire pension contribution and at least 15 percent of their health care premiums and switch to pay based on merit. Kohls said she favors having a merit pay system. SB 5 also would eliminate seniority as a sole factor in deciding who gets laid off.

“I’m really very neutral on that. I have never testified for or against that because I can see arguments both ways,” she said. “I think those senior teachers have tremendous value so I would hate to see, because of their pay scale, hate to see them maybe be let go because we can hire two more.”

Share this article