Saturday Stats
Posted June 10, 2023 in eNews
Numeric news from Policy Matters
15,000: When the Ohio House included in its budget bill a proposal that would help 15,000 kids get child care, we noted it as an all-too-rare example of legislators putting public resources to good use. State Senate leadership cut that proposal. They also removed measures that would help more pregnant people afford health care and ensure newborns, infants and toddlers had continuous health care coverage. They even cut funding for food banks and school lunches. The whole thing is just cruel. Click here to tell your legislators to oppose it — and pass the People's Budget instead.
90%: The Senate leadership’s budget also includes a proposal to dramatically increase the public money sent to private schools through tuition vouchers. Although 90% of Ohio kids attend public schools, the Senate wants to spend close to a billion dollars next year, and over a billion the following year, to subsidize private school tuition for even the wealthiest Ohio families. In a new blog post, Tanisha Pruitt, PhD, reminds us why public dollars belong in public schools.
280: As of this writing, 280 Clevelanders have signed our petition to reduce the deployment of armed police to nonviolent situations by bringing Care Response to Cleveland. Public Safety Fellow Bree Easterling teamed with REACH NEO’s Elaine Schleiffer on a recent op-ed for Cleveland.com, explaining Care Response and how it will create better outcomes for people experiencing behavioral health crises.
12 weeks: When an Ohioan gets laid off, they are eligible for 26 weeks of unemployment compensation to bridge the gap until they find work. That money gets circulated through the economy quickly, as laid-off workers buy groceries and other necessities. It also allows them to seek employment that matches their skills, rather than taking any job immediately available. But a new bill (SB 116) would slash unemployment benefits so they would max out on a sliding scale that changes depending on the unemployment rate. That scale is so out-of-whack that unemployment benefits would be capped at 12 weeks this year, even if we’re plunged into a recession — in which case half of jobless Ohioans would run out of benefits before they can get back to work.
$4.9B: …Oh, and SB 116’s cut to unemployment benefits? It would mostly be used to pay for $4.9 billion in tax cuts for businesses—a reduction of 31%.
8-1: Chalk up another win for the Guardians for Fair Work! By a vote of eight to one, Cuyahoga County Council passed an ordinance — championed by the Guardians — to prevent the county from doing business with employers who steal from their workers. It’s another win for working people, following Cleveland City Council’s passage of its own wage theft law, for which the Guardians also led the charge. The momentum has been building since 2020, when Columbus City Council also took a stand against unscrupulous employers, with encouragement from our friends at the Central Ohio Worker Center.
Action items:
- Send a letter to your legislators urging them to reject the Senate leadership’s budget proposal and pass a People’s Budget instead.
- Sign the petition to bring Care Response to Cleveland.
- Learn the best strategies for talking about honest, inclusive education in this interactive workshop with Honesty for Ohio Education, School Board School, Race Forward/HEAL Together, LEAD Ohio and Local Progress. Thurs. June 15, 6-7:30 p.m. on Zoom. Registration is required.
- Join the New Leaders Council Columbus for their annual fundraiser recognizing the progressive leaders shaping the future of Columbus. Tues. June 20, 6:00 p.m., Marvin’s Restaurant & Lounge, 460 S. Front St., Columbus. Buy tickets here.