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Schools

School Board Wonders: Will SB 5 Survive?

Dave Gusman says controversial collective bargaining bill may be amended

School board member David Gusman predicts  may undergo some changes before the Nov. 8 referendum vote. 

“The dust hasn’t settled on what’s going on with Senate Bill 5,” Gusman said at a Board of Education meeting Thursday. “There are rumors out today that they’re talking about modifying it – the governor and legislature. So, this is just something we’ll have to keep an eye on as the weeks unfold before the election.” 

Gusman is referring to a Columbus Dispatch article that shed light on the positions of Republicans and Democrats over SB 5, the controversial collective bargaining legislation. 

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Democrats are demanding that the GOP repeal the bill. Only then, they say, will the left come to the table and talk about negotiating new legislation that would make Ohio’s 360,000 public employees contribute more to their health benefits and pensions. 

Republicans aren’t biting, but Gov. John Kasich and others on the right have asked union leaders to sit down and possibly find ways to dilute the bill. If an agreement can be reached, then Republicans would ask Democrats to kill the referendum. 

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However, time is of the essence as the Ohio General Assembly only has until Aug. 30 to make changes to the bill. If an agreement can’t be reached, then the referendum will go before voters in November as is. 

Currently, would prohibit public employees from striking and would highly restrict their collective bargaining rights, among other things. 

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