Melissa Cropper
@mcropper.bsky.social
K-12 Library Media Specialist currently serving as President of the Ohio Federation of Teachers and Secretary-Treasurer of the Ohio AFL-CIO.
Every seat full for labor meeting with Gov candidate Amy Acton in Mahoning Co. From healthcare to childcare to school funding to collective bargaining to affordability issues, Acton is clearly the candidate who understands the issues important to families and has solutions for how to address them.
Voters showed up in record numbers to send a message that they want leaders who will tackle the kitchen-table issues they face every day—from education to soaring housing and healthcare costs to the price of groceries, child care and college. www.aft.org/press-releas...
AFT President Randi Weingarten on Election Results
WASHINGTON—AFT President Randi Weingarten issued the following statement on the results of Election Day 2025:“Tonight, in race after race across the country, voters sent a clear message: They want the...
aft.org
This is what happens when politicians recklessly pass laws to advance their own anti-public education agenda. Longstanding local working relationships are destroyed. Educators and students are harmed. matternews.org/voices/the-w...
The Worker’s View: SB1 throws Central Ohio Technical College union contract into turmoil – Matter News
While the college and the faculty union have traditionally operated as partners, new state legislation ostensibly geared toward rolling back DEI initiatives has left the two groups at an impasse.
matternews.org
Please read this story! Sen. Cirino’s comments would be comical if they were not so blatantly tone deaf! Was he not listening when over 1,000 people testified about the negative impacts of SB1? Or did he just not care?!
Laura Hancock@laurahancock.bsky.social · last yr.An out-of-state university is exploiting state Senate Bill 1 to lure Ohio students to its campus:
Budgets are about choices. The Republican legislators and Gov chose to give tax breaks to the wealthy and money for a stadium while underfunding public schools and libraries. Shame on them! They should never win another election.
Ohio Federation of Teachers@oftunion.bsky.social · last yr."We are going to remember – and shine a light on – each and every anti-education, anti-labor, and anti-freedom policy that legislators and Governor DeWine tried to jam into this budget.” Read our full release on the harmful policies in the Ohio budget passed by legislators & signed by Gov. DeWine.
OFT Pres. @mcropper.bsky.social on the Ohio Senate's budget & school funding: “By gutting essential components of the Fair School Funding Plan & using outdated cost inputs, the budget released today by the Ohio Senate fails to deliver what our students, communities, and taxpayers need and deserve.”
Senate Budget Bill Still Falls Short Of Fair Funding Promise
Statement from the All in For Ohio Kids coalition: Four years ago, lawmakers promised to fully implement the Fair School Funding Plan in the 2026-27 budget. Since then, we have been waiting for state ...
oh.aft.org
Regardless of what you think about vouchers- which have been used to defund public schools- this version of is simply a redestribution of wealth -creating a new ideological tax cut for the wealthy while Trump is trying to strip not 4 profit status away from others. www.nytimes.com/2025/04/17/u...
School Vouchers Won in Texas. Next Up, the Nation.
Choice laws have now passed in every major Republican state. Congress and President Trump are now aiming at blue states that have resisted vouchers for decades.
nytimes.com
Rural communities depend on strong connections between neighbors, local businesses, nonprofits and local government. Public schools are the glue that holds these connections together. We need to stand together to fight against voucher expansion that threatens funding to our public schools.
Barn Raiser@barnraiser.bsky.social · last yr.Melissa Cropper @mcropper.bsky.social, president of the Ohio Federation of Teachers @oftunion.bsky.social, explains how you can work to protect rural public schools amid the GOP’s efforts to push voucher programs across the nation.
Rebecca Bihn, from Oregon City Schools, shares how the district makes career awareness a part of students’ education starting in K and continuing through graduation. Great conversation at the Career ConnectED Learning Policy Discussion.
Education is our kids future. Education is our country’s future. Mr. President, we will see you in court. www.aft.org/press-releas...
Opposition to SB1 (Higher Education Destruction Act)continues to grow. The Majority party in the legislature continues to shut out their voices.
Defunding libraries? Is this really why people voted for this administration?
Ohio Federation of Teachers@oftunion.bsky.social · last yr.OFT Pres. @mcropper.bsky.social responds to Trump's plan to dismantle IMLS: "Funding for libraries of all types is 0.003% of the federal budget…Revoking this meager support doesn’t make an impact on the federal deficit, but it does put a financial strain on institutions on which Ohioans rely."
OFT Pres. @mcropper.bsky.social responds to Trump's plan to dismantle IMLS: "Funding for libraries of all types is 0.003% of the federal budget…Revoking this meager support doesn’t make an impact on the federal deficit, but it does put a financial strain on institutions on which Ohioans rely."
Trump Administration Brings Attack on Public Institutions to Your Local Public Library
“Whether it’s providing students with a quiet place to do homework and parents with a safe and enriching place to bring young kids, serving as a community hub for resources on social services, employm...
oft-aft.org
States & local school boards control schools but rely on federal funds: 🧑🦽 7.4M students with disabilities lose services 🎓 10M students lose federal aid for college/trades 🏫 26M low-income students lose Title I support 🌾 9.8M rural students lose critical funding www.aft.org/column/robbi...
Robbing Peter to pay for Elon’s tax cuts
Americans didn’t vote for deep cuts to services that we need—and our taxes pay for.Elon Musk will never need to look to the federal government for Social Security benefits, to apply for a student loan...
aft.org
Huge crowd on OSU campus rallying against SB1. The Senate ignored the over 1000 pieces of opposition testimony. Let’s make sure the House listens. #StopSB1 #ProtectOurKids
Protect—don’t wreck—our children’s futures. My latest column: www.aft.org/column/prote...
Protect—don’t wreck—our children’s futures
As President Donald Trump and Elon Musk swing a wrecking ball at the U.S. Department of Education, I’m wondering if it’s due to a lack of understanding of the department’s vital functions, or because ...
aft.org
I suspect no one who voted for Trump thought he would let Musk invade their privacy. Right now, inside the Dept of Ed, the world’s richest man is rifling through 45M people’s private student loan accounts and feeding the data into AI. www.aft.org/press-releas... apnews.com/article/trum...
Labor unions sue to block DOGE access to sensitive information at US agencies
A coalition of labor unions filed a lawsuit Monday asking a federal court to stop Elon Musk’s team from accessing private data at the Education Department, the Treasury Department and the Office of Pe...
apnews.com
NEWS: Read our joint statement with @ohioea.bsky.social and Ohio Conference of @aaup.bsky.social calling for amendments to SB 1 (The Higher Education Destruction Act). These amendments will mitigate harm by protecting workers' rights and academic freedom and reducing bureaucracy.
Ohio’s Education Unions Call for Amendments to SB 1
“As currently written, SB 1 will put Ohio’s world-class system of higher education at risk by stifling academic freedom, raising administrative costs, impeding recruitment and retention of talented fa...
oft-aft.org
"The worst effects [of private school vouchers] would be felt in Ohio’s rural communities because rural districts are more dependent on state funding and don’t have the density to support competing school systems." www.limaohio.com/columns/2025...
Melissa Cropper: Rural communities lose when vouchers replace public schools
School funding in Ohio is at a crossroads. One direction – fully funding the Fair School Funding Plan – leads toward adequate and predictable school funding that finally complies with our state consti...
limaohio.com
OFT President @mcropper.bsky.social in The Lima News: "The worst effects [of private school vouchers] would be felt in Ohio’s rural communities because rural districts are more dependent on state funding and don’t have the density to support competing school systems."
Melissa Cropper: Rural communities lose when vouchers replace public schools
School funding in Ohio is at a crossroads. One direction – fully funding the Fair School Funding Plan – leads toward adequate and predictable school funding that finally complies with our state consti...
limaohio.com
The 28th amendment! Law of the land!
Randi Weingarten 🖇️📚✊🇺🇸@rweingarten.bsky.social · 2y agoYes!!!! Joe Biden announced the ratification of the ERA, enshrining the basic principle that men & women should be treated as equal under the law. It should have always been a foundational promise of our democracy, but it has taken generations of struggle to get us here www.aft.org/press-releas...
Millions of retirees and workers just got a raise in retirement income ohiocapitaljournal.com/2025/01/16/m...
Millions of retirees and workers just got a raise in retirement income • Ohio Capital Journal
Commentary: Social Security is not a handout; it’s an earned benefit paid into by workers and their employers. But for decades, millions of public employees, including more than 100,000 Ohioans, have ...
ohiocapitaljournal.com
Our children deserve better! Ohio needs to fully and fairly fund public education instead of diverting 1B+ to private school vouchers.
Ohio House speaker says change could be coming for public school funding
The legislature will begin discussing the budget in the next few weeks.
10tv.com
Have you saved all of your student loan financial records? Please share widely to spread the word!
Chances are, you know someone impacted by the Social Security Fairness Act. This article mentions a few of the thousand Ohioans who are now going to get the retirement they earned. Thanks to @aftunion.bsky.social and all labor unions and activists who worked on this. And thank you Sherrod Brown!
Ohio Federation of Teachers@oftunion.bsky.social · 2y agoThe Social Security Fairness Act puts an end to the practice of stripping earned Social Security benefits from millions of public employee retirees. Working people and retirees, union members, and legislative leaders like Sherrod Brown made this happen!
” If the speaker thinks there isn’t enough education funding to go around, Ohio law is very clear. The legislature must fund public schools and make cuts to the costly and ineffective universal private school vouchers that were put in place…” bit.ly/409dkGo
Public school advocates take issue with new Ohio Speaker's claim that funding model 'unsustainable' • Ohio Capital Journal
As Ohio’s 136th General Assembly begins, the newly minted House Speaker has already taken a stand on education, saying spending for the state's public school funding model is “unsustainable.”
bit.ly
Breaking news! Welcome SEIU. Welcome back to the AFL-CIO. This is great news for our movement and for everyone who wants to form a union to make the goal of a better life and a better America a reality.
SEIU_ORG@seiu.org · 2y ago2M SEIU Members 🤝 13M AFL-CIO Members SEIU just joined America’s biggest federation of labor unions, the @aflcio.org. Together, we’re taking on corporate union busters and changing the rules so every worker who wants a union can have one. Let’s do this!
Senator Schumer said it best. The passage of the #SocialSecurityFairnessAct corrects a 50 year mistake, giving teachers, firefighters, law enforcement officers, and thousands of public employees dignity and fairness in retirement. www.cbsnews.com/news/social-...
Social Security Fairness Act set to get Biden's signature
Legislation granting full Social Security benefits to nearly 3 million retirees will soon get become law, advocates say.
cbsnews.com