May is National Mental Health Awareness Month

During National Mental Health Awareness Month in May and every month of the year, your mental health matters. Get tips and resources from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) to learn how to take care of your mental health. If you are looking for ways to raise awareness about mental health in your community, you can use this digital toolkit to spread the word.  If you want to learn more about schizophrenia and the latest NIMH-supported research in this area, please join NIMH for a Facebook Live event on May 4, 2023, from 1:00-1:30 p.m. ET. No registration is required for this free event. Watch the live event on NIMH’s Facebook page.

Get the Digital Toolkit

Ohio Education Advocacy

 

Week of May 1, 2023

Honesty Champions,  THANK YOU for protecting honest education across Ohio! With SO MANY harmful education bills moving in the Statehouse EVERY WEEK, we are sending weekly action alerts with specific ways to TAKE ACTION on fast-moving, high-priority bills. Each weekly action alert includes three important sections: TAKE ACTION - easy ways for YOU to help stop harmful, high-priority bills  HEARING NOTICES - legislative hearings that you can attend or watch NEW BILLS - new legislation impacting honest education You can find these bills and hearings on the Honesty Legislation Tracker page.  PLEASE SHARE  the WEEKLY ALERTS with students, educators, family, friends, colleagues, schools, orgs, groups, businesses, and neighboring communities.

TAKE ACTION   Stop HB 6 - Let Ohio Students Play!  HB 6 bans transgender female students from participating on female sports teams in Ohio K-12 schools, colleges, and universities • Learn More   TAKE ACTION   POSSIBLE COMMITTEE VOTE on May 3, 10:30am 1) Tell the House Higher Education Committee to VOTE NO on House Bil 6! Call HERE Email HERE  2) Show Up to the hearing on Wednesday to oppose the bill -- and share this GRAPHIC to help pack the hearing room!  3) Support & follow LGBTQ+ organizations:  EqualityOhio, TransOhio,  Kaleidoscope Youth Center, LOVEBoldly, Trans Allies of Ohio, Diversity Center of NEO, Equitas Health, Trevor Project, Human Rights Campaign, The Buckeye Flame   Stop HJR 1 & SJR 2 - Say NO to Attacks on Direct Democracy HJR1 & SJR2 require 60% vote to approve any constitutional amendment; eliminate the 10-day cure period to gather additional signatures for an initiative petition proposing a constitutional amendment; require petitions proposing a constitutional amendment be signed by at least 5% of the electors in each Ohio county, instead of half of the counties • Learn More HJR 1 & SJR 2   TAKE ACTION   POSSIBLE COMMITTEE VOTE for SJR 2 on May 2, 9am; POSSIBLE FULL HOUSE VOTE for HJR1 on May 3, 2pm 1) Attend the Day of Action Democracy Rally to reject these attacks on direct democracy! Wed, May 3, 12:30, Columbus - RSVP HERE 2) Share this FLYER to help pack the Day of Action Democracy Rally  3) Contact your legislator today urging a NO VOTE on HJR1 & SJR 2 Call your Senator Call your House Representative  Call House Speaker Stephens at 614-466-1366 Follow these bills and more on our Legislation Tracker

HEARING NOTICES   Senate Workforce and Higher Education Tuesday, May 2, 9am, North Hearing Room Agenda House Bill 33 - Informal Hearing State Budget for FY 2024-2025, establishes appropriations for fiscal years 2024-2025 • Learn More Invited Testimony: Inter-University Council of Ohio Association of Independent Colleges and Universities of Ohio Broadcast Educational and Media Commission House Constitutional Resolutions Committee Tuesday, May 2, 9am, Room 18 Agenda Senate Joint Resolution 2 - Opponent & Interested Party Testimony, POSSIBLE VOTE Requires 60% vote to approve any constitutional amendment; eliminates the 10-day cure period to gather additional signatures for an initiative petition proposing a constitutional amendment; requires petitions proposing a constitutional amendment be signed by at least 5% of the electors in each Ohio county, instead of half of the counties. •  Learn More   Senate Education Committee Tuesday, May 2, 3pm, South Hearing Room Agenda House Bill 33 - Informal Hearing State Budget for FY 2024-2025, establishes appropriations for fiscal years 2024-2025 •  Learn More Public Testimony: School funding Career-Technical Education Mental Health and Wellness House Primary and Secondary Education Committee Tuesday, May 2, 4pm, Room 116 Agenda House Bill 103 - Sponsor Testimony Creates a Social Studies Standards Task Force (with appointees of the Governor, Senate President, and House Speaker) to develop K-12 social studies standards using the American Birthright: The Civics Alliance's Model K-12 Social Studies Standards • Learn More House Bill 117 - Proponent Testimony Removes retention provision in the Third Grade Reading Guarantee • Learn More   House Higher Education Committee Wednesday, May 3, 10:30am, Room 17 Agenda House Bill 6 - Interested Party Testimony, POSSIBLE VOTE Bans transgender female student-athletes from female K-12 and higher education sports teams • Learn More House Bill 98 - Opponent Testimony Prohibits reduction of financial aid for private scholarship award House Bill 27 - All Testimony, Possible Amendment, POSSIBLE VOTE Requires state higher education institutions to provide financial cost and aid disclosure • Learn More     Senate Session   Wednesday, May 3, 1:30pm    House Session   Wednesday, May 3, 2pm    Senate Education Committee Wednesday, May 3, 4pm, South Hearing Room Agenda House Bill 33 - Informal Hearing State Budget for FY 2024-2025, establishes appropriations for fiscal years 2024-2025 • Learn More Public Testimony: Literacy Learning Acceleration, Remediation, and Tutoring Support Services Senate Workforce and Higher Education Thursday, May 4, 9am, North Hearing Room Agenda House Bill 33 - Informal Hearing State Budget for FY 2024-2025, establishes appropriations for fiscal years 2024-2025 • Learn More Invited Testimony: Ohio Association of Community Colleges State Board of Career Colleges and Schools Ohio-Michigan Association of Career Colleges and Schools Ohio Association of Career Technical Education Senate Education Committee Thursday, May 4, 11am, South Hearing Room Agenda House Bill 33 - Informal Hearing State Budget for FY 2024-2025, establishes appropriations for fiscal years 2024-2025 • Learn More Public Testimony: School Choice School Security Follow these bills and more on Honesty's Legislation Tracker

NEW BILLS   House Bill 157 Creates the Bureau of Hate Crimes in the Office of the Attorney General and authorizes the Attorney General to prosecute hate crimes Introduced: April 25, 2023 Sponsors:  Reps Casey Weinstein & Anita Somani Committee: TBD Learn More House Bill 159 Regards applied behavior analysis for certain children with autism Introduced: April 25, 2023 Sponsors:  Rep R Scott Lipps Committee: TBD Learn More Senate Bill 108 Establishes and regulates scholars residential centers Introduced: April 18, 2023 Sponsors:  Sen Louis Blessing, III Committee: Senate Health Committee Learn More Senate Bill 111 Establishes Urban Farmer Youth Initiative Pilot Program Introduced: April 19, 2023 Sponsor:  Sen Paula Hicks-Hudson Committee: Senate Agriculture and Natural Resources Learn More Senate Bill 112 Requires school buildings to comply with national life safety standards and to name this act the Ohio Childhood Safety Act Introduced: April 25, 2023 Sponsor:  Sen Michael Rulli Committee: Senate Education Committee Learn More

STATEHOUSE RESOURCES Legislative Calendar HERE Senate Committee Schedule HERE House Committee Schedule HERE Watch LIVE & Recorded Meeting HERE Honesty Legislation Tracker HERE

Learn More to Do More

Visit the Honesty website to learn how you can help protect honest education across Ohio!

OPEN RECORDS!

 Open government is good government. If the Householder/House Bill 6 corruption scandal taught us anything, it’s that we must shine a light on what is happening behind the scenes when it comes to the workings of our state and local government. It’s a huge plus that Ohio’s Sunshine Law means that many governmental documents are public records, but getting these records can be challenging.

You can be part of creating greater transparency! Join Common Cause Ohio, ACLU Ohio, All Voting Is Local, Ohio Citizen Action, Ohio Fair Courts Alliance, and the Ohio News Media Association on Wednesday, April 26 at 6:00 pm for a panel of open government experts and learn how you can get access to the public records that you want.

REGISTER FOR THE RECORDS REQUEST TRAINING

This virtual event on Wed. April 26 at 6:00 pm will be an open discussion. Learn more about how public records have been used to shine a light on misdeeds and provide insight to advance policies that benefit us all. Panelists will also explore how exemptions to Ohio’s Open Records Law enabled House Bill 6 and the Householder scandal to progress without public scrutiny. Panelists include:

• Randy Ludlow, former Columbus Dispatch reporter and open government advocate

• Gary Daniels, chief lobbyist, ACLU of Ohio

• Catherine Turcer, executive director, Common Cause Ohio

The panel will be moderated by Saavon Smalls from Common Cause.

Explore the increasing need for greater government transparency, accountability and integrity. Second in the Sunshine Series, this virtual forum continues the conversation from our Sunshine at the Statehouse event which dug deeper into the Householder/Borges guilty verdict and how Ohio can move forward.

TAKE ACTION! OHIO SENATE BILL 83

 

Opponent Hearing for SB 83 SAVE THE DATE SB 83 Opponent Testimony Hearing  Wednesday, April 19, 2023   #StopSB83   The Senate Workforce and Higher Education Committee is expected to schedule an opponent testimony hearing for Senate Bill 83 on Wednesday, April 19, 2023. This is OUR time to speak out against The Higher Education Destruction Act and protect honest education! Save the date to SHOW UP and SPEAK OUT against this destructive educational gag order! We'll release updates and the hearing time as we learn more. Do not submit testimony until the hearing is formally announced. Until then, plan to join us at the Statehouse, prepare your testimony now, rally your community, and tell legislators to STOP SB 83! Learn more about SB 83 and its devastating impact on higher education HERE     TAKE ACTION TODAY!     1) SIGN UP to Submit Testimony and Pack the Statehouse! General Sign-Up HERE Student Sign-Up HERE Faculty Sign-Up HERE 2) Attend Upcoming Stop SB 83 Events April 13, 6pm: SB 83 Panel & Testimony Workshop HERE April 17, 6pm: SB 83 Town Hall HERE 3) Contact Senate Workforce and Higher Ed Committee Call Committee HERE Email Committee HERE (Take Action with AAUP) Email Committee HERE (Take Action with OEA) Email Committee HERE (Take Action with OFT) Email Committee HERE (Take Action with OSA) 4) Rally Your Community to Protect Higher Education Share SB 83 Flyer with your community HERE  Submit Letters to the Editor or Op-Eds (HOT TIP: convert your testimony into an LTE or op-ed!) Download Flyer Learn More to Do More Visit the Honesty website to learn how you can help protect honest education across Ohio!