#INOURHANDS
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Izetta N Thomas | 614-596-7352 | thomasi@ceaohio.org
GUESS WHO’S GOING TO THE TABLE?
PARENTS, TEACHERS, AND COMMUNITY MEMBERS TOGETHER:
‘OUR SCHOOLS AND OUR CHILDREN’S FUTURES ARE IN OUR HANDS!’
COLUMBUS, Ohio - March 6, 2025 - In a video released by CEA, parents and community members joined with educators to celebrate the campaign launch a historic effort to build shared decision-making in Columbus City Schools. Parents and community members of the Columbus Education Justice Coalition will join the Columbus Education Association (CEA) as observers in every negotiation session during 2025 teacher contract negotiations.
“Placing the people closest to the classroom into positions of shared decision-making with district leaders has been a major goal of our work since forming the coalition,” states Izetta Thomas, lead organizer of the Columbus Education Justice Coalition. “CEJC was founded as a direct partnership between the community and educators when we saw what we could achieve together during the 2022 teachers’ strike.” That three-day strike, the first Columbus teachers’ strike in 50 years, resulted in CEA winning a guarantee of climate control in every school building across the district, smaller class sizes, and a groundbreaking Community Campus School pilot program. Many parents and community members joined CEA on the picket lines during the strike.
In 2025, negotiations will occur against the backdrop of school funding threats at both the state and federal levels. Ohio Governor Mike DeWine’s initial state budget proposal, for example, would cut roughly 35 million dollars from Columbus City Schools over the next two years, nearly erasing the investment Columbus taxpayers made in 2023 by passing the tax levy. CCS Parents and community members have worked to hold the school board accountable and will continue the work by holding Ohio state legislators accountable to their constitutional mandate to fund public schools, as well as fighting for the rights of their most vulnerable students currently under attack by the current President and his unelected billionaire friends. Parents and community members joining educators at the bargaining table is a step in the right direction.
CEA member and Independence High School teacher Kelsey Gray added, “It’s time the curtain is pulled back for parents and community members to see how hard we fight for their children and our jobs at the bargaining table.”
“Parents need to be keenly aware of decisions made in negotiations that impact families,” says CCS parent Kaleem Musa. “Parents are competent thought partners and when we are well informed and educated on how decisions are made, we can become strong allies.”
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Founded in 2022, the Columbus Education Justice Coalition is a broad-based coalition of parents, educators, students, and community members dedicated to the work of ensuring an equitable and quality public education for all students in Columbus.
