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Many retired teachers return to the classroom for a variety of reasons from financial need to professional dedication. Several changes in law and Ohio Department of Education (ODE) procedures may affect you if you’re a retired teacher heading back to the classroom as either a full-time, part-time, or substitute teacher.

Prominent among those changes are new background check requirements. Recently adopted legislation (HB190) now requires teachers to obtain a state and federal background check each time a teaching license is renewed. If you have a Permanent Certificate, and are currently employed under that certificate, you must obtain the background check prior to September 5, 2008. You are also required to obtain a “fresh” background check if you have a break in service and more than twelve months have passed since the previous background check was made.

What if you have no immediate plans to return to work but want to keep your options open for the future? I contacted James Miller, Director of Educator Licensure, Office of Professional Conduct at ODE, and asked if every retired teacher with a Permanent Certificate should plan to have a background check by September of this year. I received the following from him on this issue:

“…It is not a mandate that retired educators complete the background checks (to maintain their Permanent Certificate). HB 190 speaks to the ‘current working’ educators. If a retired educator would return to the teaching profession they would need to complete both background checks at that time to fulfill employment guidelines.”

Mr. Miller also raised the possibility of a new status for Permanent Certificates or licenses during a period of no employment. He stated, “We have asked to be given the authority to ‘inactivate’ a license when an educator has not completed the background checks by the deadline so this would affect the retired educators in this fashion. But the license would be easily activated once the educator did complete the background checks and we received a ‘clean’ report. The General Assembly has not acted upon that request at this time so I can't tell you definitively that it will occur. We hope that we can create a ‘search engine’ that only has us deal with working educators, but we may ‘inactivate’ some retired educators in this process. I hope not, but no system is fail-safe.”

As you can see, there is no intention to cancel Permanent Certificates or cut the life of five-year licenses short, but circumstances call on all of us to be vigilant in the protection of our professional credentials.

Another problematic development is the increase in license renewal fees. I’m sure many of you can recall, as I do, when an eight-year certificate could be paid for with a $2 money order. Those days may be gone, but OEA is trying to bring pressure on ODE to roll back the announced increases. Below is a press release on this from OEA:

Statement from the Ohio Education Association on Proposed Teacher Licensure Fee Increase

Columbus, Ohio - The Ohio Education Association’s 130,000 members express extreme disappointment with the unreasonable increase in teacher licensure fees from $60 to $200. For too many OEA members, paying the increased licensure fee, in addition to the cost of the BCI and FBI background checks will exceed annual salary increases. The OEA’s review finds Ohio law specifies licensure fees need not be the sole source of funding for the Offices of Licensure and Professional Conduct. But it apparently was the primary source considered by the State Board of Education and the Ohio Department of Education, without pursuing alternative funding.

OEA, therefore, urgently asks the State Board of Education to roll back the licensure fees and join OEA in seeking other ways to fund the office of Professional Licensure and Office of Professional Conduct or reduce their costs. OEA asks the State Board of Education to eliminate potential redundancy in the dual FBI and BCI background checks and to urge the state to assume those costs as well.

Unfortunately, the licensure fee increase sends a message that the State Board of Education is not thoughtfully considering the impact of its decisions on the teaching profession, just at a time when our shared financial and academic challenges should bind the education community together. To OEA members, the decision raises a question of why the Board has not chosen to frame educational issues with meaningful input from educators.

Others issues of concern to the OEA and its members include assuring fairness during implementation of the Licensure Code for Professional Conduct, and the proposed $4 million reduction in funding for National Board Certified Teacher Programs. That reduction is counter to specific recommendations of the OEA-led NBCT Policy Summit in November 2006; to complement the current NBCT program by providing strategic support to high-need schools for strengthening teaching quality and closing the achievement gaps. Cutting these funds represents a setback in one of the most meaningful outcomes for educators in the latest state budget.

Please be aware of these issues as you plan possible future employment in the education field and share this information with friends who may not be OEA-R members.

As the Capital District Representative to the Advisory Council, I will be writing a column for the CEA-R brochures in an effort to keep you informed of the latest news concerning OEA-R (Ohio Education Association - Retired).

OEA-R is the only organization affiliated with the Ohio Education Association (OEA) and the National Education Association (NEA).

Many discounts on food, clothing, and entertainment are available to OEA and NEA members. These discounts more than off-set the membership fee and can be found listed on http://www.cea-retired.com or by contacting me at mrasecond@msn.com.

Our attendance can make a difference to our community and can help determine the outcome of critical legislation. *Please let me know if you can attend.

How can you join OEA/NEA? Lifetime unified membership is just $300 or yearly fee is $30. To join, contact 1-800-282-1500 or membership@ohea.org.

For the second column, I would like to discuss the STRS. The STRS is very important to all of our members. The monthly meetings are open to the public. The meetings are usually on the third Thursday and Friday of the month. The OEA-R is always represented at the meetings. A report of these meetings is available. If you would like to receive copies of the report, please call me at 299-4841 or e-mail me at mrasecond@msn.com.

We are very fortunate to have a Columbus teacher on the STRS Board. She will work to protect our retirement. Taiyia Hayden was appointed to complete Mike Billarakis' unexpired term and will run to retain the seat. Tai is a kindergarten teacher at Deshler. She has been very active in the school system, CEA, and OEA.

In addition to this column appearing on the CEA-R webpage, additional information from OEA-R and NEA-R will appear on the webpage.

Please call or e-mail me with any questions. I will look forward to hearing from you!

What is the OEA-R? The OEA-R is the only organization of retirees affiliated with the Ohio Education Association and the National Education Association. As with the OEA, OEA-R membership is a unified membership with NEA-R.

Why join OEA-R/NEA-R? Personal legal help at reduced rates, publications, exclusive health and homeowners’ insurance, credit cards with low annual rates and no fees, affordable long-term insurance, liability protection policy for substituting, and various other discounts.

How much does OEA-R/NEA-R membership cost? Lifetime unified membership is just $300. Yearly membership is $30.

How can I join? Contact the membership department at 1-800-282-1500 or by email at membership@ohea.org.

Please call or e-mail Marilyn Allen with any questions at (614) 299-4841 or mrasecond@webtv.net. She looks forward to hearing from you!