CINCINNATI — Teachers in one Ohio school district are holding onto hope they can keep their jobs and salaries. It's all on the line if a bill that could erase the district’s loan debt doesn’t pass.

What You Need To Know

  • Lawmakers are considering companion bills that would turn an $11M loan into a grant that the Mt. Healthy school district won't have to pay back 

  • School leaders are concerned if it doesn't pass, it could lead to more teacher cuts, bigger classes and a lower quality of education

  • Lawmakers say the district needs to have a plan so it doesn't fall into the same situation 

Joe Ohradzansky is an eighth grade teacher showing science to kids in a smaller class, but he’s concerned that his class sizes and workload are about to get bigger and his paycheck won’t. 

“It hurts to think that they're asking us to do, the state is asking us to do more, teach more kids," he said. "Last year, I had 97 students in all my classes combined. Now I have over 140. Where am I finding the time to do more?”

His district, Mt. Healthy City Schools in Cincinnati, already cut teachers after a tax levy failed, but the district still has to repay an $11M loan from the state in less than two years.

It’s a loan he claims is already putting a strain on the poverty-stricken schools. 

“I mean, 100% poverty, free and reduced lunch and free breakfast is available to every student, and this is drastic," he said. "Studies show when you have a district like ours, and you start piling more kids in the classrooms, the quality of education individually is going to drop for those kids."

That’s why, as a teacher and vice president of the Mt. Healthy teachers union, he and his colleagues took action. 

“We decided as a union to reach out to Senator Blessing and we had to sit down face to face with with him," said Ohradzansky.

Ohio Sen. Bill Blessing, R-District 8, is one of three state lawmakers behind companion bills that would wipe away the district’s loan debt by transforming it into a grant that the district wouldn't have to pay back. 

“This is not a blank check," Blessing said. "There will be some reforms, and I've spoken to the Mt. Healthy City School District folks to tell them you have to be able to come up with some sort of reform and work with the state on this."

In order for it to happen, both the Senate and the House need to vote on it and pass it this week or it’ll have to be reintroduced in the next legislative session in the new year.

“I don't believe this is going to pass this General Assembly," Blessing said. "It would struggle next general assembly, but it does send the message that the general assembly is watching very closely what's going on locally."

But teachers at the district are still holding onto hope that it will pass without any more cuts. 

“We are hopeful, absolutely hopeful, but we know it's not the fix, it's just step one and what we need to do to get back on track," Ohradzansky said.