AFSCME
OAPSE Districts and Locals will be receiving information regarding OAPSE’s 2026 Conference shortly.
General Information:
80th OAPSE/AFSCME Delegate Conference
Hilton Columbus Downtown Hotel
402 N. High St.
Columbus, Ohio 43215
May 6-8, 2026
Book Your Room for the OAPSE/AFSCME Delegate Conference HERE
OAPSE held a membership drive this year focused on reaching both new employees and co-workers who hadn’t joined the OAPSE family in the past. Thanks to all the hard work from Local Officers, leaders, activists, and staff, we were able to sign up hundreds of new OAPSE members this year! Every Local involved put in the work to make this an awesome membership drive!
As an incentive, at the end of the drive we held drawings for the new members who signed up, the recruiters (Local Officers and activists) who make it a success, and the OAPSE Locals that took part in the drive. Below are just some of the drawing winners.
A huge thanks to all involved! Enjoy the summer!
Last week, at the end of the 2024-25 school year, OAPSE held a drawing to pick winners from the 2025 Membership Drive. This year’s membership drive has a huge success! Local leaders and activists worked for months talking to and educating both new and current employees about all the benefits available when you become a member of the OAPSE family. Hundreds of membership applications were signed. This not only increases our member numbers, but more importantly, increases our effectiveness at the table when it comes to negotiations.
New members, recruiters and Locals who participated in the membership drive were eligible for a number of prizes. Below is the list of winners. Congratulations to everyone and lets keep up the great work in the 2025-26 school year!
NEW MEMBER WINNERS
Kimberly Reeves – Perry Local #329
Jamia Fentress – Columbus City Custodians #101
RECRUITER WINNERS
Robert Conley – Columbus City Special Needs #529
Robin Bray – Plains Local Transportation #428
Sharon Wise – Northern Local #359
Sandy Ratliff – Norwalk City #269
Fran Knebusch – Parma City Children Services #165
William Weaver – Washington Local #279
Ann Jones – Bluffton Exempted Village #395
Shawn Phillips – Morgan Local #51
Kelly Grogan – New Richmond Exempted Village #267
Pete Rosile – First Student Germantown #142
LOCAL WINNERS
Indian Valley Local #474
Napoleon City #314
Coshocton City #387
Shadyside Local #547
Logan City #2A
Canton City Custodians #107
On May 28th, OAPSE Making a Difference (OMAD), the Ohio Association of Public School Employees’ non-profit organization, was in Akron City Schools helping with the nutritional needs of students in the district. Working with the Akron Schools administration, OMAD identified two elementary schools facing significant food security challenges in the district.
Members from the Ohio Association of Public School Employees (OAPSE), along with other volunteers, handed out bags to students from Glover and McEbright Elementary Schools. Over 700 students received bags full of non-perishable meals, snacks and drinks from OAPSE Making a Difference.
“I love these OMAD events. Being able to help the children we serve where the need is so high makes me so proud of my union and the entire OAPSE family,” explained Lois Carson, OAPSE State President. “OAPSE will continue to help the community every chance we can.”
Sheila Dawkins-Flinn, OAPSE State Secretary and OMAD Chairwoman, was overjoyed. “OMAD has been doing such great work around the state the past decade and it’s nice to see the program in Akron this year. The poverty rate is double in Akron compared to the state average and there are so many food insecure children in the district. We are doing what we can to help the children we serve.”
OMAD is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization, established by OAPSE/AFSCME to focus on reducing hunger among the students we serve. We know that hungry children are not at their best and cannot learn to their full potential. Yet many of our students come to school hungry every day. We wanted to help as many of “our kids” as we could with volunteer hours and donations – and OMAD is the result.
Since the spring of 2014, OMAD has raised more than $160,000 from OAPSE leaders, members, staff, and vendors. Past OMAD projects include establishing a permanent food bank at Fairland Local Schools in southern Ohio – among the poorest school districts in the state – and providing take-home meals and tote bags to thousands of students in schools districts across Ohio.
With the Social Security Fairness Act signed into law, OAPSE retirees and other Ohioans collecting a public pension will now be receiving the FULL Social Security benefits they have EARNED. OAPSE retirees are even receiving back pay for the unfair cuts to their Social Security checks over the past year. Retirees are seeing checks from Social Security for thousands of dollars, a few even getting lump sum payments of over $10,000! OAPSE has been receiving calls of gratitude from some of these retirees and hearing just how impactful these changes are to the OAPSE family.
“I wanted to shout from the rooftop! OAPSE has been fighting these unfair provisions for decades!” Carol Harper, OAPSE Retiree
Claude Brisco, an OAPSE retiree from Central Ohio and former Vice President of Local 580, said it was a hard pill to swallow when he retired. “I lost almost 60% of my Social Security benefit just because I worked in a public school,” Claude explained. “Getting that 60% back is very significant to me and my family. It’s just wonderful!”
Pat Squibb, a former OAPSE member from Northwest Ohio who was very active in Local 320, is very thankful for the repeal of the GPO and WEP. “Both my husband and I worked in schools during part of our career. We’ve been retired for over 7 years now and the devastating cuts to our benefits have been tough.” Pat continued, “It’s a blessing to get what we deserve moving forward. I am so thankful for how hard OAPSE fought for this repeal, and also Sherrod Brown.”
Carol Harper, former Southeast District President and Local 252 member, thought she would never see this day. “When President Biden signed the Bill, I wanted to shout from the rooftop!” Carol exclaimed. “OAPSE has been fighting these unfair provisions for decades. We earned these benefits.” Carol ended with a thank you. “I know how hard the OAPSE State Officers, Board Members and staff worked on this. Thank you, thank you, thank you! This is life changing for some OAPSE retirees.”
The repeal of the Government Pension Offset (GPO) and the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) is the culmination of decades of effort by OAPSE and its members. Members across Ohio made phone calls and sent emails to their Representatives in Congress during each step of the process. OAPSE also ran a petition campaign which collected thousands of signatures, showing the overwhelming support to repeal these unfair provisions. At the forefront of this fight were our State Officers. President Lois Carson, Vice President Mike Lang, and Secretary Sheila Dawkins-Flinn, Sheila also chairs the committee OAPSE formed to repeal the GPO and WEP. They led the charge by educating and activating OAPSE members across the state, while also taking the time to lobby Congress on behalf of OAPSE members every chance they had.
“It was a tough battle,” President Carson explained. “Some days I felt frustrated and defeated, but we kept fighting and it paid off. The last few days my heart has been filled from all the happy and joyful calls I’ve received from retired OAPSE members. This is why we do what we do, and why I’m sticking with my union!”
Alongside our State Officers, Barb Ward, former Executive Board member from Southeast District, became a spokesperson for the repeal campaign. Barb shared her story of just how unfair the GPO provision was to retirees who have lost their spouses. The GPO provision would cut her Social Security benefit by $15,000 a year. Senator Sherrod Brown used Barb’s story and testimony to gain the support needed in the US House and Senate and eventually pass the repeal. “Words can’t explain how happy I am to see the GPO and WEP repealed.” Barb exclaimed. “I joined OAPSE and became active in our union over 35 years ago. When I found out how unfairly public employees in Ohio were being treated in retirement, I had to get involved and fight for change!”