Omaha, OPS politics mixing ahead of election - Omaha World-Herald

Omaha Public Schools and City Hall operate separately, but the Omaha mayor’s race is bringing the politics of the two entities together.

For the first time, the union that represents OPS teachers is considering weighing in on the May 9 mayoral election. Union leaders have asked candidates to fill out a survey and come in for an interview. The union will likely make a recommendation to teachers about who they should support.

The political action committee of the Omaha Education Association interviewed challenger Heath Mello last week and is scheduled to interview Mayor Jean Stothert today.

Meanwhile, Mello, a former state senator, unsuccessfully attempted to broker a deal to break the OPS board’s deadlock over electing a new board president in January.

Those are unusual levels of involvement for two entities that, for the most part, tend to stay in their own lanes.

The city and OPS have their own budgets and elected bodies, and they set their own property tax rates. That differs from some other cities, such as Chicago and New York, where school boards are appointed by the mayor.

But OEA President Bridget Donovan said local teachers — Republicans and Democrats alike — are looking to flex their political muscle.

“Nebraska teachers have always been pretty quiet and so have Omaha teachers,” Donovan said. “The whole ‘Nebraska nice’ thing. Now, it’s almost like, hey, wait a minute. All these people are saying all these things, and they’re not true. This is the job we love, these are the kids we love, and if nobody’s going to stand up for us, I guess we’ll have to do it ourselves.”

Many teachers have been following politics closely since the presidential election, or called and wrote letters to senators during the confirmation battle over Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, she said. Over the past decade or so, Donovan said there’s been a growing awareness of how decisions made on the federal level — think sweeping policies like “No Child Left Behind” — trickle down to local classrooms.

The union represents roughly 2,800 members, and it has endorsed school board candidates in the past. During the general election in November, the OEA’s executive board gave a nod to State Sen. Tony Vargas, a former OPS board member. The union may start recommending legislative candidates whose districts fall within OPS boundaries.

The union’s questionnaire for the mayoral candidates asks their views on what impact a mayor could have on education, collective bargaining and the three greatest needs of Omaha’s children.

And one question asks the candidates to weigh in on another hot-button topic facing the state: charter schools and vouchers. Nebraska doesn’t currently allow for either, but bills introduced in the Nebraska Legislature would authorize both, setting up a heated debate between traditional public school advocates, including teachers unions, and school choice supporters.

Nationally, teachers unions have often been heavily involved in politics, doling out campaign dollars and endorsements, typically to Democrats. But this year’s decision to interview Omaha mayoral candidates is a departure.

“People feel a strong need to get involved and realize they can make a difference at the local level,” Donovan said. “There’s kind of a feeling that you can’t control the national scene, but in the areas closest to you — school board elections, state legislature — you can.”

Donovan acknowledged that education issues don’t often bubble up at the city level. But the union is interested in hearing what candidates have to say about working with OPS on issues that overlap.

“The decisions the city makes impact our students, so we’re interested to hear how they see their role in relation to the teachers and students of OPS,” she said.

The union is not planning on endorsing City Council candidates at this point.

In the same month the union sent out its questionnaire, the OPS board deadlocked during a vote to select its next president.

Board members cast more than 120 ballots at one board meeting, tying over and over again, while trying to decide between Lou Ann Goding and Marque Snow as board president.

They eventually decided to delay the decision and at a later meeting elected Lacey Merica to lead the board.

In an interview, Mello said he contacted Goding and Snow to try to “help facilitate the impasse.”

Mello said several people in the “education, business community, philanthropic communities” asked him to step in to help resolve the stalemate, but he declined to identify those who asked him to get involved.

He said he contacted both Goding and Snow to offer them options for resolving the deadlock. He declined to say what those suggestions were, but he said the board didn’t act on his suggestions.

Goding declined to comment. Snow could not be reached for comment.

Mello said city leaders should take an interest in things that happen in the city, even if City Hall isn’t directly involved.

“This isn’t just not good for children, families, teachers and the district, this isn’t good for the city that we’re not able to find ways to build consensus and move forward,” he said.

But Stothert questioned Mello’s involvement.

“It seems awfully strange to me that a former state senator and a mayoral candidate is involved in the selection of the president and vice president of the OPS school board,” she said.

“It looks like meddling,” she added. “And I took the position that I’m not going to meddle in OPS business.”

Stothert said the city and the school districts generally operate separately, and she noted that she has no direct authority over schools. She said she tries to maintain a good relationship with districts and she has an advisory group of local superintendents that she meets with occasionally to work out issues.

Merica, who previously worked as Mello’s legislative aide, said he has always been a consensus-builder and was one of many people weighing in on the OPS board election.

“He was not the only one who offered that help,” she said. “There were other elected officials, general people in the community. They all recognized we needed to find a solution to have our district be successful.”

Merica said OPS and the City of Omaha have worked together on issues such as economic inclusion; the partnership with Saddlebrook Elementary, which also houses a public library and community center; and promotion of teen employment programs like Step-Up Omaha that can help OPS students.

“We’re so interrelated, in order for the city to be successful, schools have to be successful, and for schools to be successful, you have to have a successful city,” she said. “I think that’s more policy and governance than politics.”