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K-12 Schools

Betty Simmons-Talley

Betty Simmons-Talley, Public School Bus Driver; Ohio Association of Public School Employees/Local 4

AFSCME members work in public schools throughout our nation helping children realize their full potential. We provide services critical to an effective and healthy learning environment – assisting in the classroom, feeding and transporting students, and providing clerical, custodial, maintenance, and other support to teachers, administrators, students and families.

School Employees Online Network

Join your brothers and sisters in the AFSCME School Employees Network to discuss the issues you care about, learn about what’s going on around the country, and exchange information and ideas.

What's Hot

  • Next Wave Toolkit
    Learn how to start a new Next Wave chapter, host an event, get involved in the election or find more information.
  • Health Care for America: Which Side Are You On?
    Visit the new Health Care section of our website to learn about AFSCME’s plan to guarantee quality, affordable health care for all Americans.
  • Schools cutting bus service because of gas prices
    School administrators are spinning their wheels trying to cope with the soaring costs of fuel for school buses. The bottom line: More students will walk farther this fall. "All the less drastic measures have pretty much been exploited," says Robin Leeds of the National School Transportation Association. "All that sort of easy-picking fruit has been picked." (USA Today, 7/9/08)
  • AFSCME School Cafeteria Employees Win Big in Fight Over Privatization
    School employees and parents fought against steep odds to keep the Salem Public Schools foodservice in public hands. When the school system invited Chartwells to bid for the work, employees and parents put together their own, superior proposal to improve meals and save money. That still wasn’t enough to convince school administrators, but the union and parent team convinced an overwhelming majority of the school committee to try the local solution for one year before considering contracting out. (The Salem News, 6/17/08)
  • Philadelphia Turning Away from Privatized Schools
    The Pennsylvania School Reform Commission has retaken control of six of 38 privately operated Philadelphia schools, after the private schools failed to meet progress benchmarks. Overall, the schools which were privatized in 2002 are performing no better than the schools that remained under public control. Four of the six seized schools and an additional 12 of the 20 schools that received one-year warnings are operated by for-profit Edison Schools. (Philadelphia Inquirer, 6/19/08)
  • Arizona court overturns vouchers
    An Arizona state appeals court ruled that a school voucher program is unconstitutional. The very small program for special-needs students was enacted by lawmakers in 2006 to test the waters for a much larger planned voucher program that would have included every parent in the state. The court unanimously ruled that it could allow the program "only by ignoring the plain text of the Arizona Constitution.”
  • Detroit dumps Aramark from school kitchens
    The Detroit Board of Education voted unanimously to end its food service contract with Aramark. The move bring food service jobs back in-house for school district employees, who performed the work before Aramark first won the contract in 2001.

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