COLUMBUS, Ohio — In a matter of six months, state Sen. Nina Turner has evolved from a heroine of organized labor in Ohio to becoming embroiled in a bitter fight with one of the state's largest teachers union.

Turner on Wednesday accused the Ohio Federation of Teachers of launching a private vendetta against her and threatening her political career because the union objects to a provision in the Cleveland schools reform bill that would allow charter schools to share funds raised by city school levies. Turner is sponsoring the bill.

The union's president denies her group has targeted Turner and was taken aback by the senator's harsh statements.

"They are pretending in public like they want to play fair, but behind the scenes they are getting their members all stirred up," said Turner, of Cleveland. "I've received several calls into my office, threats into my office, saying 'we're not going to fund your campaigns, we're going to run people against you.'"

Turner last year became labor's go-to advocate during the tumultuous campaign to overturn Senate Bill 5, the Republican-backed collective bargaining law that voters in November ultimately repealed. Turner made frequent television appearances as the Ohio debate attracted national attention.

"I've proven myself a champion of workers' rights, particularly teachers," Turner said, "and then to have them send threats like that to my office, it's just totally unacceptable."

OFT president Melissa Cropper said her union supports the majority of the bill, which would apply only to Cleveland and would allow the city's mayor unprecedented authority to reconstitute schools and establish partnerships with charters in the city in a bid to improve Cleveland's dismal academic track record.

"Never once have I said go after any legislator about this plan," Cropper said. "My message has been consistent: we need you to support this plan because this is what Cleveland and Cleveland's teachers union need to be successful. Why would I ask them to go after legislators for a plan that we are also supporting?"

Still, Cropper acknowledged that the union is dead set against the provision that would require the city schools to share levy money with high performing charters in the city. The idea is for Mayor Frank Jackson to gain greater support for a levy by having charter parents also supporting it in return for a share of the tax dollars raised.

"We just don't like the precedent of local levy money going to support charter schools," said Cropper. While the bill would only affect Cleveland, Cropper noted that Gov. John Kasich has said that he would like to see it become a model for the rest of the state.

The issue between Turner and the OFT came to light this week when Turner blasted Cropper for an April 17 email the union president sent to her members that was entitled "Say NO to local levy money for charters."

The letter clearly states the OFT's opposition to the levy sharing provision and Turner said it is loaded with buzz words to fire up the teachers by mentioning Senate Bill 5, noting that levy money would go to "for-profit" charter schools and mentioning Kasich's support of the measure.

"They are deliberately invoking Senate Bill 5 and Kasich's name to stir up controversy," Turner said. "Just because Gov. Kasich may support this plan doesn't necessarily mean it's a bad plan. If someone were lying on the road dying would it matter to you who came to save you? If it was a Democrat or a Republican, would it matter?"

Turner, who said she was speaking out mainly as a parent herself concerned for Cleveland schoolchildren, also noted that while the Cleveland Teachers Union has misgivings about the levy sharing provision, the local union has not instructed its members to raise objections to it.

Cropper said the plan all along was for the state teachers union to pick up the battle for the local union on the issue of the levy money for charters.

"From the beginning we said to the CTU, 'you take care of what you need to do to get your collective bargaining rights protected and we had a lot of people objecting at the state level about this charter levy piece so we'll handle that piece at the state level,'" she said.

Supporters of the bill hope it clears the legislature before lawmakers leave for summer break at the end of this month.