by Todd DeFeo
Ohio officials should release proposed new school funding formula details throughout the Buckeye State, a representative of Ohio’s eight urban school districts told the House Finance Committee.
The Ohio 8 Coalition, an alliance of superintendents and teacher union presidents representing Ohio’s eight urban school districts – Akron, Canton, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton, Toledo and Youngstown – offered six recommendations to committee members debating the fate of the state’s operating budget during a committee hearing.
Members of a school funding work committee have rolled out a proposed “Fair School Funding Plan,” a complex formula that determines state funding levels based on the cost to educate a student and a community’s ability to raise revenue locally. The proposal would send state dollars based on a combination of property values and resident income to determine a district’s capacity to generate revenue locally for schools.
“We’re here to make sure that the state finally has a funding formula that is fair for all of Ohio’s children,” Eric Gordon, chief executive officer of the Cleveland Municipal School District and co-chair of the Ohio 8 Coalition, said. “If it were simply a numbers game, we would be here testifying on the governor’s budget, which, at least right now, is more dollars to Ohio’s urban communities.
“There is a balance between making sure that we are fairly funded to meet the needs and challenges of our kids and that the state has a system that fairly funds everybody,” Gordon added. “Our testimony is in the spirit of helping to get to all school districts.”
The Ohio 8 Coalition asked committee members to consider the density of poverty, factor in the impact of abated and tax-exempt properties, release the formula details, outline a long-term funding strategy, consider regional average salaries and hard-to-staff positions and reconcile the Fair School Funding Plan with Gov. Mike DeWine’s student health and wellness funding plan.
Lawmakers indicated they would like to vote on the budget as a committee and as a full House as soon as this week.
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Todd DeFeo is a contributor at WatchDog.org.
Photo “School Buses” by Ryan Stanton. CC BY-ND 2.0.
