School-funding ruling elicits 2 interpretations

The governor said the state will take its time in analyzing the decision.
By JEFF ORTEGA
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
COLUMBUS -- With the Ohio Supreme Court's latest ruling declaring the state's school-funding system unconstitutional, the coalition of public schools that originally brought the case says it wants immediate action.
"We have been operating under an unconstitutional system in this state," said William L. Phillis, executive director of the Coalition for Equity & amp; Adequacy of School Funding. "The message is very clear to the state of Ohio: Fix the system."
Phillis' comments Wednesday came after the high court declared the state's method of funding public schools unconstitutional for the third time since March 1997.
In a 4-3 decision, the high court ordered a "systematic overhaul" of the system that splits funding for schools between state money and local property taxes.
The high court also ended its jurisdiction in the case, meaning that any further action may have to stem from a new lawsuit.
Nicholas Pittner, a coalition lawyer, said he expects the state to respond to the court decision. "If they do not, we will look at all legal resources," he said, without elaborating, saying it was premature.
Senate President Richard H. Finan and Gov. Bob Taft, both Republicans, disputed that the court decision meant the state had to take any immediate action.
"I would say that it's simply the General Assembly has to continue to march in the direction that it's been going. And that's improve funding for schools," Finan said.
"Over the next few weeks, there will be a good deal of analysis of this decision," Taft said. "And there may be disagreement over what it means for the future."
Writing for the majority, Justice Paul Pfeifer said the high court had been patient while state officials tried to craft a solution to the problem.
The majority opinion noted increased levels of funding for schools in the past few years, but it said the Legislature failed to focus on a "complete systematic overhaul."
Order an overhaul
"Today we reiterate that that is what is needed, not further nibbling at the edges," the majority opinion said. "Accordingly, we direct the General Assembly to enact a school-funding scheme that is thorough and efficient ."
"We are not unmindful of the difficulties faced by the state, but those difficulties do not trump the Constitution," it added.
The majority was made up of Pfeifer, Justices Alice Robie Resnick, Francis Sweeney and Andrew Douglas. According to the opinion, Douglas concurred in the judgment only.
Chief Justice Thomas Moyer and Justices Evelyn Lundberg Stratton and Deborah Cook dissented.
State officials say they've improved funding for public schools since the schools coalition first filed a lawsuit in Perry County Common Pleas Court in December 1991 challenging the constitutionality of the state's school-funding system.
In the last 10 years, the state has increased funding for primary and secondary schools by 81 percent, state officials say, from $3.6 billion in 1992 to $6.5 billion this year.
Other progress noted
Progress has also been made in the area of school construction and renovation, curriculum standards and pupil test scores, state officials say.
But some state lawmakers say the progress hasn't been enough.
"It doesn't take a person without common sense to know that we have districts that are wealthy, but are on fiscal watch because they can't sell another tax increase to the local folks," said state Rep. John A. Boccieri of New Middletown, D-57th. "The state of Ohio is putting those local districts in awkward positions because we're not providing adequate funding for education."
State Sen. Robert F. Hagan of Youngstown, D-33rd, blamed the Republicans who control every nonjudicial statewide office and both houses of the Legislature. "What they've done is sidestep their responsibility to the 1.8 million students in the state," Hagan said.