OHIO LEGISLATURE Group seeks formula to fund suburban schools

They don't want money taken from one school district to be given to another.
By JEFF ORTEGA
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
COLUMBUS -- A group of suburban state lawmakers has a message for state officials trying to craft a new state school-funding formula: Make sure all districts are helped, not just the poorer school systems.
"We can no longer have a one-size-fits all school-funding formula," state Rep. James P. Trakas said Wednesday.
Trakas, an Independence Republican, joined other suburban lawmakers who've formed the Legislators Advancing Sensible Education Reform coalition to talk about a package of bills they say could help the public schools in their districts.
If enacted, the bills would:
U Allow local school boards to use various options to find the best way to fund their school systems.
U Allow high-growth school systems to better access state building and renovation assistance.
U Alter the School District Income Tax to apply only to earned income.
U Address the quirk in the funding system that credits school systems with more revenue than they have.
U Provide local school districts an option to create a ballot initiative for a countywide sales tax.
"These may not solve every problem, but it may solve many problems of suburban school systems in this state," said Trakas.
Opposes pooling resources
The LASER coalition, which also includes state Reps. Jon Peterson, R-Delaware; John H. Widowfield, R-Cuyahoga Falls; Larry Wolpert, R-Hilliard; and Timothy J. Grendell, R-Chesterland, says it will oppose any measure that advocates pooling property taxes statewide.
"We cannot look to a local revenue pooling scheme as a viable solution," Grendell said in a prepared statement. "Using locally voted tax revenues to support other school systems in un-American and will not solve the problems at hand. & quot;
The lawmakers say they'll soon present their proposals to the Blue Ribbon Task Force on Financing Student Success.
The task force, appointed by Republican Gov. Bob Taft, is expected to make recommendations to the state Legislature before year's end on how to change the way Ohio pays to educate the estimated 1.8 million children in public schools.
The Ohio Supreme Court has held four times that the state's method of paying for public schools is unconstitutional. The high court has held that an over-reliance on property taxes has created disparities between so-called "rich" and "poor" public school systems.
Help for poorer districts
In response to the court case, brought against the state by a group of more than 500 poor and urban school systems, state officials have poured billions of dollars into primary and secondary education -- much of it to help poorer urban and rural school districts. State officials have also poured resources into school construction and renovation and the overhaul of tests and curricula for children.
Peterson said his proposal to reduce so-called "phantom revenue," where the state formula assumes school systems are collecting more money than they really are, would use about $100 million in state money annually to make up the funding gap, if enacted.
"School districts deserve a revenue stream that's predictable," Peterson said.
Widowfield said his proposal to give schools an option for a countywide sales tax would provide school districts with another avenue for resources.
"I believe this option gives each district flexibility," Widowfield said.
Trakas said he believes the proposals the suburban lawmakers are promoting might help limit the frequency with which public schools approach voters for property-tax increases.
The proposals "show what a morass the whole school-funding situation is under," said Frederick Pausch, legislative director of the Ohio School Boards Association.