Coalition, teachers union join lawsuit

YOUNGSTOWN -- A teachers union and a coalition of schools have joined the Doe v. State of Ohio lawsuit asking a federal court to force Ohio to revamp its education funding policies.
Both the Ohio Education Association and the Ohio Coalition for Equity and Adequacy of School Funding filed "friends of the court" briefs in the Southern District Court in Columbus Monday.
The announcements came after the Ohio Senate Democratic Caucus revealed it had done the same thing in an effort to force the Republican-controlled legislature and the governor to improve school funding.
The Ohio Supreme Court, in the DeRolph v. State of Ohio case, has ruled four times that Ohio's current funding method is unconstitutional, but the state has failed to act, said the coalition, which filed the DeRolph case in the 1990s.
The coalition argues that Ohio's failure to provide adequate funding is a clear violation of rights in both the Ohio Constitution and the United States Constitution.
The OEA brief argues that Ohio is failing to fully fund special education programs required by both state and federal law.
Ohio lost nearly 2,000 teachers last year due to inadequate state funding, and some urban districts are facing tens of millions of dollars in educational cuts, the OEA said.
gwin@vindy.com