House revises Strickland plan to fund schools

Photo

Ohio Governor Ted Strickland (D-Lisbon)

By Marc Kovac

The bill provides more state money to poor districts and successful charter schools.

COLUMBUS — Poorer districts will receive more funding from the state, and charter schools could receive increased support, under revamped state legislation.

The Democratic leaders of the Ohio House unveiled those and other changes to Gov. Ted Strickland’s school funding and reform package during a press conference Thursday near the Statehouse.

“It’s been a long road for a lot of folks to get where we are today,” said Rep. Stephen Dyer, a Democrat from Akron who headed the subcommittee that has been working for weeks on the legislation.

He added, “An entire generation of Ohio’s children have gone to schools that have been unconstitutionally funded. That must end.”

Strickland already has voiced his support for the changes.

House Republicans were quick to voice concern, however, noting that school funding levels will decrease under the Democrats’ plan.

“This is the first time since the DeRolph school funding lawsuit was filed in December of 1991 that a legislative body is proposing a cut in state aid to schools,” Rep. Ron Amstutz, a Republican from Wooster, said in a released statement. “It is disappointing and shocking that after all of the rhetoric, Ohio’s schoolchildren are losing out.”

The Ohio House is considering the governor’s education reform package, providing funding for set numbers of teachers, administrators, aides and others for each school district.

The plan would establish standards for how schools operate and will monitor how they spend public funds. Teachers who aren’t making the grade would face dismissal.

Dyer’s subcommittee hosted more than 50 hours of testimony from 320-plus individuals and groups on Strickland’s plan.

“We have deconstructed and reconstructed the funding proposals,” said Democratic House Speaker Armond Budish. “We have tested every aspect of the model, and we have made multiple changes and improvements.”

Changes outlined by the House Democrats included a revamped school funding formula aimed at increasing state funding for the poorest districts while decreasing it for the wealthier ones.

Additionally, House Democrats have removed a provision that prohibited charter schools from contracting with for-profit management companies and increasing oversight and standards for charter schools.

Dyer said charter schools will be funded under the same model as traditional public schools.

“For too long, this fight has been an unhealthy, poisonous aspect of school funding in Ohio, and we’re seeking to end that through this process,” Dyer said. “Ohio must move toward a system that allows successful charter schools to flourish while maintaining the constitutional obligation to provide an education for every student.”

The House also removed more than $900 million in federal stimulus funding that was originally included in the education budget by the governor. Those funds will still be available to districts, but through federal programming instead of the state’s general revenue fund.

The changes will be formally introduced in the House in coming days, but they are far from set in stone. The budget legislation will be subject to weeks of additional consideration and changes in the Republican-led Ohio Senate.

mkovac@dixcom.com