Governor says his math adds up, but some question his reasoning

COLUMBUS (AP) — As Ohio’s governor promotes his sweeping education plan, he is running into an elementary problem: the math.

Gov. Ted Strickland’s administration wants to invest $925 million in new money in Ohio’s public schools over the two-year budget beginning July 1, even in the face of economic crisis.

But others interpret his figures differently, suggesting that details in the fine print make the investment much less.

The Democratic governor lists his education plan as his policy priority, and on Thursday he said he will find money for his initiatives despite cuts to state money in a federal stimulus compromise.

Besides the money, Strickland’s plan calls for expanding the school year by 20 days, offering all-day kindergarten statewide, streamlining school from preschool through college, and making it easier to fire bad teachers and shut down failing districts.

Strickland spokeswoman Amanda Wurst said the administration gets its $925 million figure by adding together the education increase proposed in the first year of the budget, $321 million, and the increase proposed over both years of the budget, $603 million.

“This is the way to reflect the increase over the entire biennium,” Wurst said.

The administration’s calculations for annual education foundation funding are about $6.8 million in the current fiscal year, about $7.1 million in fiscal 2010 and about $7.4 million in fiscal 2011.

The administration’s way of adding up its investment is unusual, said John Habat, director of public policy and advocacy for the Cleveland-based Center for Community Solutions, which closely watches the state budget.

“You generally look at the increase from one budget year over the previous budget year,” he said.

By that method, Strickland’s proposed new investment would be a total of $603 million: $321 million in the next fiscal year and $282 million in fiscal year 2011. With inflation adjustments over those two years of about $500 million, the investment is small, Habat said.

“Here is the huge initiative of this budget, and it’s really all process and policy more than funding,” he said.

Republican lawmakers in both the Ohio House and Senate say Strickland’s proposed budget invests $6.2 million less in education next year, then $247 million more the following year

They came up with their different calculation by looking at each line item that deals directly with K-12 education and view it as a fairer “apples to apples” comparison.

Tallies on budget worksheets for both caucuses requested by The Associated Press include Ohio Department of Education funding, money for Web-based education such as e-Tech, funds to the state-run schools for the blind and deaf and debt service on school facilities.

The administration’s decision to add the one-year increase to the two-year increase serves to maximize the appearance of its investment in education, said Larry Weeks, a CPA at the Clark Schaefer Hackett & Co. public accounting firm.

It also makes a certain amount of sense, he said.

“If I was a school district and I was getting $1 million this year, $1.1 million in 2010 and $1.25 million in 2011, I would end the two-year cycle with $350,000 more dollars,” he said. “They’re looking at what they’re spending in Ohio that they weren’t spending before.”