COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Ohio House compromised with education advocates: finally fairly funding the state’s public education system after 26 years, but also expanding the private school tuition voucher scholarship.
On Wednesday, the House passed a $95 billion budget, $88 billion of it from the general revenue fund (GRF) and $7 billion of it being one-time GRF, overage money from the current fiscal year.
The budget, House Bill 33, passed 78-19. Seventeen Republicans and two Democrats opposed it.
Public schools
The Ohio Supreme Court ruled in 1997 that the way the state funds schools is unconstitutional, relying too much on property taxes.
“We need to fully and fairly fund our public schools,” Ohio Education Association President Scott DiMauo said.
The way to do that is to fully implement the Fair School Funding Plan (FSFP), he added. The FSFP was somewhat attempted to be put into place for the fiscal year 2021-22. It was supposed to change how the state delegates funding for school districts.
“It identifies the cost of a high-quality education for every student in Ohio based on the actual expenses that it takes to provide class sizes and teacher quality that students need,” the educator said.
For 26 years the state had gone without constitutional funding for public schools until the Ohio House made a change.
“We're increasing school funding to our public schools to over $1 billion,” state Rep. Bride Rose Sweeney (D-Cleveland) said. “That is unheard of, and we did so in a bipartisan fashion.”
Sweeney helped lead the charge to get this money for schools, exciting education advocates and parents around the state.
"The budget proposal they produced puts Ohio students first and shows that the House supports what Ohioans believe so strongly, that public education matters in our state," DiMauro said.
Along with the FSFP, Ohio lawmakers included:
- A plan to increase the minimum teacher salary to address growing teacher shortage issues
- Promotes education policies like repealing the mandatory retention provision of the Third Grade Reading Guarantee
- Makes school breakfast and lunch accessible to more children by having the state cover the difference in the cost between free and reduced-price meals
This wasn’t the only way the lawmakers funded education.
Vouchers
Ohio expanded the eligibility for the EdChoice system, which uses public funding to pay for private school tuition vouchers.
Donovan O’Neil with Americans for Prosperity, a conservative political advocacy group, has been supporting school choice for years.
“If the school they're in today doesn't align with their needs, they're able to take that student and have some resources available to get to the school that best is going to meet that student's individual needs,” O’Neil said.
A family of four can only access the EdChoice Scholarship program if they are at or below 250% of the federal poverty line, which would equal $75,000 per year for a family of four. It was bumped up to 450%, which would be $135,000 for that same family of four.
“Where the house falls short, we hope the Senate can take it even further— getting that universal eligibility,” he added.
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School choice activists don’t think there should be any limit, which has been a cause of concern for public school leaders. That's because the funding for private schools came from the public school budget. Sweeney explains that the amount of money is going to not make as much of an impact this time around.
“I think it’s important that as we expand these options that we're not leaving what is our actual responsibility, that's in the Ohio Constitution, is that we have a responsibility to provide for public schools in the state,” she said.
The budget still needs to go through the Senate, where major changes are likely to occur.
