Groups representing Ohio’s school boards, school administrators and school financial officials are raising serious concerns about the Senate’s version of the budget, which blew up the $1.8 billion school funding formula overhaul in the House budget. Statehouse correspondent Karen Kasler reports.
Republican Senate leaders had said the House funding overhaul, which school groups supported, wasn’t financially accurate because it used 2018 teacher salary data. School funding expert Howard Fleeter analyzed the Senate’s proposal for the school groups, and says the Senate is using property values from 2014 to 2016, income data from 2013 and student enrollment counts and teacher salary data from 2019.
“Updating that data after so long of not updating it - that's going to cause disruption in terms of what districts get, how much state aid, and I think it's going to significantly increase the costs down the road.”
Fleeter says the Senate’s plan resembles the current funding formula with some tweaks. The House wants a new formula based on 60 percent property taxes and 40 percent household income phased in over six years.
