Will a proposed new school funding formula be the fix for schools across the State of Ohio? Two state legislators hope so.
4th District State Representative Bob Cupp of Allen County is one of the supporters of the "Fair School Funding Plan" introduced in late March. He says it recreates a new funding formula from the ground up. One that will fund schools for the students that they actually educate not just those who reside in their district that may open enroll or use the voucher system. Cupp says they have gone to the people who understand the process best to develop this new formula.
"We've worked with a number of educators, superintendents, and treasurers across the state to essentially design a new method from the ground up by people who work in this every day and know what the costs of educating a child are," explained State Representative Bob Cupp, Ohio 4th District - Allen County.
In this new proposed formula, 85% of Ohio schools will see increases in their funding with 15% not. One of those is Lima City Schools. School financial administrators say the proposed formula is much more transparent and they are happy they are not losing any funding.
"We're really excited that we're not going to be seeing less than what we received before and I know they've put a lot of time into this and they're very very educated on the formula and so it just depends on how it goes through the budget," commented Shelly Reiff, Lima City Schools treasurer.
Cupp says they will have regional meetings around the state to discuss more about the proposed formula with one here in Allen County on Tuesday. The governor's biennial budget, which this could be a part of, has to be approved by the legislature by the end of June.
