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As the Ohio Senate continues to craft its version of the state’s next two-year budget, local school officials are urging lawmakers to consider the impact on public education funding.
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A rally was held in Lima for residents to voice concerns on a house bill. House Bill 1, also known as the Fair School Funding Plan, aims to change the overall school funding system in the state of Ohio.
The district's superintendent Jill Ackerman and treasurer Shelly Reiff, have signed on to the petition demanding the State of Ohio to fairly and fully fund public schools. Several groups back the petition, including the Ohio Education Association. The petition, directed at Governor Mike DeWine, Senate President Matt Huffman, and others, urging them to pass the "Fair School Funding Plan". The Ohio Supreme Court long ago ruled that Ohio's long-time school funding plan was unconstitutional, because of the sometimes "major discrepancies" in tax funding available to wealthy and poor school districts.
Ohio Speaker of the House, Bob Cupp announced on Thursday that House Bill 305 has been cleared and will be moving onto the senate. This bill will reform Ohio's framework for school funding. The process of allocating state funds to schools will be revised and will rely less on collecting from property taxes. For Elida, this may grant them more funding they've missed out on in the past due to their higher local tax base.
School officials from around the state came to Apollo Career Center Tuesday to discuss how the Fair School Funding Plan would work for the state. The plan was recently introduced by two state legislators, including 4th District State Rep. Bob Cupp. The plan calls for 400 million dollars more in funding next year, plus 320 million dollars more in 2021 for day-to-day operation costs, that's a 10.5% funding increase over the next two years for about 85% of districts around the state.
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.