As word spread that House Bill 318 may be stalled in the Ohio Senate, shock waves rocked school districts. Public education funding would be cut drastically without HB 318, according to financial impact statements. The bill provided a way for the state to make up for revenue lost when the Ohio Supreme Court ruled against placing video lottery terminals at race tracks. The court decided that such a move needed to be subject to a voter referendum.
Meanwhile, school districts, already facing funding cuts from the state earlier this year of 1 and 2 percent, were alarmed at additional cuts if HB 318 failed.
The failure to pass HB 318 before the end of the calendar year would be a “disaster” according to State Representative Stephen Dyer. He notified local superintendents and the public sprung into action.
“I was optimistic that the Senate would act to avoid these dire consequences,” Dyer informed school superintendents Dec. 14.
Dec. 17, the legislature reached an agreement. At 10:45 p.m. the bill passed. The compromise will postpone the last part of the scheduled income tax reduction by freezing income tax rates so they remain exactly the same as last year. Ohio taxpayers will continue to pay a tax rate 16.8 percent less than in 2004. Ohio’s schools will receive approximately $844 million in resources for the biennium.
The agreement also provides a waiver for financially strapped districts to delay instituting all-day, every-day kindergarten.
For local schools, if HB 318 had not passed, the revenue cuts would be substantial.
Over a two-year span Coventry would have lost $902,344.90. Green would have been cut $2,784,887.89. Manchester would have lose $1,344,069.64. Mogadore Local School District would see a two-year reduction totaling $627,560.52 and Springfield Schools would be cut by $2,251,047.65, according to Dyer.
“Manchester schools have already received a reduced budget for the two-year biennium,” said Superintendent Sam Reynolds. “The reduction for FY 10 (2009-10) will be 1 percent and the reduction for FY 11 (2010-11) will be 2 percent. Now as we approach the conclusion of the first semester, we are told that the senate is planning to ignore any solution to the State of Ohio’s $850 million dollar shortage. This means that Manchester will lose $514,828 to $1,344,069.”
“It is time for certain senators to set aside political rivalries and face their fiscal responsibilities,” said Reynolds. “Further inaction is a message to every Ohio voter that the Ohio Senate chooses to represent themselves rather than our children. Our democracy is for the good of the majority.”
“Basically my frustration lies with the inability to plan, not knowing how much funding we will get,” said Green Superintendent Mike Nutter. “This has the potential to undo all the hard work we did on the levy to preserve our current offerings. The renewal gave us some breathing room as we plan for the future.”
“The reduction they are talking about would be devastating,” said Springfield Superintendent William Stauffer, adding the district would be forced to make drastic cuts.
“My understanding is the Senate has reached some kind of compromise, but until I see it in writing I will remain cautious,” said Coventry Superintendent Rusty Chaboudy. “This does not solve our current situation. We still face a $600,000 deficit this year and a $1.6 million dollar deficit next year. HB 318 only saves us from having an additional $900,000 dollars cut from our budget.”
As public pressure mounted, a tentative agreement was reached in Columbus Dec. 17.
“This compromise will avoid thousands of teacher layoffs, school building closures and the elimination of athletic programs in our schools,” said Gov. Ted Strickland. “And we can now refocus our efforts on competing for federal Race to the Top resources that, along with our education reform plan, will improve our students’ ability to compete with students anywhere in the world.”
By law schools are not allowed to operate in debt. Four times in the last 10 years the Ohio Supreme court has ruled that the way Ohio funds schools is unconstitutional. The legislatures in Columbus have ignored the orders to fix Ohio's funding issues by any meaningful funding changes.
“Nearly three months ago, a state Supreme Court decision opened an $851 million hole in education funding. We were faced with three options to fill the budget hole. One option was to raise taxes. A second option was to cut $851 million budgeted for Ohio schools. A third option was to freeze state income tax rates at the 2008 level, postponing the final 4.2 percent reduction while leaving in place the rate cuts made to date,” said Strickland.“I deeply appreciate the business and education communities, as well as libraries and human service organizations, for their vocal support of the common sense solution to temporarily postpone the last phase of income tax reductions. Ohio families and businesses will continue to receive a $1.8 billion tax cut this fiscal year because of the broad-based tax reforms we shepherded through the most difficult economic environment in 80 years.”
State Representative Todd Snitchler (R-Uniontown) said, “While I am happy that we have temporarily solved the current budget shortfall, I am disappointed that nothing was done to look forward to solving the $5-7 billion budget shortfall we are facing in the near future.”
