State Representative Williams gives go to vote yes on new school state budget

State Representative, Brian Williams finally got to do what he had set out to do. On July 13, he pushed the green button to vote yes on the state budget which included a new plan for school funding.

A former educator and retired superintendent of Akron City Schools, Williams said, “We have not treated our children in an appropriate way, we have not followed our own constitution.”

He said after a few years of retirement, he decided to come back and take one of those 99 seats in the house and hoped eventually there would be enough people who felt like he did to come forth with a constitutional system.

“Monday, I got to push that button and we now have the features of a constitutional system. It is not funded at the level it needs to be but we can now build on it. The structure is there.”

Representatives Mike Moran, Vern Sykes along with Williams held an event at Old Stone School to discuss the state budget that will be signed into law by Governor Strickland. They praised Strickland's leadership throughout the budget process. This budget includes a comprehensive education reform plan that will better prepare Ohio students for the challenges of a 21st century economy. They noted under the new budget, schools in the area will receive a substantial increase in funding over the next two years.

“Strickland's budget comprises the largest investment in our children's education in the history of our state. The budget also raises school standards and increases accountability to make our schools the best in the nation and help turn our economy around,” they Representatives stated.

The new budget is set up to reduce the over reliance on property taxes and to provide for the needs of the children. The average increase to a school system is 5 percent.

Williams went on to say he wished Stephen Dyer was at the event. As the chairman of the primary secondary subcommittee of finance, Dyer had worked through all the details to come up with this constitutional system.

Sykes said they are all proud of what they have been able to do.

“We are not as happy as we would like to be because of the funding,” Sykes said. “The demon in this case is actually the economy. But during an economic downturn, which is the worst that it has been in 80 years, we have put our best foot forward particularly in the case of education.”
He added this is revolutionary and has not been done before. Not just in Ohio, but probably the nation.

“There is no other system designed the way ours has been designed,” he said.

“This is historic,” said State Senator Tom Watkins.

In the beginning, the Northwest Ordinances stated that if a territory wanted to be a state you had to put in place a system of publicly funded schools.

“Ohio was the first to do that. In 1850 we put it in our Constitution and that’s where the term ‘thorough and efficient’ was started.  Other states copied Ohio with the use of those terms,” Watkins said. “Putting that into reality has taken 150 years. This year, in the State of Ohio, through the work, lead mostly by Summit County legislators, Vernon Sykes, Brian Williams and Stephen Dyer we did just that.” 

Also in place is the School Funding Advisory Council. which is an oversight commission that does a continuous assessment of the relationship between the education system and the needs of the economy.

“That is what is going to keep this operating and moving,” said Watkins. 

“I think we can all be proud that Ohio has done this when other states have chosen to make cuts to education,” Moren said. “Gov. Strickland and the legislature have prioritized education and we have provided better funding for education and a constitutional funding formula. People have waited a long time for us to do this and to do it in the middle of a national recession is a remarkable feat.”

The stimulus dollars that school districts will receive will be based on a formula. It is calculated according to certain categories and the number of students in a district.  It is not a per pupil distribution. The major categories are Title One and Special Education. The more children with a disadvantage there are in a district the more money a district will receive. Free and reduced lunch and other factors are figured in to try to equalize treatment for children. Its effect will help to even out districts as far as richer districts and poorer districts.

“There are some earmarks on how the money is used but it is in the ways we want to spend it, on the little children. We have to start the kids off in a proper way and the starting line has to be the same for all children,” said Williams.

The formula for school funding is based on research and studies including the educational level of parents. It is a multi factor formula.

“We look at the factors that affect how children learn and how much children learn,” said Williams.

Green resident Vickie Briercheck, representing the Ohio Association of Gifted Children, said, “I agree as an educator. I think this is a step in the right direction. I give you a lot of credit, you stuck to your guns and you made a change.”

“We still have a lot to do but with the advisory council in place we will go week by week, day by day and year by year and we and will continue to improve,” said Sykes.  

Moran, Sykes and Williams also noted area students will have an easier time attending the University of Akron and other colleges and universities because the budget limits tuition increases to 3.5 percent a year. In the past, tuition at Ohio's college and universities increased by about 10 percent a year. Under the two budgets passed Ohio will have the lowest tuition increases since before 1970.