Northeast Ohio’s 10 biggest public school districts will receive just $7.5 million more in funding over the next two years under Ohio House Republicans' budget, a far cry from the $345 million they would receive if the state's Fair School Funding Plan was fully implemented.
That's according to analysis from Policy Matters Ohio, a nonprofit research institute, which in a news release Wednesday said the budget proposal shorts schools $2.75 billion they would receive under the current funding model. The state is in the fourth of six years of implementing the Fair School Funding Plan, a bipartisan-approved plan that has increased funding gradually for schools based on a district's tax base but also other considers other factors like the number of low-income students and students with disabilities.
"They're really scrapping the Fair School Funding Plan and sort of abandoning a quarter century of bipartisan progress towards solving this problem of Ohio's unconstitutional school funding," said Ali Smith, operations specialist for Policy Matters Ohio. "The Fair School Funding Plan represents the best chance we've had in that quarter century to fix this problem and they're just sort of throwing it by the wayside and doing some really weird math to come up with their own plan."
House Finance Chair Brian Stewart (R-Asheville) told the Statehouse News Bureau the Republicans' budget plan still increases funding for public schools by an additional $79.3 million that would be allotted in fiscal year 2026 and $143.3 million in fiscal year 2027.
“We're essentially putting in a 'bridge' formula that will, for the next two years, take into account what has really driven these kind of fluctuations in funding,” Stewart said. ”It takes into account the fact that we have had pretty historic property tax valuation increases, which have otherwise decreased the state share of funding that it goes to districts. And it also seeks to provide more aid to districts that have increasing enrollment.”
A data tool published by Policy Matters Ohio, which uses the state Legislative Service Commission's estimates of districts' costs under the Fair School Funding Plan, shows Northeast Ohio's two biggest school districts could substantially miss out if the Republicans' budget proposal passes. Cleveland Metropolitan School District would see an increase of $155.7 million and Akron Public Schools would get an additional $102.5 million over the biennium if the Fair School Funding Plan was fully funded. The Republican budget proposal instead calls for those districts to receive less than $4 million total in new funding over the next two years.
Both districts are already pursuing cuts due to forecasted budget deficits; CMSD's is far worse, with officials saying almost $150 million in cuts will be needed over the next few years. It's unclear how the current budget proposal will affect their financial outlooks. A CMSD spokesperson said it's "premature" to comment on the state's budget, and Akron Public Schools didn't reply to a request for comment.
Elsewhere in Northeast Ohio, school districts with large numbers of low-income students could also lose out greatly under the budget proposal, according to the Policy Matters Ohio tool. Elyria City School District would gain $25 million under two years of the fully-funded Fair School Funding Plan, but just $3 million under the House proposal; Warren City School District would gain about $26 million under the Fair School Funding Plan compared to just $220,000 under the House proposal.
Piet Van Lier, senior researcher for Policy Matters Ohio, said the House's budget proposal also includes increased funding for private-school vouchers. The state in its executive budget proposal is estimating it will spend $1.07 billion on the vouchers this fiscal year, Van Lier said. The House budget proposal recommends adding $375.9 million total to that amount over the next two years. That doesn't include $35.1 million over the biennium for a new "Educational Savings Account" to help families pay for private schools that don't accept vouchers under the five current state programs.
Finally, the House budget proposal also contains a provision that caps how much school districts can carry over in their operating budgets, the Statehouse News Bureau reported. The new measure allows schools to carry over 25% of their budgets but if they go over that, the budget requires the county's tax office to refund that overage to taxpayers. Steve Dyer, a former Ohio House Democrat and public school advocate, in a blog post this week said that could result in schools being required to give back nearly $4.6 billion in funds, from 526 of Ohio’s 609 school districts.
Ohio House Speaker Matt Huffman and Finance Chair Brian Stewart did not reply to a request for comment.
