Two state lawmakers, who say they’ve made Ohio’s school funding formula more stable and fair, have released financial details that show what Ohio's 612 school districts will get. And they’re also showing the plan will cost the state a lot more money.
Right now, more than half of Ohio's school districts got less money from the existing formula than they did last year, so the state made up difference.
Democratic Rep. John Patterson says 85 percent of schools will get the right funding under this new formula. Patterson says it reflects some big percentage increases for wealthy districts because they haven’t been getting the state funding they should have. It’s been diverted to schools that were guaranteed at least what they got last year.
“And now we're trying to shift that pendulum out of fairness for everybody,” he said.
Patterson says he and Republican Bob Cupp need more information to calculate funding to help economically disadvantaged students, who typically have much worse test scores.
The plan would cost $720 million more than the current K-12 budget.
