A bipartisan bill to reform school funding is being introduced in the Ohio Senate. This plan is similar to one introduced in the House earlier.
This Senate plan makes some changes to the Cupp-Patterson plan, which was developed by a bipartisan task force. Republican Sen. Peggy Lehner says it changes the formula to allow poor school districts to get more money.
“This precisely captures the capacity of the local district to pay," Lehner said. It is a reflection of the second central holding of DeRolph that school funding must not produce an overreliance on local property taxes, she said.
Lehner says this satisfies the Ohio Supreme Court’s 1997 order that said the current formula is too reliant on local property taxes. Co-sponsor Democratic Sen. Vernon Sykes says the bill gives districts more compensation for various items outside of the base funding formula for things like transportation.
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