Governor John Kasich said during a briefing March 15 that schools would not be losers in his budget.
“Basic foundation aid for K to 12 – slightly increases," he said. "Maybe I need to say that again. Basic state aid K to 12 – slightly increases.”
The budget sets aside $6.4 billion for state aid in the first year and $6.5 billion in the second. Kasich was clear that more than 450 million in federal stimulus dollars that were poured into K-12 education in former Governor Ted Strickland’s last budget would not be replaced, but his office is saying that 7 in ten districts will get an increase in state aid under a formula he’s developed that he says will put more money in classrooms.
That brought a shot of optimism into many of Ohio’s 612 school districts, which were expecting cuts of at least 10 percent--but now some more specific spreadsheets have come out from the governor’s office, and education leaders are finding some shocking surprises – some analysts are saying funding will actually be cut to more than 540 school districts, and the total could be closer to 600. Bill Liebensperger is vice president of the Ohio Education Association, the state’s largest teachers’ union.
“We are trying to get all the numbers together to see how it all fits specifically for each school district," he says, "but we do know that the overall effect is a $3.1 billion in funding for K-12 schools.”
Liebensperger says some of those other factors that could affect what districts get are reductions in special education funding, in federal education money, and from the tangible personal property tax on inventory and equipment that was phased out five years ago. Liebensperger is looking at the numbers from a statewide view, but individual districts have varied reactions. The Big 8 urban school districts are mostly expecting slight increases in state aid. Michelle Evans, the superintendent of the Canton City Schools, says she’s cautiously optimistic.
“When people were talking about a 10% or a 20% cut in state aid," she says, "that’s not what we’re seeing, so that’s a good thing from our perspective.”
But other districts aren’t taking the numbers as well. Some wealthy districts found their state aid zeroed out entirely. Jane Knudson is the superintendent of the Indian Hill school district in Hamilton County.
“The complete elimination of our state funding hardly seems consistent with the state’s responsibility for providing public education for all students and shifts the financial burden to our district residents,” Knudson says.
Nancy Wingenbach is the superintendent of the Orange City Schools in southeastern Cuyahoga County, which also lost 100% of its state aid.
“To have the governor remove the million dollars from our budget is kind of devastating," she says, "seems kind of punitive to a district that’s been working very, very hard to provide the kind of education he says he wants for kids.”
Poor districts didn’t appear to take major hits, but since they rely more heavily on state aid than wealthy districts do, any cuts are significant. Two Democrats on the House budget subcommittee that deals with K-12 education are calling on the governor to release more details on his funding formula and on exactly how much districts can expect to receive from the state when everything is factored in.