Senate Budget Restores $130M for Cities, Schools (OH)

June 1, 2011

School districts in Clark and Champaign counties would get more money than expected under a proposed Ohio Senate budget bill.

Republicans in the Senate on Tuesday unveiled a version that adds $30 million for the state’s highest performing school districts over two years and eases funding cuts for a number of districts by about $85 million, compared to the House budget passed last month.

The additional funds were among scores of changes that the Senate wove into the latest version of the 4,800-page budget bill.

Republican leaders are also throwing an extra $100 million into the local government fund and increased oversight of charter schools and eliminating charter school provisions inserted by the GOP-controlled House.

The latest budget also includes a guarantee that no school district will see a drop in basic state aid over the next two years, other than the loss of federal stimulus money and reimbursements for the phased-out tangible personal property tax.

“Naturally, when we’re trying to fill an $8 billion hole, we don’t have the resources to sustain previous funding levels for schools and local governments, but we’re doing everything we can to mitigate those reductions,” said Senator Chris Widener, R-Springfield, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee.

A state analysis of the Senate’s proposed budget released Tuesday estimates Northwestern Local Schools would get $22,283 more in 2012 under the Senate’s proposed budget, compared to Gov. John Kasich’s proposed budget.

The district would also get $46,879 more money in fiscal year 2013 under the latest budget, compared to the House budget.

But Superintendent Tony Orr is not impressed.

Orr said Ohio school funding has been declared unconstitutional four times and state leader s need to step up to the plate and address it.

“Whether they give us an additional $46,000 or $47,000 doesn’t take away the fact that the way Ohio funds schools is unconstitutional. And until they step up and take care of that, all they’re doing is trying to distract from the real issue,” Orr said.

Springfield Schools would get $77,175 more in fiscal year 2012 and $97,610 more in fiscal year 2013, according to state estimates comparing the Senate’s proposed budget to previous versions of the budget.

Springfield Schools Superintendent David Estrop had not seen the Senate’s proposed changes to the budget Tuesday afternoon and was leery of the state’s analysis of its impact on schools.

Given the state’s flawed data released in April showing Senate Bill 5 would provide a cost-savings at more than $13.5 million, Estrop said he and Treasurer Chris Mohr would review the data today and provide an analysis of their own at a later date.

Still, Estrop said he’s pleased officials are working to ease steep funding cuts that were in proposed budgets released by Kasich and the House.

“Any assistance the general assembly can give us would be a plus,” Estrop said.

Urbana Schools would receive $29,120 more in 2012 and $37,024 more in 2013 if the Senate budget is approved.

Superintendent Charles Thiel did not return calls seeking comment late Tuesday.

Republican state senators also increased oversight of charter schools that major GOP donor David Brennan, who owns 46 charter schools as part of the state’s largest charter school operator, White Hat Management, wanted relaxed.

Senate Republicans are stripping out language that would have given for-profit charter school operators the right to run community schools without a sponsor and with less public disclosure.

Estrop said this would have weakened accountability and control over the charter school system.

“We’re very strongly opposed to this and expressed our opinion to Widener and I’m pleased that the Senate appears to have responded,” Estrop said.

Thomas Needles, a lobbyist for White Hat Management, told the Dayton Daily News last week that he was behind the language included in the House bill.

Under the Senate changes, charter sponsors won’t be allowed to add new schools unless at least 80 percent of their schools are academically performing in the top 95 percent of schools.

The Senate Finance Committee, headed by Widener, will hold hearings today and Thursday on the new version and make last-minute changes again next week before sending the bill to the full Senate for a vote.

After that, a conference committee will hammer out differences between the Senate and House versions.

The Senate version of the budget includes more money than the bill that passed the House last month. In the current version, spending totals $112 billion for all funds over the two-year budget, including $55.7 billion in the general revenue fund.

The senators were able to use somewhat rosier projections of revenue and Medicaid caseloads, as provided by the Legislative Service Commission. Some of the local government money was also transferred from a pot intended to help cities and counties consolidate and share services, Widener said.

The budget bill also proposes boosting the allowable alcohol content to 18 percent, up from the current 12 percent limit.

State Sen. Jimmy Stewart, R-Athens, said the change would help microbrewers that want to produce and sell higher alcohol content craft beers in Ohio. Ten years ago, the state bumped the limit from 6 percent to 12 percent, he said.

Widener and Senate President Tom Niehaus, R-New Richmond, said Senate Republicans are still working on nursing hom e funding, public employee pension contribution rates, prevailing wage regulations, commercial activity taxes applied to casino wagers and the plan to privatize the state’s liquor merchandising business to fund the new non-profit JobsOhio economic development entity.

The current version of the budget largely adheres to major policies embraced by Kasich and House Republicans, including: allowing drilling for oil and natural gas in state parks, expanding school choice vouchers, eliminating the state estate tax beginning in 2013 and privatizing four adult prisons and two youth detention facilities.

There is also a chance that a last- minute proposal to allow video lottery terminals at horse racetracks may be included, Senate Republicans said.

A balanced budget must be adopted by June 30.