Opinion: The case for Ohio's Fair School Funding Plan

Education is often referred to as the great equalizer, but for decades in Ohio, our system of public education has been undermined by a deeply inequitable school funding system.

In 1997, the Ohio Supreme Court found that the system was arbitrary and grossly unfair and ordered a “complete, systematic overhaul” of the way the state funds our schools. The court emphasized that the overreliance on property taxes to fund public schools violated the only legislative duty explicitly assigned to the General Assembly in Ohio’s state constitution to “secure a thorough and efficient system of common schools throughout the state.”

Ohio lawmakers allowed the system to limp along this way for decades, such that by 2020 not a single public school district in the state received the funding it was supposed to under the state’s own calculations, all while forcing property owners to pick up the rest of the tab. It wasn’t until 2021 that we finally took the first step toward adopting a predictable, fair and rational formula: the Fair School Funding Plan.

The plan is built on the foundation of answering one essential question that, unbelievably, had never been answered before: How much does it cost to educate a child in Ohio? Pursuing this answer is the only fair way for the legislature to fulfill its constitutional mandate to provide a quality education for all.

 
A diverse group of educators and school finance experts from school districts large and small, rural and urban, rich and poor formed what would become known as the Fair School Funding Workgroup. They started by creating a formula that calculates the base cost, which is the cost of educating a typical student with no additional needs with the goal of eventually including the other costs associated with educating students who are economically disadvantaged, gifted, English language learners, or who have special needs. We already have three of the four studies completed, with the fourth in progress.

In 2021, I was honored to follow through on this work as the lead Democratic sponsor of House Bill 1, the Fair School Funding Plan, which adopted the base formula into law. As part of a compromise, we agreed to phase in the funding over six years, updating the inputs each year to account for increasing costs.

Since then, the legislature has upheld this compromise and has successfully implemented the formula over the last four years.

But there is still important work left to do this year. 

First, we need to follow through on our commitment by completing the last two years of the phase-in this budget cycle. 

We must also ensure that the formula keeps up with rising costs to local communities by updating the cost inputs. If we don’t, the formula falls apart because it is structured around a shared financial responsibility between the state and local communities. Because local contributions are updated regularly through property tax assessments, if the state’s share continues to lag behind, then more and more of the tax burden will be shifted onto local property taxpayers who are already overburdened by historically high property taxes.

Ohio already has more levies on the ballot than any other state. If we don’t fully fund this plan or if we fail to update the cost inputs, then Ohio homeowners and businesses will be stuck with the bill and inevitably our students will suffer. 

Fully funding the Fair School Funding Plan is more than just funding for K-12 education; it’s also about addressing Ohio’s property tax crisis and ensuring fairness for everyone in our communities. We can’t squander this opportunity.