Rep. Sweeney announces $19 billion for Ohio's schools and other projects to support Ohioans

Rep. Bride Rose Sweeney (D-Cleveland) announced today that the state Controlling Board approved several items of note this week, including the allocation of more than $19 billion to be distributed over the next two years to support education in Ohio under the new Fair School Funding formula.

“After years of working on a fair and constitutional school funding formula which became my House Bill 1, it is incredibly encouraging to finally see additional funds going out for the benefit of countless Ohio kids,” said Rep. Sweeney. “This $19 billion appropriation helps account for the real cost of holistically educating children and preparing them for the jobs of tomorrow. We must fully fund this formula in the future if we are to keep our promise to our constituents of a truly Fair School Funding Plan.”

The Controlling Board approved a number of other measures on Monday, including:

• $921,600 for regionally-based COVID-19 Rapid Response Teams to help mitigate the spread of coronavirus in Ohio in congregate care settings like nursing homes, assisted living facilities, adult care facilities, adult day centers, senior centers and low-income senior housing facilities;
• $49,000 for the Department of Aging to implement its Strategic Action Plan on Aging in conjunction with the Health Policy Institute of Ohio;
• $357,588 for the Department of Natural Resources to aid in ongoing forest management, water protection, public road maintenance, recreational facilities development and other services statewide.