Cross fights exodus from Ohio
State Rep. Jon Cross, R-Kenton, on Monday unveiled incentives to help Ohio students further their education and to reverse Ohio’s brain drain.
Ohio is projected to have an 11% decline in high school graduates over the next decade because of population decline, Cross said. Ohio colleges report that 10% to 40% of their graduates leave Ohio after graduation, he said.
The projected shrinkage of the state’s labor force is a bad sign for companies’ workforce development and the state’s economy.
“Outside of creating another baby boomer generation, where do we get the people?” Cross said. “Where do we get a workforce from? We have to do something.”
Cross is proposing the Legislature approve his GROW (Graduating and Retaining Ohio’s Workforce) Ohio Act, to help rebuild Ohio’s population and workforce through incentives in partnership with colleges and business. He was flanked by university presidents from around the state, including University of Findlay President Katherine Fell, who expressed support for his measure.
Cross’s GROW Ohio Act would:
• Grant a 100% refundable state income tax payment for up to three years for graduating college students who take a full-time job in Ohio instead of another state. Cross said based on the average salary of graduates just out of college, the benefit would amount to “a couple thousand bucks” over three years.
• Award 100 scholarships of $25,000 over four years for non-Ohio students enrolling in any of Ohio’s four-year colleges/universities if they are in the top 5% of their high school graduating class and are pursuing a degree within a STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) field.
In addition, the scholarship would be a forgivable loan if the student remains in Ohio after graduation. Those staying in Ohio for one year would receive 33% forgiveness on the principal and interest; those staying for two years would receive 50% forgiveness; those staying in Ohio for at least three years would receive 100% forgiveness.
• To incentivize paid internships with Ohio businesses, an Ohio employer would earn a refundable credit of 30% on paid wages for students they have engaged in internships, apprenticeships and co-ops.
• Students who have completed their associate’s degree may obtain an additional state grant to pursue a bachelor’s degree.
• The state’s chancellor of higher education or a representative named by the chancellor would, by law, be a member of the Governor’s Workforce Development Board.
Cross is chairman of the Ohio House Finance Subcommittee on Higher Education and serves on the Ohio House committees of higher education and career readiness and economic and workforce development.
“It’s my job to go sell it to the Legislature, to convince my colleagues that we could do this,” he said. “We have to do this.”
Cross did not give an estimate of how much his proposal would cost the state. A reporter suggested it would be expensive, and that a break on income taxes might not motivate young graduates to stay in Ohio. Cross said the plan might be expensive, but less costly than doing nothing.
State Rep. Jon Cross, R-Kenton, on Monday unveiled incentives to help Ohio students further their education and to reverse Ohio’s brain drain.
“What the Legislative Service Commission (which will develop a cost estimate) doesn’t do is dynamics scoring. They don’t look at how many students we might be bringing into Ohio to offset that cost,” Cross said. “It might cost Ohio, but it’s an investment.”
Cross said the plan is all about building relationships between the graduates and the state.
“I think it’s the relationship building that really helps drive it,” he said. “And then it’s that last incentive (the income tax break) we can throw on the table to be sure that we don’t lose them to an out-of-state opportunity.”
“I’m sure it (the cost) will be big,” Cross said. “What I’d like to know is how much money we’re losing now. And I bet you we’re losing a lot of money right now that outweighs how much that we would offer.”
Fell said 26% of UF students are from out of state, and 62% of the university's alumni work in Ohio.
“We would like that to be a larger percentage, and with this bill we believe that will happen,” she said.
“I’m delighted that Ohio is considering taking this very important, powerful step toward building our workforce, not just waiting and hoping they will come.”