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Ohio House Introduces Budget Plan

Sub. House Bill 96 invests in Ohio families and state's future
April 1, 2025
Republican Newsroom

Speaker of the Ohio House Matt Huffman (R-Lima) and House Finance Chair Brian Stewart (R-Ashville) today unveiled Sub. House Bill 96 – the House’s version of the State Operating Budget. This forward-looking, fiscally responsible budget plan invests in Ohio families and the state’s future – supporting students and providing much-needed property tax relief for Ohioans. 

“This proposed budget tackles the issues that matter most to Ohioans,” said Speaker Huffman. “From supporting our schools and strengthening our workforce, to providing property tax relief and revitalizing Ohio communities, this budget delivers real solutions for our state.”

 “I am grateful to my colleagues for their hard work and creativity in developing Substitute House Bill 96,” said Finance Chairman Brian Stewart. “This fiscally conservative budget will deliver significant, swift property tax relief for all Ohioans, while simultaneously increasing funding to every public school district, energizing economic activity statewide, and reforming government from top to bottom.”

FUNDING OHIO’S SCHOOLS

Sub. House Bill 96 prioritizes the education and well-being of students, ensuring that every school district in the State of Ohio receives an increase in funding over the next biennium. Through this budget plan, in both FY26 and FY27, all public schools will receive more state financial aid than previously in FY25. The bill increases overall state support for public schools by $81 million in FY26, and $145 million in FY27 over the executive proposal, for a total of $226 million. Additionally, per-pupil funding was increased for every student across Ohio.

DELIVERING PROPERTY TAX RELIEF FOR OHIOANS

In an effort to provide billions of dollars in property tax relief to Ohioans, the bill also implements a process for schools that have more than 25 percent of unused funds at the end of the year, which will then be distributed back to Ohioans in the form of property tax relief. District cash carryovers have increased year over year since tracking began in 2012, from $3.6 billion then to $10.5 billion today. 

REVITALIZING OHIO COMMUNITIES

Sub. House Bill 96 will continue and enhance various state initiatives that help solidify Ohio as the best place in the nation to live, work, raise a family and start a business. The bill increases funding for Brownfield Remediation and further improves the Welcome Home Ohio program. Included in the bill is also a plan to approve the bonding authority to assist the proposed Cleveland Browns transformational, mixed-use development project. Through a $600 million revenue bond, the state will assist in boosting this transformational project that will have a lasting impact on the region and state for years to come. 

PRIORITIZING WORKFORCE READINESS AND HIGHER EDUCATION

The budget bill introduced today makes a marked effort to prioritize workforce readiness, investing in various higher education programs such as the Merit Scholarship, the Choose Ohio First Scholarship, and an increase in the State Share of Instruction by 2 percent, helping lower costs for students at state institutions of higher education. The bill also continues support for Ohio’s TechCred program, which allows employers to upskill current or future employees at no cost to them.

EMPOWERING SCHOOL CHOICE 

Sub. House Bill 96 continues the state’s commitment to school choice by increasing the maximum award for the Autism Scholarship and Jon Peterson Special Needs Scholarship, while also establishing an option for parents whose children attend a non-chartered non -public school to utilize an education savings account to help with the cost of their education.  

PROMOTING MEDICAID TRANSPARENCY

In an effort to promote transparency in the Medicaid program, the bill works to protect taxpayer dollars and eliminate fraud, waste, and abuse through a number of provisions, creating a variety of new reporting requirements that the Ohio Department of Medicaid (ODM) must provide to the Joint Medicaid Oversight Committee (JMOC) for review. 

The House’s version of the State Operating Budget also makes various investments in the following: 

  • Increases funding for public libraries to $485 million in FY26 and $495 million in FY27 – an increase over the current biennium.
  • Allocates millions of dollars in funding to programs that assist mothers and babies while also establishing a tax credit for pregnancy resource center donations. 
  • Expands access to quality childcare for Ohioans through the Child Care Cred Program.
  • Honors Ohio’s veterans through the funding of various programs including financial assistance for Military and Veteran Offices that recruit students who intend to join the armed forces.
  • Boosts funding for law enforcement training and increases indigent defense support. 
  • Continues efforts to increase energy generation by reducing the fee for plugging orphaned or abandoned wells and reducing the severance tax on coal.

Sub. House Bill 96 was accepted today by the House Finance Committee and will be vetted through the committee process.