Ohio House Passes Budget to Deliver Billions in Historic Property Tax Relief for Ohioans

Speaker of the Ohio House Matt Huffman (R-Lima) and House Finance Chair Brian Stewart (R-Ashville) today announced that the Ohio House approved Am. 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 – approving over $4 billion in property tax relief for Ohioans and ensuring that every school district in the state receives an increase in school funding in fiscal years 2026 and 2027. 

“We’ve heard loud and clear from Ohioans all over the state about what they want from this budget, and that’s exactly what we’re doing,” said Speaker Huffman. “This budget delivers the largest property tax cut in the history of the State of Ohio, boosts funding for schools, expands access to affordable childcare, and prioritizes workforce readiness. This budget is a win for Ohio.” 

"It's been an honor serve as Finance Chairman and to secure passage of a budget that charts a fiscally responsible, common sense course for Ohio,” said Representative Stewart. “House Bill 96 paves the way for the largest property tax relief effort in state history, while increasing funding for every public school district in Ohio, and making necessary reforms to government from top to bottom."

BOOSTING FUNDING FOR OHIO’S SCHOOLS 

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.  

Compared to today, this budget provides public schools with $207.6 million more in FY26 than they received in FY25, and in FY27, that increases to $347.6 million above their FY25 support. This equates to a $555.2 million increase in state aid for public schools over the coming biennium. Under the House plan, every student in Ohio will receive more per-pupil funding from the state. 

DELIVERING BILLIONS IN PROPERTY TAX RELIEF TO OHIOANS 

In an effort to provide much-needed property tax relief to Ohioans, the bill implements a process for schools that carry forward more than 30% in unspent cash at the end of each year to be distributed back to Ohioans in the form of property tax relief, totaling more than $4 billion. District cash carryovers have increased year over year since tracking began in 2012, from $3.6 billion then to $10.5 billion today. In FY24, 486 traditional school districts carried over cash greater than 30 percent of their expenditures for that year. 

REVITALIZING LOCAL COMMUNITIES 
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, further expands the Welcome Home Ohio program, and helps address the housing shortage across the state.  

Also included in the bill is a plan to approve a bond issuance to assist with 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. If revenue expectations from the project are not met over the life of the bond (25 years), then the state will be repaid through money saved in an escrow account, managed by the Browns owners, that totals $50 million plus the interest that is gained over the years.

SUPPORTING OHIO FAMILIES 

To help families who need assistance paying for child care, the budget establishes the Child Care Choice program, providing $100 million each fiscal year for eligible families, helping more Ohioans cover the cost of needed child care services. House Bill 96 also increases funding for the Help Me Grow program, which helps pregnant women, caregivers with new babies, and families with young children and children with developmental delays and disabilities have access to early intervention, developmental screenings, and more.  

EMPOWERING SCHOOL CHOICE  

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. ¿ 

PRIORITIZING WORKFORCE READINESS AND HIGHER EDUCATION 

This budget makes a marked effort to prioritize workforce readiness in Ohio, investing in various higher education programs such as the Governor’s Merit Scholarship, the Choose Ohio First Scholarship, and an increase in the State Share of Instruction by 2%, helping lower costs for students at Ohio’s 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. 

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.  

House Bill 96 now goes to the Ohio Senate for further consideration.