COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Ohio General Assembly is set to begin debate this week on the state’s two-year operating budget, which includes funding to educate Ohio’s 1.6 million students.

Gov. Mike DeWine proposed in last week’s State of the State address that the legislature direct money to traditional public and charter schools, as well as expanding vouchers that help families pay for private school tuition.

Under DeWine’s budget recommendations, the education interests that compete for state dollars all would get more money in the upcoming biennium. But it’s unclear whether the legislature will agree with DeWine’s approach.

Many public school advocates push back against school choice, arguing that it takes money and children away from the public system that they are obligated to provide under the Ohio Constitution. Charter school advocates argue they’re underfunded compared to traditional public schools. And private school voucher advocates say that competition can only force the public system to improve.

While Republicans who control both chambers of the legislature support school choice, Ohio House Speaker Jason Stephens said he supports the funding proposal for traditional public schools, called the Fair School Funding Plan, which was developed to address issues with Ohio’s formula for funding schools. The formula has been the subject of endless litigation and was twice deemed unconstitutional by the Ohio Supreme Court.

The budget always starts in the House. After it passes that chamber, the Senate is expected to review it. Both chambers must pass the budget and send it to DeWine’s desk by the end of June.

House Finance Committee Chairman Jay Edwards said he expects to hold the first budget hearing on Tuesday.

Ohio Senate Finance Chairman Matt Dolan said his committee will look at the Fair School Funding Plan. During the last budgeting cycle, in 2021, the House and Senate disagreed over some of the costs in the Fair School Plan. But the first two years of the six-year suggested implementation were largely funded, as the architects behind the plan had wanted.

Fair School Funding Plan

DeWine’s budget includes more funding to implement the Fair School Funding Plan, an education funding mechanism that, when fully funded, will cost at least $2 billion more a year above the 2018 education spending levels, which were about $8 billion.

The Fair School Funding Plan Working Group, made up of local superintendents and treasurers, designed the plan to be implemented over six years, said Jim Betts, a former Northeast Ohio Republican lawmaker who volunteers for the working group to advocate for the plan.

Betts is happy that DeWine included in his proposed budget most of the funding for the third and fourth years.

The Fair School Funding Plan Working Group began in 2017, when then-Reps. Bob Cupp, a Republican, and John Patterson, a Democrat, decided to create a permanent, fairer solution to school funding after litigation, two Ohio Supreme Court declarations that the funding model of the 1990s was unconstitutional and concerns by the education community that the state’s more recent methodology was uneven. Cupp and Patterson convened the working group with about 10 local superintendents and treasurers, who helped them design the fair school funding plan.

Others in public education are antsy for the plan to be fully funded now. They are concerned that, if dragged out, the legislature will lose interest and students will suffer.

Currently, districts are in the second year of the Fair School Funding Plan. The plan looks at the local capacity to fund education, examining a combination of incomes of residents in the district plus property tax values. If the total local capacity is relatively small, the state provides payments to increase funding.

In addition to this base cost, the Fair School Funding Plan adds categorical aid to help districts with costs of special education, English language learners, gifted students, career and technical education and economically disadvantaged students, among other categories, said Susan Kaeser, a volunteer educational specialist for the League of Women Voters of Ohio, who has studied the plan and is among a handful of Ohioans who understand it in depth.

In the last two-year state operating budget, the legislature funded studies to determine how much money the categorial aid was to cost. But the General Assembly did not fund a study looking at costs to educate economically disadvantaged students, which Betts said the working group will push for this year.

“We really need to have a thorough analysis on those services and resources that are most effective, how much those cost, so that we can on a structured basis provide those amounts for a very demanding population,” he said. “If we’re going to give the children who come from those circumstances the same kind of opportunity, they do need additional resources.”

Private school vouchers

DeWine’s budget recommendations included an increase in eligibility for EdChoice scholarships. The scholarships cover the cost of private school tuition.

Families are eligible for EdChoice scholarships by either living in the boundaries of a low-performing school or by falling below a household income threshold. DeWine wants to increase the income limits from 250% of Federal Poverty Guidelines to 400%.

Under 250%, a family of four can qualify for EdChoice making at or below $69,375. At 400%, the income limit is $111,000 for a family of four.

This proposal will likely be passed by the legislature, as Republicans expressed enthusiasm for DeWine’s plan.

“Although it’s not a universal voucher, it practically speaking is in many regards,” Ohio Senate President Matt Huffman said after DeWine’s State of the State address in which he described the 400% proposal.

Charter school advocates, such as the Center for Christian Virtue, are pleased by the increase, but want universal vouchers with no income specifications.

“We need to go universal because every parent is a taxpayer and deserves to be able to choose the best education that fits their needs,” said Aaron Baer, the organization’s president.

Last year, the Center for Christian Virtue threw its support behind what was called the “backpack bill,” so named because the tax money was to follow the student to whatever school they attend, be it traditional public, charter or private. The bill died.

This year, Senate Bill 11, sponsored by Sen. Sandra O’Brien, an Ashtabula Republican, also would create universal vouchers. The difference between this year’s bill and last year’s bill is how the money can be spent.

Under existing EdChoice rules, parents can only spend the scholarship on tuition, not fees, books, uniforms or other expenses. The so-called backpack bill allowed EdChoice money to be spent on tuition and other expenses. This year’s bill, however, directs the scholarship only toward tuition.

With 400% eligibility, EdChoice will cost $143.3 million in the fiscal year that begins July 1, an increase of $22 million from this year, according to estimates from DeWine’s budget office.

In the following year, EdChoice scholarships will cost $172 million, estimates state. That’s a $50.7 million increase from this year.

Charter schools

DeWine also is proposing to spend $3,000 for each economically disadvantaged student – those who qualify for free or reduced lunch – attending a high-quality charter school. That’s up from the current $1,750, which charter schools began receiving in 2019.

Ohio may be the only state where charter schools with low-income students are rewarded for quality, said Chad Aldis, vice president for Ohio Policy at the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, a charter school research organization and sponsor of charter schools.

“It says we want to award and support schools that are working really well for kids,” Aldis said. “If you’re a high-quality school, we’ll give you additional dollars.”

The supplemental money can be used for extra programs, to pay to retain teachers or for the charter schools to grow.

“Every school will use it differently,” Aldis said.

Charter schools would be eligible for the supplemental money if at least 50% of their students are low-income, and they achieve certain standards on the state report card.

There are currently about 325 charter schools in Ohio – of which 117 qualify for high-quality supplemental funding, said Aaron Churchill, the Ohio research director for the Thomas B. Fordham Institute.

About 115,000 students are enrolled in Ohio charter schools, with about 80,000 attending brick-and-mortar schools and the remaining attending e-schools, Aldis said.

Furthermore, DeWine’s budget would increase per-student building funding for all charter schools from $500 to $1,000 per student.

Charter school operators feel they’re undercompensated for building funds compared to traditional public schools, Aldis said, saying research shows that the traditional public schools get on average around $1,200 per student for building funds.

Unlike traditional public schools, charter schools in Ohio haven’t bonded for a building.

“When they get these additional dollars, it comes closer to making them whole,” Aldis said.

While school districts issue bonds to build schools, no charter school in Ohio has raised money through bonding. In the beginning of the charter school movement, the schools were often located in strip malls and other strange locations, Aldis said.

In Ohio and across the country, charter school advocates have advocated for more building money. Kids deserve playgrounds and labs with science equipment, Aldis said.

According to figures from DeWine’s budget office, the governor proposes spending $125 million each year of the two-year budget for high-quality charter school supplemental funding. This is an increase of $71 million from this year’s high-quality spending.

DeWine’s budget office estimates the per-student charter school building expense will cost $87.1 million in the fiscal year that begins July 1 and $88.6 million in the following fiscal year. Previously, schools received about half that.

E-school building funding will be unchanged, at $25 per student.

Laura Hancock covers state government and politics for Cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer. Read more of here coverage here.