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Ohio House Speaker once again raises doubts about keeping K-12 public schools funding plan

Ohio House Speaker Matt Huffman (R-Lima) speaks to reporters about the future of funding k-12 schools with the Fair School Funding Plan formula during the 136th General Assembly
Daniel Konik
/
Statehouse News Bureau
Ohio House Speaker Matt Huffman (R-Lima) speaks to reporters about the future of funding k-12 schools with the Fair School Funding Plan formula during the 136th General Assembly

As Ohio lawmakers head into budget season, one question is whether they will continue to fund K-12 public schools through the Fair School Funding Plan as they have in the past two budgets. The new House speaker is suggesting they won’t.

The bipartisan Fair School Funding plan, developed by Republican former Speaker Bob Cupp and Democratic former Rep. John Patterson, takes both property taxes and income into consideration when determining state funding. And it funds specific programs in districts.

The plan was estimated to cost about $2 billion and would be phased in over six years. Last week House Speaker Matt Huffman (R-Lima) called that “unsustainable” and this week, he’s using even stronger language.

“The implementing of the Cupp-Patterson plan that many believe is a fait accompli, that we decided four years ago that in this budget we're going to do that, in my estimation, is a fantasy,” Huffman said. “You can't bind four years later what a General Assembly could do. That's because you don’t know how much money you’re going to have and all of that.”

RELATED: Is Ohio's K-12 education funding formula unconstitutional?

Huffman is a proponent of vouchers that allow parents of K-12 students to use taxpayer dollars to pay private school tuitions. Through a new expansion of the EdChoice program in the last budget, all parents can get vouchers, regardless of income, but those with lower incomes get more state dollars. Huffman said the vouchers can save taxpayer money.
 
“If someone says they're willing to take a $7,000 scholarship voucher and go to a private school rather than going to a school that in some cases, on average cost the taxpayers over $30,000—that's an extreme example, but I think on average in the state it's about $15,000. That's better for the taxpayers,” Huffman said.

Public school advocates disagree with Huffman

Melissa Cropper, president of the Ohio Federation of Teachers, said Huffman has the wrong message.

“I think the message here is that it's not a former GA who is obligating him to a fair school funding formula,” Cropper said. “It's the constitution of our state and the voters of this state who said that they want our public schools to be fairly and fully funded. Our legislators later, including Speaker Huffman, have an obligation to the children of the state to make sure that they are able to get a high-quality education and not just the cheapest education possible.”

As far as Huffman’s comments on school vouchers being a better deal for taxpayers, Cropper calls that a “distraction.”

“Let's be honest, the voucher system pulls money for every district in the state because there's only one pool of education money. And there are many, many areas in the state, particularly in our rural areas, that don't even have a private school option. So they don't have a choice in this, in this case," Cropper said. "Not only that, but even if students are in an area that has a private school and they can get a voucher, that doesn't mean that that school's going to take them."

Additionally, Cropper said a large number of the state’s vouchers are being used by students already in private schools and not in public schools, especially in the EdChoice voucher expansion.

Ohio spent $970 million last year for all five school voucher programs. During that same period of time, Ohio spent $12.97 billion on K-12 public schools. A Fordham Institute study says 80% of K-12 students in Ohio attend public schools.

Contact Jo Ingles at jingles@statehousenews.org.
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