Gov. Mike DeWine is not embracing a school funding reform idea that the leader of the Ohio House put out last week
Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder (R-Glenford) suggested lawmakers pool local tax dollars in a fund that the state can redistribute to districts based on their capacity to generate tax revenue. Householder said that was just an idea, not a formal proposal.
DeWine, a fellow Republican, notes there is a bipartisan plan in the legislature right now that would reform school funding, created by state Reps. Robert Cupp (R-Lima) and John Patterson (D-Jefferson). The governor says he is looking forward to seeing the details of that bill.
“I’m old enough that I have been through every proposal for school funding that anybody could imagine. And many of them have great merit,” DeWine said. “I think we just wait. Cupp and Patterson have put a lot of work in on this and I just think we should wait and see what they come up with.”
It’s estimated the Cupp-Patterson plan would cost the state $1.5 billion on top of current education funding.
Ohio’s school funding system was ruled unconstitutional in 1997, yet the state has not addressed the system’s over-reliance on property taxes.
The plan has its share of critics. Some school districts the state considers to be wealthy, particularly those with high growth, say the state's calculation isn't correct or fair. Others call it wholly unfair that the state gives private schools far more in some cases.
