ALL IN FOR OHIO KIDS: Expansion of Unaccountable Vouchers Undercuts Progress on School Funding

[June 30, 2023] Today, leaders from the All in For Ohio Kids coalition responded to the biennial budget passed by the Ohio General Assembly.

Ohio Organizing Collaborative Co-Executive Director Molly Shack, Policy Matters Ohio Executive Director Hannah Halbert, Ohio Federation of Teachers President Melissa Cropper, and Ohio Education Association President Scott DiMauro released the following joint statement:

“Ohio students deserve fully funded, high quality, local public schools that help them reach their fullest potential, and it is the responsibility of our state legislators to enact a system that achieves this.

Legislators in the Ohio House took this responsibility seriously by passing a budget that increases state funding to public schools by nearly $1 billion and continues Ohio’s progress toward a full phase in of the Fair School Funding Plan – a funding formula based on what it actually costs school districts to educate their students. They also ensured that the data being used in that funding formula is current and accounts for the additional costs of educating students with disabilities and students who are learning the English language.

It is a monumental step forward that the House’s school funding commitment will be enacted in this budget, despite attempts by the Senate majority to cut more than $500 million from our schools. After decades of non-compliance with Ohio Supreme Court rulings, the legislature is on the brink of finally meeting its constitutional responsibility to fairly fund Ohio’s public schools.

Despite these gains, we have serious concerns with the General Assembly’s expansion of unaccountable private school vouchers. The legislature’s new universal private school voucher scheme will ensure that state support for our public schools will be diminished to pay for tuition for private school students, no matter how wealthy their family is or how their school performs. Priority should be given to fully implementing the Fair School Funding Plan so that our public schools, where 90 percent of students attend school, receive the resources they need instead of expanding unaccountable private school vouchers. As educators, parents, students, and taxpayers we will be unwavering in reminding Ohio’s elected officials where their responsibility lies.

We are also deeply concerned by the inclusion of SB 1 in this budget. This radical policy change puts more power in the hands of an appointed partisan official while taking away the ability to make important decisions that impact schools in Ohio from non-partisan, elected State Board of Education members. Ultimately, the changes in SB1 will silence the voice of educators and voters when making rules and policies that impact education policy in Ohio. When education issues become divisive partisan battles, Ohio students suffer the consequences.”

All in for Ohio Kids represents a broad group of concerned organizations and individuals who are working together to fully and fairly fund our schools.

 

[June 16, 2023] The Senate’s version of the bill is dramatically worse for public education and Ohio’s students than the version passed by the Ohio House. In response, Ohio Education Association (OEA) President Scott DiMauro issued the following statement: “On behalf of the more than 120,000 members of the Ohio Education Association (OEA) and public education, we are disappointed with the decisions made by the Ohio Senate in their version of House Bill 33. Our students, educators, and communities deserve better.

The Senate’s budget includes provisions that will have a negative impact for Ohio’s public schools when compared to the budget passed by the Ohio House—including a school funding plan that will shift responsibility of funding our schools to local communities, the lack of a comprehensive plan to address the educator staffing crisis and pay gap, universal expansion of vouchers, allowing a test score to dictate when a student is retained under the Third Grade Reading Guarantee, eroding educator and community input on K-12 Education Governance, rolling back gains made in childhood nutrition, and issues related to licensure for educators.”

“We are also highly dismayed with the Senate’s inclusion of Senate Bill 83, the Higher Education “Destruction” Act. OEA is opposed to the addition of HB 83 into the Senate’s version of the budget as it represents the largest attack on collective bargaining rights since Senate Bill 5 in 2011. It will censor honest and truthful education in our institutions of higher learning.”

The following are OEA’s positions on some of the public policy proposals contained in the Senate’s amended substitute version of the bill:

• • Schools Funding– OEA continues to support the Fair School Funding as passed by the Ohio House. While we are still analyzing the Senate school funding changes, OEA has serious concerns with the Senate’s adjustment to the methodology in calculating the state/local share formula.
  • Voucher Expansion– OEA is opposed to the expansion of the EdChoice voucher program to universal eligibility for K-12 students. OEA recommends returning to current law with eligibility for income-based EdChoice vouchers at 250% of poverty. Expansion of vouchers should only be considered once the legislature has fully implemented the Fair School Funding Plan.
  • Educator Staffing Issues– Reinstate the state minimum teacher salary from $30,000 to $40,000 and provisions from HB 9 that created a “Grow your Own Teacher Program” and Ohio Teacher Loan Repayment program.
  • Mandatory Student Retention– OEA opposes removing language in the House-passed budget that would eliminate mandatory student retention under the Third Grade Reading Guarantee. OEA firmly believes that high-stakes decisions about students should not be based on standardized test scores.
  • School Meals– OEA opposes removing language in the House-passed budget to make school breakfast and lunch accessible to more children by having the state cover the cost between free and reduced-priced meals.
  • Licensure– Reinstate teacher apprenticeship program leading to professional licensure, remove the provision allowing unlicensed military veterans to teach core subjects (ELA, Math, Science, Social Studies, Foreign Languages, Fine Arts), and remove the modification of teacher licensure grade bands to preK-8 and 6-12 and maintain current licensure bands (preK-5, 4-9, and 7-12).
  • Graduation Requirements– Social Studies and Financial Literacy- The substitute bill could reduce student exposure to social studies. OEA requests the removal of the provisions that permit a student to substitute one-half unit of financial literacy instruction for a one-half unit of social studies instruction to meet the financial literacy requirement for graduation.
  • K12 Education Governance– OEA opposes the inclusion of Senate Bill 1 into the budget bill. The language in the bill would neuter the role of the State Board of Education by shifting the vast majority of its powers and duties to a cabinet agency. There is not broad consensus or buy-in among key educational stakeholders about this change.
  • Higher Education– OEA opposes inclusion of SB 83 into the Senate’s version of the State Budget. SB 83 will only serve to drive students, faculty, and staff away from Ohio’s institutions of higher learning, while ultimately harming the economic future of our state. Additionally, SB 83 represents the single largest attack on collective bargaining rights in Ohio since Senate Bill 5 in 2011. OEA urges the Ohio General Assembly to remove all provisions of SB 83 from the budget.

Finally, OEA urges the Ohio House to vote against concurrence with the changes proposed by the Ohio Senate to HB 33. We call on members of the General Assembly to work across party lines to craft a final budget that supports the needs of public schools that serve 90 percent of Ohio’s students.