COLUMBUS, Ohio – Statehouse Republicans trained their sights on school funding cuts and tax increases in their version of a two-year budget unveiled yesterday.
READ MORE: In the Columbus Dispatch
Fewer school districts would see a state funding cut under the GOP plan, which makes a number of alterations to Gov. John Kasich’s school funding formula in an attempt to more accurately calculate the capacity of districts to fund themselves, close the gap between total resources that districts have available, and drive more money to districts with lower median incomes.
Kasich’s plan took fire from some lawmakers and a number of school officials, because a number of poorer, rural districts saw funding cuts despite an overall spending increase of $459 million over two years. More than half of districts lost state money under Kasich’s plan, a number that reduces to 93 under the House proposal, when tangible property tax reimbursement losses are taken into account.
Under Kasich’s plan, 74 percent of all new money went to mid-sized and major urban districts, while rural districts as a whole essentially got no new money. The House plan is designed to provide a more even distribution.
“We are trying to bring the bottom level up,” said Rep. Ryan Smith, R-Bidwell, chairman of the House Finance Committee. “I don’t expect it to be even, but I do expect it to be adequate.”
The revised formula will cap maximum funding increases at 7.5 percent per year, down from the 10 percent cap in Kasich’s proposal. House Republicans hope that if the formula is funded properly, districts should no longer be on the cap within the next budget or two.
For 28 wealthy districts that are currently getting less than $1,200 per pupil — roughly the amount that the state gives to private schools — they would be allowed to go above that cap as lawmakers work to get their funding totals up to that $1,200 amount. There has long been an argument in the Statehouse that, as a matter of fairness, no public district, regardless of wealth, should get less money per pupil than private schools.
The GOP leaders in the House want to remove many of Kasich’s tax plans in his budget while retaining a smaller state income tax cut.
House Speaker Cliff Rosenberger and his colleagues say their plan would provide $1.2 billion in tax relief over the next two years, including a 6.3 percent across-the-board income tax cut.
They want to create a commission to review Kasich’s proposed increases to the sales tax and certain taxes on businesses, cigarettes and the oil and gas industry.
A House committee is scheduled to make the changes to the governor’s $72.3 billion, two-year spending blueprint at an afternoon hearing.
The income tax cut will be less than the governor’s plan. He has proposed a 23 percent over the next two years.