By Jim Siegel, The Columbus Dispatch
COLUMBUS – Medicaid and other state agencies would see deeper funding cuts, but fewer schools would see reductions and a little more money would be directed at Ohio’s opioid crisis under Senate Republican budget changes unveiled today.
READ MORE: In The Columbus Dispatch
Anticipating a larger revenue shortfall when new estimates are released in two weeks, Senate leaders say the revised budget is crafted to close a projected $1 billion revenue gapl— $200 million more than the hole Gov. John Kasich’s budget office suggested in April that lawmakers should try to close.
“Let me be clear, this budget is not pain free,” said Senate President Larry Obhof, R-Medina. “We expect the current gap to increase, and the Senate has budgeted accordingly. I believe this bill reflects the right balance between funding our state’s priorities and doing more with less.”
The House-passed budget called for spending $170.6 million more on the drug epidemic, including $130 million for addiction treatment as well as additional support for child-protection services and for grandparents and other family members caring for children whose parents cannot.
Senate Republicans said they increased that to $176.4 million, though that includes reworking some of what the House proposed and transferring much of the House-allocated funding out of the general revenue fund, allowing it to likely be paid for with federal dollars.
The Senate is proposing $60 million for child protective services and programs to support children in drug-affected families, maintaining $20 million for the expansion of treatment housing, $6 million in new detox facilities, $5 million to help counties establish drug abuse response teams and $5 million to train teachers in identifying addicted students. It also provides $2 million for criminal and forensic labs, as well as overwhelmed county coroners, plus funds to upgrade Ohio’s prescription-drug tracking system and a way for county jails to be reimbursed for mental health drugs.
In education, the Senate plan would mean no state funding formula cuts for 535 of Ohio’s 610 school districts — however, that figure does not include the continued reduction of tangible personal property tax reimbursements, so the number of schools losing money will be higher. Roughly 350 districts were cut under the House-passed budget.