Lots of central Ohio School districts are expected to see funding spike under the state’s $ 75 billion biennial budget, led by Olentangy, with an increase of nearly 27% in the first year and an increase of nearly 26% in the second year.
Earlier this week, Ohio lawmakers passed the Fair School Funding Plan, which will run for the next two fiscal years.
More: Schools in the Columbus area are hoping for new funding if the Ohio House budget becomes law
The plan changes the way schools receive money from the state. For example, the state will look at both local incomes and property values to determine how much a district can cover on its own. And its base amount (the cost of training an average student) is based on local costs rather than a single national average.
“It contains the template for calculating the basic cost and distributing the funds, which is a much fairer, more stable, and more predictable process,” said House spokesman Bob Cupp, a Lima Republican who helped develop the plan .
However, lawmakers only approved the first two years of the plan to coincide with the two-year budget. The remainder will be financed by future general assemblies.
“I think you will get a lot of support from the schools, it will work well, and so the General Assembly will want to continue rolling this out,” said Cupp.
Among the 49 districts in central Ohio, the average increase is about $ 693,680 in the first year and about $ 637,964 in the second year.
The Olentangy Local Schools will be topped up by nearly $ 4 million for a total funding of nearly $ 17 million. The district will see an increase of just over $ 3 million in 2022-23 for a total of just over $ 20 million in funding.
“The proposed budget is a step in the right direction to ensure that education is properly funded,” District Treasurer Emily Hatfield said in an email to The Dispatch.
However, the district is concerned about what will happen after the two fiscal years are up.
“This short-term approach does not provide stability in the funding needed beyond the upcoming two-year budget cycle,” said Hatfield. “I hope to see more legislative advances in the near future.”
More: Schools in the Columbus area are hoping for new funding if the Ohio House budget becomes law
The local school district of Licking Heights will see an increase of about 17%, or nearly $ 2 million, to a total of $ 13.5 million over the next fiscal year. The district will see an increase of about 15%, or just under $ 2 million, to a total of $ 15.3 million over the next year.
Licking Heights plans to hire around 40 teachers over the next two years.
“We haven’t been able to hire enough teachers,” said Philip Wagner, superintendent of Licking Heights.
Licking Heights also anticipates building a new elementary school, opening on time for the 2024-25 school year, but now due to the plan tThe district will not have to ask the community for another school fee, he said.
“We were worried about not only opening the building, but also financing it,” said Wagner.
Student enrollment in Olentangy and Licking Heights has grown rapidly in recent years, but their state funding hasn’t changed due to caps imposed by the state years ago, officials said. Their school enrollment has risen by almost 32% and 47% respectively in the last 10 school years, according to the information provided by the districts.
Columbus City Schools, the largest district in the state with nearly 47,000 students, is set to grow 3.9%, or about $ 6 million, to a total of $ 164 million and an increase of 7.4%, or nearly 12, over the next fiscal year Recorded two million US dollars a year, for a total of 176 million US dollars.
Columbus City Schools is still reviewing the details of the new school funding plan, said district spokeswoman Jacqueline Bryant.
“Getting the Fair School funding plan in place was a goal and it looks like it has been achieved,” Bryant said in an email. “The latest simulations seem to show a favorable result for the Columbus City Schools.”
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Other big winners in central Ohio are Groveport Madison and Whitehall. Groveport Madison will get an increase of around 17% for 2021-22, but only a 1.5% increase in 2022-23. Whitehall will see a little more than 13% increase for 2021-22 and an 8% increase for 2022-23.
However, some districts will only see a slight bump. Bexley Schools, Hamilton Local Schools and Hilliard City Schools will see funding increases of less than 1% in both years.
“It will set the framework for the state of Ohio to finally fulfill its constitutional mandate to provide a world-class education to every Ohio public school student regardless of location or location,” said Scott DiMauro, president of the Ohio Education Association, in one Explanation.
The Ohio School Board Association said the Fair School Funding Plan was “a bold and historic decision.”
“Implementing this funding model represents a cross-generational investment that will propel Ohio into an era of stable and predictable education budgets to help schools meet the needs of all students,” said School Association Chief Executive Officer Rick Lewi in a statement.
The Fair School Funding Plan also changes the funding of charter schools and vouchers that allow students to attend private schools. Instead of sending money to districts and then deducting the funds from their budgets when their students enroll elsewhere, the state would pay them directly.
“Many of these changes, both in terms of expanding school choices and some of the changes in overall school funding, were overdue,” said Eric Frank, executive director of School Choice Ohio. “We believe the budget is a good balance between supporting our traditional public school system and creating more opportunities for families across the state.”
EdChoice scholarships or school vouchers increase $ 5,000 per student in grades K-8 and $ 7,500 per student in grades 9-12. That affects some public school advocates.
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“The two-year state budget plays a big role in private schools by increasing the reimbursement and rebate program for families who never intended to enroll in public schools,” said William L. Phillis, executive director of the Ohio Coalition for Equity & Adequacy of School funding, it says in a statement.
“Legislators disregard their constitutional duty to provide a thorough and efficient education to every child in this state, regardless of where they live or how much money their parents earn.”
OEA is also worried about the vouchers.
“It appears that priority is given to the 8% of students in private schools, not the 92% of students who are in Ohio’s public schools,” DiMauro said in a statement
The school funding plan will also make it possible for the first time to open charter schools in each county in the state.
“Direct funding for community schools is a huge step in the right direction to repair the sometimes strained relationships between county and community schools in Ohio,” Jennifer Schorr, president of the Ohio Association of Charter School Authorizers, said in a statement.
Chad Aldis, vice president of Ohio Policy at the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, a conservative educational reform think tank and charter school sponsor, said introducing a school funding formula “is critical to getting government funding to schools that need them. ”
“Legislators have vigorously rejected the wrong decision Ohio must make to choose between supporting public education and empowering families with educational options,” Aldis said in a statement.
The Ohio Bureau reporter Jessie Balmert contributed to this report
mhenry@dispatch.com
@megankhenry
source https://collegeeducationnewsllc.com/columbus-area-schools-to-receive-more-state-funding-from-ohio-house-bill/
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