Ohio Governor Ted Strickland gave end-of-year interviews to the major news media in Ohio this past week, and in each of them he pledged to keep his promise to fix the school funding problem that has plagued the state for decades. With the state hemorrhaging revenue in what is arguably the worst economic crisis in generations, how can he keep that promise?
Here is what he told the Toledo Blade. "Someone has said that you should never waste a good crisis," Governor Strickland said. "We've got to continue to think of the future... One of the things that I think happened in Ohio for a long time is that there was not sufficient attention given to what we ought to be doing to move forward. It was more of short-term, myopic view of state government." (More on Blade story.)
Yet, pundits and naysayers are already chortling that this first-term Democratic governor has backed himself into the corner by promising to fix school funding but facing an historic financial crisis. He cannot fix school funding, they say, in the midst of a financial crisis because there will be no additional revenue to direct toward schools.
But that does not have to be the case.
School funding is not just about finding the revenue to pay for public schools. It is also about figuring out how to calculate an adequate amount that provides support for students to meet academic standards. It is also about figuring out what resources are best to support public schools, be they local or state. And, then, it is also about where and when to get the revenue to pay for the school funding plan. Each is important to a comprehensive school funding proposal.
So, it is easy to envision a scenario where Governor Strickland first lays out a plan about how to calculate an adequate amount to support students. That would be great progress, in that the current plan to cost out an adequate education was declared unconstitutional a decade ago, and thus, this funding system does not have the confidence of the public (More on public attitudes) that is provides what students need to succeed.
It is also easy to envision a scenario where Governor Strickland then lays out a plan that identifies funding sources that would pay for the costing out plan. That could include state tax resources, like sales tax, income tax, or fees. It could also include local property taxes and other local sources.
It is not easy to envision a scenario where Governor Strickland identifies in the next biennial budget the money he will find revenue to pay for this plan. How could he? And why should he? This historic economic crisis means he will not have the revenue to completely fund any school funding plan for the next two years. But, with a plan in hand, he can make a reasonable start toward getting the public school funding system on track.
That is a huge accomplishment and moves the public school funding system to a better place.
So in the storm that is this financial crisis, the state can plan ahead for a calmer time when revenues are more stable and available to fully fund a school funding plan that makes sense and gets public school students where they need to go.