School Funding Matters

The Ohio Senate is expected to bring out its own school funding plan soon, and undoubtedly, there will continue to be rhetoric about perceived deficiencies in the Ohio Evidence-Based Model that is contained in Governor Strickland's proposal and modified by substitute House Bill 1. (More on substitute House Bill 1.) There is no question that the ...

At first glance, the governor’s education plan might seem to some like high school math – you know, the complicated high school math you might have never really understood well or, if you did, you simply forgot over the years. Instead of (3x + y) = (2x – 2y) or some such thing you get the following from the Executive Budget for FYs 2010-2011: ...

  “I will be making suggestions that, if enacted, will result in a transformed system of education in ...

  “The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of ...

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 ...

At the annual conference and trade show put on by the Ohio School Boards Association in Columbus last week, everyone seemed to be talking about school levies. Some of the urban schools were cheered by passage of their levies, no doubt fueled by the heavy turnout for the presidential race. Other schools were lamenting levy failures, which meant ...

Last week, I wrote about the failure of the Milford school levy by 54 votes in the general election. Milford, a suburb of Cincinnati, was seeking a 5.5 mill operating levy - what would have been its first since 2003. More on that posting. While supporters are waiting to see if the count of provisional ballots on November 25th might put them over ...

In the final total, more than 61% of the local school levies passed Tuesday, and nearly 39% of the local school levies failed, which was a new record high of support for the past five years but not as good as a decade ago. More on election results. In a statewide phone survey, we asked Ohio registered voters last month how they voted on local ...

In Milford, a suburban school district outside Cincinnati, levy supporters were anxious about their 5.5 mill operating levy defeat Tuesday. The loss by only 54 votes is attributed to a poor economy that is forcing voters to make tough choices based on their personal financial situations. Given that Milford has not passed an operating levy in five ...