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Governor Not Embracing School Funding Redistribution Idea...At Least Not Yet

By Jo Ingles

Published November 23, 2019 at 5:45 PM EST

Governor Mike DeWine is not embracing a school funding reform idea the leader of the Ohio House threw out earlier this week.

Earlier this week, Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder (R- Glenford) suggested lawmakers pool local tax dollars in a fund that the state can redistribute to districts based on their capacity to generate tax revenue. Householder said that was just an idea, not a formal proposal.

Republican Gov. Mike DeWine notes there is a plan in the legislature right now that would reform school funding. Reps. Robert Cupp and John Patterson have been working on it. And DeWine says he is looking forward to seeing the details of that bill.

“I’m old enough that I have been through every proposal for school funding that anybody could imagine. And many of them have great merit. I think we just wait. Cupp and Patterson have put a lot of work in on this and I just think we should wait and see what they come up with," DeWine says.

It’s estimated the Cupp-Patterson plan would cost the state $1.5 billion dollars on top of current education funding. Ohio’s school funding system was ruled unconstitutional in 1997, yet the state has not addressed the system’s over-reliance on property taxes.

The plan has its share of critics. Some school districts the state considers to be wealthy, particularly those with high growth, say the state's calculation isn't correct or fair. And some say they think it is wholly unfair that the state gives private schools far more in some cases.