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The theory of the system the State of Ohio used prior to the Strickland Administration to fund schools is simple and sensible:

  1. Every school system in Ohio is evaluated using a scoring system devised by the State.
     
  2. All the school systems which met 20 of the 27 state performance standards are listed.
     
  3. Of those districts, the ones with the highest and lowest 5% in income wealth are eliminated. The districts with the top and bottom 5% of property wealth are also eliminated.
     
  4. The per-student spending amounts for all the districts on this list (about 120) are averaged together, and this average is deemed to be the minimum amount of money per student a school system must have to deliver the level of education required by our State Constitution. Let's assume this calculation determines that this number is $5,723 per student. For a school system the size of Hilliard, with 15,000 students, that equates to $86 million.
     
  5. The formula then assumes that the local district is levying at least 23 mils of taxes on its own taxpayers. The total assessed property value (both residential and commercial) in our school district is about $2.4 billion. If we apply 23 mils to this amount, we get $55 million. Therefore, the amount the State would contribute is $86 million less the $55 million "charge-off," making the adjusted State Aid equal to $31 million. (see also Phantom Revenue)

If our school system can really educate our kids for $5,723 per student, or a total of $86 million, the State Aid system would provide nearly 70% of the funding. Most communities don't think this is enough, and assess tax rates much higher than 23 mils. Hilliard assesses a total of 48.837668 mils right now.

Why were there continued court cases about the State Aid program, and why has the State Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional?   In simple words, the problem is that the current funding system does not, in the opinion of the Supreme Court, work well enough to satisfy the State Constitution, which requires that each youth in Ohio be given a "thorough and efficient" education. The problem is that there are many school districts in Ohio which still fail to deliver such an education, and the Supreme Court feels this is in a large part due to the amount of funding a school system has to operate with.

I am not a lawyer, so I do not pretend to understand all the legal arguments. I do believe the current State Aid algorithm, described above, would work fine if the Legislature would simply fund it to the degree it calls for. However, as the Supreme Court notes, the State cannot spend money it doesn't have. The Supreme Court has made it clear that the Legislature has to fix this problem, but so far the Legislature as failed to do so.

However, Governor Strickland claimed his new funding system, based on an "Evidence Based Model" would fix things:

The core concept of the prior system was that there was no one answer how to run a school district in order to get good results, but that if the State made sure all school districts had as much money to spend as did the top ranked school districts, funding should not be what constrains performance.

Gov. Strickland's approach disagreed with that, claiming that they did know how much money had to be spent on specific things to achieve the required standards of performance.

Oddly enough, the difference in the amount of money Hilliard City Schools receives from the State under the new system is only $16 per student different than the old system.

One thing we in Hilliard can be sure of: The solution to this problem will not be for the State to give us more money. We should expect that our State Aid will diminish over time, and has in fact begun to do so already. The cost of education is shifting steadily from the State to the local residents and businesses.

 

Source:

  • Stabile, Robert, Ohio School Finance Handbook, 2002-2003 edition, copyright 2001

See also:

 

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Last modified: 01/25/11