It's official: Ohio Schools lose $780 million

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It's official: Schools lose $780 million
17 central Ohio districts being cut at least 10% this year by new budget
Tuesday, July 12, 2011  03:05 AM
By Jim Siegel

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Dublin, Olentangy, Upper Arlington, Westerville and Worthington districts all face double-digit percentage reductions in state aid this year. Columbus City Schools will see state funds drop by 8.5 percent.

When the dust settled on the new state budget, operating funds for Ohio schools were cut nearly $780 million for the next two years, with 17 central Ohio districts facing reductions that top 10 percent this school year.

Schools were among those cut as Gov. John Kasich and GOP lawmakers dealt with a significant budget shortfall resulting from the use of more than $8 billion in one-time money to balance the previous two-year budget, which ended June 30.

"I think schools did as well as they could have done," said David Varda, executive director of the Ohio Association of School Business Officials. "It may have been better than anyone expected."

Still, for many school districts, this budget means they will go four to eight straight years without even an inflationary increase in state operating funds.

Story continues belowAdvertisement State-only school aid actually increases in the budget, but it is more than offset by the decision not to replace $450 million in federal stimulus money and to accelerate the phase-out of certain tax reimbursements for schools. Only 17 of Ohio's 612 districts will get more operating money in 2013 than in 2011.

"I think there will be some adjustment in staff sizes," Varda said. "And some are so tight that, even with layoffs, they're still going to need more money."

Some factors will soften the cuts.

Districts still have about $290 million in unspent federal Education Jobs Fund money from last year that they can use to offset cuts. Also, about half of Ohio districts will qualify for

$30 million in performance bonuses - $17 per student for schools rated "excellent" or higher.

And while Senate Bill 5, the new law that significantly weakens collective bargaining for public workers, is on hold pending a challenge on the November ballot, Varda said it already appears to be pushing teachers unions to give up significant pay raises.

"It certainly has had an effect on the tone and economics in settlements," he said.

Merit pay could produce savings in the long term, depending on how it is structured. The budget requires about half of the districts in Ohio - those participating in the federal Race to the Top program - to develop a merit-pay system by 2013.

Ohio's current pay system awards automatic raises for many teachers based on years of experience or educational attainment, on top of negotiated base-salary increases.

"We're not so sure that in Ohio and across the country that the education system can sustain salary schedules the way they are," said Tom Ash of the Buckeye Association of School Administrators.

But Ash said a lot of work is still needed to develop the merit system. "I'm not sure we have adequate assessments for arts, social studies and a whole bunch of subjects."

The Kasich administration already has started the process of developing a new school-funding formula. Spokesman Rob Nichols said it will be "based on the governor's concern with the lack of money and lack of resources that get into the classroom for teacher instruction."

Varda just hopes they come up with one "that we don't change every time we have a new governor."

"My members are always out explaining a new formula, and they're the ones who get beat up by their public."