“As far as the 79th House district goes, or even Clark County in general, the districts will fare better financially than what the original proposal was,” said Rep. Ross McGregor, R-Springfield. “The only district (that is flat-funded) would be Southeastern …. Nobody loses money. All the other districts in Clark County are seeing an increase.”
The preliminary figures are still just estimates based on changes state representatives made to the budget Republican Gov. John Kasich released in February. The House plan essentially doubles the increase schools would see vs. Kasich’s plan for Clark and Champaign counties.
The budget still must go through the Ohio Senate and back to Kasich before it becomes law.
“Until the budget is final, I really don’t get too excited and neither does our treasurer, because things change all the time,” said Graham Local Schools Superintendent Norm Glismann. “I don’t really feel like it does a whole lot of good to get upset or get excited until it’s final.”
Under Kasich’s plan, Graham and seven other local districts received no more or less state money in the next two years than in 2012-13. With the House proposal, Graham would receive increases of $637,000 the first year and $325,000 the second, or 6 percent and 2.9 percent respectively.
“If we got more, that would be great,” Glismann said. “Next week at this time, the news might look very different.”
Like Kasich’s budget, the House’s version did not decrease state funding for any district. But under Kasich’s plan, 400 of Ohio’s 613 school districts received no additional funding; the House figures reduce that to 175 districts next year and 161 the second year of the budget.
All but one local district, Southeastern, would see some increase in state aid in the House’s budget. Southeastern would receive the same funding each year.
Increased funding for more districts would allow Ohio’s schools to meet the goals the legislature has set with new laws like the Third Grade Guarantee, which requires school to retain students who don’t pass the third grade reading test and provide more interventions for struggling elementary school students, said Springfield Superintendent David Estrop.
“If they are going to move the entire state of Ohio forward through mandates like the Third Grade Guarantee, there has to be a recognition on the part of the general assembly and the governor that there has to be additional resources,” he said. “This is clearly again a step in the right direction.”
The city schools would receive more than $3 million additional dollars each year of the budget for 6 percent increases each year under the House of Representatives proposal. With Kasich’s initial projections, the district stood to gain $2.6 million in 2013-14 and $2.2 in 2014-15.
“Certainly, (the projections) look promising for Springfield … It will allow us to continue to make that progress and more effectively deal with the new mandates placed on us at the state level,” Estrop said.
Rep. McGregor said he still has some concerns about plans to expand the voucher program by offering state funds for private school tuition for low-income families and students who aren’t making progress in reading in kindergarten through 3rd grade.
“As far as the general funding amounts … as far as Clark County was concerned, it’s better than what was initially proposed,” he said.
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