Reineke talks to area school officials about state school funding bill
FREMONT — Superintendents, school board members and treasurers from across Ohio’s 26th Senate district, represented by Republican Bill Reineke, got a chance to ask the senator about a proposed House Bill 1 school funding bill Tuesday, as Reineke appeared on a virtual conference to talk about the legislation.
While some guests, such as Clyde-Green Springs treasurer Meghan Rohde, appeared on the virtual conference with the senator, others such as Fremont City Schools superintendent Jon Detwiler, submitted questions to Reineke about the Fair School Funding Plan during the 40 minute session.
The 26th Senate District covers Crawford, Marion, Morrow, Sandusky, Seneca, Union, and Wyandot counties.
Several school officials advocated for support of the Fair School Funding Plan on the call with Reineke, telling the senator it would provide stability to their budgets and less reliance on ballot issues for local funding.
Rohde said there’s no formula that calculates the cost of what it takes to educate a student and no formula the state uses to determine how much each student gets.
She told Reineke that local school districts such as Clyde-Green Springs are at the mercy of the legislature each budget session.
“Without a formula it’s not really fair or stable or predictable for our schools or our communities,” Rohde said, adding that it makes it difficult for school districts to plan or allocate resources.
According to the Columbus Dispatch, the bill would provide another $1.99 billion a year — about a 24% increase — to K-12 schools when fully implemented.
The proposal to change the way state aid is calculated and distributed to public schools establishes the per-pupil cost of “a quality education,” and determines how much funding each local community should be able to cover themselves and how much should come from the state.
It aims to keep overall funding levels relatively even across the state despite widely varied tax bases across Ohio’s more than 600 public school districts.
24 years ago, the Ohio Supreme Court declared in the DeRolph decision that Ohio’s school finance system was in violation of Ohio’s constitutional obligation to provide a thorough and efficient system of common schools throughout the state.
Reineke told school officials on the call that he felt the state did need a fair funding plan.
“My main issue is how we fund it,” Reineke said.
The senator said the bill is going through the House budget process.
Detwiler asked Reineke if the bill doesn’t pass, what will the legislature’s plan be to address the Ohio Supreme Court’s decision on school funding.
The Fremont superintendent also asked how the state could miss an opportunity to pass a plan that Detwiler said would provide a simple explanation to taxpayers on how schools are funded.
Reineke said he was not opposed to the bill and agreed with Detwiler that school funding in Ohio can be confusing for residents and legislators.
“I think it needs to be fair and it does need to be explained to the public,” Reineke said.
Detwiler and Fremont City Schools board members also talked about HB 1 at the board’s Monday meeting.
Board member Shantel Laird, the board’s legislative liaison, said she felt the proposed bill better defines what it costs to educate a child, including the costs of technology, facilities and specialty staff.
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