Gov. Mike DeWine’s new state budget proposal phases in the final two years of the 2021 Fair School Funding Plan, which has significantly increased state spending on schools.
But the impact of DeWine’s budget proposal as a whole still translates to a slight drop in funding for traditional K-12 public schools overall.
A seemingly obscure belt-tightening move by the governor is a major reason why.
To decide how much money a school district should get, the state’s K-12 funding formula starts with determining how a district spends on education, including the cost of paying teachers and sending kids to school. For his last budget in 2023, DeWIne used cost data from 2022, the most recent available numbers at the time.
But DeWine’s new budget plan re-uses the 2022 cost numbers instead of updating them with numbers from 2024. School officials say using the old data fails to capture two years of high inflation.
The decision is not by accident and has a major consequence. Using the 2024 numbers would add $1.8 billion to the state budget, according to state Rep. Brian Stewart, a Republican who’s overseeing House budget hearings as chair of the House Finance Committee.
State officials generally have described the upcoming budget cycle as fiscally tighter than previous years. Republican lawmakers also have said they want to cut taxes, which would come at the expense of other potential spending priorities, including education funding.
DeWine’s budget proposes spending $8.1 billion on traditional K-12 schools in 2026, about $30 million less than this year, according to an estimate from the nonpartisan Legislative Budget Office.
Another budgetary move from DeWine also explains some of the cut in funding – DeWine is slightly reducing the “guarantee,” a special payment districts get when their enrollment drops or local property wealth goes up.
District officials push for updated cost numbers
School officials are zeroing in on DeWine’s decision on the input cost as they lobby for more funding.
A group of school administrators who helped develop the state’s new funding formula testified before the finance committee last week. They said DeWine’s decision leaves local taxpayers holding the bag when it comes to increased costs.
Schools are getting significantly more local funding, thanks to the historic post-pandemic wave of rising property values. But they say it’s not enough to cover inflation in health insurance, school bus prices and other costs, according to the group. They say schools likely will seek more levies if the state doesn’t step up.
Meanwhile, schools with rising property values are more likely to see their state funding drop, since the school funding formula gives less money to wealthier districts. About 57% of the state’s 611 school districts are seeing a cut under DeWine’s plan, according to Policy Matters Ohio, a liberal think tank in Columbus that argues for higher public school funding
“I’m not sure of a time in history where inputs haven’t been updated to match inflation,” Ryan Pendleton, a Cleveland-area school-finance official who’s part of the work group, told finance committee members last week.
The governor’s explanation
The governor’s decision to use the old cost data basically comes down to the $1.8 billion it would cost to use the new data, according to Dan Tierney, a spokesperson for the governor’s office.
He added that indefinitely matching increased local costs would cause the state to lose control of its budget.
“The system is not designed to be able to use cost escalators every single year unless you dramatically increase the amount of school funding as a proportion of the state budget every year,” Tierney said. “You could change the inputs, but you’d have to figure out how to inject a lot more money into the system.”
K-12 school funding is the state’s second-largest expense after Medicaid.
Sherrod Brown buys a home in Columbus
Former U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown is movingto Columbusmonths after he lost his reelection bid.
Brown and his wife, columnist Connie Schultz, took out a $589,000 mortgage to buy a house in Bexley, a Columbus suburb, according to a deed filed Wednesday with the Franklin County Recorder’s Office. Brown lost the November election to now-Sen. Bernie Moreno, a Republican. Brown’s lived in Cleveland since 2013.
Brown’s home purchase is sure to inspire some tea leaf-reading from those trying to discern Brown’s plans for the 2026 election. That’s because the Ohio Democratic ticket’s chances will vary widely based on what he decides. Schultz said in a Substack post Wednesday evening that the move is a way to be closer to family in Columbus and her teaching job at Denison University. She said she wanted to get in front of the “usual political speculation” by announcing and explaining the move.
Some Democrats are hoping Brown will run for governor, which will be an open seat since Republican Gov. Mike DeWine is leaving office due to term limits. At the moment Dr. Amy Acton, the former state health director, is the only announced Democratic candidate.
Some Democrats also are pulling for Brown to run again for the U.S. Senate in 2026, where he’d face recently appointed Republican Sen. Jon Husted. Whoever wins the race would have to run again in 2028. No Democrats are running for the seat yet.
Brown hasn’t ruled out a return to politics as he’s considered his next professional steps. He’s otherwise said he wants to push the Democratic Party to take a more pro-worker direction, and he published an op-ed to that effect in a national liberal publication earlier this month.
Brown isn’t the only former Democratic Ohio politician to move to Columbus recently after leaving office. Former U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan moved to Columbus from Youngstown in 2023 not long after losing the previous year’s U.S. Senate race to now-Vice President JD Vance. Ryan also is considering running for governor or Senate.
Advancement of SB1 in House is a loss for unions
In response to the decline of the Democratic Party in Ohio over the past decade, state labor unions have tried to maintain their power in Ohio by making new alliances with Republicans.
In that context, the Ohio House’s approval of a sweeping higher education bill on Wednesday marks a significant political loss that a long campaign of union lobbying failed to block.
Senate Bill 1, sponsored by Kirtland Republican state Sen. Jerry Cirino, has two major components. One broadly imposes new requirements meant to reverse what Republican lawmakers see as “liberal indoctrination” at Ohio’s public colleges and universities, including by banning diversity, equity and inclusion programs. But another provision bars faculty from striking.
In various iterations during the last legislative session, House Republicans, under the leadership of then-Speaker Jason Stephens, negotiated the strike language out of the bill. The bill still stalled overall.
Labor unions, including the AFL-CIO, had helped install Stephens in 2023 over a rival candidate by brokering a deal with Democrats. They made a similar move in 2019, helping do the same for Larry Householder.
But the new session, which began in January, has a new Republican speaker, Matt Huffman of Lima. He supports the bill. And the Ohio House approved SB1 on Wednesday, a little over two years after Cirino first introduced it, in a largely party-line vote with Democrats opposed. It contains the language union members opposed.
Senate Republicans have said they’re likely to agree to late House-backed changes to SB1, which were minor. Once the Senate approves the bill, it would head to DeWine, who’s said he’s likely to sign it.
Property tax bill moves
Republicans who control the Ohio General Assembly have called property tax reform a top priority.
The Ohio House on Wednesday moved the Republican-controlled legislature’s first property tax bill of the new legislative session.
The House approved House Bill 28, which would forbid local governments from asking voters to approve what’s called a “replacement” levy.
Supporters say the bill will make Ohio’s property tax system more transparent, while opponents say it will tie local governments’ hands and hurt them financially.
Read more about the bill here.
In the news
Higher ed bill eliminating DEI programs passes Ohio House
Ohio lawmakers eyeing property tax relief in state budget and beyond
Jim Tressel to headline upcoming Cuyahoga GOP fundraising dinner