About 90% of Ohio’s children – in big cities, small towns, and rural communities – grow up, learn, and dream at a local public school. But too many of our politicians in the Statehouse are walking away from their responsibility to fund our public schools.

Policymakers have now released three versions of the state budget: Governor DeWine’s initial budget proposal, the Ohio House budget bill, and the Ohio Senate budget bill. None of these plans are acceptable.

The Senate’s proposal is a cheap knock off of the Fair School Funding Plan -- backtracking on its commitment to targeting state funds at the districts that need it most. The House plan throws the formula out the window completely and would base state support schools solely on the whims of politicians. While Gov. DeWine’s would underfund our public schools by $103 million – including $95 million for special education. The House and Senate plans would also make it a lot harder for districts to make up the gaps with local funds and both provide $600 million for a billionaire to build a stadium. Meanwhile, the Senate included an income tax cut that will boost the incomes of the wealthiest Ohioans.

Now a small group of lawmakers from both chambers will meet in the Conference Committee to hammer out the differences between the three proposals. We need to let our representatives know we oppose all of them.

Write a letter to your state legislators and tell them that school districts need fair and predictable school funding, not a cheap imitation of the Fair School Funding Plan.  

Click here to see Policy Matters Ohio’s analysis of the impact of all three budget proposals on schools in each legislative district in Ohio.