It's time to fully and fairly fund schools

For decades, Ohio's Legislature has spun its wheels trying to "fix" our public schools. They've increased standardized testing, based decisions off a school report card system that fails to measure if we are meeting our students' needs, and finally, when schools or districts fall short on these arbitrary metrics, legislators have harmed them even more by creating punitive funding deductions and unaccountable Academic Distress Commissions. None of these actions have helped to ensure that all of Ohio's kids — no matter where they live or what they look like — can attend a local public school that inspires their creativity, unlocks their potential, and nurtures their dreams. In fact, they've done the opposite. Likewise, legislators have enacted school funding policies that pit parents against teachers and communities against each other, all while draining resources from our schools so they can give handouts to the wealthy few and corporations. But there's one thing we haven't tried yet: living up to Ohio's constitutional responsibility to fully and fairly fund public education for all Ohio students. We can build a solid foundation for all public schools and ensure that every single student in Hancock County and across Ohio has the resources they need for their future, whether that's smaller class sizes, more school nurses and social workers, tablets and laptops, or language, music and art electives. The Fair School Funding Plan is a fair and equitable school funding formula that reflects what it actually costs to provide a good education, and how much a community can afford to pay. The plan would fix a broken funding scheme that has been ruled unconstitutional four times in the last quarter-century because it harms all communities, but especially poorer, rural communities and communities with more Black and brown students. The plan has passed with overwhelming bipartisan majorities in this General Assembly and the previous one. It has the support of the statewide associations that represent school boards, school administrators and school treasurers. While many stakeholders continue to evaluate the changes that were made to HB 1 when it was inserted into the House Budget bill, the bottom line remains the same: Ohio's students can't wait any longer for lawmakers to deliver on the promise of world-class opportunities for all. That's why our unions are uniting with the Ohio Organizing Collaborative and Policy Matters Ohio to form All in For Ohio Kids, a coalition that will mobilize parents, students, educators and taxpayers. Together, we'll make sure that Ohio lives up to our commitment to fully and fairly fund local public schools so that all of our children can thrive and become the next generation of entrepreneurs, problem-solvers and community leaders. Hancock County school districts illustrate some of the ways that legislators have failed to provide the resources that Ohio kids need. In McComb, while the community has been contributing more to public schools, the state's share has been stagnant. If state aid revenue in McComb Local School District had kept up with total revenue since the 2016-17 school year, then the district would have received $400,000 more in the 2019-20 school year. In Arcadia Local Schools, the cost to educate students has been rising and state funding has failed to keep pace. In the 2016-17 school year, the gap between per-pupil spending and state aid per student was just over $5,000, but by the 2019-20 school year, that gap grew to over $6,700. Findlay City Schools shows another aspect of the Fair School Funding Plan — how the phase-in period of the plan dovetails with the one-time infusion of federal funds under the American Rescue Plan. The pandemic has exacerbated disparities in education that are linked to our inability to fairly fund local public schools. All Ohio students have suffered from disrupted learning opportunities, but because the state's funding system is so broken, the effects have been worse in districts that lack technology access and where overcrowded, poorly ventilated aging school buildings delayed safe reopenings. Recent federal COVID-19 relief bills, including the American Rescue Plan, will provide a much needed, one-time infusion to help students bounce back after a challenging year. Findlay schools alone are projected to receive $12.8 million from this funding. But after that one-time money is gone, we need state funding to replace it. Phasing in the Fair School Funding Plan will do just that. If the Fair School Funding Plan was fully phased in, Findlay schools would have received nearly $4 million in additional state funding this year, a 19% increase. It's time to finally meet Ohio's responsibility to fund our public schools and ensure we don't just return to the pre-pandemic status quo but instead deliver on the promise of a world-class education for all Ohio kids so they can lead us into a bright new future filled with hope. Cropper is president of the Ohio Federation of Teachers. DiMauro is president of the Ohio Education Association.