The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Forum sheds light on funding
School district, state lawmakers engage in dialogue at community event
Well over 100 Chardon Local Schools constituents gathered at Chardon Middle School Jan. 18 for a community forum about the challenges not only Chardon Schools but state lawmakers and school districts all over Ohio face securing and managing school funding.
The meeting was organized by Citizens for Chardon Schools. And it came almost three months after the district’s bid for a 3.9-mill additional continuing operating levy was rejected by voters in the Nov. 7 general election by a margin of 3,668 to 3,254 votes, according to final, official results from the Geauga County Elections Board.
Initially planned to take place in the school board’s meeting room, it was apparent shortly before the meeting’s 7 p.m. commencement that the forum would require more seating. So it was moved into the middle school’s Large Group Instruction Room, where the at least 125 community members in attendance could submit questions
“The problem is, in any endeavor, one size fits none because every district is different.” — Rep. John Patterson
via text message or via note cards for the panel at hand to address as time allowed.
The panel consisted of Chardon Schools Superintendent Michael Hanlon; Sen. John Eklund, R-Munson Township; Rep. John Patterson, D-Jefferson, and was moderated by Anthony Podojil with the Alliance for High Quality Education.
Gabrielle Boose, a Citizens for Chardon Schools co-chair, spoke a bit before the forum began and explained its intent.
“As you’re well aware, we did fail a levy that was on the ballot in November,” Boose said, adding that, shortly thereafter, a small group from the organization went to Columbus to speak with state lawmakers about the issues the district faces and how school funding at the state level affects them. “But we really wanted to have a larger forum for the community to come and hear directly from them and what the plans are for the future.”
She said her group is advocating “for communities like Chardon who are having to sustain large losses in state funding.”
She said they’re also seeking long-term changes at the state level to ensure a more stable future for Ohio’s public education system.
“In the short term, we want to make very clear that we have already sustained these losses,” she said. “So there will be a levy on the ballot in May that we need to pass.”
Patterson led off his piece of the forum with the assertion that there are 610 school districts across the state, that each of them has a situation and that every situation is different. So when it comes time to divvy up school funding at the state level, lawmakers are left to grapple with a very labor-intensive and confusing puzzle.
Hanlon pointed out that one important part of that puzzle Chardon is missing out on now is the tangible personal property tax that began being phased out for school districts around 2012.
“Approximately $1 million a year in TPP payment has been eliminated (from Chardon Schools’ budget),” he said. “That’s a significant chunk out of what comes from the Ohio legislature.”
Patterson, who sent 29 years as a teacher in the Jefferson Schools, said it was the cuts he saw on the horizon for schools in Ohio that made him retire and run for office and now is part of the primary/secondary education finding work group in the state legislature.
He said, given the short amount of time this fivemember group is given to balance the education budget, and with so many mitigating factors across the state’s 600-plus districts, it’s a difficult task to say the least.
“To ask five people to grapple with something this complex is a herculean effort,” he said, providing an example involving two districts in which two coal plants closed, requiring one district to ask voters to pass a 130-mill levy “just to stay solvent.”
“There are other districts losing this TPP support,” he said. “But how do we not help a district like that, with a limited amount of money, and still help other districts?”
Patterson brought up other factors, like the loss of state tax revenue due to the proliferation of e-commerce and dwindling income tax revenues.
Eklund followed Patterson, agreeing what a gargantuan task it is to try and sufficiently fund the state’s school districts using a standard formula considering the vast differences between each.
He described the problem with such a formula.
“The problem is, in any endeavor, one size fits none because every district is different. Every circumstance is different. Every community’s ability and willingness... to fund schools is different,” he said.
Eklund also said lawmakers have the best interest of the state’s school children in mind.
“I have to tell you that there is nobody in Columbus involved in the policies surrounding state funding of education who has anything but the best interests of children at heart. I hope you all understand that,” he said. “It’s a very difficult and complicated area.”
Some specific issues that were brought up in audience questions and the discussion in general included the balance between tax breaks given to agricultural concerns weighed against the cost of educating future generations, the alleged mishandling of funding and the overall economy of Ohio’s online public school, the Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow or ecot and whether it will continue to exist and how students attending this kind of community or choice school affects overall education funding around the state.
Following the meeting, Hanlon commented via email that he was pleased with the turnout and the accessibility the legislators provided via their presence.
“We are very pleased with the turnout for tonight’s community forum with over 100 residents and community representatives participating in the dialogue,” he writes. “School funding in he State of Ohio is an extremely complex system and is further challenged by the fact that no two school districts are alike. It is encouraging that we have a strong working relationship with our legislators and that they are supportive of open conversation about how we can more effectively fund public schools in Ohio.”