Quickly growing school districts slated for more state money

Heeding the cries of fast-growing districts in central Ohio and other mostly suburban areas, GOP leaders of the state Senate proposed pouring more than $37 million into schools whose funding has been capped for years by the state’s funding system.

The Senate’s version of the $69 billion, two-year budget proposalwould not change the basic funding formula, which a group of lawmakers are still trying to revamp. It essentially would take the additional money that Gov. Mike Dewine allocated for “wraparound” services such as counseling, include an increase approved by the House, and add a “supplement for enrollment growth” that would provide more money to 186 of Ohio’s 610 districts, based on attendance growth in the past three years.

Rapidly expanding Olentangy schools would get the most supplemental money in the state, more than $2.8 million over the next two years. Southwestern would be next, with $1.8 million.

“Olentangy will certainly appreciate additional funding, but we will always advocate for fair funding for all school districts, big, small, urban and rural,” said Julie Wagner-feasel, an Olentangy school board member.

She pointed out the new money would be eaten up quickly in one of the country’s fastest-growing districts.

“On a per-pupil basis based on our current enrollment, this is an additional $53.39 per pupil, so our total perpupil amount from the state would be $653.39 for next year if we DO NOT add any more students,” she said in an email.

“We are projecting an increase of 400 students. The state’s average per-pupil funding is $4,800. So while it looks like we are getting a lot of money, on a per-pupil basis, we aren’t.”

The Senate’s version of a budget is not the final word, of course. Once the upper chamber approves it, a House-senate conference committee would resolve substantial differences between the two legislative branches’ versions by June 30. And Dewine wields the power of issuing a line-item veto to the finished product.

Senate President Larry Obhof said expected provisions addressing state school takeovers and graduation requirements would be added as omnibus budget amendments.

Under the Senate’s proposal, incomebased scholarships for students who want to leave their public school districts for a state-chartered private school would expand to K-12, at a cost of $50 million. Students must live in a household with a family income at or below 200 percent of the federal poverty level ($42,660 a year for a family of three) to be eligible.

Current law has been extending those scholarships by one grade level a year, sitting at fifth grade during fiscal 2019.

The bill includes $57.2 million for incomebased scholarships in 2020 and $121 million in 2021.

State law limits the number of incomebased scholarships to 60,000, but so far, the state hasn’t come close to reaching that cap. In 2019, 23,000 scholarships were awarded under the scholarship program. The Senate’s budget proposal would allow the state to increase the cap by 5% for the following school year if the number of applicants exceeds 90 percent of those allowed in the previous year. Supplemented by more than $37 million directed to fast-growing schools, many central Ohio suburban district s would reap healthy increases in the Senate’s version of a school-funding plan in the state budget unveiled Tuesday. The supplemental funds are included in the fiscal years 2020 and 2021 totals. Delaware Delaware Delaware Fairfield Fairfield Fairfield Fairfield Fairfield Fairfield Fairfield Fairfield Franklin Franklin Franklin Franklin Franklin Franklin Franklin Franklin Franklin Franklin Franklin Franklin Franklin Franklin Franklin Franklin Licking Licking Licking Licking Licking Licking Licking Licking Licking Licking Madison Madison Madison Madison Pickaway Pickaway

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