Speaker decries Senate’s school funding plan

Given the poorer rural school districts populating his district, House Speaker Larry Householder takes issue with one education funding move by Senate Republicans.

The Republican from Glenford is not happy with the Senate’s move to give $37.6 million more in state aid to well-to-do suburban districts racking up enrollment gains such as Olentangy in Delaware County.

Householder said Wednesday he is waiting to see the Senate’s final school funding plan once it adopts amendments to the twoyear state operating budget next week.

But he couldn’t hold his tongue about more money for growing districts that receive small shares of state aid, with local property owners providing the vast majority of taxes to fund classrooms.

“I know there was money that went to some of the wealthier schools, the capped schools (districts that had reached the maximum in state funding). I kind of thought that’s where it went — sort of a rob from the poor and give to the rich kind of thing,” Householder said.

His Republican colleagues in the Senate said the state has an obligation to help growing districts weather a rising flood of students.

While some better-off districts threatened to sue the state last month unless caps on their state aid were removed, the threat played no role in the money materializing, said Senate Finance Chairman Matt Dolan, R-chagrin Falls.

“Fast-growing schools have additional issues that come from those students and the burdens of no new (state school-funding) formula money. We recognize we have to address those students, those school systems . ... They needed additional funding,” Dolan said.

The state budget is packed with $550 million in additional funding over two years sought by Gov. Mike Dewine to provide “wraparound” services to help low-income rural and urban students become better prepared to learn in the classroom, he pointed out.

Once the Senate passes its version of the budget, its appointees will sit down with House members to work out their budgetary differences and get the bill to Dewine for his signature before July 1.

This much is certain: The age for purchasing tobacco and vaping products will increase to age 21. Dewine and both legislative chambers agree on that move, seen as tamping down vaping and its disputed nicotine-related health risks and addiction among teenagers.

But the Senate budget bill also introduced a 17% tax on the invoice price of vaping products to be paid by distributors beginning Oct. 1 to raise “several million dollars.”

“It’s interesting. I don’t know how they arrived at that number, 17%, so we need to have some discussion about that,” Householder said.

Dolan said taxing vaping products will help ensure proper regulation and sales.