That meant a particular district’s ability to provide local dollars was determined largely by what other districts were contributing. It also depended on a comparison with local support in other districts. That could skew what some districts could pay if they had a large company in the district but most people were low-wage earners in town. Under the old system, what a district could pay was based mainly on property tax values. The way the local community’s contribution is measured is also changing. More than 80% of Ohio’s 600-plus districts would receive between $7,000 and $8,000 in per-pupil base funding, according to a legislative analysis.
“So, from the time they’re picked up to the time they log off at night, and everything in between.” “It costs out the day in the life of a student, and it takes the student’s perspective,” said Ryan Pendleton, chief financial officer for Akron Public Schools. In the school funding plan approved last month, the base cost averages $7,200 per student for most districts. The bulk of the money, about 60%, goes to direct classroom instruction. Under the Fair School Funding Plan, the state’s cost per pupil is based on actual expenses faced by a district, such as teacher salaries and benefits, transportation, technology needs, and the number of administrators. In the past, lawmakers arrived at the per-pupil share the state was willing to pay - $6,020 in the current budget - based on unscientific measures that weren’t always clear, and were sometimes based on what revenue the state had, an approach referred to as residual budgeting. “This short-term approach does not provide stability in needed funding beyond the upcoming biennium budget cycle,” said Emily Hatfield, treasurer at Olentangy Local Schools in central Ohio, one of the state’s fastest-growing districts.Ī look at components of the Fair School Funding Plan: And some educators, while welcoming the concept, note that lawmakers removed language at the last moment that addressed the need to phase the plan in over six years. Senate President Matt Huffman, a Lima Republican, said he’s concerned about the plan’s cost over time. Though the plan passed by wide margins in the House and Senate, it’s not universally applauded.
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