Columbus Dispatch...
Budget-makers cobble away
Nursing homes gain a bit more funding, but the Senate president says lawmakers will hold the line on spending
Thursday, June 23, 2011

By Jim Siegel 

Nursing homes wanted to get back most of the $427 million in state cuts, but it appears they will get only about $31 million - and they will have to earn it - when a new version of the state budget is rolled out. 

“They have made a case that they do need additional funding to maintain the level of care and quality of care we expect them to provide,” said Senate President Tom Niehaus, R-New Richmond. 

House and Senate Republicans, with Gov. John Kasich providing his input as well, are getting down to crunch time on finishing the two-year, $55.7 billion budget. The current budget expires at the end of the month. 

A number of groups, including local governments and schools, are hoping for additional funding to ease significant budget cuts. If lawmakers decide to use rosier revenue and Medicaid caseload estimates, it could give them an additional few hundred million dollars to spend. 

But Niehaus said again yesterday that lawmakers generally plan to hold the line on spending, although they will find some money for a few things. 

“We’ve reached an agreement on some increases on specific heavy-needs areas,” said House Speaker William G. Batchelder, R-Medina. 

The speaker said schools were “looked on very kindly early in the process,” with about $160 million in reduced operating cuts and $30million in bonuses for schools rated “excellent” or better. School advocates say they are still facing huge reductions.

The nursing-home industry ran an aggressive ad campaign criticizing the budget cuts, which it said would jeopardize care of Ohio seniors. It urged people to call lawmakers to reverse the funding reduction. 

Both Batchelder and Sen. Chris Widener, R-Springfield, the Senate Finance Committee chairman, said the plan is not to just hand over the $31million to nursing homes, but rather to hinge it on meeting certain quality measures. 

“We have it in mind that it’s possible to improve the quality of care,” Batchelder said. “We have very good nursing homes in this state, but there are certain goals to be achieved.” 

Asked about some of the other major differences between the House and Senate-passed versions of the budget, Niehaus said he has had “very promising” discussions with the House on teacher merit pay and charter schools. 

Sources say that Kasich and Batchelder are nearing a compromise that would include putting for-profit charter schools back in the budget. A Senate source said he knew of no such deal. 

The Senate stripped from the House-passed budget provisions that would have allowed for-profit charter schools to operate largely without state oversight. 

Earlier this month, Kasich said he supports for-profit charter schools “the same way I think a mix of public universities and private schools make sense.” 

“I think there’s been some confusion about this issue of accountability, and I can tell you that the Senate president and the (House) speaker believe strongly in accountability, and I think at the end of the day this would all work out,” Kasich said. 

The budget conference committee, consisting of two Republicans and one Democrat from each legislative chamber, is scheduled to start meeting this afternoon. Niehaus said he hopes the committee will finish working out differences between the House and Senate bill on Friday, setting up final votes in the House and Senate on Tuesday. 

Read it at the Columbus Dispatch