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Dayton
Daily News...
Despite rise in state
funding, education facing double-digit cuts
By Christopher Magan and Margo Rutledge Kissell
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Both K-12 and higher education would see massive changes and
double-digit cuts to funding under Gov. John Kasich’s two-year budget
unveiled Tuesday.
State support for local K-12 schools would be slightly increased under
the plan, but the loss of federal stimulus money that was built into
the current two-year budget will result in an overall 11.5 percent
reduction for the next fiscal year and a 4.9 percent reduction in 2013.
Colleges and universities would lose 10.5 percent of funding in 2012,
but would see a slight increase of 3.7 percent in 2013 from 2012.
“This is a very tough budget,” said Matt Filipic, Wright State
University vice president for fiscal affairs. “It is the biggest
reduction in the state budget for higher education I’ve ever seen.”
Dayton Public Schools Treasurer Stan Lucas was combing through the
budget proposal Tuesday afternoon trying to assess the impact on his
urban district, which receives about $125 million in state funding.
“On first glance, it’s not good news for the district,” he said,
referring to the reduction in funding in the two-year budget.
The Ohio Education Association, which represents 128,000 teachers,
faculty members and support staff in Ohio’s public schools, colleges
and universities, blasted the governor’s plan. “Now we see the sleight
of hand. The cut in state funding for K-12 next year will mean a real 5
percent decrease in funding for K-12 public schools overall, counting
state, local and federal sources,” OEA President Patricia Frost-Brooks
said in a statement. “This plan takes $3.1 billion from local school
districts over two years in order to balance the budget while holding
charter schools financially harmless.”
Kasich’s proposed reforms at the K-12 level include increasing the
number of students attending charter schools, rewarding successful
teachers while making it easier to fire poor ones, allowing parents to
“take over” failing schools, having districts share resources and
reducing regulations.
“We’ve been tinkering around the edges of education reform since I’ve
been in this state,” Kasich said. “We are not going to put this off any
longer.”
Ohio Education Matters, a subsidiary of the nonpartisan KnowledgeWorks
Foundation, applauded the call for regional entities to help school
districts share services. “School districts in Ohio could save as much
as $1.4 billion in noninstructional spending alone if they were to
achieve greater efficiencies in delivering services,” executive
director Andrew Benson said.
For higher education, Kasich proposed allowing for charter universities
that will face less state regulation, improving readiness and
completion rates and encouraging universities to develop three-year
bachelor degree programs.
Wayne Struble, a Kasich adviser, noted the cost of college is rising
faster than the cost of health care so the proposal also includes
cutting rules and regulations surrounding how colleges spend their
money. The 3.5 percent cap on tuition and fee increases will remain in
place.
The Ohio College Opportunity Grant, a state source to help students pay
tuition, will be cut by 5 percent as will the special operation
supplement for Central State University.
The state share of instruction, the largest part of the state’s higher
education budget, will fall from $1.9 billion in 2011 to $1.7 in 2012
without the help of federal stimulus, which was used to maintain level
funding the past two years.
Sean Creighton, executive director of the Southwestern Ohio Council for
Higher Education, a university advocate, said schools are in a dilemma
as they can count on less overall support from the state. “This creates
a challenging situation,” Creighton said. “We’ve been moving in a
direction that, someday, the only connection institutions will have to
the state is that they are located in the state.”
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