It is a colossal mistake that the Ohio Senate leadership blocked the passage of House Bill 305 and Senate Bill 376, the funding plan for the Cupp / Patterson Fair School. The reasons for blocking this intense and accomplished three year effort are nonsense.
Any solution to the unconstitutional school funding system is complex and therefore not perfect. Upgrades and adjustments are always required during implementation.
The establishment of a school funding supervisory board has been embedded in the bill to make course adjustments as the plan is implemented and required in the future by changing demographic and educational requirements. The inclusion of this commission, which would make recommendations to the legislature, should have given the Senate the consolation that the plan could be adjusted in good time if necessary.
It is irresponsible to reject the plan on the blunt suggestion that it might have some flaws. The Ohio Supreme Court ruled the system unconstitutional more than 23 years ago.
In contrast, Senate Draft 89, EdChoice Draft Voucher, cleared the House and Senate in less than 24 hours. A few years ago, the infamous House Bill 70 – a law that allowed the state to take over school districts – moved within 24 hours from its inception to its entry into force by both houses of law. The Senate had plenty of time to consider the Cupp / Patterson plan.
The Ohio Constitution requires the state to tax and ensure a thorough and efficient system of shared schools. Therefore, the funding system must be based on the components of high quality education. These components must be chargeable and the distribution system must ensure that the school districts have sufficient financial resources to provide the identified high-quality educational components.
The Cupp / Patterson Plan encompasses these concepts and, if fully funded, would fulfill the constitutional mandate.
In the past, there has been a discrepancy between the school funding formula and the educational needs of students. The Cupp / Patterson Plan connects the funding formula and distribution system with the components of the quality education that children in Ohio need.
The structure of the plan requires the state to fund high quality education across the board. Without the structure of this plan, school districts will continue to provide only as much to students as the politically determined amount of funds received will allow, regardless of student needs.
The plan therefore requires all of the educational programs and services required to increase funding levels. In this way, the plan responds to the constitutional requirement that the state ensure a “thorough and efficient system of shared schools” across the state.
On March 24, 1997, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled that Ohio elementary and secondary schools were neither thorough nor efficient. The court identified the factors that are contributing to the inoperability of the school funding system and that need to be addressed. The two most important of these factors were the application of the school funding formula and the focus of property tax in the formula calculation. The Cupp / Patterson Plan corrects the critical shortcomings identified by the court.
State officials should be embarrassed that Ohio continues to operate a school funding system that the court ruled unconstitutional nearly a quarter of a century ago. The Ohio Senate should shame its collective mind for rejecting a plan to align the school funding system with the constitutional mandate.
William L. Phillis is the executive director of the Ohio Coalition for Equity & Advocacy of School Funding.