PERRYSBURG, Ohio — Ohio legislators voted to approve the 2022 and 2023 budget by a vote of 82-13 after several additions were made on Monday, including a bipartisan plan on school funding.
State leaders adopted the House's Fair School Funding proposal, which came with support from educators, including Perrysburg Superintendent Tom Hosler.
Hosler said that for the first time, Ohio has a formula that is based on what students need, not a byproduct of residual budgeting.
The plan will weigh a school district's wealth when deciding the local share to be paid by the district, versus the state's share.
Hosler also said this new formula only looks at what's happening inside your district boundaries. For example, what happens in Akron impacts only their funding affects their funding and what happens in Perrysburg impacts theirs.
Hosler said there are other benefits as well.
"It is based on, you know, the factors, how many more students come to Perrysburg, we'll get more funds for those students so it eliminates that cap," he explained.
The bill would provide $2 billion over the course of six years. The move will not affect taxpayers because the state has enough money to commit to this plan for the next two years.
Local taxes also won't change.
However, Hosler said what will change, is school districts will have more stability with how much money they're getting from the state which will help them plan better.
However, Hosler noted that there is still a need for local levies, though less often.
"It allows us to better plan so the frequency of levies may slow down and the intensity, like all of the sudden we have to go to the voters because something changed with state funding, now those changes will be less traumatic," Hosler said.
The new plan also has an impact the state's Ed Choice voucher program.
Those vouchers will now be directly funded by the state, instead of through a deduction from a district's share of state funding.
Gov. Mike DeWine must sign the budget by July 1, 2021.