A CONSTITUTIONAL SYSTEM
The Ohio Supreme Court ruled four times Ohio’s students have a constitutional right to a quality public education—and that the state consistently failed to deliver that opportunity. The new state budget (House Bill 1) directly addresses the court rulings by fixing Ohio’s school funding system and enacting comprehensive reforms and improvements.
After decades of neglect, Ohio is committed to a constitutional system of public education that will produce:
• Higher quality
• Higher standards and
• Fair and equitable funding for our schools
The new Ohio Evidence-Based Model means:
• Finally enacting a fair, adequate and constitutional school system
• Identifying components of a high-quality education—then committing the resources needed to pay for it
• More state aid, less reliance on local property taxes
• Fairly allocating state aid, with funding based on need
• Fiscal accountability and transparency for every school district
We can meet the challenge to fix school funding and improve education opportunities for every Ohio Student.
The new Ohio state budget provides flexibility and the promise of full funding, providing time for school districts to phase in changes. School districts can request waivers to get more time to provide classroom space and teachers for initiatives like all-day Kindergarten and smaller class sizes, with permission from the Ohio Department of Education.
More Resources
Ohio is on the road to a constitutional system of school funding, an essay by William Phillis, Executive Director of the Ohio Coalition for Equity and Adequacy of School Funding.
With sweeping new education and funding reforms passed by the Ohio General Assembly this summer, the question remains whether these reforms have brought constitutionality to the Ohio school funding process. Perhaps the final arbiter of the case should be William Phillis, the executive director of the Ohio Coalition for Equity and Adequacy of School Funding, the group that backed the plaintiffs who sued the state nearly 20 years ago. Read more
Fixing funding in Ohio: DeRolph vs. State of Ohio to House Bill 1 - A two-part series by Mike Harden, reprinted from Ohio Schools magazine
Part 1 - Children yet unborn when DeRolph vs. State of Ohio was filed have now completed high school, though even as they stepped forward to receive their diplomas the state remained torn by rancor and divisiveness over the struggle to finad an equitable and efficient method of funding public education in Ohio. Click here to download Part 1
Part 2 - When the DeRolph cased was filed, Ohio was using the school foundation formula and excessively reliant on local property taxes for school support. The formula punished school districts with diminished tax bases, whether economically depleted urban districts or tax-poor rural ones. Click here to download Part 2
The Timeline of the DeRolph vs. Ohio court case and Ohio's new school funding system, 1991-2009. Click here to download the timeline