Columbus Dispatch...
State education board members weigh in on public-school funding
By Catherine Candisky 

Gov. John Kasich hopes to unveil his plan for funding public schools by the end of next month, with hopes of having it approved by state lawmakers in time for the 2012-13 school year. 

“Our overarching goal is to prepare our students for when they leave the kindergarten through 12th-grade environment,” Barbara Mattei-Smith, the governor’s assistant education policy adviser, told the state Board of Education yesterday. 

The administration sought ideas from the 19-member board, the last in a series of meetings it has held to get input from teachers, school treasurers and administrators. 

During a 90-minute discussion, Mattei-Smith provided no details of what was to come but said Kasich’s funding system will be focused on serving the individual needs of each student, directing more money to the classroom, and recognizing traditional schools as well as alternative-education models such as online schools. 

Several board members stressed the need to simplify the school-funding system so it is more easily understood by taxpayers, while others suggested consolidating the state’s 613 school districts to reduce overhead costs. 

C. Todd Jones, a board member from New Albany, suggested giving local boards of education the ability to set taxation rates for schools and said the state should fund students, not districts. 

If you think beyond the traditional school district and consider online schools and other education alternatives, it becomes much easier to ensure that every student has access to a quality education, he said. 

Jones urged the administration to craft a funding system that is “personal and portable” so it is focused on students. 

Robin C. Hovis, a board member from Millersburg, said the funding system, especially how local property taxes are calculated, is too complicated. “The average citizen just gets bewildered by it,” he said. 

Brian C. Williams, a board member from Fairlawn, suggested creating a tax option, which, if approved by voters, would raise money to be distributed among all students — public and private. 

“If you create more recipients, you get more buy-in,” he said. 

Kasich, like his three most-recent predecessors, has pledged to find a new and better way to fund public education. After signing into law a two-year budget that slashed nearly $780 million in operating funds for Ohio schools, the governor vowed that his system would direct more money into classrooms. 

Mattei-Smith said the administration is closely examining what high-performing districts are doing and how much they are spending, but Kasich’s plan would not be as prescriptive as former Gov. Ted Strickland’s evidence-based model, which spelled out such things as the number of administrators and support staff each district should have. 

“We want quality at the least cost,” she said. 

The plan won’t call for consolidating districts as some have suggested, but it will seek to “regionalize” some services to save money. For instance, transportation funds may be allocated to a group of districts, and they would work together to provide bus services to students in their area. Lawn services, Mattei-Smith said, is another area that has been suggested for joint operations. 

The administration also is considering incentives for districts that make alternative learning available to students outside their district. For instance, a foreign-language teacher in one district could provide online lessons to students in another. Such a setup could save money and expand students’ opportunities. 

Mattei-Smith said the administration also wants to reward high-performing schools, shifting the focus away from districts to recognize “pockets of excellence.” 

Read it at the Columbus Dispatch