Levy stuff

[TeamCasey]

Hi Roy and Gac,

Thought I'd respond/ask stuff here ........ so we don't bug people.

So if the district/population/# students is getting larger, then wouldn't the schools be entitled to a larger piece of the pie from the taxes already paid to the state?

[TeamCasey]

Roy? I didn't tick you off, did I?

[Roy Tucker]

Roy? I didn't tick you off, did I?

No, no, I'm just too darn busy to glom up some thoughts.

Here are some links that have some answers. I was going to summarize but this darn job keeps getting in the way....

http://www.cuyahoga.oh.us/treasurer/fundingschools.htm
http://north.osu.edu/urban/schoolk12.html

And our Mason schools PR...

http://www.masonohioschools.com/newsdetail.aspx?id=127

[TeamBoone]

They'd probably just raise school taxes.

BTW, are lottery moneys still going to schools... seems most have forgotten that this is where all those funds are/were supposed to be allocated. Anyone ever hear where the lottery money goes? I haven't heard it mentioned in years.

[Roy Tucker]

TB, it is a quagmire. But these are our kids and it is our duty and obligation to make sure they are as educated as we possibly make them...

From the Cuyahoga link...

OHIO LOTTERY

Many people believe that proceeds from the Ohio Lottery provide schools in the state with substantial revenue each year. In fact, lottery proceeds make up only a small portion of the state's total education dollars. For a typical district in Ohio, the legislature asserts that the lottery pays between 6% and 8% of their expenses. However, the lottery had actually had a negative impact on school funding in the state. In 1975, Ohio put almost 44.5% of every state budget dollar into education. In 1995, that amount had fallen to less than 32%. While lottery dollars were intended to supplement educational funding, they actually supplanted state funds, which were then diverted to other uses. Although lottery proceeds are an additional source of revenue for public schools, they constitute, only a small portion of the local school budget and in no way replace the need to ongoing local support.

[Roy Tucker]

Editorial from the Enquirer today that I thought was good...

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.d...IT01/502100320

Thursday, February 10, 2005

A key question after the school levies

Editorials

Tuesday was again a day of overall defeat for Ohio school levies. Five of six local school issues were voted down, as were 39 of 63 across the state. Last fall, half of 286 school ballot issues were defeated.

Parents, educators and residents wonder what's next.

Lakota Superintendent Kathleen Klink, as close to this issue as anyone after suffering three ballot defeats, summed up the answer well. "We'll work closely with our community to better understand what sort of a school district they want," she said.

No-voters may say the issue is what they don't want - current levels of spending. And school supporters may argue the issue is about maintaining what the schools already have.

But Klink understands that the issues go deeper than a single ballot vote or specific cuts. These divisive levy defeats are revealing a lack of agreement - or shared vision or perhaps simply communication - on what a particular district should be, and what constitutes a reasonable budget to get it there.

Clearly, many school systems no longer know what their communities expect of them. Is the bottom line lower spending, or is it high achievement? Or does the community want something in the middle - reduced spending with good, but perhaps not excellent, performance? Or are critics right that reducing the budget won't hurt performance?

For their part, citizens want to know more about how the district sets priorities, and which programs are the payoff points for their financial investment. Just what are the ramifications of teachers being cut? What really happens when you reduce intervention programs? And why should it matter to a homeowner if the school district is rated 'effective' rather than 'excellent'?

Tight family and state budgets bring new urgency to these questions. In many districts, even parents of schoolchildren are no longer automatic 'Yes' votes. On the other hand, older residents, whose major investment is their home, may have heightened interest - and distress - over the impact of failed levies on property values.

It's a fertile time for schools and communities to tackle these basic identity issues together. And levies or no levies, this sort of dialogue should never stop.

[TeamBoone]

TB, it is a quagmire. But these are our kids and it is our duty and obligation to make sure they are as educated as we possibly make them...

From the Cuyahoga link...

OHIO LOTTERY

Many people believe that proceeds from the Ohio Lottery provide schools in the state with substantial revenue each year. In fact, lottery proceeds make up only a small portion of the state's total education dollars. For a typical district in Ohio, the legislature asserts that the lottery pays between 6% and 8% of their expenses. However, the lottery had actually had a negative impact on school funding in the state. In 1975, Ohio put almost 44.5% of every state budget dollar into education. In 1995, that amount had fallen to less than 32%. While lottery dollars were intended to supplement educational funding, they actually supplanted state funds, which were then diverted to other uses. Although lottery proceeds are an additional source of revenue for public schools, they constitute, only a small portion of the local school budget and in no way replace the need to ongoing local support.

Then what they need to do is fix the problem of allocating state funding to "other uses". Just flat out don't allow it.

[creek14]

Don't like school funding in Ohio? Then stop voting in the current Ohio State Supreme Court members.

[WebScorpion]

Don't like school funding in Ohio? Then stop voting in the current Ohio State Supreme Court members.

The State Supreme Court effects the funding of education in Ohio?? If true, that's just not right. :dflynn:

[creek14]

The State Supreme Court effects the funding of education in Ohio?? If true, that's just not right. :dflynn:

The funding has been challenged in court and made it up to them.

[Yachtzee]

The funding has been challenged in court and made it up to them.

They actually ruled that the system for funding schools in Ohio was unconstitutional in DeRolph v. State. The issue has been tossed back to the state legislature a few times, but it has failed to come up with a new system for funding schools. So is the Supreme Court to blame for ruling the system to be unconstitutional, or is it the legislature who has failed to come up with a new system that passes constitutional muster?