School Funding in Ohio, Explained
As part of the biennial state budget passed in June 2021, a new way to fund our public schools was established and is poised to be a more full and equitable method of funding for Ohio’s public schools. Ohio’s method of funding public schools was first deemed unconstitutional by the Ohio Supreme Court nearly 100 years ago in 1923. Since then the Ohio Supreme Court ruled three additional times that our K-12 public school funding mechanism was unconstitutional, but up until now has not been remedied.
It’s now more important than ever for Ohioans to understand the difference in how we’ve typically funded our public schools and the new plan moving forward, and how this affects everyone in our state from students and educators to taxpayers and businesses.
The following slide deck is based on historical research and expert testimonies and provides a brief history of the importance of our public schools, the state’s role in providing education to every child and an account of how our schools have historically been funded to date.
We encourage Ohioans to educate themselves on school funding in our state, but also to take actionable steps to secure equitable funding for years to come because our work is certainly far from finished!
Included in the slide deck and within the toolkit are easily accessible resource banks and simple yet effective methods of engaging legislators.
Continued advocacy for further improvement in our K-12 public education funding is essential to our state and we thank you for your commitment to Ohio's public schools.
Disclaimer: This work was prepared and/or accomplished in Leadership Ohio as part of an Ohio Impact Project by 2021 Fellows Derek Anderson, Shelley Dickstein, Jamie Martin, Louise Valentine, and Brandi Weekley in their personal capacity. The opinions expressed are those of the Fellows and do not necessarily reflect those of Leadership Ohio and its employees. Learn more about Leadership Ohio at www.leadershipohio.org.
