Saturday Stats

$1.1B: Annual cost of the fiscally irresponsible income tax cut proposed in the state Senate’s version of the budget. Tax Policy Researcher Bailey Williams addressed the Senate Finance Committee with one main point: The 2.75% flat tax must be removed from the operating budget. Nearly all of the benefit of the cut (97%) goes to the highest-income 20%. (Watch the webinar Williams led for even more numbers). This is just one way that the state Senate has let down all but the richest Ohioans in this budget.

$2.74B: Amount by which the Senate’s budget will shortchange Ohio’s public schools over the next two years. Check out the latest version of our school district fact sheets to see the dramatic difference between what it takes to adequately fund our schools and the scraps lawmakers want districts to fight over while they provide billion-dollar tax cuts for the wealthy. And use our legislative-district factsheets to compare the potential impacts of each plan on your state Senate and state House districts.

267: Number of Ohio school districts in which student poverty levels are “High” or “Very High,” where funding for K-12 education is most needed.

246: Number of high or very high poverty districts that would receive the same or more funding under the FSFP than under the Senate’s school funding plan.

21: Number that would receive more funding under the Senate plan. For more on how the Senate plan betrays the FSFP, see our recent release from Hannah Halbert and Molly Bryden.

2.9M: Number of Ohioans who directly depend on Medicaid for their health coverage. The well-being of every one of these people — including adults, children, elderly people, people managing chronic diseases and disabilities, and students with special needs — is under direct threat. We hosted a webinar highlighting actions you can take and resources you can use when you contact your U.S. Senators telling them to protect health care for all Ohioans.

21.1%: Share of jobless Ohioans who accessed unemployment compensation (UC) benefits in the last quarter, ranking us 32^nd in the nation. In her testimony to the House Public Insurance and Pensions Committee, Work and Wages Fellow Bailey Sandin discussed how a significant number of Ohio workers are ineligible for unemployment benefits because they earn too little to qualify, even though many would qualify in other states. 

$2.3B: Amount of tax revenue lost each year as a result of legislators’ decision to eliminate the tangible personal property tax back in 2011. That carveout applies to business property, not residential or agricultural. As a result, more of the cost of critical public services — including K-12 education — must be covered by property taxes on homes and farms. So it makes sense that everyday Ohioans are mad as hell about property taxes: They’re once again paying for legislators’ commitment to helping business owners, rather than the people who elect them. In an op-ed for the Dayton Daily News, Bailey Williams explains how abolishing the property tax is the wrong approach, and how smarter, more targeted reforms can make Ohio’s tax code work for Ohioans.

PMO History: In 2021, Policy Matters, the Ohio Organizing Collaborative, the Ohio Federation of Teachers, and the Ohio Education Association teamed up to found All In For Ohio’s Kids. AOK is responsible for achieving a Fair School Funding expansion of $1.7 billion for Ohio’s K-12 public schools in the 2022-23 budget, and again in the 2024-25 budget. The Fair School Funding Plan (FSFP) is a bipartisan approach to school funding based on how much districts must spend to educate every child, including those who need different or additional support. The FSFP works because it is based on the actual cost of educating kids, sharing that cost between the state and local communities by considering communities’ ability to cover the costs through local taxes. Ohio is four years into the six-year plan—our best chance at finally achieving constitutional school funding—and the state legislature appears determined not to finish the job, falling severely short of the FSFP, and even reversing course in current budget proposals. Policy Matters Ohio is determined to make sure advocates have accurate and clear information at their disposal so if lawmakers choose to abandon the FSFP, they will not do so in secret.

Watchlist

H.B. 96, the state budget bill, has passed the Senate and is now in conference committee, where members of the state Senate and state House hammer out a compromise. The full Senate and House will have to approve the bill before it goes to Gov. DeWine (who will have the opportunity to veto individual line items). That means there is still time to influence the decisions your legislators make. Call and email their offices daily!

Action Items

• Register for the upcoming Rally for Ohio Kids put on by our friends at the Ohio Organizing Collaborative. Join us in demanding full funding for public schools and childcare in the Ohio state budget!
• Let your state Senator know you want them to reject the flat tax included in the budget.
• Join the letter-writing campaign by Building Freedom Ohio to support H.B. 29, which would ensure all correctional facilities provide adequate feminine hygiene products free of charge.
• Tell your state legislators to protect public education for all our kids!
• Add your name to the call for a People’s Budget, and let our leaders know what we demand from them.
• Follow the Ohio Medicaid Matters coalition on Facebook, Instagram, and/or Twitter. You can also share how Medicaid has made a difference in your life.