Another loss for Ohio schools

House makes it harder for public schools to raise funds locally

Today, the Ohio House of Representatives continued their crusade against public education by overriding Gov. DeWine’s line-item veto of a property-tax measure included in the state operating budget that was passed last month. Of three vetoes targeted for override, House leadership was only able to muster votes for one: Item 66, which eliminates replacement and emergency levies currently allowed under Ohio law. This change will make it harder for local governments and local schools to raise revenue in the future. The other measures, which would have had more far reaching and immediate impacts on school budgets, were not taken up.

Policy Matters Ohio’s executive director, Hannah Halbert, released the following statement in response to today’s vote.

“In H.B. 96, the biennial operating budget bill, the legislature included many provisions sold as property tax ‘assistance.’ These were poorly targeted to taxpayers who need that assistance, but well designed to harm Ohio’s public schools. Fortunately, Governor DeWine vetoed the most damaging of these changes and enough legislators stood up for their communities that schools were spared an additional estimated loss of $330 million over the next three years.

“Ohio could have included a property tax circuit breaker, a well-targeted state-funded property tax assistance policy, in the state budget, but legislators opted instead to pass a $1.7 billion income tax cut that will primarily benefit Ohioans with six-figure incomes. With less state aid and tighter restrictions on local levy options, many school districts will have to ask their residents to tolerate cuts at the local level or more frequent levy campaigns.

“This is not the solution to Ohio’s property tax or school funding problems. Policy Matters will continue to advocate for a state tax code that is adequately funded. By reversing a generation of income tax cuts that have primarily benefitted high-income households, the state could have been far better positioned to provide direct property tax help to those who need it while also meeting our constitutional mandate for adequate state aid to local schools.

“Policy Matters has produced factsheets that show how the budget and the three so-called property tax provisions would affect each school district in Ohio, so if the legislature wants to return to override vetoes protecting the 20-mill floor, they and their constituents can know what is at stake.”