State vs. Local State vs. Local FundingFunding

State vs. Local State vs. Local FundingFunding

By: By: Brooke LongBrooke LongGreg SuttonGreg Sutton

Kevin AlexanderKevin AlexanderChrista FourmanChrista Fourman

Pros For State Funding• More money for schools• Results in more programs,

improved facilities, and better books

• Less levies

Cons For State Funding• No control of money• No need for a school board• Politicians not educators

Pros for Local Funding• Control of money • More programs, better facilities,

and newer books• Educators handling funding/

projects (having a better understanding of what is best for the school)

Cons For Local Funding • Many more levies • People not willing to take full

financial responsibility for schools• Only two options to tax ( set by

state)

Ohio Support For Schools Is Unconstitutional

• DeRolph vs. the State of Ohio• Supreme Court finds funding for

Ohio’s schools unconstitutional• According to the Supreme Court,

Ohio must complete a systematic overhaul

What about Ohio?• In the case of DeRolph v. State of Ohio, the

Ohio Supreme Court ruled that the state's school funding formula failed to meet the "thorough and efficient" standard set for public schools in the Ohio constitution. This case, and many like it, are often decided after it is demonstrated that the funding of a child's education is based inordinately on where he or she lives.

State Funding For Schools In Ohio Since 1970

• 1970 over 40%• 1992 34.5%• 2003 39.3%• 2004 38.6%• 2005 38.5• In 2002 there was to be an estimated 3.

5% increase for 2005, however there was a decrease in support

How Bad Is Ohio’s State Funding

• Ohio received a D in school funding equity

• U.S. General Account Office says that Ohio has the worst public schools in the nation

• State budget allotted that public education has declined significantly from Fiscal Year 1992 to Fiscal Year 2005

How Do People In The Community Feel?

• Reverend Craig Fourman (Treasurer for levy funds in 2004/2005 Fairborn school district)

• State should find a way to give money and get out

• Enough money to cover state shares for all schools in Ohio

• New and efficient ways of raising money, such as different ways of taxing and corporate tax

Are States in the way?• State legislators control their share

of Ohio school funds, thus creating a deficit that local funding picks up…

Fiscal Year 2004 2005 2006 2007Number of Districts 58 161 261 364Aggregate Deficit 62,604,146 485,866,039 1,382,316,204 2,933,927,297

No Corporate Tax, No Hope

• State corporate taxes declined 34% from 1980 to 2005

• Many major corporations pay only $50 per year for corporate franchise tax

• Studies by Education Tax Policy Institute shows that the property tax has shifted dramatically from business to individuals

What is being done?• Legislators believe that if they try

and try again that things will change

• However things have not changed• Albert Einstein said the definition of

insanity is to do the same things over and over again and expect a different result.

Lakota Local School Funding

• Yearly budget 125,823,741.00• Funding from property tax• Funding from state of Ohio• Funding form Federal, Private

grants, Donations, and fees

How Does The State Funding Formula Work?

• A formula determines a basic aid• Phantom revenues• State Law HB920• How much this quirk cost Lakota

students during last years reappraisal

Cost Of The No Child Left Behind Act

• Will cost six million dollars per year for Lakota Local Schools

• Federal funds are estimated to cover less than 1% of those cost

• No Child Left Behind Act specifies “Highly effective professional development” for teachers

Problems with Funding

• Economic recession and stagnated state revenues lead to a future outlook of very little growth, and in many states, major cuts in state appropriations for higher education.

• Since 1971, most states have been subject to lawsuits seeking to reform their education funding systems.

• State Supreme Courts have found the finance systems unconstitutional in 16 states.

Why is equity in funding complex?

Concepts of equity and adequacy are difficult to measure and implement

• Every state must meet needs of large numbers of school districts

• Every school district varies in their student demographics

• Every school district varies in their costs of doing business

• Every school varies in ability to raise local tax revenues

What about Equity?• Usually, equity is measured in terms of the variation in per-

pupil revenues among school districts in a single state.

• Equity is likely to be greater when the residents of poor districts pay higher taxes.

• Much of current litigation and legislative activity in education funding seeks to assure "adequacy," that is, a sufficient level of funding to deliver an adequate education to every student in the state.

• Most states have not explicitly addressed the questions of how much education is "adequate" or how educational standards can be converted to a finance formula.

School levies in many states, and definitely here in Ohio are failing.

Consequences of levy failures are numerous…

• Pay to play sports or cutting some sports altogether

• Must provide own transportation to school

• Too many students per classroom

• Not enough teachers and teaching outside of degree field

• Lack of new, young teachers and oversupply of retiree age teachers

• Dated textbooks and supplies

• No new schools/Old schools run-down or cramped

• Special needs programs cut

• Honors/College Prep courses cut

• Field trips and school events cancelled

Constitutional Authority

• citizens have a “right to the privilege of education” and that it is the state’s duty to “guard and maintain that right.”

• the state must provide sufficient funds to provide “a general and uniform system of free public schools.”

The biggest change in school finance over the last 30 years has not been the increase in federal

expenditures but the shift of responsibility for financing education to state governments, whose

share of total education expenditures rose from 39% in 1965 to 50% in 1990

Things are looking up

Work Cited• www.kwfdn.org• www.asumag.com• www.columbusoh.about.com• www.johnlocke.org• www.futureofchildren.org• ww4.choice.net• www.rethinkingschools.com• www.ohiocoalition.org• www.lakotaonline.com• http://www.abidingchrist.org