jan Resseger has some thoughts about what the Ohio legislature could do with the big pile of money they’ve collected. Reposted with permission.
In a pithy analysis released on Monday, the Heights Coalition for Public Education dissects Ohio’s public school funding crisis and charges the Ohio Legislature to invest over half a billion dollars in unencumbered surplus state revenue in categorical state school funding for students living in poverty, disabled students, and English language learners—groups of students whose needs Ohio has notoriously failed to support.
Legislators created the current school funding crisis when, in the 2026-2027 state budget, they “abandoned the final phase of the Fair School Funding Plan (a new school funding formula, in the sixth and final year of its planned phase-in)… The state appropriated $2.75 billion less for FY 26 and FY 27 than what the plan required… This year the state is contributing only 32.2% of the base cost of education, down from 43.3% in FY 24.”
The Heights Coalition describes the funding crisis for Ohio’s public schools and follows with one strategy for at least beginning to reduce the funding shortage: “Communities across Ohio are facing new school levy requests and/or deep cuts to education opportunities. More than 20% of districts will run out of funds in FY2029. This financial crisis and its negative impact on education opportunities was triggered by the Ohio Legislature when it passed the current state budget and abandoned the final phase of the Fair School Funding Plan.”
However, because the state raised more from taxes than predicted and because expenses were less than planned, data from the Ohio Office of Management and Budget now exposes over $500 million in unencumbered state budget revenue. The Heights Coalition insists the money ought to be invested in the state’s underfunded public schools: “As of July 18, the General Revenue Fund still had about $536 million that had not been committed. Lawmakers should use those funds to increase state funding for Ohio’s most vulnerable students: children with disabilities, children from low-wage families, and English learners. This would give school districts across the state short-term financial relief and improve education opportunities for students whose unique costs have been studied but not addressed in the Fair School Funding Plan.”
Why target unspent funds to children living in poverty, students learning English, and students with disabilities? “Over the last four years the number of children with disabilities and the number of children from homes with limited income have increased… Their needs are real…
- “The weights used to determine state funding for the six categories of special education were last updated for the 2009-10 school year.
- “The state’s contribution to special education has fallen below 30%.
- “The pooled fund for the highest cost students is inadequate.
- “Funding for low-income children, called Disadvantaged Pupil Impact Aid, is set at $422 (per child), a far cry from the $3,300 extra spending that state research says is appropriate.”
The statewide public education advocacy coalition, Honesty for Ohio Education shares the Heights Coalition’s concern about the legislature’s failure to fund the public schoools: “Communities across Ohio are facing new levy requests and deep cuts to education opportunities not because local officials mismanaged their budgets, but because the legislature walked away from its own funding formula… ‘When lawmakers failed to fully implement the Fair School Funding Plan in 2025, the children who lost the most were kids in poverty, kids with disabilities, English learners, and students in rural districts. There is more than half a billion dollars on the table right now that could begin to make that right,’ said Dr. Christina Collins, Executive Director of Honesty for Ohio Education. ‘Funding the formula is about the state fulfilling its constitutional obligation to fund public schools.’ ”
Ohio’s problem is complicated by the grossly inadequate level of federal funding for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). When IDEA was passed in 1975, the federal government committed to covering 40% of the cost of services, but federal dollars have never come close to the promised investment. While in recent years the federal share has hovered near 14%, last year the federal government covered only 12%.
The Heights Coalition charges Ohio voters to:
- “support (local property) tax levy requests… Our children and communities deserve high-quality education even if lawmakers are not willing to honor their responsibility…
- “lobby state lawmakers to commit any remaining surplus funds to the education of our neediest students… (and)
- “identify and support candidates for the legislature who will make public education their priority in the next state budget. Work on the budget begins in January of 2027.”