Councilwoman Hart on HB110: Fair School Funding Plan
Dear Neighbors,
I am writing you today because leaders from the CHUH School system and its supporters are traveling to Columbus to testify in favor of including HB 110 in the State budget. Many, if not most, of the challenges facing Cleveland Heights University Heights schools are caused by the unconstitutional school funding process followed by the State government for decades.
Our schools are important to our community. Our ability to attract and retain residents depends, in large part, on the strength of the public education one can receive here in Cleveland Heights. The ability to attract and retain residents also depends on getting control of local tax rates. This bill would both strengthen our schools and help get control of local taxes.
City Council passed a resolution a few weeks ago at my request supporting the changes listed in HB 110 as a fair way of funding schools. It would do away with much of the EdChoice voucher system which has cost our system millions of dollars and caused it to ask for a tax increase that would not have been needed if the state funded the voucher system it imposed on the public school system.
The overall plan also does the following:
The state’s basic aid per pupil will increase based on a careful analysis of the actual cost of education and of student needs and better reflecting a community’s ability to fund its schools.
Categorical aid, additional state investments to address special issues including the extra cost of educating children where there is concentrated poverty, will increase immediately.
The state will assume more of the cost of transporting students, including those who do not attend a public school.
This plan will bring our state taxes back home to our local communities and fix school funding with ZERO increase in taxes. Now is the time to invest in our students, schools and local communities. To learn more about how this legislation will impact our schools, I encourage you to visit bit.ly/FairSchoolFundingPlan.
This plan can be implemented without any tax increases because the state is in good financial shape. The House bill passed with leadership from the Republican and Democratic Parties both supporting the bill in the House. It is now pending in the Senate before the Finance Committee chaired by Senator Matt Dolan. That is where the CHUH leaders and supporters are going to testify today. Please contact him to support passage of this plan. His phone number is (614) 466-8056 or you can contact him through the Ohio Senate website.
This change is important for our City in controlling our tax rate and avoiding or delaying the need for future increases from the school system. Please contact Senator Dolan, who represents a district here in Northeast Ohio that is in Geauga and Cuyahoga Counties.
If you want more information on the bill and what it does you can also go to https://sites.google.com/view/ohiofairschoolfunding.
Please do this quickly as today was the last day of testimony regarding the bill.
Sincerely,
Melody Joy Hart
Cleveland Heights Council Member