May 26, 2013

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After IO report, JobsOhio says it will return taxpayer funds

March 19, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Yesterday, IO released public records revealing that Governor Kasich’s quasi-private economic development agency, JobsOhio had spent nearly $1.2 million in one year for an office and furnishings for just over 20 people. Less than 24 hours later, the agency announced today that it will give back some of the funds it received from taxpayers for its start-up efforts.

JobsOhio Board Member Mark Kvamme at in-house coffee bar (Photo Credit: Fred Squillante, Columbus DIspatch)

JobsOhio Board Member Mark Kvamme at in-house coffee bar (Photo Credit: Fred Squillante, Columbus DIspatch)

Said IO Communications Director Dale Butland:

“It’s sad it took a subpoena to get Gov. Kasich and JobsOhio to come clean about how they’ve spent public money. But Innovation Ohio takes pride in blowing the whistle on the hundreds of thousands of dollars JobsOhio wasted on lavish furniture, coffee bars and other outrageous office expenses. And if our efforts played even a small role in convincing JobsOhio to refund that money to the taxpayers, it was well worth the time we took to do it.”

 

Filed Under: Innovation Station

JobsOhio Blows $1 Million on Office Expenses

March 18, 2013 By 2 Comments

For Immediate Release: March 18, 2013
Contact: Dale Butland, 614-783-5833

 

JOBSOHIO BLOWS $1 MILLION ON OFFICE EXPENSES
Documents Reveal Furniture, Remodeling Among Lavish Expenditures

COLUMBUS -  An independent audit of JobsOhio spending by KPMG and a required annual report from the Ohio Department of Development show that JobsOhio spent $1.196 million – more than its entire “startup” appropriation from the state — on “office expenses” during its first year of operation.

Copies of both the KPMG audit (see: page 5 and page 7) and the DOD report were obtained by Innovation Ohio pursuant to public records requests. Innovation Ohio is a progressive think tank headquartered in Columbus.

Though JobsOhio has fewer than 25 employees, its eye-popping payouts include:

  • $367,000 for office remodeling:
  • $362,000 for office furniture;
  • $233,000 for rent
  • $167,000 for IT (information technology)
  • $67,000 for “supplies”

Auditor of State Dave Yost has subpoenaed JobsOhio’s financial records in order to conduct a complete audit of the agency’s expenditures. The Kasich Administration faces a Tuesday deadline to comply with Yost’s subpoena.

Said IO Communications Director Dale Butland: “Ohio taxpayers provided JobsOhio with a $1 million in startup funds in 2011. Now we learn that JobsOhio spent every dime of it — and more — turning its office into a corporate version of the Taj Majal. Do 20 or so employees of JobsOhio really need $362,000 worth of furniture? Did they really need to spend $366,000 on remodeling, including the installation of a coffee bar? No wonder Gov. Kasich doesn’t want Auditor Yost to see the books. JobsOhio is spending money in ways that would make Donald Trump blush.

“We salute Auditor Yost for insisting that JobsOhio open its books — and we urge him to stick to his guns. Determining whether public money has been properly spent is the most important part of his job description. And since everyone knows money is fungible, Gov. Kasich’s phony distinction between ‘private’ and ‘public’ funding just won’t wash.”

JobsOhio Board Member Mark Kvamme at in-house coffee bar (Photo Credit: Fred Squillante, Columbus DIspatch)

JobsOhio Board Member Mark Kvamme shows off the in-house coffee bar (Photo Credit: Fred Squillante, Columbus Dispatch)

 

Filed Under: Featured Items, Press Releases

IO On The Air: King, Butland represent progressive public policy on TV this weekend

March 1, 2013 By Leave a Comment

ontheairInnovation Ohio will be well represented on Columbus-based public affairs talk shows this weekend. IO President Janetta King will appear on Columbus on the Record which airs Friday night and Sunday morning. IO Communications Director Dale Butland will appear on The Spectrum on Sunday morning.

WOSU-TV’s Columbus on the Record airs locally in Columbus tonight at 8:30 p.m. and Sunday at 11 a.m. The program airs around the state on other public TV stations – check your local listings or watch online later.

WCMH-NBC4i’s The Spectrum airs at 10 a.m. Sunday.

Topics for the shows this week include federal sequester cuts, Kasich budget and rising income inequality.

Filed Under: Innovation Station, IO on the Air

[Video] Butland explains IO charter schools report on Columbus on the Record

February 19, 2013 By Leave a Comment

IO Communications Director Dale Butland explains our recent report, Unfair Funding – How Charter Schools Win and Traditional Schools Lose, to Mike Thompson and the panel on Columbus on the Record last weekend:

Filed Under: Education, Innovation Station

[Video] Lunch with IO – Catch up on Ohio public policy

February 18, 2013 By Leave a Comment

IO’s Dale Butland made the rounds of three Columbus-based public affairs TV shows this weekend. Watch these clips today and tomorrow look for a clip with Dale explaining our latest charter schools report:

Filed Under: Innovation Station, IO on the Air

IO On The Air: Butland does three shows this weekend

February 16, 2013 By 1 Comment

ontheairIO’s Dale Butland acquitted himself quite well on Columbus on the Record last night. If you missed it, don’t fear – at least if you live in the Columbus area – he’ll be on the re-broadcast Sunday morning. Here’s that and the rest of your IO Sunday lineup:

  • Columbus on the Record, WOSU-TV, Columbus, 11 a.m.. Topics include IO’s report on the cost to the state of charter schools from earlier this week and the Kasich tax plan.
  • The Spectrum, WCMH-NBC4, Columbus, 10 a.m. Dale discusses the Kasich tax plan and answers the GOP’s Bob Bennett.
  • Capitol Square, WBNS-10TV, Columbus, 11 a.m. Dale and GOPer Terry Casey do an extended Two Sides segment where they discuss all things budget, raising the minimum wage and a certain state official who played the Hitler card.
Filed Under: Innovation Station, IO on the Air

Poll: Ohioans Reject Kasich Budget Proposals

February 15, 2013 By 1 Comment

For Immediate Release: February 15, 2013
Contact: Dale Butland, 614-783-5833

Poll: Ohioans Reject Kasich Budget Proposals

Innovation Ohio Says General Assembly Should Heed Voters 

COLUMBUS – Innovation Ohio, a progressive think tank headquartered in Columbus, today released the results of a poll showing that large majorities of Ohioans disagree with many of Gov. John Kasich’s key policy and budget proposals.

Among the poll’s key findings are:

  • 60% of Ohioans say public schools need more state funding to improve; 59% say Ohio is doing too little to improve the quality of public education
  • 62% say helping localities fund schools, fire and police is more important to them than reducing the state income tax
  • 62% favor raising Ohio’s severance tax on oil and natural gas to the Texas rate —and using the money to offset state budget cuts to local governments
  • 74% favor a plan to create tax incentives for energy companies to hire Ohio workers
  • 57% oppose borrowing against future Ohio Turnpike tolls in order to fund road, bridge and other infrastructure projects now [Read more...]
Filed Under: Featured Items, FY 2014-15 Budget, Innovation Station, Ohio State Budget, Press Releases

News Release: Charter Schools Cost State Twice as Much per Student as Traditional Schools

February 14, 2013 By 4 Comments

For Immediate Release: February 14, 2013
Contact: Dale Butland, 614-783-5833

IO: Charter Schools Cost State Twice as Much per Student as Traditional Schools

Report Finds “Deduction” System Overpays Charters, Shortchanges Traditional Students; Says Majority of Charter Money Goes to Poorer Performing Schools

Columbus — Innovation Ohio, a progressive think tank headquartered in Columbus, released a new report today which finds that charter schools not only cost the state twice as much money per student as traditional schools, but that the “deduction system” currently used to fund them “has a profoundly negative impact on the 90% of Ohio children who remain in traditional public schools.” The study also found that most of the state money transferred to charters went to schools with worse student performance scores than the school districts from which the money and students came.

Specific findings of the study include:

  • In FY 2012, charter schools received $7,141 per pupil in state money — more than twice the $3,399 traditional public schools received from the state after charter deductions;
  • Charter school funding is based on the cost of educating kids in a traditional school, despite the fact that charters have far lower actual costs. Charters pay teachers less, have no student transportation expenses, and are exempt from some 270 legal and regulatory requirements with which traditional schools must comply.
  • The resulting overpayment to charters comes at the expense of traditional school students. In FY 2012, for example, the $774 million transferred to charters gave traditional school children, on average, 6.5% less funding than the state said they needed.
  • Although proponents of “school choice” often cast charter schools as superior to traditional schools, 85% of those who transferred in the 2011-12 school year left districts with better state performance results than the charters to which they went. [Read more...]
Filed Under: Education, Press Releases Tagged With: ,

[Video] Butland on Capitol Square – February 10, 2013

February 12, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Innovation Ohio’s Dale Butland talked about Medicaid expansion and the Ohio Budget over the weekend on WBNS-10TV’s Capitol Square. He also responded to Ohio Republican Party Chairman Bob Bennett’s recent outburst.

Filed Under: Innovation Station, IO on the Air

Who is really served by latest Kasich budget?

February 6, 2013 By 4 Comments

served

If Gov. John Kasich’s latest two-year state budget proposal proves one thing, it is this: Most Ohioans don’t have a friend in Columbus.

If you’re a high income earner, the governor is on your side. If you’re a bigwig at a Big Oil & Gas firm, the governor is your humble servant. If you are a charter school cheat, looting public education – John Kasich is your wheelman.

If you’re looking for relief or a leveling of the playing field – you’re out of luck.

There are still bills to be dropped, hearings to be held and a months-long political process to watch and to participate in on Capitol Square. Innovation Ohio will be unpacking the issues below in greater detail in the coming days and weeks. The state budget is about taxing and spending, but it’s also a huge collection of public policy changes. It’s a document that can be forward looking and which offers a plan to put public money into to the public’s interest. What we’re seeing so far is ideological dogma, little that speaks to the future and lots of your money flowing in the wrong directions.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Featured Items, FY 2014-15 Budget, Innovation Station, Ohio State Budget Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,
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