Stephen Dyer · June 24, 2013

GOP Budgets Help Private & Charter Schools at the Expense of Public Schools

Research Overview

With a rebounding economy and improved tax collections, the two-year state budget process offered Gov. John Kasich and the Ohio General Assembly an extraordinary opportunity to restore support for public education and to correct the course of Ohio’s 15 year, largely failed experiment in school choice. Instead, through policy and funding choices contained in the legislation, they have effectively doubled down on a concept that has born scant fruit for Ohio’s children, instead promising even more taxpayer assistance to charters and private schools, all while forcing public schools to do more with less. In this report, Innovation Ohio will highlight provisions in the Senate-passed version of HB 59 – many of which were introduced by the Governor or the House – that further undermine public education and tilt the playing field in favor of poorly performing charters and unaccountable private schools. In particular, we find that HB 59:

• sends more money to charters, regardless of performance
• lowers standards for charter schools, exempting them from accountability expected of Ohio’s traditional public schools
• continues the push to privatize our public schools by union-busting and outsourcing
• sends more taxpayer money to fund private schools, and
• forces traditional schools to do more with less

Download the report. Read the press release.