Stephen Dyer · June 18, 2013

Senate budget cuts schools by $533 million, compared to four years ago

After cutting schools by $1.8 billion in his first budget, Governor Kasich and state lawmakers are currently drafting a school funding plan for fiscal years 2014 and 2015. Information released by the Governor and legislature has been carefully constructed to show schools receiving increases in 2014-2015, but that is only when compared to the deep cuts of 2012-2013. We have previously released our calculations of the full, four-year impact of Gov. Kasich’s budget plan on districts, now we look at the Senate plan, adopted earlier this month and currently the subject of a House-Senate conference committee. The bill must be finalized and signed by the Governor before July 1. Research Highlights

• In the Senate version of the budget, school districts get $532.7 million less than they received in 2010-2011
• Three in four — 436 in total — school districts will continue to have fewer resources than in 2011

View the list of districts, with 4-year impact of Kasich budgets. Or see our complete spreadsheet showing changes to each individual funding stream since 2011. And review our March analysis of cuts to district in the Governor’s original introduced budget. Methodology Innovation Ohio used the following revenue streams for comparison: State Aid, State Fiscal Stabilization Funds, Tangible Personal Property Tax Reimbursement for operational and non-operational costs, and Killowatt-Hour Reimbursement for operational and non-operational costs. The Ohio Department of Taxation had the State Aid and SFSF figures from FY10, and the TPP and KwH payments for FY10-FY11 and FY14-FY15. The FY11 State Aid and SFSF figures came from the Ohio Legislative Service Commission’s calculation from the previous budget cycle in 2011. The State Aid figures came from the Ohio Senate’s District-by-District simulations produced for its version of the budget.