When the Ohio General Assembly passed historic Charter School Reform in 2015, the state’s new Charter School Sponsor accountability system was touted as a key to improving Ohio’s nationally ridiculed charter school funding system.
The idea was if sponsors (authorizers in any other state) had to actually ensure their schools were effectively educating students, then the sponsors would drop poor performing schools, cleaning the market of Ohio’s worst performing charter schools.
But that hasn’t exactly happened. There are fewer charter schools operating today than when the legislation was passed, but that has been primarily because new schools haven’t opened at nearly the pre-reform rates, which would typically make up for the closed schools.
As you can see, in the two full school years after Ohio’s charter reform legislation, fewer charter schools have closed than in the two years prior to the legislation. While the closures tend to be more high-profile given the media’s heightened sensitivity to charter schools, closures are slightly down since the legislation passed.
Why is this, given the law’s clear intent to force sponsors to be more vigilant over their schools’ performance?
Well, it’s because the charter sponsor evaluation system is deeply flawed, vastly overrating a sponsor’s ability to fill out paperwork over a sponsor’s ability to ensure students are learning at their schools.
In addition, sponsors have realized that if they are able to sponsor more dropout recovery schools, whose accountability system is notoriously lax, they’ll be able to hide their regular schools’ mostly poor academic performance.
Overall, dropout recovery schools rate about twice as high on their academic ratings as regular charter schools. In addition, their weighted ratings (which accounts for how many students attend the schools and are aggregated for a sponsor’s overall academic rating) are about 10 times higher than a typical Ohio charter school — still very low, but not quite as low.
This despite the fact the average dropout recovery school doesn’t graduate even 1 out of 4 of its students on time.
So these things are like gold to a charter school sponsor. And if you don’t have any in your portfolio, you’re behind the eight-ball.
Of the nine Ohio charter school sponsors that had zero dropout recovery schools under their purview last school year, five were rated ineffective or poor, meaning they could be forced as early as next school year to give up sponsoring charter schools.
This dovetails with the incongruity of a sponsor like Scioto County Career Technical Center, which is one of only eight sponsors to earn an A academic grade, being rated as one of the state’s worst charter school sponsors because it didn’t meet the state’s bureaucratic requirements. Their Poor rating means that one of the state’s highest performing academic charter sponsors would not be allowed to sponsor schools next school year, assuming they lose any appeals.
This result was not what the sponsor evaluation system was supposed to accomplish.
The state needs to fix this flawed system, weighting sponsors’ academic performance more heavily than its bureaucratic components. Instead of all three counting the same, I would like to see academics count as one-half of the grade with the other two counting 25 percent each. That’s better than the current system only counting academics as one-third of a sponsor’s grade.
It should also be impossible to be rated an effective sponsor unless your academic component is at least a C. Nor should you be rated ineffective if your academic rating is a B or A.
What should matter to policymakers is what the children who attend schools under these sponsors’ aegis are learning, not how well the sponsors’ adults fill out forms.
Though I could be wrong.
I wrote last week about the House tax plan to help working families with the cost of child care. At the time, I noted that the House plan leaves out 818,000 Ohio kids, while creating a brand new tax windfall to high-income families earning up to $300,000. The Senate announced its proposal today, and it somehow manages to be even worse. The Senate plan would add $1,000 per child to the value of the Child Tax Credit, but like the House, makes the extra amount nonrefundable. As a result, the new credit cannot be claimed if a family has no tax liability, as is the case for a single parent earning minimum wage. Even middle-income families cannot enjoy the full $2,000 per child credit unless they owe at least that much in taxes. As noted before, approximately 818,000 Ohio kids are expected to see little or no benefit from the proposal because of its nonrefundability.Even as the plan leaves out families who are most in need, the Senate extends the credit to even more wealthy families. Today, the value of the credit begins to phase out for couples earning more than $110,000, but the Senate plan would allow families earning up to $500,000 to enjoy the full value of the additional tax savings.And the Senate changes are temporary. Families will see the value of the tax credit shrink starting in 2026, even while the corporate tax reductions will remain in permanent law.
Since taking office, Donald and Ivanka Trump have often promised that tax reform would provide help to families struggling with the high cost of childcare. The GOP tax plan, released last week, falls far short and actually leaves many families with children worse off.
Note: This post refers to legislation currently pending in the US House of Representatives. A separate bill has been introduced in the Senate and varies slightly from the House version, notably by allowing families earning up to $1 million to claim the Child Tax Credit.The GOP tax plan, currently pending in the US House, would increase the child tax credit (CTC) for working parents from $1000 to $1600 per child. (Unlike deductions, which reduce the amount of income on which you are taxed, tax credits directly reduce the amount of tax you must pay). The existing credit is only partially “refundable”, meaning that families due a tax refund, or who owe less the amount of the credit, only get a fraction of its face value, not to exceed 15 percent of their income over $3000. As a result, families living in poverty are already less likely to benefit than those in the middle class.
The additional $600 in the GOP plan is not refundable. Families with no net tax liability (e.g. a single mother working at minimum wage) will see absolutely no additional benefit. At the same time, the plan allows married couples earning as much as $230,000 to receive the full value of the credit, a big increase from today’s $110,000 income limit.
Source: Center on Budget and Policy PrioritiesThe expanded CTC does not grow over time, so each year it will lose value relative to the ever-increasing cost of child care. The bill also adds a $300 credit for each parent and non-child dependent in a household, but that provision phases out in five years and is also non-refundable, again meaning that its benefit will go primarily to middle to upper income earning families. Combined, these two factors are the reason most analysts show that any tax reduction enjoyed by working families turns into a tax increase within a few years:Source: David Kamin, How a Tax Cut Turns Into a Tax Increase, 11/2/17
According to a new analysis, the increased child tax credit would provide no relief to the parents of 388,000 Ohio kids, and provide only a fraction of the full benefit for another 430,000 kids in the state.
In its plan, GOP leaders ignored Ivanka Trump’s proposed solution, crafted with Sen. Marco Rubio, to increase the child tax credit to $2000 and make it fully refundable. That change could have made a small yet meaningful difference for families struggling to pay the cost of childcare, which in Ohio averages over $11,000 per child. Upon its introduction, Marco Rubio took to Twitter to say the extra $600 does not achieve the President’s goal of helping working families. We agree.When taken in combination with other changes in the GOP plan, working families are likely to be much worse off. While doubling the standard deduction, the bill also eliminates a number of exemptions and deductions that families currently enjoy including a $4050 per family member exemption, as well as deductions for student loan interest, adoption expenses, state and local income taxes and out-of-pocket medical costs. Families with multiple children, or high expenses in one or more of these categories (beyond the amount of the increased standard deduction) are likely to pay more under the GOP plan.
Bottom Line: over time, the GOP proposal to raise the CTC could still mean a tax increase for low-income families, little to no benefit for families in the middle, and a sizable new tax cut for families earning $110,000 to $230,000.
Yesterday, Innovation Ohio’s Erin Ryan testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on House Bill 61, legislation that would exclude women’s menstrual supplies from the Ohio sales tax. Erin argued that, just like groceries and rent, menstrual supplies are a basic necessity, and should be exempt from taxation.
Erin discussed the unfairness of a tax system that excludes race cars and newspapers from taxation, but taxes women for purchasing what the Food and Drug Administration classifies as “medical supplies”.
Read Erin’s full testimony: Exempt feminine hygiene products from sales tax
You can support HB61 by contacting your Representative and Ways and Means Committee Chairman Schaffer, and ask them to stop taxing women’s menstrual supplies.
Today, the US House of Representatives will debate and vote on a 2018 Budget Resolution (H. Con Res. 71) that sets the stage for trillions of dollars in cuts to programs people rely on, in order to lay the groundwork for a massive tax cut for the wealthy and corporations.
Like its 2017 predecessor which made it possible to repeal the Affordable Care Act with just 50 votes, the 2018 budget resolution similarly containes “reconciliation” instructions that will allow Congress to come back any time in the next year and enact tax breaks and spending cuts with a slim majority of Senators.
The House Budget resolution incorporates the same ACA repeal measure that the chamber passed earlier this year – a package which would cause 23 million to lose their health care, eliminates the Medicaid expansion but also caps the traditional Medicaid program at the expense of children, seniors and people with disabilities.
The resolution goes even further, however, and makes cuts to Medicare, environmental protection, Pell Grants, student loans, food assistance and many other programs American families depend on for their health, safety and economic security. In total, the package cuts $5.8 trillion from vital programs so that it can later be spent on huge tax breaks for a narrow minority of wealthy individuals and corporations.
Call your Representative today at 1-888-516-5820 and tell them to vote NO on this dangerous budget.
Now that the state budget has been put to bed, complete with Gov. John Kasich’s veto, we can finally tell how kids in Ohio’s 600 plus school districts have done during Kasich’s eight years in office.
The results aren’t good. Because Kasich drastically cut and all but eliminated essential revenue streams for children in public school districts, they will have more than $900 million fewer in this biennium than they had during the Great Recession biennium of 2010-2011.
These projections are available now in our Comparing School Funding database, based on all state revenue sent to districts.
Comparing school funding levels – 2010 vs. 2018
The bottom line is Ohio’s school districts will receive $903 million fewer over the next two years than they received during the two years budgeted at the height of the Great Recession, adjusted for inflation. In the 2018-2019 school year alone, districts will receive $492.7 million less.
While it is true that the state aid line item is the highest it’s ever been, Kasich and his legislative allies’ decision to abruptly end reimbursement payments to school districts for lost tangible personal property tax and public utility tax revenues (from tax reforms that have not resulted in appreciably more Ohio jobs), as well as their refusal to replace federal funding meant to prop up state budgets during the Great Recession’s steep state revenue declines have meant that overall state funding to schools has, in reality, plummeted during the last eight years.
Impacts of Privatization
None of this cut includes the significant increase in funding to school privatization efforts in just the last six years – a more than 27 percent increase to state aid transfers from school districts to privately run charter schools and a whopping 205 percent increase in state funding deductions from school districts to private school vouchers– that also remove significant sums of state dollars from school district bottom lines.
Bottom Line
In constant dollars, about 2 out of every 3 Ohio school districts will receive less total aid from the state this next two years than they did from the budget passed during the height of the Great Recession.
Biggest Losers
The biggest loser by far is the Cleveland Municipal School District, which is receiving a whopping $170 million fewer over the next two years. That’s about the same amount cut as the top 20 gaining districts will receive combined. Remember that Gov. John Kasich has insisted that Cleveland make drastic changes or face state take over. Clearly, he has asked that while removing significant sums of state dollars from the district, making any success the Cleveland Plan is having a minor miracle and a testament to the teachers and district leaders working together with far less state support than ever (for a detailed look at the Cleveland Plan, read our report).
Also of note is that Northern Local School District in Perry County, which was the district that originally sued the state in 1991 because it had to rely too much on property taxes – a premise the Ohio Supreme Court ruled four times was an unconstitutional way to fund schools – will receive $5.7 million fewer over the next two years, forcing Northern Local to (you guessed it) rely more on property taxes.
Consequences
The state’s historic, 8-year step back from the education funding table has led to property owners paying more property taxes than ever to educate their community’s children, and at higher rates.
Meanwhile, Ohio’s national, overall education rating has dropped from 5th to 22nd.
The Senate plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act effectively died Monday, as four GOP Senators announced opposition to the bill. In response, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell now says he will bring a repeal-only bill to the floor in the coming days. According to the Congressional Budget Office, such a move would be disastrous:
32 million would lose coverage by 2026; 18 million would become uninsured in 2018 alone.
Premiums would rise by 25% next year, then 50% in two years, and doubling by 2026.
Insurers would leave the individual market.
Households earning over $1 million would see over $50,000 per year in tax breaks.
It’s unlikely the repeal path will succeed. Senators Murkowski, Capito and Collins have all said they will oppose a motion to start debate on the repeal bill, already denying McConnell the 50 votes necessary to move the bill. Rob Portman has expressed strong concerns that the approach causes too much uncertainty, but hasn’t yet committed to voting no. Governor Kasich, for his part, signed onto a letter with a bipartisan group of 11 governors opposing the repeal and replace later approach.
The latest effort is to work out a deal on Medicaid with Senate moderates. There is also strong pressure being applied to moderates like Portman from conservative groups that tend to fund their campaigns, so we are by no means out of the woods.
Other Congressional Threats to Healthcare
While larger health reform efforts have been unsuccessful, the House budget resolution for the upcoming fiscal year offers an alternative path to the same outcome. The House plan would cut $1.5 trillion from Medicaid, change it into a block grant and end expansion – a more severe proposal than anything in either the House or Senate plans. The GOP caucus may be unable to reach middle ground on this plan, but one way or another they want to find a way to make deep cuts to Medicaid in order to pay for tax cuts. Stay tuned to the budget process.
Medicaid in the Crosshairs of Ohio Lawmakers
The future of healthcare is also on the minds of lawmakers here in Ohio and activists will need to continue to pay attention at the state level to prevent massive loss of health coverage.
First, lawmakers still have hopes of thinning the ranks of Medicaid enrollees through the so-called “Healthy Ohio” program, which would require low-income Ohioans to pay into health savings accounts or risk losing Medicaid. The measure was vetoed by Governor Kasich, but the House voted to override the Governor earlier this month. The Senate is taking the summer off, but could join their House colleagues in an override vote as early as mid-August. For more on the veto override process, see our earlier blog post.
Beyond the budget, a number of other bills currently pending in the Ohio Statehouse reflect the ongoing debate over the future of the Affordable Care Act:SB99 would close Ohio’s Medicaid program to new enrollment in the expansion group (working age adults with incomes below 138 percent of poverty). SB168 ends Medicaid expansion entirely.
Neither of the measures have made it out of committee, but are a sure sign that no matter what happens in Congress, Ohio lawmakers have the capacity and willingness to act unilaterally to deny healthcare to thousands if they so choose.
For their part, Ohio Democrats have introduced legislation to dramatically reshape Ohio’s healthcare universe. Senate Bill 91, sponsored by Senators Mike Skindell and Charleta Tavares would establish a single-payer healthcare program, available to all state residents, including the homeless and migrant workers. The bill has only had a single hearing in the Senate Insurance and Financial Institutions committee.
As advocates for universal, affordable healthcare, we must pay attention not only to Congress, also developments at the state level, staying in constant touch with state lawmakers.
For the latest information on legislation moving at the Ohio Statehouse, sign up for updates from the relevant committee that a bill is assigned to, and stay tuned to IO’s legislative alerts to find out if they begin to move forward.
We honestly didn’t expect to be sending an email this week. Typically the General Assembly would be quiet for the holiday, but lawmakers plans to convene on Thursday to override many of the Governor’s budget vetoes, perhaps weakening the state’s gun laws while they’re in town.
AT THE STATEHOUSE – BUDGET VETO SHOWDOWN
On Friday, Governor Kasich announced he had vetoed 47 items in the state budget. Read the Governor’s veto announcement. Among the Kasich vetoes:
Three provisions to limit Medicaid expansion enrollment, including the freeze.
Changes to an oversight board that would have made it easier to allow fracking in state parks.
A proposal to consider the closure of state agencies every four years.
A plan to allow local telephone companies to stop offering basic lifeline service.
State funding cuts for Columbus over certain water and sewer charges.
A legislative fix to replace $200 in lost annual sales tax revenue, essential to the operation of counties and transit agencies.
A mandate to seek a waiver of federal Medicaid rules prohibiting inpatient treatment in facilities with more than 16 beds, a barrier to overcoming addiction.
House Session Scheduled Thursday
In response, Republican lawmakers threatened to override the Governor, scheduling a rare holiday-week House session Thursday to hold votes. The budget passed the chamber 59-40 (see how your lawmakers voted), but needs 60 votes to override. It’s important that lawmakers hear from constituents this week. Contact yours now.
Let the Veto Stand – Governor Kasich used his line-item veto to protect Medicaid expansion, a program that provides healthcare to very low-income Ohioans. Tell your State Representative and Senator to let Governor Kasich’s veto stand. Use our easy letter-writing tool or find your lawmaker’s contact info at legislature.ohio.gov.
Success! Thanks to an outpouring of support, Governor Kasich heeded the call to veto a proposal in the state budget to end enrollment in the Medicaid expansion starting in July, 2018.
But lawmakers haven’t given up. House Speaker Cliff Rosenberger has scheduled an unusual holiday-week legislative session for Thursday, July 6 at 9am, and has indicated there are enough votes in his chamber to override the Governor’s veto (the bill received 59 of the 60 votes needed for a veto override, but some “no” votes came from conservative lawmakers who may be persuaded to flip). Senate President Larry Obhof, whose chamber passed the budget with a veto-proof margin has not scheduled a date to hold an override vote but expressed confidence his chamber would do so.
To clear this one last hurdle to protect Medicaid expansion enrollees, lawmakers need to hear from their constituents. Contact your State Senator and State Representative or ask them NOT to vote to override the Governor’s veto of the Medicaid freeze.