OHIO JOB GROWTH STALLING IO Analysis Shows No “Ohio Miracle”; State Ranks 47th In Nation Just 16,000 New Jobs Created in Past Year
Columbus — The Innovation Ohio Education Fund (IOEF) today released an analysis showing that Ohio job growth has stalled over the past year, with just 16,000 new jobs created between June, 2012 and June, 2013. Ohio’s job performance over the year was 82% lower than the national average, and the state now ranks 47th in the nation. Only Maine, Wyoming and Alaska have poorer yearly growth rates than Ohio’s 0.309%. Read the analysis here. The data used by the IOEF was generated by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and tracks seasonally-adjusted non-farm employment in all 50 states. When BLS issued its monthly jobs report last month, many Ohio media outlets focused only on Ohio’s dismal June numbers, which showed a loss of 12,500 jobs — the second worst performance in the country next to Tennessee. But because monthly jobs numbers fluctuate so wildly (Ohio had a terrible June, a good May and a horrible March), IO decided to look beyond the monthly numbers and dig deeper into BLS data in order to examine the state’s performance over time. Said Innovation Ohio Communications Director Dale Butland: “Gov. Kasich and his allies continue to credit their own budget and economic policies for what the Governor calls an ‘Ohio miracle.’ But objective data from the non-partisan BLS paints a decidedly different picture. Ohio’s job growth is not just stagnant; over the past year it’s fallen far behind that of most other states. Indeed, Ohio now ranks 47th in the country. “What makes Ohio’s recent performance especially troubling is its precipitous drop from the year before. From June, 2011 to June, 2012, the state’s job growth rate was 2.2%. Now it’s just 0.309% — or more than 7 times smaller. “All of this raises a fundamental question about the wisdom of Gov. Kasich’s tax and budget policies. Of the 139,000 jobs created in Ohio since Kasich became Governor, 123,000 came between January of 2011 and June of 2012; in other words, during his first 18 months in office. Just 16,000 jobs have been created since then. “Gov. Kasich’s first budget — along with its accompanying tax policies — were not signed into law until June of 2011. JobsOhio didn’t begin operating until July of that year. So it’s difficult to see how the Governor can plausibly credit his policies for producing even the 123,000 jobs that were created during the earliest months of his governorship. “Many observers — including Innovation Ohio and several major newspapers — have long argued that tax cuts which disproportionately benefit the wealthy, coupled with huge budget cuts for schools and local governments, is not a recipe for long-term economic success. “In light of the evidence, we hope Gov. Kasich and his legislative allies will consider changing course. In the meantime, it’s clear that Gov. Kasich’s claims of an ‘Ohio Miracle’ are — like premature reports of Mark Twain’s death — greatly exaggerated.”News Release: IO: GOP Budgets Help Private & Charter Schools at the Expense of Public Schools
IO: GOP Budgets Help Private & Charter Schools at the Expense of Public Schools
Columbus: Innovation Ohio, a progressive think tank headquartered in Columbus, released a report today which concludes that all three Republican budget proposals for FY 2014-15 (which are awaiting reconciliation in a Senate/House Conference Committee) “continue the GOP’s relentless assault on traditional public schools while simultaneously advancing the interests of private schools and for-profit charter school operators, many of whom double as major Republican campaign donors.” The IO report, entitled “Ohio School Choice: The Real Winners in HB 59,” focuses especially on the Senate-passed version of the budget since Senate President Keith Faber has repeatedly claimed that the Senate plan contains “historic” funding increases for traditional public schools. According to the IO report:- Contrary to Faber’s claims, the Senate-passed budget neither makes up the $1.8 billion cut from schools in the last biennial budget nor restores constitutionality to the state’s school funding system. Roughly 75% of Ohio’s school districts would receive less money than they did in the 2010-11 budget and about 25% would get less than they did in the 2012-13 budget. In fact, when transportation money is excluded, the Senate’s proposed budget actually provides $80 million less funding than did the Governor’s proposal (the House budget provides $200 million less). The $1.8 billion cut from schools since 2010-11 has led to teacher lay-offs, reduced academic course offerings, higher sports and extracurricular participation fees, and an unprecedented $1.3 billion in “new money” operating levies on local ballots since Kasich took office. (Note: just after the IO Report was completed, the Ohio House and Senate Budget Conference Committee announced that under the new biennial budget, the state will no longer reimburse school districts for 12.5% of new property tax increases. The elimination of this reimbursement —in effect since 1971 —will make passage of future levies even more difficult which, in turn, will make it harder for school districts to offset state budget cuts through the passage of local levies).
- Meanwhile, all three Republican budgets continue to pour taxpayer money into poorly performing and highly inefficient charter schools where administrative costs are out of control. While the average traditional public school building spends less than 6% of its money on administration, the average charter spends over 28% —and the worst performing charters spend nearly 40%. Yet under the Senate proposal, charters would receive $57 million more from the state than in 2011-12, and the per pupil funding amount would jump from $7,141 to $7,475, more than at any time in the 15-year history of Ohio charter schools. To make matters worse, nearly every dollar charters receive from the state is deducted from the amounts allocated to public school districts, thus exacerbating the fiscal problems of those districts.
- Especially outrageous are the increased millions of dollars that would go to for-profit charter schools operated by people like David Brennan and William Lager, who contribute generously to Republican candidates and office-holders. Brennan and his wife, for example have made $527,000 in campaign contributions, while Lager has forked over $455,000 in political donations. Lager and the Brennans are among the top contributors to Gov. Kasich, House Speaker Batchelder and Senate President Faber. Together, their schools receive a whopping 19% of all state money going to charters.
- The Senate bill also makes it harder to close failing charters –and provides multiple new exemptions for charters from the accountability standards applied to traditional public schools. Yet while 68% of school district buildings rate “A” or “A+” on the state’s most recent local Report Cards, only 10% of charters achieve that rating —and 70% are expected to receive a grade of “F” on next year’s new Report Cards.
- At the same time, all three Republican budget proposals dramatically expand private school vouchers. Under the Senate plan, families earning up to $94,000 per year (Ohio’s average annual family income is just over $40,000) would be eligible for vouchers, or roughly 80% of all Ohio school children. Even students currently attending public schools rated “excellent” would qualify —as would children already attending private and religiously affiliated schools. In short, the purpose of vouchers would no longer be to liberate “poor children trapped in failing public schools”, but to subsidize private (and, often, religious) educations for some of the state’s most economically comfortable families.
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Kasich Cuts Mean $1.3 Billion in New School Levies Since May, 2011
62 “NEW MONEY” SCHOOL LEVIES ON MAY BALLOT Kasich Budget Cuts Cause $1.3 Billion in School Levies Since May, 2011
Columbus — Innovation Ohio, a progressive think tank headquartered in Columbus, released a spreadsheet today showing that voters in 62 different school districts will be asked to approve “new money” school funding levies next month. If approved, the levies — none of which is for replacement, renewal or construction — will raise $147 million.
As a direct result of the $1.8 billion in school funding cuts approved by Gov. Kasich and the Republican-controlled Ohio legislature, local taxpayers have been asked to approve 393 school levies representing $1.34 billion in new operating money since May, 2011. Levies representing $492 million in new operating funds have passed. Said IO President Janetta King: “Given the nearly $2 billion in education funds that Gov. Kasich and his allies slashed from our schools, is anyone really surprised that local levies are growing like mushrooms? “In district after district, school boards, superintendents and other administrators have done everything they can to cope with the cuts. They’ve laid off teachers, frozen wages, increased class sizes, reduced academic course offerings, increased sports participation fees, consolidated purchasing and taken dozens of other steps to save money. But now they have no alternative but to ask taxpayers for help. “Innovation Ohio has warned about this from the very beginning. By cutting taxes primarily for the wealthy at the state level, Gov. Kasich and the Republican-controlled legislature have merely pushed the need for tax increases down to the local level. But Ohioans aren’t stupid. They know a shell game when they see one. They know we can’t continue to fund our schools and local governments through an endless parade of local levies. And sooner or later, they’re going to hold Gov. Kasich and his allies accountable.”House Budget Would Cut 127 School Districts
HOUSE BUDGET WOULD CUT 127 SCHOOL DISTRICTS Think Tank Also Says House Plan Would Give Schools $200 Less Than Kasich Proposal
Columbus — Innovation Ohio, a progressive think tank headquartered in Columbus, released an analysis today showing that under the budget proposed by House Republicans, 127 of Ohio’s 612 school districts would receive less state money in FY 2014-15 than they are currently getting. A separate analysis found that the funding formula in the House plan would provide schools with nearly $200 million less than they would receive under the Kasich proposal. The House’s proposed budget was released last week after school superintendents and newspaper editorial pages condemned the Kasich Administration’s school funding proposal as inadequate. Although the Governor initially claimed his plan would give more money to poorer districts and less money to wealthier ones, independent analyses showed that 60% of districts — including 80% of the poorest — would receive no funding increases at all. [Read more…]JobsOhio Blows $1 Million on Office Expenses
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”
Poll: Ohioans Reject Kasich Budget Proposals
Poll: Ohioans Reject Kasich Budget Proposals
Innovation Ohio Says General Assembly Should Heed Voters
- 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…]
News Release: Charter Schools Cost State Twice as Much per Student as Traditional Schools
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…]
News Release: Kasich Budget Cuts = $1 Billion in School Levies
Kasich Budget Cuts = $1.1 Billion in School Levies IO Blows Whistle on “Kasich Shell Game”
Columbus – Innovation Ohio, a progressive think tank headquartered in Columbus, released an analysis today proving what Kasich Administration critics have long suspected: the Governor has merely shifted the responsibility for adequately funding Ohio schools from the state to the local level. Specifically, IO’s analysis finds that since May, 2011, a record-breaking $1.1 billion in local property and income tax levies earmarked for schools has appeared on local ballots. Voters approved just 40% – or $487 million – leaving numerous school districts across the state scrambling to maintain needed academic programs and staffing levels. IO stressed that the $1.1 billion figure includes only new operating money, not renewal or replacement levies or money for capital projects. [Read more…]News Release: IO’s Taxpayer Rip-Off of the Week – Ohio Charter Schools – More Expensive; Less Effective
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