Dyer: Ohio’s reliance on property tax system to fund schools growing, not shrinking under Kasich
Back in October we released an analysis which showed that November school levy initiatives seeking ‘new money’ were the highest since 2008. Just last year, the administration of Gov. John Kasich and the GOP-led Ohio General Assembly cut $1.8 billion from Ohio public education. We believe there is a cause and effect relationship here and it boils down to this: Kasich’s cuts – while making the state budget look better – simply shifted the burden in many villages and cities around Ohio onto the backs of local property tax payers. Of course, in many cases, the levies failed. In those communities Kasich and his rubber stamp Statehouse shifted the burden onto Ohio kids who are losing teachers, bus service, extra-curricular activities and even hours out of the school day. Where new levies pass, the funding burden is shifting to more property taxes. As part of the project we posted several levy profiles on our blog, Innovation Station, and began maintaining a page dedicated to collecting our analysis, profiles and infographics on the topic, Kasich Cuts = More Levies. We want to wrap up the work from this fall, but we will continue to watch what we believe is going to be an unfortunate trend for some time to come in Ohio – more levies or more drastic cuts.![Renewals v. New Money in Fall - Click for Full Size](http://69.195.124.74/~innovby5/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/chartwrapupfeat.jpg)