Innovation Ohio

What you need to know about Ohio Politics and Policy

Innovation Ohio’s New Report Finds Exploding Voucher Payments, Return to Lax Oversight of Charters in Ohio Budget

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 25, 2019
Contact: Michael McGovern, mcgovern@innovationohio.org
 
Columbus, OH – A report from Innovation Ohio focused on the state’s new budget finds a huge increase in spending on voucher payments to private schools and a return to lax, pre-ECOT scandal charter school oversight. This is the latest budgetary explosion for a voucher program that has increased more than 600% since 2011.
 
“Given the ECOT scandal, it is astounding that statehouse leaders would loosen rules around failing charter schools that suck money out of Ohio public school classrooms,” said Innovation Ohio Education Fellow and report author Stephen Dyer. “What we need is closer scrutiny and reigning in these payments to private schools.” 
 
The report highlights four key giveaway to poor-performing, privately run schools: 
1. Weakening rules to automatically close failing charter schools
2. Lowering standards for dropout recovery schools
3. Weakening oversight of charter school sponsors, many of whom are for-profit companies
4. A huge increase in public dollars flowing to private schools via vouchers
The voucher expansion alone could cost Ohio public school districts another $73 million over two years, on top of an already ballooning $389 million per year private school voucher program.
Over the last several years, Innovation Ohio has been leading the fight to expose Ohio’s failing charter school system and sounding the alarm bells around expanding voucher programs. 
 
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How the Latest State Budget Impacts Ohio’s Women and Working Families

Read the full analysis of the Ohio budget through a gender lens on the Ohio Women’s Public Policy Network’s website.

Ohio’s new two-year state operating budget brought numerous improvements for the livelihood of women, but that’s not to say there weren’t plenty of drawbacks and lack of action on key issues as well.

Progress was made to improve the quality of childcare in Ohio. But there’s more work to be done.

The new state budget allocates $198 million to improve the quality of Ohio’s publicly funded childcare system. This increase in funding will allow improvements in ensuring that workers within the childcare sector are paid fair wages, and will also help to facilitate professional development and facility improvements.  Where the budget falls short is allocating resources to increase the access and affordability of childcare. By increasing the accessibility of childcare, children would enter school well prepared, and parents would have the opportunity to participate in the workforce.  While the DeWine Administration stated that increasing eligibility for childcare was a policy priority, ultimately no funds were allocated to support this endeavor. 

After attempts to restrict access to Medicaid via the inclusion of the “Healthy Ohio” Program in the budget, Medicaid services were ultimately left unharmed.

The provision of the so-called Healthy Ohio Program would have required premiums to access Medicaid, which would have had crucial implications on women, who comprise more than half of Ohio’s Medicaid population. Medicaid has long been a lifeline for women, and the legislature’s decision to ultimately remove the “Healthy Ohio” language was crucial to protect access to the program.

Progress was made towards addressing wage theft, an issue that faces many working-class Ohioans, particularly women and people of color working in low-wage jobs.

When workers are paid less than they were contractually promised, it is known as wage theft. Whether it be through violation of minimum-wage laws, not getting paid overtime, or forcing an employee to work off-the-clock, Ohio clocks in with the second-highest amount of wage theft among the ten largest states. Additional funding was allocated to the Ohio Bureau of Wage and Hour to help address this issue.

The state budget also codified some policies that we expect to negatively impact Ohio women and working-class families. 

By continuing to support a business tax cut known by many public service advocates as the  “L.L.C. loophole,” Ohio loses out on about $528 million per year or $1.1 billion for the duration of every state operating budget where it remains intact. There is little evidence to suggest that this tax break for L.L.C.s has created any significant number of new jobs in the state. Ohio is missing out on billions of dollars of revenue that could have been allocated towards programs to address our school funding crisis, increase childcare assistance eligibility, or invest in a refundable Earned Income Tax Credit (which we’ll discuss in just a moment), to name only a few ways this money could be better spent. 

There were also some issues facing Ohio women and their families that the state budget failed to address, entirely. 

Ohio’s Earned Income Tax Credit remains non-refundable.

One of these crucial areas of inaction was the budget’s failure to make Ohio’s Earned Income Tax Credit (E.I.T.C.) refundable, a policy that would have given a major economic boost to low-income families across the state. Nationally, the E.I.T.C has been crucial in lifting working families out of poverty. However, it is not without its limitations here in the state. The greatest shortfall of Ohio’s state E.I.T.C. is that it is non-refundable. If this gap in anti-poverty policy had been addressed, the state budget would have been able to put money back into the hands of working families. 

Despite the 2020 Census being right around the corner, the bill allocated no funding towards planning or conducting a complete census count in the Buckeye state. 

About $33 billion dollars in federal funding rests upon the outcomes of the U.S. Census, which determines how those federal dollars are dispersed, state-by-state. Without a correct and complete count, the well-being of women and historically undercounted communities, populations which rely heavily on these federal grant dollars, are undermined.

No efforts were made to create a framework for statewide paid family leave. 

Paid family and medical leave policies allow workers to address the needs of their families or their own health without risking their financial health. Currently, only 17% of American workers have access to paid leave through an employer, but lawmakers made no effort through the state budget to increase those statistics here in Ohio… To learn more about the push to bring paid family leave in Ohio, check out the Women’s Public Policy Network’s Paid Leave Advocacy page on their website.   

Read the full analysis of the Ohio budget on the Ohio Women’s Public Policy Network’s website.

Innovation Ohio Statement on Charter School Provisions in Operating Budget

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 17, 2019
Contact: Michael McGovern mcgovern@innovationohio.org
Columbus, OH – Today, Innovation Ohio President Janetta King issued the following statement regarding the charter school provisions in the state operating budget:
“It is disappointing that Republicans in the legislature have once again placed the interests of failing charter schools ahead of Ohio students and communities. The budget passed today weakens state oversight of charter schools like ECOT, which ripped off Ohio schools and taxpayers to the tune of $200 million. After the ECOT debacle, we should be strengthening, not loosening, the rules regulating charter schools. Ohio taxpayers – and more importantly, Ohio students – deserve better.”
Founded in 2011, Innovation Ohio is a nonpartisan, nonprofit think tank that blends policy research and advocacy to fight for working families in Ohio.

All Parents Deserve Access to Paid Family Leave

Photo provided by David Milender

By David Milender

MASON, OHIO – While I was glad to get five days of paid leave for the birth of my son, it was still a frustratingly short amount of time. When my wife, Kaitlin, gave birth to our son, George, one Monday in January 2016, I confirmed with my boss that I would be starting my paid parental leave period that day. The company I worked at the time for allowed five paid days off for new parents.

Welcoming George into the world was a whirlwind experience, and too soon, our family of three were back home from the hospital. The next few days were a blur as we adjusted to life with an infant. My wife had six weeks of reduced pay leave from work through short term disability, but we felt neither of us was allowed nearly enough paid time off with our son.

Back in the office the following Monday, I obsessively checked my phone to make sure George and Kaitlin were doing well. Sitting through monotonous conference calls and in traffic commuting to work felt like a dreadful waste compared to the time I could have been spending with my wife and son. Five days off for the biggest event of our lives was woefully inadequate. 

Photo provided by David Milender

Kaitlin’s leave likewise flew by. Finding a good daycare for our weeks-old son was a harrowing experience, as we had to balance what we could afford with what was safe. While he is a healthy child and the daycare staff had the best intentions, I will never forget the guilt and regret I felt from having to leave my fragile weeks-old son in the care of strangers. 

That spring, my employer updated its employee handbook. I studiously read the new document, and a section on family leave stood out. That afternoon I informed my supervisor that I would like to apply for additional time off under the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) as a new parent.

The application process was a learning experience for everyone. My supervisors initially stated that as I was not a new mother, I may not qualify for FMLA leave. After some back and forth over email and consulting the new HR manual and federal regs, they allowed me to apply through our corporate office and humbly apologized, explaining that in all their time overseeing 100+ employees, they had never had a father try to take leave under the FMLA. I was the first one in the office to do so.

My FMLA request was approved, and we disenrolled George from daycare. On my last day in the office before taking leave, another co-worker approached me, explaining that his fiancé was due to give birth soon. Then he asked, “So how do you get them to give you more time off? I thought dads only get a week.” 

The FMLA leave was unpaid, and we had to practice the art of frugality. Fortunately, Kaitlin had a full-time job, and I was able to keep George and I enrolled on my company’s insurance through my leave. Cutting out daycare expenses saved us a small fortune, but I still spent plenty of time cutting coupons and comparing ads while George got in his naps.

Still, we nonetheless depleted my savings.

Regardless of the cost, the twelve weeks I spent with George were amazing. I will never regret taking that time to watch him grow and explore the world around him. Nothing could replace being there when he rolled over for the first time or taking him for walks around the neighborhood in those first warm days of late spring. 

This blog post originally appeared on the Ohio Women’s Public Policy Network’s website

What’s in DeWine’s K-12 Budget?

Like much of Gov. Mike DeWine’s budget, his K-12 proposals are underwhelming. No New Base Funding Schools see no new change to the school funding formula in the DeWine proposal, as he has left the heavy lifting to State Reps. Cupp and Patterson, who next week will release the most highly-anticipated school funding reform plan in a decade. As we prepare for next week’s proposal, it’s important to have some historical context. When adjusted for inflation, Gov. Kasich’s last budget left schools about $900 million short of what they received in the recession budget 10 years ago. If the state were to base school funding on the actual cost of providing a high-quality education to students, Ohio would currently be about $1.7 billion short, according to figures from the last serious attempt to reform its school funding formula. Thus, any serious new funding formula will require significant new revenue.  $300 million a year more for wraparound services This money would bring more mental health and other services to poor students, providing every district with at least $25,000, even if the district has only a handful of poor students, up to about $250 a student, which could make a real difference. There would be cause for concern if this becomes a substitute for adequately funding schools. Our students deserve the investment the state simply hasn’t made for 30 years. And every kid deserves that commitment. Even with $300 million more in the 2020-2021 school year, adjusted for inflation, districts would remain several hundred million dollars short of what they received a decade ago during the Great Recession. $30 million for high performing charter schools While Ohio absolutely should begin to differentiate between low and high-performing charter schools, creating a market based on quality rather than enrollment, DeWine is doing so by tapping into the state’s lottery fund, forcing cuts in lottery money headed to traditional public districts. At the end of this two-year budget, nearly $50 million will be headed to charters from the Lottery, which was supposed to go strictly to school districts. We need to be creating a charter school market that rewards success. But taking it out of funds voters created for school districts seems counterproductive. There is already $16.6 million in the current state budget for high-performing charters to receive capital funding. Not even 25 percent of that amount has been spent because so few charters meet the criteria. Adding $30 million which is limited to the few high performing schools operated in Ohio in hope that more will materialize prevents that money from going to kids in our traditional public school districts. Another big increase for the voucher program DeWine continues the misguided increases to the EdChoice, income-based voucher in this budget. EdChoice has actually been shown to harm student achievement. Pouring $24 million more into this program that has hurt the kids who take the vouchers makes little sense. We also need to review amounts going into the other voucher programs when the final budget documents are released to see how much total revenue meant for school districts will be going instead to private, mostly religious schools. Preschool flat funded This was actually shocking. Ohio’s struggles with early childhood education have been stunning, especially given how even conservative states like Oklahoma have created Universal Pre-K. And while there has been a lot of talk about beefing up our state’s early childhood program, this budget is not that. Significantly more charter school oversight DeWine increased the budget for ODE’s charter oversight office from $2.5 million to $7 million. That’s good, but still not enough to oversee an $889 million a year industry with a track record of fraud and underperformance. Workforce Development Much of DeWine’s workforce development agenda is funded within the K-12 budget, with new resources to help students achieve more industry-recognized credentials. Between 2014 and 2018, the percentage of Ohio students leaving high school with an industry-recognized credential grew from about 4 to just over 6 percent. While that’s a significant increase, it’s still far short of what our students should be achieving. We need more details to understand whether the new money in this budget would be paired with programs to motivate more students to seek these credentials during high school. Conclusion Overall, this falls short of the “investment budget” that DeWine promised. There are some small benefits and a few districts will see significant increases to address the real challenges of their most needy students. But it’s neither enough money to overcome the needs of poor students in every district nor is it enough to overcome the last decade of Kasich budget cuts. All while charters more than double their money from lottery funds, vouchers continue to increase, and early childhood education is all but ignored.

New Push To Change Ohio’s Ballot Amendment Process

This week, Ohio Representative Kyle Koehler sent a letter to fellow lawmakers seeking cosponsors for a bill he’s introducing to change how constitutional amendments go to the ballot. And like the proposal that was considered during this winter’s lame duck session, it certainly looks as though it will primarily work by making it harder for grassroots citizens groups to put measures on the ballot. According to Koehler, his bill has several key distinctions from HJR19, namely: In sum, the Koehler plan would require signatures from more parts of the state, requiring signature gatherers to fan out into 60 of Ohio’s 99 House districts, compared to today’s requirement that signatures be collected in 44 of Ohio’s 88 counties. Additionally, the proposal reduces the number of signatures that could be gathered in Ohio’s biggest population centers by increasing the percentage of the electorate needed in each district, further spreading the work out across the state.

Proposal Makes Citizen Initiatives Harder, Does Nothing to Block Big Money

The full text of the Koehler proposal has not been made public yet, so we don’t yet know whether signature gathering could be carried out over several years as needed to reach the 10 percent requirement, or if signatures would expire after six months as HJR19 required. That distinction could make or break citizen initiatives. Like HJR19, the Koehler proposal would not stop deep-pocketed special interests from hiring all the signature gatherers they need to meet the 60-district requirement. So, while getting big money out of the game of amending Ohio’s constitution was the rationale behind the lame duck attack on ballot measures, this proposal seems to abandon that argument completely. It simply makes it harder for grassroots groups to succeed. And while committee members hearing HJR19 seemed to recognize that the best way to keep people from attempting to amend Ohio’s constitution was to make the process of a citizen-initiated statutory change more appealing, this proposal does nothing on that front either.

What Next?

Koehler is currently seeking House consponsors with a deadline of Wednesday, February 6. If you are concerned about the outlines of this proposal, consider reaching out to your State Representative today before they add their name as a cosponsor.

Statehouse Preview: November 13

With the election behind us, the lame duck legislature is here. The six-week session that starts today is already shaping up to be eventful and potentially consequential. Today we’ll focus on the significant bills that are likely to move this week. You can revisit our last update for a run-down of other bills that are positioned to move quickly over the next six weeks. The stakes are not as high as they would have been were a Democrat be set to take the Governor’s chair in January. However, Republicans may want to help the new Governor avoid expending political capital on controversial measures, potentially setting the stage for passage of more extreme proposals like Stand Your Ground and the Heartbeat abortion ban now rather than waiting until January. Any bill not on the governor’s desk before the two-year session comes to a close will need to be reintroduced and start the legislative process all over again in January. Here’s what we’re watching on the Statehouse agenda this week:

Tuesday, November 13

House Bill 53 (Becker) – Public Sector Union Dues: So-called ‘Right-to- Work’ legislation that would allow public employees to work in unionized workplaces without actually joining the union or paying regular union dues, making it more difficult for workers to form unions and collectively bargain for better wages, benefits, and working conditions. The bill will be heard by the House Finance Committee for sponsor testimony.
House Bill 119 (Henne, McColley) – Nutrition Assistance and Medicaid: Imposes new eligibility requirements on recipients of food assistance and Medicaid. The bill will receive a fourth hearing for all testimony in Senate Health, Human Services & Medicaid.
House Bill 240 (Patmon) – Respect Your Date Act: Designates the month of April as “Respect Your Date Month” and requires each state institution of higher education to adopt a policy regarding dating violence, domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking, and rape on campus. The bill is up for a sponsor hearing in Senate Education.
House Bill 619 (Antani) – Pregnancy Misinformation and Coercion Act: Mandates the State Board of Education and Department of Health to develop curriculum for public high schools about fetal development for the “purpose of achieving an abortion-free society.” The House Education & Career Readiness Committee will hold a first hearing on the bill for sponsor testimony.
House Bill 758 (Antani) – Campus Speech: would subject public college and university trustees to legal penalties for denying the use of facilities to groups or individuals except in a narrow set of exceptional situations. The House Higher Education and Workforce Development committee will hold a first hearing for sponsor testimony.
Senate Bill 207 (Kunze) – Strangulation: Expands the offense of felonious assault to include the acts of strangulation or suffocation. The Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a fourth hearing on the bill for all testimony and a possible vote.
Senate Bill 251 (Schiavoni) – Private Images: Prohibits the nonconsensual dissemination of private sexual images, also known as ‘revenge porn.’ The bill will also create certain legal rights and employment protections for victims of such an offense. The Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a first hearing on the bill for sponsor testimony.

Wednesday, November 14 

House Bill 33 (Patmon) – Firearm Storage: Would prohibit leaving an unsecured and operable firearm in a residence where a minor child could gain access. The bill is up for a first hearing in House Government Accountability & Oversight for sponsor testimony.
House Bill 228 (Johnson, LaTourette) – Stand Your Ground: This measure would allow armed individuals to use deadly force instead of walking away when it is safe to do so. The bill also shifts the burden to prosecutors to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that a shooter did not act in self defense. The bill would also effectively allow for the carrying of concealed weapons without a permit by making it a minor misdemeanor. It additionally prohibits Ohio communities from enacting gun legislation, further eroding local control over gun violence prevention standards. The bill is up for a vote by the full House at its 1:30 pm session.
House Bill 425 (Antani, Craig) – Body Cameras: Defines specified portions of peace officers’ body-worn camera recordings and the infrastructure records of public schools as not subject to Ohio’s public records laws. The bill is up for a first hearing in Senate Government Oversight & Reform for sponsor testimony.
Senate Bill 250 (Hoagland) – Critical Infrastructure. To increase criminal and civil penalties for protests that take place on so-called “critical infrastructure facilities.” The bill is up for a third hearing and opponent testimony in Senate Judiciary.

Thursday, November 15

House Bill 402 (Hill) – Telephone Deregulation. Would effectively deregulate landline telephone service in Ohio, allowing for a weakening of customer service standards, more frequent price increases and reduced access to basic landline service at the provider’s discretion. The bill is up for a first hearing in Senate Public Utiities for sponsor testimony.
House Bill 563 (West) – Firearm Sales. To prohibit a licensed firearms dealer from transferring a firearm while a background check is pending unless 30 days have elapsed from the date the background check was requested. The bill is up for a first hearing in House Federalism and Interstate Relations.
More Information about This Week’s Agenda
We will be tracking any new updates and sharing timely legislative updates on significant legislation on Twitter using the #LameDuckOH hashtag. Follow us to stay up-to-date on what’s happening at the Statehouse.
TAKE ACTION: House Bill 258, a sweeping new abortion ban, would ban any abortion as early as six weeks – at a time before most women even know that they are pregnant, effectively eliminating abortion access in our state.
Ohioans deserve access to safe, legal abortion care in their community without interference from anti-abortion extremists.
 
The bill is up for a House vote on Thursday, November 15. Can you contact your State Representative and ask them to oppose HB258 today?

Innovation Ohio Releases New Medicaid Report

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 28, 2018

Innovation Ohio Releases New Medicaid Report Policy report looks at gubernatorial candidates, includes county by county Medicaid numbers

Columbus, OH – Today, Innovation Ohio released a new policy report on what is at stake for Medicaid in this year’s gubernatorial election. The analysis, titled “Healthcare is on the Ballot in Ohio: Medicaid and The Governors Race,” examines the importance of Medicaid and where candidates Rich Cordray and Mike DeWine stand on the program. The report is online here. The report looks at new state and county-level numbers, as well as the potential impacts of each candidate’s plans. It also lays out the vital role Medicaid expansion has played in combatting Ohio’s opioid epidemic. In Washington County, where the next gubernatorial debate will be held, nearly a quarter of the population relies on Medicaid for their healthcare. In neighboring counties in Appalachia, that number rises to nearly a third. “Healthcare truly is on the ballot this fall,” said Innovation Ohio President Janetta King. “Medicaid is a vital program for all of Ohio, but it plays an outsized role in our Appalachian region. It’s important that voters know how their healthcare could be impacted by each candidate.” While Cordray has expressed his support for Medicaid, DeWine has laid out plans that would cripple the program. DeWine sued to stop the Medicaid expansion and has expressed support for changes that could risk the healthcare of hundreds of thousands of Ohioans. The report notes that DeWine has still not taken a position on the legislature’s passage of a Medicaid expansion freeze, which Gov. John Kasich vetoed. Other key findings in the report include:
  • 21% of Ohioans rely on Medicaid for their healthcare. In some counties, this number is as high as 40%.
  • Medicaid expansion has helped to lower Ohio’s uninsured rate from 13.9% to 6% in four years.
  • DeWine’s proposed changes to Medicaid could risk the healthcare of at least 318,000 Ohioans.
  • 59% of Ohio nursing home residents use Medicaid coverage for that service.
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Wage Theft in Ohio Costs Workers $600 Million, But State Offers Little Help

Recent studies show Ohio is among the worst states when it comes to the impact of wage theft, or the practice of paying workers for fewer hours than they worked. When you look at policy decisions at the state level, it’s not hard to see why. The state has all but abandoned its role in enforcing the state’s laws to ensure workers are paid for the hours they work.

Ohio’s Poor Record for Workers

Ohio uses a complaint-driven model of enforcement in which workers must closely monitor their paycheck to ensure they were paid for all their hours, were not forced to work off the clock or denied mandatory breaks, and were paid the overtime for which they are eligible. Enforcement agents respond to their complaints to assess their merits and assess a judgement. Workers who are unaware of their rights or afraid to challenge their employers are unlikely to make a claim, meaning the state is only looking at a fraction of the overall wage theft that takes place. One recent study found that Ohio ranks 2nd among the 10 largest states for minimum wage violations, and estimates that overall, Ohio workers collectively lose $600 million each year in shorted paychecks due to wage theft. One reason cited by experts for the high rate of wage theft is that, in the past decade, the Wage and Hour Enforcement unit at the Department of Commerce — responsible for enforcement of wage and hour laws — has been gutted; its already-meager staff was reduced from 12 to just 6. That’s six individuals who are responsible for enforcement of all wage and hour violations in a state in which over 5.5 million people work outside the home for pay. By comparison, Idaho, a state with 1/10th Ohio’s population has five inspectors. The results are about as poor as you might expect. According to a Cleveland Plain Dealer investigation, just 31 percent of workers who file complaints with the state see them approved by the department. And, even among those lucky enough to have their claims approved, only half of those recover the back pay they were denied. Responsibility for collection is shared by the Department of Commerce and the Office of the Attorney General.

Role of Policymakers

It’s clear that enforcement policy is at least partially to blame. In 2009, a similar review by Policy Matters Ohio found the state resolved cases in favor of workers nearly 65 percent of the time. Since then, the enforcement workforce has been cut in half. Another factor is a change in policy to waive penalties for employers the first time they violate the law. Researchers at Northwestern University found the number of wage theft cases in Ohio rose almost immediately after that change, signaling that penalties are an effective deterrent. Lawmakers have not helped. While they have consistently refused to add funding, improve oversight, or extend overtime and minimum wage protections to more workers, in 2017, the Ohio House voted to adopt a measure (HB494) that would exempt certain franchise workers from existing wage and hour protections. It’s worth noting that the 2009 study and the Plain Dealer review earlier this year both found that food service is by far the biggest offender, so exempting franchisees from wage and hour protections would only make the problem worse.

Looking forward

The next Governor can play a big role in ensuring workers get to take home more of what they earn in their paychecks by giving the office of wage and hour enforcement a higher profile, bigger budget and more authority.
Addressing wage theft is just one way to better make work pay for working Ohioans. Read our blog (“10 Ways Ohio’s Leaders Could Increase Take Home Pay for All Ohioans“) for other ideas and check our Winning Economic Agenda for Ohio’s Working Families to review all the ideas we’ve proposed, along with our friends at Policy Matters Ohio, for Ohio’s next Governor to consider.

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