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Every child deserves to attend an appropriately funded, safe, academically challenging and supportive school. Every child should be given the opportunity to learn and succeed and receive a comprehensive education.
A comprehensive education addresses the educational needs of the whole child and ensures that all students have the knowledge and skills to continue their education, work at their jobs, assume their roles and responsibilities as informed citizens, and be prepared to live in an interdependent and culturally diverse world. Provide a School Funding System That is Adequate, Equitable, and Reliable The General Assembly should fund K-12 public education at the level that meets the constitutional obligation of the state. This funding should be adequate, equitable, and reliable, and distributed to public schools in a fair way. The system remains unconstitutional until the legislature addresses the issues raised in the series of DeRolph decisions. ■ Ohio’s lawmakers should define the components of an “adequate education” and then commission an independent study to determine the per-student funds needed to fund an adequate education for all Ohio children. The independent study should avoid the use of inferential method which determines a state per pupil cost based on the expenditures of selected school districts that meet certain outcomes. ■ Ohio’s tax structure and school funding system should be considered as one system and any approach to their reform must be holistic. The legislature must keep the promise to replace income lost due to the phase-out of the Tangible Personal Property Tax (TPPT) and also consider a permanent replacement for TPPT. ■ Ohio should provide school districts resources to pay for legislative and policy mandates and should not mandate specific percentages of funds for specific K-12 program components. ■ Ohio should continue to use an average daily membership (ADM) measure to calculate per pupil funding. However, the second ADM count included in HB 66 should be eliminated. Recognize and Invest In the Needs of Students So All Children Have the Best Chance to Succeed In School Mitigate the negative effects of poverty on education by: ■ Fully funding the Poverty-Based Assistance program (PBA) to meet the needs of children in school districts with the highest concentrations of poverty. Because the new PBA program is based solely on Ohio Works First, it will not count all children in poverty. Ohio should count poor children accurately using a multi-program count as recommended by the Legislative Office of Education Oversight, the Blue Ribbon Task Force, and the State Board of Education. ■ Providing school districts more flexibility in how they can use Poverty-Based Assistance, such as allowing districts to use intervention payments to support full day kindergarten or other programs to meet the needs of students in their district. Meet the needs of children with special educational needs by: ■ Funding the special education weighted formulas at 100% and using current data to update the weighted formulas. ■ Increasing the number of gifted units so that all students identified as gifted can be served. Current law requires districts to identify students who are gifted, but not to serve students identified as gifted. Voluntary Full-Day Kindergarten for All Children Extensive research shows that full-day kindergarten allows more developmentally appropriate instruction and provides many benefits to children. Secure general revenue funding so that all children in Ohio have the opportunity to attend voluntary, high-quality full-day kindergarten in any appropriate setting. Children Should Receive a Comprehensive Education That Focuses On the Whole Child Ohio should ensure that students have access to the complete curriculum which includes language arts, mathematics, science, history, civics and other social studies, geography, foreign languages, the arts, technology, physical education, and health. Standardized tests should not drive student learning. All Children Should Have a Safe, Healthy, Orderly, Supportive, and Academically Challenging Learning Environment The conditions that support learning are based on sound child development and instructional practices. ■ Ohio should support policies and provide resources to ensure that the conditions are right for learning in all school districts. Areas include fair and effective disciplinary and classroom management policies, professional development opportunities for highly qualified teachers and staff, high quality food services, opportunities for parents/guardians to be involved and welcome in the schools and for community partners to support student learning. ■ Ohio should ensure that all school buildings meet standards for health, safety, and security as well as comply with high performance building principles, such as day lighting and air quality standards.
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