How some schools are dealing with state’s budget plan

CLEVELAND (WJW) — The new school year begins as the fourth in a six-year phase-in of a budget plan intended to help fund public schools across Ohio by examining the individual needs of each district.

The Cupp-Patterson Act, known as the Fair School Funding plan, is intended to move Ohio away from a school funding model that has been declared unconstitutional for years, relying too heavily on local property taxes.

“The state has an obligation to fund our schools. The local school districts have an obligation, and where those two meet ought to be, in a perfect world, adequate enough to fund a student’s education,” said former state representative John Patterson of Ashtabula County, now the head of the USDA in Ohio.

Patterson drafted the plan along with former Ohio Supreme Court Justice Robert Cupp.

It uses a complex formula that begins with looking at the average cost of actually funding a school district in Ohio as the baseline for what the state should be funding.

It then adjusts that number up based on individual needs, including having a large percentage of economically disadvantaged students.

“So what we really wanted to do was to figure out what it really costs to educate a student and then what a district can really do to support its fair share, and then the state would compensate with the rest,” said Patterson

“So one of the things that became obvious was we’re going to be able to justify every dollar that we are going to try to appropriate based upon the specific needs of kids. And that was the basis upon which every submission to the Patterson duo was based,” said Jim Betts, chairman of the Cupp-Patterson Committee.

“Just to get an indication of the support for the fair school funding plan, the speaker called it to a vote in December of 2020. That vote was 87 to 9, which is unprecedented, unheard of for a piece of legislation that cost that much money and was so complicated,” said Betts.

But some districts, including Cleveland, have not yet realized the expected increase.

“So there was a positive impact in the most recent phase in years three and four for our general education students. Unfortunately, the way that the formula treats students who are experiencing poverty has actually reduced and has actually resulted to us receiving reduced funds,” said Kevin Stockdale, chief financial officer for the Cleveland Metropolitan School District.

“Well, the Fair School Funding Act helped, right? I think an important message is it didn’t fix if it fixed, you wouldn’t continually see districts coming to the ballot,” said Dr. Charles Smialek, Superintendent of Parma City Schools which has now chosen not to go back to the voters for a levy this November.

“There are always variables that impact how we fund education, and you have to be constantly on guard for that much like you or I are constantly monitoring family finances. It’s the same thing,” said Patterson.

Among the districts that will be going to the voters this November is the Akron Public School District, in an attempt to erase millions in an anticipated shortfall over the coming year.

Much of that is an adjustment for the loss of COVID funding the district used to hire additional staff.

“We are at the mercy of what the state gives us,” said Dr. Stephen Thompson, the Akron Public Schools CFO during a public meeting in May.

“We shouldn’t rely on crises like the COVID pandemic to make sure that our schools are adequately funded,” said Scott DiMauro, President of the Ohio Education Association.

Betts acknowledges that the Fair School Funding Plan is not perfect.

“We can guarantee you that because one of the things we’re doing right now is trying to examine, analyze and assess why it is that some school districts are outliers. Very few in regard to the 609 that currently exist are not impacted the way we thought they would be impacted,” said Betts.

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