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Statewide strike on school funding proposed by local man

Little Miami students cheer on voters to vote in favor of the school's levy Tuesday, Feb. 4. The levy was rejected by voters 55 percent to 45 percent.

Apryl Pilolli Little Miami students cheer on voters to vote in favor of the school's levy Tuesday, Feb. 4. The levy was rejected by voters 55 percent to 45 percent.

ENLARGE PHOTO

By Richard Wilson, Staff Writer 9:28 AM Thursday, February 4, 2010

MORROW — A grassroots effort is underway to force a change in Ohio’s school funding system, but lawmakers are offering little alternatives.

Jeff Peters, a Little Miami intervention specialist who lives in Lebanon, is calling for a statewide strike on Feb. 19, encouraging students, parents, school boards, teacher unions and others to protest in Columbus or at a state representative’s office.

Peters has seen his school district’s services get cut as voters have rejected the last four operating levies. He’s also encouraging school districts to withhold the Ohio Graduation Test results from the state and calling for a state referendum to force a change.

Peters said property owners shouldn’t have to carry all the tax burden of supporting the district, adding that lawmakers have too long ignored the Ohio Supreme Court’s 1997 ruling that the state’s funding mechanism is unconstitutional.

“It’s a political hot potato,” Peters said. “Political cowardice has put us in this position. We’ve allowed the people we’ve elected to avoid this issue. If we don’t do something about it, then we’re the cowards.”

The funding method did change recently with the passage of Gov. Ted Strickland’s education plan, which added unfunded mandates and reallocated funds from relatively wealthy to poorer districts, said state Sen. Shannon Jones, R-Springboro.

Jones said the DeRolph decision was relevant only to districts that don’t have a poor property base, and that doesn’t include districts in Warren County.

Jones said there will always be a local tax piece to support schools, adding that she advocates less state control and more local control over the district and its resources.

“I empathize with voters who are hurting. When you ask, ‘What can the state do to ease the burden?’ We ought not to be mandating new things on districts,” she said.

School funding is a priority and Republicans are open to alternatives, said State Rep. Pete Beck, R, Mason.

Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2122 or rwilson@coxohio.com.

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