Ohio's School Funding System Lacking, Says Court

The Ohio Supreme Court declared Thursday its system of funding schools is still unconstitutional because the dependence on local property taxes causes it to fail to provide a "thorough and efficient" education for every child.

Although back in March 1997 the court found the system lacking, it still remains unconstitutional despite lawmakers' "good faith attempt" to fix it.

Writing for the majority, Justice Alice Robie Resnick said the state should be given the additional time in light of progress that the governor and the Legislature have made.

Resnick acknowledged efforts made in good fatih to comply with requirements, but the failure to address Ohio's dependence on local property taxes remains the "most glaring weakness" in the state's attempts to establish a fairer funding system, she said. "The process must continue." And "even more is required."

Justices Andrew Douglas, Francis E. Sweeney and Paul E. Pfeifer joined Resnick in the ruling.

In a 4-3 ruling, Resnick ordered more arguments in June 2001, by which time lawmakers must address several issues, including the reliance on property taxes as the primary means to fund schools, the way new school buildings are funded and the use of an emergency fund for schools in financial trouble.

Additionally criticized were new unfunded mandates on schools including the addition of extra classes because of tougher high school graduation requirements and the way funding formulas have been changed.

But on the other side of the coin, Chief Justice Thomas Moyer, and Justices Deborah Cook and Evelyn Lundberg Stratton once again sided with the state.

Moyer said that those challenging the case still haven't made it clear to lawmakers how that the system is unconstitutional. He noted that the Department of Education has received a $1.7 billion funding increase since fiscal 1991.

"The majority still has not clearly told the General Assembly what 'thorough and efficient' means or what 'overreliance' on property tax is, or what would constitute the kind of educational opportunity it believes the Ohio Constitution guarantees to every Ohio child," Moyer wrote.

But Gov. Bob Taft and Republican leaders in the Legislature contended that the state has drafted a successful plan to pay for schools.

Lawmakers passed a plan earlier this year to spend $4.5 billion from Ohio's tobacco settlement to build or repair schools over 25 years. Using part of that money, Taft has proposed his own 12-year, $10.2 billion plan to improve Ohio's public school buildings.

Thursday's decision was the latest development in a case that dates to December 1991, when the Ohio Coalition for Equity & Adequacy of School Funding sued in Perry County Common Pleas Court on behalf of the Northern Local School District and others.

Perry County Common Pleas Judge Linton Lewis Jr. first found the state system of financing education unconstitutional on July 1, 1994 The 5th Ohio District Court of Appeals in Canton overturned Lewis' ruling a year later. After two more years of legal arguments, the Supreme Court declared the school funding system unconstitutional.

In May 1998, Ohioans overwhelmingly rejected a proposed sales tax increase that would have paid for school improvements. Lewis again ruled against the state in February 1999, saying it still hadn't fixed the problem.

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