As a follow up to our earlier post regarding Governor DeWine's budget proposal and the impact on public education funding, we would like to share some additional information on the impact this will have on Ottawa-Glandorf Local Schools, other schools in our county, and in the rest of the state.
Yesterday in a meeting with Representative Jim Hoops, Representative Roy Klopfenstein, and Representative Ty Matthews, some of the unfunded mandates, funding inequities, and transportation issues were brought to their attention. One issue specifically was the continued funding of Auxiliary Services in Ohio.
Around 1990 Ohio started a state-funded program to pay for Auxiliary Services and Administrative costs for private schools. This marked a significant point in the state's provision of these kinds of services.
This program provides "auxiliary services" to students attending nonpublic schools.
These services can include things like:
~ Providing secular textbooks or digital texts.
~ Speech and hearing diagnostic services.
~ Nursing, dental, and optometric services.
Essentially these are services that benefit the health and well-being of the students in the private schools.
As part of this conversation, the representatives were asked why private and parochial schools were still receiving these funds if students were now eligible for full vouchers through the state of Ohio, and why public schools were still required to administer, budget, and maintain these Auxiliary Funds on behalf of the private schools.
The next point discussed was the bussing of private school students by public schools, and the extremely strict requirements that have led some districts in Ohio to be fined by the state when they are unable to run routes to private schools during the day due to driver shortages, driver illnesses, etc. ( https://stnonline.com/news/school-bus-driver-shortage-results-in-financial-penalties-for-ohio-districts/ )
Public schools are required to bus students to any private school within a 30-minute drive of their home school building of attendance, even if that private school is located outside of the public-school district’s boundaries. The students must also arrive within 30 minutes of the start of the private school day and be picked up within 30 minutes of the end of the private school's day. This is incredibly challenging as most districts in Ohio are seeing a serious shortage in school bus drivers.
Dr. Howard Fleeter, on behalf of the Ohio Education Policy Institute (OEPI), has completed an in-depth analysis of House Bill 96, Gov. Mike DeWine’s introduced budget proposal. This report details the potential impact on K-12 education by examining data from the LSC, including district-by-district simulations and state cost summaries by funding component.
View Dr. Fleeter’s analysis on the OEPI website, linked here.