Northeast Ohio legislators say Gov. John Kasich's school funding plan lets down Cleveland

Two Northeast Ohio legislators took aim Wednesday at the school funding plan that Gov. John Kasich proposed last month, taking issue with flat funding for the Cleveland schools.

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Gov. John Kasich's proposed education budget lets down Clevelanders

by not providing any more funding for the city school district, two Northeast Ohio legislators told Kasich's education advisors today.

But the Republican governor's advisors fired back during a House Finance Committee meeting that Cleveland is receiving more than it is entitled to under the state funding formula and that it needs to cuts costs as enrollment falls.

Reps. Mike Foley, a Cleveland Democrat, and Matt Lundy, a Democrat from Elyria, lashed out at Kasich for telling the public he was increasing money for poor districts, then offering Cleveland, the state's poorest large district, no more money than it receives now.

Districts like Cleveland expected to see increases after hearing the governor unveil his plan to superintendents two weeks ago, Lundy said. When the actual numbers were released last week, he said, they were surprised.

"They were kind of hoping that the cavalry was coming," Lundy said. "I think they saw some empty promises."

Foley said Cleveland has laid off teachers, cut millions from its budget, passed the largest new school tax in recent memory and struggled through negotiating the Cleveland Plan for Transforming Schools, an overhaul of many district operations.

"We just passed a 15-mill levy and now we're flat-funded?" Foley asked. "I'm having trouble seeing the rhetoric matching the reality."

Eric Gordon, the chief executive officer of the Cleveland schools, has been publicly silent about Kasich's funding proposal, declining comment after partnering with Kasich last year to push the Cleveland Plan through the legislature.

Mayor Frank Jackson, who had declined comment previously, said though a spokesperson this afternoon: "On its face and based on what I know currently, the formula is unfair. I'm continuing to work with Eric Gordon and others on the issue; but unless information proves otherwise, the formula as proposed is unfair."

Dick Ross and Barbara Mattei-Smith, Kasich's education advisors, said during today's committee hearing that the proposed budget gives Cleveland $75 million above what the funding formula would normally give it. That's because of a state guarantee to Cleveland and other districts that that their funding will not go down.

The state struggles to maintain that guarantee even as Cleveland loses thousands of students every year, Mattei-Smith said.

With fewer students and "all other things equal, the guarantee does increase (per student)," she said.

Finance Committee Chairman Ron Amstutz, a Wooster Republican, noted that while basic state aid to Cleveland hasn't dropped, the district lost $33.8 million for the 2011-12 school year in state compensation for ending the tax on business inventory and equipment that districts long received.

Cleveland lost an additional $17.4 million in reimbursement for that tax for this school year, he said. Kasich's new budget does not offer any money to offset those losses.

Under questioning from Rep. Gerald Stebelton, a Lancaster Republican who chairs the House Education Committee, Mattei-Smith said student losses like those Cleveland has seen are a major reason that the governor may not want to continue funding guarantees after this two-year budget ends.

Both Ross and Mattei-Smith said districts need to scale back if they lose students. Though Cleveland has closed schools and laid off teachers in recent years, they suggested those cuts have not come fast enough.

The Plain Dealer reported last year that Cleveland's teacher cuts are catching up to student losses, but still lag.

"They have infrastructure built to support many more students than they now serve," Mattei-Smith said. "They have not adjusted as quickly as perhaps they needed to."

Under questioning from Foley, Ross said he has talked with Gordon about how Cleveland can qualify for grants through a $300 million fund Kasich has proposed to study innovations and money-saving possibilities.

Ross said that portions of the Cleveland Plan could receive grants.

To reach this Plain Dealer reporter: paodonnell@plaind.com, 216-999-4818

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