Back in June, we told you about hearings that the Ohio House Primary & Secondary Education Subcommittee was conducting concerning the future of school funding in the State of Ohio. At that time, SCO’s Legislative Director, Jason Warner, testified in support of a student-centered funding model, which would allow more resources to be directed towards individualized student learning programs.

Since June, the legislature has conducted four additional hearings in Columbus, Lebanon, Lima and Akron. During these hearings, the members of the legislative panel and the public who attended the hearings have had the opportunity to hear a variety of proposals and suggestions on what the legislature should do as it tackles the long-debated issue of education funding.

These hearings have also provided an opportunity for groups to present testimony on the wide variety of educational options that exist for Ohio families.

Much of the testimony at the public hearing in Lebanon centered on Educational Service Centers (ESCs). ESCs provide services to the state’s public school districts by providing leadership and cost effective group-priced services to meet a variety of federal and state mandated and/or required programs, including payroll and accounting services, professional development, and evolution systems and services.

Considerable time was also spent discussing shared services during the Lebanon hearing. In a continuing effort to reduce costs to taxpayers, many school districts are exploring ways to minimize expenses by partnering with other surrounding school districts and sharing in the expense of certain programs and services. This ranges from shared IT and busing services to districts that have elected to partner and share superintendents and treasurers.

On Wednesday of this week, the third and final field hearing was held in Akron. Participants heard from 18 witnesses on a wide range of issues, from blended learning to gifted student education, and everything in between.

Highlights from Wednesday’s hearing included testimony from Rebecca Sibilia, the director of fiscal strategy, from StudentsFirst, a bipartisan grassroots movement working to focus education system’s on what is best for students. Her testimony included advocacy for a weighted student funding system where school districts receive dollars based on enrollment, and also receive extra amounts (i.e. weights) for students with additional needs, such as English-language learners or students with special needs.

Along the same lines, Ann Sheldon with the Ohio Association for Gifted Children testified about the need for increased funding to be devoted to assisting students who are identified as gifted learners.

All of the testimony from the Akron hearing as well as the other hearings can be found here.

Now that the hearings are completed, the legislature will begin crafting a proposal that is expected to be introduced for consideration next year. Check back for future updates and as always, feel free to contact School Choice Ohio to learn more about this and other initiatives being considered by the Ohio legislature.