OGF Commits to Working on School Funding

In recognition of OGF’s continuing role as an honest and neutral broker, a bi-partisan group of members from the Ohio General Assembly and other education stakeholders has approached OGF to support the on-going research and development of a K-12 school funding formula. Through the generosity of OGF members, we have engaged school funding experts to help our state’s leaders think through critical elements of school funding. The first product of this work was delivered in late spring when Paolo DeMaria, Education First Consulting, testified before the Ohio House and presented a series of research and data on the history of school funding in Ohio. The PowerPoints, including a narrative explanation, are available on OGF’s website and will be made available publicly by Ohio Government TV in the next few weeks.

In addition to this research, OGF is working with legislative leaders to identify school funding experts from across the country to meet with education stakeholders. The goal is to ensure our leaders have the greatest possible knowledge-base on these critical and very complicated issues. A final piece of this work is a series of regional meetings that OGF will co-sponsor with the legislature to ensure Ohioans have a voice in these decisions. The meetings will include a time for community dialogue followed by a formal legislative hearing on the issues. As of this posting, times and locations have not been finalized.

Coming out later this fall is an update to OGF’s original education report, Education for Ohio’s Future, published in December 2006.  OGF will present the update at its annual conference in November and will feature a progress report on important education milestones and data points over the last five years as well as a series of recommendations on how to continue to improve Ohio’s education system so our students graduate with the skills and knowledge to compete in an ever-changing economy.  OGF’s Education Advisory Committee continues to direct this important work and we hope you will join the team as this work progresses.

Lisa Gray
Education Initiative Project Director