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IUE supports publicly funded, voluntary early learning experiences for virtually all pre-kindergarden children.
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IUE will help design and encourage enactment of an improved system of state funding of education and other vital needs.
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IUE supports charter schools because they can provide superior education at modest cost, often to children from families that lack
an educated adult, and can by example help improve traditional, district-managed schools.
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School Finance History
While working on early childhood, IUE undertook significant additional initiatives.
First, it became interested in how public education should be financed in Ohio.
Because of Ohio’s atypically heavy reliance on local property taxes to support schools,
and its very uneven distribution of taxable property, there were numerous districts
downstate with small property tax capabilities and local revenues yielding too little
funds to pay for quality education.
While a member of the Cleveland Board of Education
in the late '60's, Calkins had developed an understanding of the arcane school finance
foundation formula that Ohio used. He also became familiar with federal government
contributions to public education. In subsequent years, he had attempted to maintain
his familiarity with this subject. It was, therefore, a natural initiative for IUE to pursue.
The pursuit took several forms. Calkins attempted, with some ultimate success, to interest
Cleveland advocacy groups such as the Coalition for Greater Cleveland’s Children, in
lobbying for repeal of the rule called "phantom revenue." It limited the yield of a real
property tax levy to the dollars yielded at inception, without recognizing any increase
in the tax duplicate which occurred by reason of inflation, while using the entire,
inflation-enhanced yield to reduce the state’s contribution to the district.
He testified before legislative committees on this and other issues. He developed and
wrote about his proposal to shift the business property tax base, which was particularly
unevenly distributed among districts, to the state, with adjustments that would
compensate all but the wealthiest districts. When litigation challenging the
constitutionality of Ohio’s school finance system finally reached the Ohio Supreme
Court, he prepared and filed a brief amicus supporting unconstitutionality and proposing remedies.
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Current Activities
It now (November 2004) appears that the Governor’s Blue Ribbon Task Force on Financing Student
Success will make two valuable recommendations. One is to phase out the "cost of doing business"
factor in the present school finance formula, and replace it with factors based on the
proportion of low-income children in the district or school.
The second valuable recommendation is an amendment to the Ohio Constitution
which will transform 22 of the local mills of districts into "limited growth"
mills, whose yield will rise with inflation, subject to a cap not yet determined.
The "charge-off," which has the function of of partially equalizing revenues among
districts with different amounts of taxable property will be fixed at the same 22
mills. This change will reduce the necessity for districts to return regularly to
their voters for approval of additional millage, and eliminate the unfair and
illogical "reappraisal phantom revenue" characteristic of present law.
Even if the Governor accepts these recommendations, and supports them in the Legislature and with the public, it will not be easy to obtain their approval. IUE will do what it properly can to develop public and legislative support for the two improvements, while considering what further improvements in Ohio finance are desirable.
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White Paper
This paper is a commentary on the report of the Blue Ribbon Task Force.
IUE encourages challenges to and elaborations on the conclusions and
facts stated in these papers. IUE would be pleased to initiate a dialogue
on any or all of the three initiatives it is pursuing.
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