In early 2007 a coalition of Ohio’s public education groups and teachers’ unions joined together to announce the launch of a campaign to place a Constitutional amendment on the November 2007 ballot. Their effort was based on an idea that Ohio’s system of funding K-12 education is unfair and the amount of funding is inadequate.  This is despite the fact that state support has doubled in the past 14 years in addition to the $5 billion of spending on K- 12 facilities.

The plan, called “Getting It Right! For Ohio’s Future”  gives a group of administrators, some elected and some appointed, the responsibility to determine the mix of programs, components and services it deems necessary to create a “high quality” K–12 education and then to determine how much the State of Ohio will need to spend to provide that education.  This group, almost certain to be beholden to the education and union establishments, will essentially have a blank check that will have to be covered by the General Assembly, no matter how much in spending cuts in other programs or in tax increases it will require.  Whatever amount this group comes up with, the General Assembly will have to find the money and allocate it in the biennium state budget.

The plan’s vague language insinuates that its passage will ensure a “high quality” education for all Ohio children, without actually giving specifics about what a “high quality” education is or how much it will cost taxpayers.  Its mandate to include the “latest education research” ensures that Ohio will become a laboratory for whatever new fad captures the imagination of the education establishment.  (Remember the New Math?)

This risky plan junks up our state Constitution by giving 19 people the right to determine how much money we spend on education.  Furthermore it virtually guarantees future tax increases by making irrelevant the best friend of Ohio’s taxpaying homeowners, the requirement of voter approval for school tax increases.   Unsurprisingly, the plan is backed by Ohio’s education establishment, the teachers’ unions and other education unions, school administrators and bureaucrats, and their lobbyists.  

Fortunately, the organizers were unable to acquire the amount of signatures necessary to get the amendment on the ballot in 2007; however they promised to keep collecting signatures for another try in 2008.

The verdict is still out on whether or not the organizers are going to accumulate the amount of signatures needed to put this on the ballot this year.  AFP – Ohio stands ready to defend taxpayers against this unknown increase in the state budget and what would turn out another devastating blow to Ohio’s economy.