COLUMBUS - Now that the governor's school funding plan is dead, Republican legislative leaders are pursuing two alternative ways to pump more money into public schools: Budget cuts and a Democrat-backed plan to expand the state sales tax.
Senate President Richard Finan, R-Evendale, sees few - if any - other options.
Despite his earlier assertion that some parts of the budget should be off limits to cuts, he now contends that everything from higher education to Medicaid should be on the table.
''There's a lot you can cut but it's very painful,'' Mr. Finan said Monday. ''I say, 'Let's look for cuts first.'''
Legislative leaders have been attempting to re-tool the school funding formula since a March 24 Ohio Supreme Court ruling declared the current formula inadequate and unconstitutional.
Gov. George Voinovich responded by proposing that legislators place before voters a one-cent increase in the state sales tax and earmark the new money for education. The plan, which would have provided about $1 billion more per year for schools, died in the General Assembly.
In the midst of debate on the governor's plan, some conservatives suggested schools could be adequately funded through budgets cuts, dipping into reserves and earmarking unexpected tax collections.
Mr. Finan responded by having his staff review the recently enacted two-year state budget for possible cuts. He said 86.4 percent of the $36 billion spending plan is off limits because it funds schools, federally mandated programs such as Medicaid, and debt payments.
Of the 13.6 percent left, the Senate GOP staff found $784 million in potential savings. But it would require that university branch campuses and the state departments of agriculture and development shut down, Mr. Finan said at the time.
Since lawmakers rejected the governor's plan, Mr. Finan said he has concluded that such painful cuts may be necessary.
''The next big pot of money around is higher education,'' he said.
Another possible source of revenue, he said, is broadening the state sales tax. He plans to hold hearings on Senate Democrats' plan to raise about $1.24 billion annually by expanding the sales tax to legal, accounting and other services currently exempt.
The Senate's top Democrat, Ben Espy of Columbus, welcomed the hearings, which are tentatively set to begin next month when lawmakers return from their summer break.
Like most states, Ohio traditionally has taxed goods rather than services. As the state's economic base shifts from manufacturing to services, Mr. Espy said it makes sense to apply existing taxes to areas of growth.
And he wants lawmakers to vote on the expansion, rather than simply vote to place it on the ballot.
''It's something we can do if we have the guts to do,'' he said. ''Let's do it for the kids.''
Broadening the sales tax has its detractors, including the Ohio State Bar Association, a high-powered lobbying group with a history of getting its way.
Bar association lobbyist Bill Weisenberg said the Espy plan would unfairly hurt small businesses and he expects the bar association would oppose it.
''Big corporations all have in-house legal departments and in-house accounting departments,'' he explained. ''This would leave the small-business owner - and that's the majority of businesses in Ohio - out there forced to pay more.''
