BY MICHAEL HAWTHORNE
Enquirer Columbus Bureau
COLUMBUS -- It's odd to see Joseph Epplen opposing a tax increase for schools. Mr. Epplen, superintendent of Mount Healthy City Schools, pushed for a local tax issue four times during the past year before voters approved a 6.99-mill operating levy in February.
Despite the promise of millions of additional dollars for schools if Issue 2 passes Tuesday, Mr. Epplen and other traditional supporters of school tax issues are urging voters to reject the statewide ballot initiative.
Why? Most of Ohio's education establishment contends Issue 2 fails to comply with an Ohio Supreme Court decision that ordered state lawmakers to overhaul the way public schools are financed. "From my point of view, the legislature didn't address the court's mandate to fix the system," said Mr. Epplen, echoing the comments of fellow superintendents. "They tweaked it. They massaged it. But they haven't fixed it."
If Issue 2 passes, the state sales tax will increase to 6 cents from 5 cents on the dollar. The $1.1 billion raised annually would be split between schools and property tax credits for homeowners. Proponents include Gov. George Voinovich, Republican legislative leaders and many of Ohio's large corporations. They tout the tax plan as a politically realistic "first step" in improving public schools.
Opponents, though, say the court ordered more dramatic steps to reduce the state's historical reliance on local property taxes to finance schools.
The current system has created vast funding disparities between property-rich districts that can afford state-of-the-art science labs and Olympic-size swimming pools, and poor districts that teach with out-of-date textbooks in turn-of-the-century buildings. While half the sales tax proceeds would be used for property tax credits, that won't erase the need for school districts to keep asking voters to approve tax levies, said John Brandt, executive director of the Ohio School Boards Association.
"The court didn't order a first step," Mr. Brandt said. "They ordered a solution."
Some school officials find themselves in the politically tricky position of urging voters to oppose Issue 2 while supporting local school levies on the same ballot.
Ted Knapke, superintendent of Wyoming City Schools, said there is too much confusion about how a new school-funding formula enacted by lawmakers will affect districts in future years.
For instance, poor rural schools maintain they will end up getting less money for transportation in future budgets. Fast-growing suburban schools complain the formula does not allow them to tap into increased property values.
Ultimately, Mr. Knapke said, it's easier to explain to voters what will happen with the proceeds from local tax issues, such as the 8.2-mill bond issue Wyoming Schools placed on Tuesday's ballot. "Voters will think Issue 2 is a solution, not a first step," Mr. Knapke said. "A couple of years from now, when districts need to come back with a levy to keep up with inflation, the voters are going to wonder what kind of game we're playing."
In light of the difficulty lawmakers had securing votes to place Issue 2 on the ballot, Republican legislative leaders say school officials shouldn't gamble that a more attractive plan will emerge if the ballot issue fails.
"Somehow they believe that if this fails, we are going to come back and spend more money," Senate President Richard Finan, R-Evendale, recently told the Enquirer editorial board. "I'm here to tell you: It's not going to happen."
"If it doesn't pass," Mr. Finan said, "the legislature will assume that people just don't want to spend more."
Robert Wehling, a senior vice president at Procter & Gamble Co. who has played a major role in the pro-Issue 2 campaign, said the sales tax increase is not "the final step, but a good first step." Mr. Wehling co-chairs a coalition of education, business and community leaders that called for a more sweeping plan to reform the way schools are funded and operated.
"We found out that the holistic plan we wanted to accomplish just wasn't doable," he said. "I had to ask myself, "If we were not ready to do broad, systemic reform, is this a good first step?' Everything I have seen says, "Yes, it is.' "
Local school leaders, though, say the state needs to overhaul the system so they aren't constantly returning to voters to ask for more money.
"We shouldn't have to politicize a child's education," Mr. Epplen said. "The legislature looks at us as a bunch of whining, sniveling people demanding handouts, but they're the ones that created this mess."
