BY MARK SKERTIC
The Cincinnati Enquirer
With Tuesday's crushing defeat by Ohio voters of a plan to raise the state sales tax, lawmakers and special interests will again try to craft a school funding reform plan.
This time, higher education should play a role in finding a solution that meets the state's needs, Ohio Board of Regents Chancellor Roderick G.W. Chu said.
Voters delivered "a clear and unequivocal message," when 80 percent voted against Issue 2, he said in a statement. "There is not yet consensus on how to fund education reform in this state. The great challenge for all of us in education is to build such a consensus." In recent weeks, the higher-education communities' involvement was mostly limited to vocally supporting Issue 2, a plan to raise the sales tax 1 cent on the dollar. The $1.1 billion it would have raised would have been evenly split between providing more money for kindergarten through high school programs and property tax breaks for homeowners.
There were threats from top lawmakers that defeat of the tax could mean deep cuts in higher education spending to pay for K-12 reforms demanded by the Ohio Supreme Court.
Mr. Chu said he was proud of the efforts made by university leaders to "clarify issues for voters." But with the defeat of the tax plan, higher education leaders should seize the opportunity to help "forge a new consensus on the next steps to strengthen all of education in Ohio."
Higher education is welcome at the table with others pushing for reform, said William Phillis, executive director of the Coalition for Equity and Adequacy of School Funding. The only question he had was what took it so long to show interest.
Invitations to help craft reform plans have been made over the past year but were ignored, he said. And even though university leaders lobbied hard in favor of Issue 2 -- a plan the coalition and most K-12 education groups opposed as inadequate -- higher education would be still a welcome voice in the debate, Mr. Phillis said.
"We believe higher education should not be cut as a result of the defeat of Issue 2," he said. "We will adamantly oppose higher education being cut."
