BY MICHAEL HAWTHORNE
Enquirer Columbus Bureau
COLUMBUS -- Ohio schools won't get additional money this summer for construction projects, but state senators promised Wednesday that lawmakers will earmark at least $300 million annually for building needs during the next six years.
Majority Republicans argued the pledge would bolster their case before the Ohio Supreme Court, which will determine whether lawmakers have complied with a decision ordering them to overhaul the way public schools are funded.
Democrats, though, noted there was no money attached to the measure, and the Ohio Constitution prohibits lawmakers from binding future General Assemblies to do anything.
"You cannot spend a promise," said Sen. Judy Sheerer, D-Shaker Heights. "This looks nice as it ghostly floats out there in Never-Never Land, but it isn't real."
When the Supreme Court declared the school-funding system inadequate and unconstitutional last year, the 4-3 decision ordered lawmakers to do more to shore up Ohio's school buildings, dubbed the worst in the 50 states by a 1996 federal study.
Even though the measure approved Wednesday by the Senate Finance Committee does not appropriate additional money for school buildings, Republican senators said future General Assemblies would have a legal incentive to keep the promise made by the panel.
"Once you've made this commitment . . . if you don't keep your end of the bargain, you're back in court and you lose," said Sen. Gene Watts, R-Galloway.
Lawmakers have spent about $1 billion during the past seven years on school construction and repairs, but that amount is a fraction of the $16.5 billion needed statewide, according to the non-partisan Legislative Budget Office.
The state's response to the building needs of schools is among the issues that will be weighed by Perry County Common Pleas Judge Linton Lewis during two weeks of hearings beginning Aug. 24. His ruling almost assuredly will be appealed to the Ohio Supreme Court. The Senate Finance Committee included the promise of more money for school buildings in a measure that corrects errors in the two-year state budget. The full Senate is expected to send the measure back to the House today.
Last week, the Republican-controlled House pulled the plug on an extra $160 million for construction projects at 12 poor, rural school districts. Instead, the House promised that lawmakers would include the money in the next state capital budget, expected to be considered this fall.
The decisions by both the House and Senate drew fire from Democratic gubernatorial candidate Lee Fisher, who urged lawmakers to set aside at least $300 million for school buildings now so school districts could prepare local levies for needed matching funds.
"We've got children sitting in crowded classrooms with leaky roofs in unsafe buildings," Mr. Fisher said. "Instead of hurrying the legislature off for vacation, they should take immediate action to more adequately address the state's education needs."
Bob Taft, the Republican candidate for governor, has called for at least $500 million in the next capital budget for school construction. "A problem such as school funding is always solved on an incremental basis," said Sen. Roy Ray, an Akron Republican and chairman of the Finance Committee. "We're showing the courts we have the intent to deal with this problem."
