BY MICHAEL HAWTHORNE
Enquirer Columbus Bureau
NEW LEXINGTON, Ohio -- The state's top educator testified Wednesday that he warned legislative leaders their new school-funding system could hurt Ohio's poorest schools.
Gov. George Voinovich and Republican lawmakers were counting on John Goff, state superintendent of public instruction, to be one of their key witnesses in the state's defense of laws intended to comply with an Ohio Supreme Court decision that struck down the way public schools are funded.
However, Dr. Goff's testimony under cross-examination could end up bolstering a coalition of school districts that successfully sued the state.
The coalition contends the new school-funding system widens the gap between rich and poor districts and fails to provide enough money to fix Ohio's crumbling school buildings, labeled the worst in the 50 states by a federal study.
During the third day of hearings before Perry County Common Pleas Judge Linton Lewis, the coalition's lead attorney, Nicholas Pittner, focused on a letter Dr. Goff sent to Republican legislative leaders in July 1997 as the school-funding plan began to take shape. By slashing the amount recommended by a national expert hired by the state to determine the cost of an adequate education, some poor districts would end up getting less state aid in 1999 than they did in 1998, Dr. Goff warned in the letter.
"This result would clearly imperil court approval of your plan," he wrote. The letter also was signed by Robert Wehling, senior vice president at Procter & Gamble Co. and co-chairman with Dr. Goff of a group of education, business and community leaders called Ohio's BEST.
Following his criticism of the state's efforts, some members of the state Board of Education sought to oust Dr. Goff last spring. They argued he wasn't doing enough to advocate the board's positions in the General Assembly and chafed at his leadership of the BEST group, which had proposed a more expensive plan to reform school operations.
Dr. Goff saved his job, but announced later that he would retire at the end of the year.
During his testimony before Judge Lewis, Dr. Goff said he still supports a school-funding plan developed by Denver expert John Augenblick.
Mr. Augenblick, a key state witness, testified that he based his plan on test scores and other academic standards met by Ohio's top school districts. He removed the richest and poorest schools and those considered inefficient from his calculations.
He recommended the state guarantee schools spend at least $4,269 per student this year, assuming all schools can perform as well as the best if they spend the same amount.
Although the "Augenblick method" has become a mantra for lawmakers, the General Assembly slashed the figure he recommended to $3,851 this year, with inflationary increases bumping it to $4,014 in four years.
Mr. Augenblick, in a letter to Dr. Goff in January, vowed he would defend his specific approach. But on Wednesday, he said the General Assembly's version complies with the Supreme Court's mandate for a "rational basis" to fund schools.
"What I saw was a system that used all the criteria I recommended," he testified. "Different people might make different choices, but they are all made within the rational framework that has been established."
Leaders of the schools coalition contend that lawmakers altered the plan because they determined Mr. Augenblick's version would have required a tax increase, not because the less expensive plan would still guarantee a quality education.
During his cross examination of Mr. Augenblick, Mr. Pittner suggested he is a hired gun, brought in to defend political decisions on school funding. Mr. Augenblick did not directly respond.
Earlier in the day, Dr. Goff said it would be up to the courts to determine which side is right.
"I supported $4,269 (per student) and I'm still committed to that," he testified.
Mr. Pittner also tried to poke holes in the state's defense of a new school construction program by pointing out differences between the state's plan and the one proposed by the BEST group. During opening arguments, state Solicitor Jeff Sutton said lawmakers have allocated an average of $212 million to build and fix schools during each of the past seven years. Lawmakers also have vowed to spend at least $300 million a year on school construction in the future, he said.
Dr. Goff said he supports the BEST group's proposal to spend $500 million a year on school construction.
