Monday, September 20, 1999
Schools get schedule for funds
Districts now can plan spending
BY JOHN McCARTHY
The Associated Press
COLUMBUS — The state's 611 public school districts now have a better idea when they might be able to repair or replace crumbling buildings.
Last week, the Ohio School Facilities Commission gave approximate release dates for each district's share of $10.2 billion that Gov. Bob Taft has proposed giving to them over the next 12 years.
“We're able to start planning things and putting them on a schedule,” said Jane McGee Rafal, superintendent of the 7,400-student Warren City School District in northeast Ohio.
The governor is trying to help districts that have been complaining for years about a lack of money. A coalition of districts is suing the state to change the way schools are funded.
About $2.5 billion of his plan comes from Ohio's share of the national settlement with the tobacco industry. That would be combined with money from the state's general operating budget and state-issued bonds.
Those sources are subject to legislative approval.
The districts also have to raise a total of $12.9 billion from local sources to qualify for the state help.
Districts were given estimates of the amount of aid they would get and placed on a schedule based on need. Once their turn comes up, the commission will do an assessment to determine more precise numbers.
The time frame fits in a three-year window. For instance, Warren is scheduled to get aid in the budget year that begins July 1, 2004, but could receive the money in the years beginning July 1, 2003 or July 1, 2005.
Dangling the state aid in front of voters is helping, said Stephen Stirn, superintendent of the 1,831-pupil Blanchester Local School District, about 30 miles northeast of Cincinnati.
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