Friday, July 21, 2000
Taft, school-reform group meet
By Debra Jasper
Enquirer Columbus Bureau
COLUMBUS — Saying he wants to “cast a broad net” for input on reforming Ohio's school funding system, Gov. Bob Taft met privately Thursday with members of the group that sued the state and won.
Mr. Taft said he wanted to learn from those on the front lines, including members of the Coalition for Equity and Adequacy of School Funding, the group that brought a lawsuit resulting in Ohio's school funding system being declared unconstitutional.
“The governor wanted an honest meeting where people would feel comfortable enough to be candid,” said Scott Milburn, the governor's press secretary. “He wanted to open the dialogue.”
Bill Phillis, the coalition's executive director who was one of six members at the hour-and-a-half meeting at the governor's office, said the group talked to Gov. Taft about focusing first on what would constitute an adequate education, such as what should make up a school's curriculum, and then deciding how to pay for it.
Noting that former Gov. George Voinovich never met with the group, Mr. Phillis said such a meeting was overdue.
Mr. Taft is also taking field trips across Ohio to discuss the issue publicly. He has asked the leaders of more than 40 Ohio organizations to submit their ideas on how schools can be better funded.
And he's launched a Web site asking all Ohioans with opinions on the issue to weigh in at www.OhioSchoolFunding.org.
A Perry County judge who heard the school funding case first ruled in 1994 that the Ohio's system didn't fairly fund school districts. That ruling was upheld by the Supreme Court in 1997.
At the time, Mr. Voinovich and other state leaders balked at the high court's ruling.
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