COLUMBUS — Shadyside Local Schools in eastern Ohio had to ask voters for a $450,000 bailout last year to help fund programs that the state requires but won't pay for.

        Lawmakers now are considering a plan to relax those financial requirements. However, Shady- side Superintendent Jerry Narcisi is pessimistic about how much help the proposal will give.

        “I think it's all window-dressing,” he said. “There's really no substance to all this. It's not going to solve the problem.”

        Education officials asked about the plan say it may ease a burden experienced by many districts but falls far short of solving Ohio's school-funding problems.

        “I would much rather have seen this piece as part of a total funding package,” said Warren Russell, deputy executive director of the Ohio School Boards Association.

        The plan was announced two weeks ago after months of public and private talks by lawmakers.

        The Republican-controlled Senate passed the proposal 21-12 along partisan lines last week. House lawmakers hold hearings next week, and House Speaker Jo Ann Davidson has promised quick action.

        The plan tries to fix unfunded mandates, or programs that schools must implement without the money to pay for them. The Ohio Supreme Court targeted unfunded mandates in its May ruling against the state.

        Under a law passed three years ago, school districts must maintain a rainy-day fund and set aside 3 percent of their total budget to pay for textbooks and another 3 percent for building maintenance.

        The proposal eliminates the rainy-day fund and reduces the amount districts must set aside for books and maintenance.

        Senate Democrats complained that they had too little input and that the bill is moving too fast.

        As lawmakers and Gov. Bob Taft took public input on the court's decision this year, fixing unfunded mandates emerged as a mutual priority, said Taft spokesman Kevin Kellems.

        The Ohio Association of School Business Officials, which opposed creation of the rainy-day fund, supports the proposal but wishes more was done.

        “It's a bit frustrating in the sense that the court said, "Fund the mandates,' and instead of funding the mandates, we're going to relax them,” said Barbara Shaner, an association lobbyist.

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