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Budget discussions on education have begun in the Ohio General Assembly, along with the reconvening of the House Education Committee, which is preparing to take a hard look at the state’s school regulation and funding as it establishes legislative priorities on the topic.

State Rep. Sarah Fowler Arthur, R-Ashtabula, is the new chair of the committee, which has several former educators in its ranks. The former Ohio State Board of Education member and homeschooling supporter focused on “disenfranchised” parents and the elimination of what she sees as overregulation in the state education system as she explained what she hopes to see from the committee over the next two years.

“Over the past two or three decades, I think Ohio’s education system has been weighed down with bureaucracy and red tape, and often those have come in the form of well-intentioned policies, regulations, laws, unintentionally stealing the joy of learning from many of Ohio’s students and teachers,” Fowler Arthur said in last week’s committee meeting.

Fellow committee member state Rep. Adam Bird, R-New Richmond, also brought up an oversaturation of roles, particularly for teachers in the state system, saying the screenings, parent reporting, health intervention plans, and school safety plans, among many other roles given to teachers through laws and regulations, have given educators a full plate.

“We need to remind ourselves that we have created all this extra work for teachers, and again, it’s not bad stuff, it’s good things, but we need to temper some of our expectations and whatever regulations we contemplate adding to their list,” Bird told the committee.

Fowler Arthur also expressed hope that the committee would “look ahead to the potential flexibilities that we can extend to our local schools and districts” and cited Ohio House Speaker Matt Huffman, R-Lima, in saying “our true policy priorities are realized through the budget and with what the legislature collectively chooses to fund.”

Gov. Mike DeWine released his executive budget proposal early last week, which included recommendations for $12.4 billion in state funding to schools in 2026, along with $12.6 billion in fiscal year 2027.

It includes the implementation of the final two years of a public school funding model known as the Fair School Funding Plan, which is meant to focus on the real-time costs of educating a child in individual districts rather than giving blanket funding without regard to the nuances of different school district needs.

But whether that will stay in the legislative budget is up in the air, as some in the Republican supermajority have expressed skepticism over continuing with the plan.

Republicans in the legislature have stood behind state support of the private school voucher system. DeWine’s budget supports universal access to the voucher program, along with the recommendation to fund the public school funding model.

Public school advocates praised DeWine’s inclusion of the Fair School Funding Plan in the executive proposal, but also scrutinized the education budget because of it’s failure to account for inflation in the public school funding model and a plan to “scale down” funding guarantees in some districts.

The education advocacy coalition All In For Ohio Kids said DeWine’s proposal, based on 2022 education costs, “means the state would be funding public schools at a lower level than it did in 1997, when the (Ohio) Supreme Court declared the school funding system unconstitutional.”

“As a parent, I can’t base my budget for groceries on 2022 prices, so how can our lawmakers budget for our school districts using 2022 costs,” asked Jason Marshall, a Pickerington Local School District parent and “parent leader” for All In for Ohio Kids, in a statement. “The result will be that school districts like mine will have fewer dollars from the state to work with and will be forced to ask voters to raise their property taxes – in the midst of sky-rocketing property valuations.”

In discussions about the executive budget happening in the House Finance Committee last week, Ohio Department of Education and Workforce Director Stephen Dackin said DeWine’s recommendations are a good starting point, but he and the department “do think there’s some elements of the funding formula that could be adjusted,” including addressing the Temporary Transitional Aid Guarantee, a provision in state education funding that makes sure funding levels for any district don’t fall below the previous year’s funding base.

DeWine’s executive budget looks to cut that guarantee by 5% in each of the next two years, down to 90% by 2027.

During the House Education Committee, Fowler Arthur also mentioned the uncertainty at the federal level when it comes to the efficacy and future existence of the U.S. Department of Education. But she took a positive tone when it came to potential changes, including those that could be made by an organization created through a Trump executive order and run by Tesla and SpaceX leader Elon Musk.

“The Department of Government Efficiency is taking a hard look at the federal government policies, and I think we’re all expecting at least some level of change to the federal K-12 education scene,” Fowler Arthur said. “And so, hopefully this will make it the right time for Ohio to do the same.”

Fowler Arthur said she plans to convene the House Education Committee every week until Easter. The committee will see the education provisions of the budget as part of their business, amid negotiations by the House to develop its own budget document. The Senate will also create a document, and both will need to be reconciled with the governor’s recommendations to create one unified budget ready for the governor’s signature by July 1.