Last Updated 2 weeks by Amnon J. Jobi | Amnon Front Page
The Ohio House Republicans have announced their version of the state budget, dramatically slashing school funding after months of uncertainty.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
After facing questions about school funding for months, House Speaker Matt Huffman (R-Lima) and Finance Chair Brian Stewart (R-Ashville) decided not to fully fund public schools in their proposed amendment to the H.B. 96 budget.
To be fully funded based on statistics from the Fair School Funding Plan from 2021, schools would need $666 million. The proposed budget only gives them about $226 million.
Based on 2025 numbers and inflation, the amount of money to fund K-12 would be closer to $800 million, new data from public school advocates like former lawmaker John Patterson explained.
In a press conference Tuesday, the Republican leaders gave an overview of their substitute bill. Reporters were not given the legislation beforehand, nor did we get it during the event, so questions were based on what the lawmakers said without specifics.
In January, Huffman had threatened to cut public education spending, saying the state doesnt have the budget for it and the amount for schools they were promised this year is “unsustainable.” Instead, they cut $351 million.
For a further in-depth recap of education funding, click here.
This comes as Gov. Mike DeWine fully funded public education in his version of the budget.
RELATED: DeWine tries to protect school funding after GOP proposes cuts
When proposed by the governor, he projected the budget would be $108 billion for fiscal year 2026 and $110 billion for fiscal year 2027 $218 billion total.
The GOP legislators’ proposal isn’t final but it likely won’t change dramatically before it passes out of the House and into the Senate next week.
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