Public Education Matters

"The first DeRolph decision came down in 1997, so we've been all those decades without a funding formula. That's why I ran for the statehouse. A retired teacher, I saw the impacts of what was happening when things were getting cut and the damage it was doing to our students."

"The idea was to develop a plan that was fair for all of Ohio's children, fair for all of Ohio's districts, and fair for the state of Ohio."

• Former State Rep. John Patterson (D-Jefferson)
  • Dr. John Patterson represented Ohio's 99th House district from January 1, 2013 until December 31, 2020, when he left office due to term limits. Patterson earned his bachelor's degree from Marietta College, his master's degree in political science from Ohio University and his Ph.D. in education from Kent State University. Patterson taught U.S. history at Jefferson Area High School for 29 years prior to his retirement in June, 2012. He has also instructed undergraduate courses at Kent State and  taught at the graduate level for Gannon University. While at Jefferson Area High School, Patterson served as the Model United Nations advisor, and coached girls basketball, boys baseball, golf and, for the last 12 seasons of his career, boys’ cross-country. He was very active in the Jefferson Area Teachers’ Association, serving as chief negotiator for his union. Patterson is now a member of OEA-Retired.
    
    

"The funding for new buildings and such, you can put a check mark there; we're making great progress. But the day-to-day expenditures has remained a problem, and I say this for two reasons: It all comes down to adequacy and equity."

• 2:00 - The Fair School Funding Plan as House Bill 1 and the four DeRolph cases that determined Ohio's current school funding formula is unconstitutional.
• 3:00 - Consulting with experts around Ohio to determine how much it actually costs to educate a student
• 4:25 - How experience in the classroom informs understanding of the issues and helps Patterson explain the challenges to fellow lawmakers.
• 5:45 - Calculating an accurate base cost
• 6:35 - Incorporating the "categoricals" -- the increased costs of providing transportation, educating English Language Learners, gifted students, special needs students, and more -- into the comprehensive Fair School Funding Plan formula.
• 7:10 - Determining a local district's fair share of the costs, taking into account that a community's property wealth on paper may not accurately reflect its citizens' ability to pay higher property taxes. The Fair School Funding Plan incorporates a 60-40 split between property wealth and income levels to determine local capacity.
• 10:00 - Providing direct funding for vouchers and charters under the Fair School Funding Plan, rather than deducting resources from local public school districts.
• 11:15 - The years of work to develop the Fair School Funding Plan in partnership with State Rep. Bob Cupp (R-Lima), who now serves as Ohio House Speaker
• 13:00 - "We realized that the formula was absolutely broken."
• 14:00 - The Fair School Funding Plan passed the Ohio House with overwhelming bipartisan support in late 2020, but the Senate failed to consider it before the end of the legislative session. Patterson's reaction: "Disappointed, because we came so close to the peak...But on the other hand, it is so complex"
• 15:00 - Navigating the obstacles and the unexpected wrinkles that had to be accounted for in a comprehensive school funding plan
• 16:00 - "When it came to December and that vote was there, we knew we really should have been working the Senate at the same time, but we just didn't have the resources nor the time to do all of it."
• 16:30 - Patterson's continued work, post-legislature, to get the Fair School Funding Plan passed
• 17:00 - The Fair School Funding Plan's importance to entire communities, not just schools
• 18:00 - How funding schools post-pandemic should lead to a renaissance in rural communities where people will be able to work from home and access the best educational programs for their kids
• 20:00 - Bringing Ohio's young people back home
• 21:00 - Fair school funding is finally within our reach

• "According to the State Constitution, this is a shared partnership between the local government and the state government to educate all of Ohio's kids, but where we have fallen short is to determine what the local share is."

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• The Ohio Education Association represents more than 120,000 teachers, faculty members and support professionals who work in Ohio’s schools, colleges, and universities to help improve public education and the lives of Ohio’s children. OEA members provide professional services to benefit students, schools, and the public in virtually every position needed to run Ohio’s schools.
• Education Matters host Katie Olmsted serves as Media Relations Consultant for the Ohio Education Association. She joined OEA in May, 2020, after a ten-year career as a television reporter, anchor, and producer. Katie comes from a family of educators and is passionate about telling educators' stories and advocating for Ohio's students.