Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine has some big goals for education in the Buckeye State, and he shared some of them with members of the Ohio School Boards Association, Ohio Association of School Business Officials and the Buckeye Association of School Administrators in Columbus last week.

According to a report by the Ohio Capital Journal, DeWine’s hopes range from improving literacy and access to career tech schools to finally getting the Fair School Funding Plan fully implemented.

“My intention will be to continue, as long as I’m governor, to continue to move forward and to finish that job,” he said. “In this budget we proposed, we’re on track and on schedule.”

But that timeline does not have the sense of urgency many believe is needed to best serve our students. Rather than wait another two years, many public school advocates would like to see the Fair School Funding Plan fully funded now. That is understandable, but there’s a problem.

We still don’t have the funding formula that will give each district what it needs. A recalculation of student costs based on new studies and district-by-district data is in order. The Capital Journal reports economists with the Ohio Education Policy Institute found barriers created by students’ economic situations lead to more funding need in some districts. That is not a surprise, but the funding formula does not do a good job of accounting for it.

“In general, the formula determines a per-pupil local contribution based on a mix of property value and income measures, then requires the state to make up the difference to bring the total up to the district’s per-pupil base cost in order to direct more state funding to districts with lower wealth,” the Legislative Service Commission stated in its analysis, according to the Capital Journal.

In other words, there are still gaps in getting struggling school districts what they need to educate and support students — and help the next generation make the leap our communities need. If the Fair School Funding Plan is adjusted to include new calculations that properly fund ALL school districts, DeWine and lawmakers should work to put full implementation on the fast track.

Ohio’s children can’t afford to wait.

editorial@vindy.com