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Tuesday, April 28th, 2015

Cupp: State aid plan would help schools with low valuations

By William Kincaid
Photo by Mark Pummell/The Daily Standard

State Senate President Keith Faber, R-Celina, talks about the state budget, school funding and other legislative developments Monday morning at Midwest Electric's annual political action breakfast.

ST. MARYS - The Ohio House's proposal to fund K-12 education would help school districts with low property values, State Rep. Bob Cupp, R-Lima, said Monday morning.
But whether that formula is in the final state budget is up to the Ohio Senate.
Speaking at Midwest Electric's political action meeting, Cupp and other legislators spoke about school funding levels in the state budget that recently advanced to the Senate.
Amounts are yet to be finalized, but the House's formula, which added about $270 million to Gov. John Kasich's proposal, aims to close the gap between districts with high industrial and commercial property values and those without, Cupp said.
"The essence is to push the state's tax dollars - those that come from income tax and sales and other state taxes - to those districts that don't have the property valuation in which they can raise sufficient funds to operate their schools," he said.
Fort Recovery Local Schools Treasurer Lori Koch last week told board of education members the district would lose as much as $97,000 a year in 2016 and 2017 under the governor's proposal but would gain $379,000 in 2016 and $407,000 in 2017 under the House proposal.
"Probably what will happen is, once it works its way through the Senate, it will be somewhere between the governor's proposal and the House's proposal, is where it will end up," she had told board members. "So you can see, tad bit of a difference. In the end, it's about a half a million dollar difference in funding - so, that's huge."
The state has had four different funding formulas in the last 10 years, Cupp said.
"The school administrators tell me that the most important thing to them is some stability and predictability of school funding so they can plan and run their schools," he said. "And we've tried to do that. I think that we have a historic opportunity if it takes root and grows."
Senate President Keith Faber, R-Celina, said his colleagues will review both the governor's and House's proposed spending bills before approving their own.
He also discussed efforts to deregulate K-12 education through Senate Bill 3, which now rests with the House.
"We have recognized that over the last 30 years what we have done on K-12 education has been in response to threats that we weren't spending enough money and the funding formula wasn't good and all those kinds of things," he said.
The legislature, Faber said, has historically responded to requests for more money by demanding more control.
"Ultimately it has resulted in a problem that all of us as free-market conservatives at this table know it isn't right," Faber said. "But we've done it because, well, that's what happens when you exchange money for control."
A top-down, centralized government doesn't work and deregulation would fix that, Faber said.
"Because we believe, just simply put, that your local school boards, your local teachers and your local principals are going to do a (better job) educating your kids than some bureaucrat in Columbus," he said. "Under the Set Our Schools Free Plan, if you've got a high-performing school district, they don't need to operate under the same structure of regulation that, frankly, some other school districts around Ohio that aren't doing so well need to."
Local schools, Faber said, will be better off if they're set free to educate students under their own standards, expectations and community requirements.
Faber also talked about attempts to rein in college costs that over 30 years have increased 1,100 percent - two to three times the rate of normal inflation.
"It has become unacceptable the rate of increase that higher education has gone through," Faber said.
The Senate more than a year ago challenged state colleges to reduce total student costs by 5 percent.
Community colleges and universities have responded positively, he said.
For example, Rhodes States College was able to lower the costs of books for a two-semester remedial math class from around $800 to about $100, he said.
"By changing the textbooks and going more online and doing some other things, they have reduced that cost to just over $100 - that's an 80 percent reduction. That's moving in the right direction."
Wright State University, Faber said, also is meeting the Senate challenge by reducing the required credit hours to 120 for most bachelor degree programs
"Wright State realized that the same thing that all of our other colleges and universities should realize, that a bachelor's degree is supposed to be 120 credits," Faber said. "But a number of programs have had credit creep and they're 130, 140 credits to get a bachelor's degree, and you wonder why it takes four or five years to graduate."
In addition to reducing mandatory hours, Wright State is also considering giving students a 5 percent tuition credit the next semester if they complete 15 credit hours, putting them on track to graduate in four years, Faber said.
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COLDWATER - Coldwater battled back from a two-run deficit to take a 5-3 lead on Marion Local in the fifth inning and extended its cushion to three runs entering the seventh. Marion Local's Claudia Mescher sent the game to extra innings with a three-run homer in the top of the seventh. [More]
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CELINA - The city will extend water lines within the Grand Lake Industrial Park to facilitate manufacturer Versa Pak's proposed expansion to double production and create as many as 25 new jobs, according to officials.
COLDWATER - Village officials hope to receive more than $150,000 in Ohio Department of Natural Resource grant dollars to leverage additional grants to purchase 30 acres for a new park.
ST. MARYS - Pit bulls are no longer singled out as vicious dogs under the city's new ordinance.
City council members unanimously approved an ordinance to replace the one passed in December that declared pit bulls vicious. The new ordinance is breed neutral.
ST. MARYS - The third suspect charged in a 33-year-old murder case on Monday told a judge he has mental and physical disabilities and is penniless.
ST.MARYS - While the final version of the $71.5 billion state budget remains uncertain, one thing is for sure: Ohioans will see a large income-tax cut, Senate President Keith Faber, R-Celina, said Monday morning.
ST. MARYS - Thousands of electric co-op advocates will descend on Washington, D.C., next week to lobby congressional leaders to prevent expansion of the Environmental Protection Agency's regulatory powers.
MINSTER - Minster school board members plan to spend $110,000 to renovate the parking lot behind the high school.
Board members voted at Monday night's meeting to seek bids for the capital improvement project.
ST. HENRY - A $3,000 donation will help the village replace nearly 80 trees lost to emerald ash borer infestation.
Village administrator Ron Gelhau
ROCKFORD - It appeared that Parkway was closing in on another MAC softball win that would give them sole possession of first place.
Instead, Versailles scored five runs in the top of the seventh and used a big defensive play in the bottom of the inning to get the 5-3 win on the road.
MARIA STEIN - After winning Midwest Athletic Conference and The Daily Standard Dream Team Player of the Year honors this past basketball season, Mari
Monday's Local Roundup
Compiled by Gary R. Rasberry
St. Henry scored nine runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to trigger the run-rule in picking up a 14-2 win over Minster in MAC softball action Monday at Four Seasons Park.
Creative touches brighten landscaping, add value to homes
Outdoor lighting can improve safety, upgrade visibility and give a decorative touch that adds value to any property, according to experts.
The trend today is brighter and more expensive LED lighting, said Ryan Bollenbacher, owner of Pleiman Landscaping of Maria Stein.