Local school officials support a proposed state constitutional amendment that would restructure the way public schools are funded and define the cost of educating each student.

The proposal is a response from the “Getting It Right For Ohio’s Future” campaign, a coalition of 12 education organizations, to the current system of school funding, said Jim Betts, executive director of the Alliance for Adequate School Funding, one of the groups involved.

The Ohio Supreme Court ruled in the 1997 case DeRolph v. State of Ohio that the complicated school funding system was unconstitutional.

“I was a lawyer for 31 years and I have been studying school funding for five years and it still confuses me,” said Tom McGuire, a representative for the Ohio Fair Schools Campaign, a part of “Getting It Right.” “I would bet 99.5 percent of public school employees don’t understand it.”The current system

DeRolph addressed the funding system’s reliance on property taxes, which allowed districts with higher property values to collect more money for schools.

Under the current system, the general assembly creates the budget for state-funded school education biennially and then determines the per-pupil amount, said Barbara Shaner, associate executive director of the Ohio Association of School Business Officials. A formula is used to determine statewide per-pupil basic aid, which is $5,403 for the current fiscal year. However, there is no formula to determine whether that sum is adequate, Shaner said.

The money distributed to a school district is the per-pupil amount multiplied by the number of students in the district and a cost of business factor, which adjusts for differences in wage across the state. The resulting amount is how much the state government determines is adequate for one “regular” student in each district. Local revenue based on a 23-mill property tax rate — or $805 on a $100,000 house — is expected to pay for part of that “adequate” amount and thus is subtracted from the “adequate” amount to determine the amount that the state actually pays each district.

The state then provides additional funding for transportation, special education, building costs funded by tobacco taxes and other services, Shaner said.

One problem with property-tax-dependent school funding is the idea of so-called phantom revenue. When property values increase, the state government assumes the school district is receiving additional funds and appropriates less state funds, McGuire said. However, a 1976 state bill prohibits districts from increasing taxes on a property when its value increases. Thus, the school district loses state funds while collecting no more money.‘Getting It Right’

The proposal aims to address that problem and others by creating an Education Advisory Committee responsible for defining “high-wquality education” for each of Ohio’s more than 1.84 million students, McGuire said. The Ohio General Assembly would be expected to fund what the advisory committee and Ohio Board of Education determine as the cost of education, an amount that taxpayers will not know ahead of time.

The committee and board’s recommendations could be overruled by a three-fifths majority vote in the general assembly or a veto from Gov. Ted Strickland, McGuire said.

The proposed amendment also would create the Education Accountability Commission to check the efficacy of the board in implementing the amendment, Betts said. It also provides a property tax exemption on the first $40,000 of property value for residents who are 65 or older or permanently disabled, McGuire said.

Opponents criticize the vagueness of the proposal in describing “high- quality education” and the means by which such education could be funded.

Drafters of the proposal did not set strict guidelines on the components of a “high quality education” because the amendment would be permanent and not allow for adjustments as technology changes education, McGuire said. The proposal does not define how the committee will determine a per-pupil cost.

McGuire suggested that the determination could be made by calculating the cost for an average student and then adjusting that amount based on the type of student — whether gifted, special education, career technical or disadvantaged — and location or poverty level.

In the current system, different computations are used to calculate funding for different types of students, he said.

Critics say the amendment also could cause logistical problems in some districts. Take for example a swimmer who moves from a district with a pool and a swim team to Federal Hocking Local School District, which does not have a swimming team or pool. The proposal suggests Federal Hocking would have to build a swimming pool to continue that student’s quality of education, said Melanie Elsey, legislative director for Ohio Roundtable, a non-profit public policy organization.Local schools

Athens City School District supports the proposed amendment and would prefer the bulk of education to be funded by the state instead of local tax dollars, superintendent Carl Martin said.

Local taxpayers funded $10.6 million, or 40.3 percent, of Athens schools’ nearly $26.4 million budget for the current fiscal year. Between restricted and unrestricted funding, the state is expected to contribute $8.4 million, or 31.8 percent of that budget.

The per-pupil expenditures of Athens schools in 2006 was $10,336, ranking the district 69th of more than 610 state school districts reporting in 2006, according to the Ohio Department of Education.

Trimble School District, one of the poorest in the state, cut curriculum and extracurricular activities down to a minimum after enduring a fiscal emergency from 2001 to 2005. Superintendent Cindy Johnston is backing the Getting It Right proposal.

“Is it perfect? No, but it is better than anything we’ve ever had for school funding,” Johnston said.

Nelsonville-York City School District superintendent Ted Bayat is advocating the proposal and expects voter support for the amendment in his district. Federal Hocking Locals Schools superintendent James Patsey also supports the proposal.

Alexander School District is awaiting more information before making a judgment, treasurer Aaron Schirm said.

The amendment’s proponents say the new system would be beneficial because a school-focused group, the Ohio Department of Education, would be spearheading the analysis and decision-making process, rather than a state legislature that must consider other factors when determining a budget.

State Sen. Joy Padgett, R-Coshocton, said it’s important that state government officials consider those other factors when analyzing the problems with school funding and not be single-minded.

State Rep. Jimmy Stewart, R-Athens, has not finished reviewing the proposal but said he was encouraged that 12 education organizations support it.

The Ohio Ballot Board has until Friday to determine whether the proposal should be split into multiple ballot issues, said Debbie Phillips, executive director for Ohio Fair Schools Campaign.

Proponents then must collect the 402,276 votes statewide — 10 percent of voters for the last gubernatorial race, representing at least 44 of Ohio’s 88 counties — needed by Aug. 8 to put the amendment on the Nov. 6 ballot, McGuire said.

If passed the amendment is passed by voters, the new system of funding would go into effect in July 2010.