Strickland's school funding plan "not well-thought-out"

The Columbus Dispatch writes:

Word that Gov. Ted Strickland's "evidence-based" plan for Ohio's schools might not fit with the new school buildings that taxpayers have paid $6.5 billion to construct is one more sign that the plan isn't well-thought-out. ...

The governor has laid out many mandates that, for a variety of reasons, can't be met without great disruption and unanticipated expenses.

In pursuing the union-friendly approach of attempting to ensure academic improvement by doling out more positions for teachers, aides, counselors, school nurses and the like, Strickland's staff calculated average salaries far below real-world levels. As a result, many experts say the funding for the proposal would fall as much as $1 billion short.

Now, school officials are pointing out that the thousands of classrooms built across the state in the past 12 years were built with the assumption, also state-mandated, that each would hold 25 students. Strickland's plan calls for a student-teacher ratio of 15-to-1 for kindergarten through third grade, which would leave those schools without enough rooms.
 

Source: Editorial, The Columbus Dispatch, 03/21/09)