Turnaround Ted's Failed School Funding Plan

Turnaround Ted Said He'd Be A "Failure" If He Didn't "Solve" School Funding 

• "If I do not solve this problem if I am elected governor, then I will be a failure, no matter what else I achieve." (The Fremont News-Messenger, 9/19/06)
   
• Strickland, asked if he would ensure that schools are given the resources to provide a quality education to all students, said if he is elected and fails to address education funding, "I will consider myself a failed governor." (Columbus Dispatch, 10/23/06)
   
• "We're going to fix this education funding problem once and for all," Strickland said. He told the crowd if he was elected and he doesn't fix the problem, then he will have failed as governor. (The Lima News, 10/9/06)
   
• For Strickland, 2008 will be the year the governor talks about fixing Ohio's education system - the issue on which he has said he wants to be judged.” (Cleveland Plain Dealer, 01/01/2008) 

 But, For Months, He Refused To Provide A Specific School Funding Plan.

• If Ohioans want to know specifically what Ted Strickland would do to create a constitutional school-funding system, they'll just have to elect him. ...  He provided no details, and asked afterward when he would unveil those details, Strickland said, "I will do that if I win this election." (Columbus Dispatch, 8/18/06)
   
• "Ohio's first-term Democratic governor campaigned on the issue, but has waited well into his second year to begin addressing it." (The Lima News, 07/21/2008)
   
• "Taxpayers, rise up. During his 2006 endorsement interview, I asked Strickland, 'How will you fix school funding?' He said, 'I'm going to talk to people.' Three years later, he's still talking. (Column, Mary Jane Skala, Sun News, 07/21/09)

Even When He Announced A Plan, It Lacked Specifics & Received Widespread Criticism 

• "The numbers don't add up, and Strickland has undermined his pledge of transparency by dragging his feet on providing the data and details to back up his education plan."  (Column, Joe Hallett, Columbus Dispatch, 3/29/08)
   
• Through weeks of examination, including more than 50 hours of House committee testimony from 320 witnesses, Strickland's ‘evidence-based’ funding model has been taking on water through a number of holes. (Columbus Dispatch, 3/29/09)
   
• "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." (Editorial, Columbus Dispatch, 3/21/09)
   
• "Gov. Ted Strickland is starting to lose his cool. The once-unflappable Democratic governor is beginning to unravel around the edges as criticism from House Republicans and independent observers continues to rain down on what some call his duct-tape-and-gum budget package and school-funding plan." (Editorial, Cleveland Plain Dealer, 4/11/09)

Contrary To His Promise of Transparency, Strickland Developed His Plan "Secretly"

• “Ted Strickland and his administration's inclination to work secretly and privately have backfired regarding the governor's plans to overhaul Ohio's unconstitutional school funding plan. ... No one bought into the plan early because no one knew the details. More importantly, the governor did not foresee glaring weaknesses in the new funding formula because he didn't trust anyone enough outside his small circle to speak truth to power.”   (Column, Dennis J. Willard, Akron Beacon Journal, 3/28/09)
   
• “The administration has been stonewalling legislators and the media about the numbers behind Strickland's ambitious school-funding formula.” (Editorial, Columbus Dispatch, 4/12/09)

Strickland's Plan Contained Unprecedented Cuts In Funding For Schools 

• As lawmakers and educators sift through the individual school district numbers attached to Gov. Ted Strickland's new school-funding plan, some are finding an unusual twist: The poorest school districts in Ohio lose money in the next two years while many of the richest see huge gains. (Cleveland Plain Dealer, 2/9/09)
   
• Strickland's proposal also has come under fire because even though poor rural districts would get more money once the plan is phased in after eight years, many would take a funding cut during the next two years. (The Columbus Dispatch, 02/26/09)
   
• A number of education groups have argued that the so-called IQ index is not broad enough to reflect the true disparities between Ohio's poor and wealthy districts, causing Strickland's plan to impose funding cuts on too many poor, rural districts. (The Columbus Dispatch, 03/29/09)

Strickland's Plan Would Take Years To Fully Implement

• “The plan has been met with some criticism. Phasing in changes to school funding to make the system constitutional seems to conflict with the urgency Strickland attached to the issue in a 2003 friend of the court brief.” (Column, William Hershey, Dayton Daily News, 2/1/09)
   
• "On paper, the funding is to be phased in over 10 years. Starting two years from now. But there's no mention of where the hundreds of millions of additional dollars will come from; there isn't even a complete price tag. Just maintaining the current funding level two years from now will be hard, because $800 million of the current allotment comes from one-time federal stimulus dollars." (Editorial, Columbus Dispatch, 7/19/09)

Strickland's Plan Is Financially Unsustainable

• "Ohio's education spending next year is palatable only because of one-time federal money. What then? So far, Strickland is flunking out as the 'education governor.'" (Column, Mary Jane Skala, Sun News, 07/21/09)
   
• "Throughout the budget debate, Strickland has refused to own up to the fact that his education budget has no visible means of support. Asked in April how such a plan could be sustained, he declared, 'We are committed to education, and if we are committed to it, it will be sustainable.' That statement comes direct from Neverland. Unfortunately for school boards and superintendents, they have to live in the real world."  (Editorial, Columbus Dispatch, 7/19/09)
   
• Some lawmakers worry that Strickland's formula doesn't allocate enough for teachers. Ohio has more than 100,000 teachers, so even a small change in the salary figure could have a huge impact on the money needed in Strickland's formula. ... His plan could come up hundreds of millions of dollars short.  (The Columbus Dispatch, 2/26/09)
   
• "[Strickland] said he's going with the lower figure of $8.64 billion for the education plan because, who knows how much inflation will be over the next 10 years? That's irresponsible.  Strickland's spokeswoman, Amanda Wurst, was no more convincing, saying Ohio 'could very well see deflation in the next 10 years.' With that kind of thinking for a foundation, the House budget in its current form is a recipe for Draconian cuts or massive tax increases in the future." (Editorial, Columbus Dispatch, 5/12/09)
   
• "Strickland has said the state budget would be able to maintain the increased spending even without the federal stimulus money, but short of more budget cuts, the governor only appears to be setting schools up for another funding disappointment down the road." (Editorial, The Lima News, 2/3/09)
   
• "This budget plan isn't sustainable." (Editorial, Akron Beacon Journal, 2/4/09)
   
• "'We reject the emphasis on sustainability.' With that statement last week to the Dayton Daily News, Gov. Ted Strickland earned all the criticism he's getting for a budget proposal, including his overhaul of education funding, that is unrealistic to the point of irresponsibility." (Editorial, Columbus Dispatch, 5/1/09)
   
• Uncertainty about the governor's new school-funding plan remains high among Ohio senators, even after the state budget director spent two hours answering questions from lawmakers trying to determine the logic and sustainability of the proposal. (Columbus Dispatch, 4/1/09)
   
• "While Gov. Ted Strickland touts what he calls an unprecedented investment in Ohio schools, the people who actually have to deliver the education are scratching their heads. They're looking past the rhetoric and the mandates in search of the dollars, and they aren't finding them." (Editorial, Columbus Dispatch, 7/19/09)