February 27, 1999
Officials here agree with ruling
By Cathy Willoughby
Staff Writer
Local school officials agree with Friday's decision by Perry County Judge Linton Lewis, that the Legislature has not done enough to ensure that the state's school districts are adequately funded.
Tiffin City Superintendent Denise Callihan said she concurred with Lewis' finding. ''But I think we need to take a wait and see attitude,'' she said. She also said the Legislature needed to get back to the business of finding a solution for the school funding dilemma.
Board president Chris English said he also agreed with the ruling. ''Our district has been disappointed with what the General Assembly came up with last year,'' he said. ''We look forward to the Supreme Court's decision. They might also agree with Lewis and instruct the legislators to go back to a workable solution to the problem.''
Clyde-Green Springs Superintendent David Danhoff said the decision naturally bodes well for most districts in the state. ''I didn't feel that the Legislature had accomplished what the Supreme Court had intended them to. And I am appreciative that the court is attempting to restructure the bottom line. But they have reached no systematic, overall solution of the funding problem. Now this will force them to take another look at it.''
Danhoff is not anticipating action soon, however. He said he realizes there are always going to be appeals.
''I guess that the decision is good news,'' he said. ''Yet it is almost to the point that I am numb to the whole process because it has taken so long.''
''My initial reaction is that it is good,'' agreed Ron Jump, Hopewell-Loudon superintendent. ''And I think the vast majority of the superintendents felt that this would be the case, that not enough had been done.''
Jump said following the failure at the polls with State Issue 2 last spring, that a void was left for the Legislature to address in some way.
''It's not that I think that Issue 2 was the answer,'' he said. ''But it took away from the so-called answer that they had come up with.'' A larger issue is that of school buildings throughout the state, badly in need of repair and renovation, Jump added.
''The big issue is that there is such an incredibly dicumented need for facilities,'' he stated. ''The judge's ruling is certainly justified, and there will come a point in time that the Legislature has to own up to their responsibility to education.''
''I feel it is very good news indeed,'' said Judy Zimmerman, superintendent at Lakota. ''I believe in my heart that he made the right decision. I don't believe that the legislators are trying to hurt the children or the school diatricts. But their proposed funding plans are so complex, that indeed it is hurting a number of the districts.''
Zimmerman said the Legislature should go back to the drawing board, and involve more educators and school personnel in their decision making.
Carey Superintendent Ray Funk also agreed that it was the right decision. ''It was a plan that they didn't really understand themselves,'' Funk said. ''When you talk to them (state legislators) they say, 'I didn't know that would affect you like that' and all they do is make all sorts of addendums to their bills.''
''We need people in there who really understand how their funding plans will affect the schools,'' he added. Funk said in the previous proposal, 38 percent of the districts would receive more state money, however, 62 percent would have received less. And the top 10 wealthiest districts would receive 30 percent more in state funding, while the poorest district would lose $550,000.
''It's not a good system at all,'' Funk said, and used the analogy ''You wouldn't want a doctor working on you if they didn't understand how your heart works. You want people in there who understand how school funding works, and how vocational, special education and gifted education funding is part of it. There has got to be a better way.''
State Rep. Rex Damschroder, R-Fremont, said Friday evening he expected the response from Judge Linton Lewis. ''It will have to be reviewed by the court, and then probably be appealed to the Supreme Court. And there will be thousands of hours work of committee work to follow up on the judge's orders,'' he said.
He said he also realizes that the issue of equity and adequacy in education is more complex than a simple funding issue. ''The solution to a better education for children is not really money. There's not a direct correlation. We have the most expensive system of education in the world in the United States,'' he said. ''It's not dollars and cents that are holding us back from creating better students.''