Funding Ohio Schools: A New Day

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Since its creation in 2006, Philanthropy Ohio’s Education Initiative has asserted that every child – regardless of ZIP code, gender, race or ability – deserves an education that leads to successful employment in the 21st century economy. In our seminal 2006 report, Education for Ohio, we called for the state to fundamentally redesign the K–12 education funding system so that schools and districts have equitable, stable and predictable revenues. While some progress has been made in the last decade, events of the past year have revealed the extent to which inequality still exists in Ohio’s public K-12 schools. 2021 is the time to move forward, establishing a school funding plan that will mean the difference between a just and prosperous Ohio or one that moves backward while other states move ahead. If not now, when? Ohio must create a school funding plan that works for all Ohio students. Today, we firmly believe that the state needs to make significant new investments to meet the needs of students and to close the disparities in student outcomes.