A new report on the condition of the nation’s school buildings should make every opponent of school funding reform think twice before launching another diatribe against the unfairness of recent efforts to adjust funding for schools in the state.

Tuesday, March 21, 2000

A new report on the condition of the nation’s school buildings should make every opponent of school funding reform think twice before launching another diatribe against the unfairness of recent efforts to adjust funding for schools in the state.

According to the U.S. General Accounting Office study, Ohio ranks among the nation’s worst in providing quality facilities for its students. In 1996, Ohio had the honor of last place. In this study, the state is merely far below the national average.

The time period covered included 1990-97, right before the Ohio Supreme Court decision that school funding system in the state needed to be revamped.

Hopefully, the state’s latest round of building programs and the additional funds that have been sent to Ohio’s poorest schools will be a start in righting this wrong. Ohioans should expect a better ranking in the next report.

But, that step up is not the only work that needs to be done on the education this state provides its students. In fact, it is merely the beginning.

The work that has been done since 1997 is simply catch-up.

If Gov. Bob Taft really wants to make the state’s schools better, he and the Legislature have to get ready to spend some money to add new programs and to recruit and keep good teachers.

Spending money to earn a "C" instead of an "F" – or to catch up with everybody else – is not enough to make Ohio’s education system efficient and fair – or to make it a drawing card for new residents and new jobs.