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Ohio committee hears warnings that proposed cash‑balance cap and budget changes would destabilize school finances
Summary
Superintendents, treasurers and analysts told the Senate Education Committee that the House budget’s rollback of school funding and a proposed 30% cash‑balance cap could force deep program cuts, lower bond ratings and increase levy pressure across hundreds of districts.
Several Ohio education officials and an independent analyst told the Senate Education Committee that two items in the current budget proposal — changes to how the Fair School Funding Plan is implemented and a 30% cap on district cash balances — risk destabilizing district finances across the state.
Howard Fleeter, consultant to the Ohio Education Policy Institute, told the committee his review found 478 districts currently hold cash balances above the proposed 30% threshold and that "$3,730,000,000 is at risk of being rolled back by county budget commissions." He called the 30% cap “the single most problematic policy proposal that I’ve ever seen” in his 30 years of school‑finance work.
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