House Speaker Larry Householder (R-Glenford) says when it comes to changing the funding structure for schools to create direct funding for charters, "I'm not sure if that's even a valid issue to discuss."
Householder hopes the Ohio House can take a serious look at overhauling the school funding formula, an issue that's been discussed for years. He says the way things are set up now forces schools to overly rely on property taxes. Householder also expresses concerns that districts are not getting their fair share.
But he says charter school direct funding will ultimately lead to more debate.
“When you set down there and you say ‘here’s what public ed schools get, here’s what the charter schools get, the public schools are naturally gonna say ‘well that could’ve been our money and so you took it from us,'” says Householder.
But that’s what traditional public schools and their advocates already think with the current formula, where money follows a student who decides to go to a charter.
“If the state really believes in school choice and believes in charter schools and believes in charter school funding. Then they need to start coming up with revenue that actually does not affect the 90% of students who are not at charter schools,” said Stephen Dyer, an education fellow with Innovation Ohio.
Householder also wants to consider making charter schools fully non-profit by banning them from working with for-profit management companies.
