Ohio House Speaker Matt Huffman, R-Lima. (File photo by Graham Stokes for Ohio Capital Journal. Republish photo only with original story.)
Does Ohio House Speaker Matt Huffman hate public schools?
It’s entirely possible he doesn’t. I doubt he would ever use those words. But as an observer, it really comes across as if Matt Huffman hates public schools. Or perhaps he harbors some kind of grudge against them and feels that they should struggle and suffer more than they already are.
Maybe hate is too strong a word. Maybe he’s just callously indifferent to public schools. Or maybe it’s not hatred or indifference; it’s a kind of crackling contempt for public schools, combined with a deep, warm, abiding love and affection for private, for-profit, and religious schools.
I really don’t know.
What I do know is that since Ohio’s system for funding public education was declared unconstitutional more than 25 years ago, Ohioans have known only two brief periods in which there was anything resembling a constitutional formula for funding schools: the evidence-based model was adopted. and signed into law under Governor Ted Strickland in 2009 and then quickly overturned by Governor John Kasich in 2011, and the bipartisan Cupp-Patterson Fair School Funding Plan which was introduced in 2021.
Now Cupp-Patterson’s future is in jeopardy as Huffman has declared it “untenable.”
Huffman, who begins the year as speaker of the Ohio House after limiting his term as president of the Ohio Senate, enjoys enormous influence in the Ohio Statehouse amid Republican supermajorities in both chambers.
The Cupp-Patterson Fair School Funding Plan included a phasing schedule over six years, or three budget cycles in Ohio. Now that the first two phases have been implemented, Huffman says he’s ready to call the case off.
“I don’t think there is a third phase for Cupp-Patterson,” Huffman told reporters Monday. “I think the clear statement I can make is that I think these increases in spending are unsustainable.”
Unsustainable. Ohio’s fair school funding is ‘unsustainable’.
Meanwhile, Ohio lawmakers funneled nearly $1 billion in taxpayer money to private schools this past school year under a near-universal voucher expansion, after passing near-universal vouchers the year before. The vast majority of Ohio taxpayers’ new private school voucher money went to families with their children already in private schools.
In Ohio, 90% of students attend public schools, while only 10% attend private schools. But according to Huffman, directing nearly $1 billion a year to private schools to help families who were already using private schools while funding Ohio’s Fair School Funding plan at 90% is absolutely, absolutely and without a doubt sustainable. of students are not.
Even under Cupp-Patterson, school districts across Ohio are facing enormous difficulties.
Here are some headlines about Ohio school districts in the state as of 2024:
• ‘Can’t survive’: The Greater Cincinnati School District will have to make $1 million in budget cuts (WKRC)
• Perrysburg schools are considering budget cuts after the November levy failed (WTOL)
• Princeton City Schools announce hiring freeze and other cuts after tax bill failure (WCPO)
• Local school district moves forward with approved cuts after levy failures (WKRC)
• Ashtabula Area City Schools Superintendent updates board on $1.7 million budget reduction plan (Star Beacon)
• Ravenna City Schools cut back on bus transportation, staff and extracurricular activities as state places district in ‘fiscal caution’ (WKYC)
• The financial health of local school districts varies considerably, prompting levy debates (Dayton Daily News)
• Akron Public Schools is proposing to cut 285 jobs due to its budget shortfall (Idea flow)
• Federal Hocking School District plans to reduce the deficit through attrition (Independent Province of Athens)
• This school district is facing an $81 million deficit. She hopes voters will help. (WEWS)
• Cuts and cuts expected for the Youngstown City School District due to the projected deficit (WFMJ)
• Youngstown schools will cut 20 positions to address budget deficit (Idea flow)
• Cleveland Municipal School District plans to make $168 million in budget cuts over two years (Cleveland.com)
• Local school district had to cut jobs due to budget shortfall (WHIO)
• Tri-state school districts are making cuts and financial changes after levies failed in the November election (WCPO)
• Mansfield City Schools faces a $3.9 million deficit next school year (Richland Source)
• Reynoldsburg school levy fails, cuts likely (WCMH)
• Milford Schools Approves More Than $5 Million in Budget Cuts, Depending on Election Day Income Tax Bill Failure (WLWT)
• Milford School District tax bill fails (WCPO)
I’m going to stop here because I can continue with this.
I read an abnormal amount of local news from all over Ohio, so I know this is all happening because I see these headlines all the time. I don’t expect most Ohioans to be aware that school districts across the state are facing such enormous problems, but I do expect the Speaker of the Ohio House to know this because that is his job.
What I can’t understand is this: when you know that public school districts in Ohio are facing terrible budget problems, teacher shortages, morale problems, bus problems and driver shortages, an extremely hostile public, a complete unwillingness in many communities to support local of the Ohio House, trying to find ways to help schools give 90% of students the absolute best education possible? Or would you take away even more resources and make their problems worse?
I would try to help.
I hope most people will try to help.
But Matt Huffman indicates he plans to cause them more pain. And that makes me wonder: does he hate public schools? Or doesn’t he care? Or does he just love private, for-profit, and religious schools so much that he doesn’t care what happens to the 90% of students in public schools?
Don’t know. But if state lawmakers make even more cuts to public schools, all of these headlines will continue to get worse, and Ohio communities, schools, teachers, students and families will all suffer the consequences.
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