First, we want to thank you for your support; we are grateful to many of you who have attended meetings with your senators over the last few weeks. We know this last year has been non-stop for each of you, and while we are all looking forward to the end of the school year and a return to “normal” in the summer and fall - we have another important hurdle to clear before we can rest.
We must urge legislators to fix school funding in Ohio and include it in the state’s biennium budget which must pass by the June 30 deadline. We need each of you to help fix this broken system and fund Ohio schools once and for all!
If you missed it, many school leaders around Ohio joined us for a discussion on the Fair School Funding Plan last week during an OASBO/BASA joint session held as part of the OASBO annual conference. You can watch the replay here.
There are several other ways you can join us in working together to bring stability, predictability and a formula to school funding in Ohio that has been missing for nearly three decades. After sharing the details and key facts (click here) of the plan with your board members, you can:
1. Inform your parents and staff about the Fair School Funding Plan.
This plan provides a predictable and fair school funding formula with zero increase in state taxes. We need parents and staff to join the effort to urge legislators to invest in education!
Find a template letter you can use here - Please make it your own and share how this plan will impact YOUR district, students and taxpayers.
2. Reach out to business leaders and key community stakeholders.
We need our partners to understand the importance of stable, predictable funding for schools. The Fair School Funding Plan not only helps educate students for college and career but also brings stability to the local economy and will likely reduce reliance on local taxes in many districts.
Find a template letter you can use here.
3. Share key facts on social media.
Social media has the ability to spread useful information to a wide audience. Copy and paste the posts from our content library into your feed or your district’s feed and use our hashtag #PassFairSchoolFunding
Find the suggested posts in our content library here.
4. Provide testimony to the Ohio Senate.
Many of you are providing testimony in-person or written to the Senate Education Committee. If you missed it, please see eAlert from us on Monday with details. Linked here. For those testifying, please consider sharing that on social media.
- Testifying in-person: Post a picture of you testifying before the committee with comment, “Today I represented @DISTRICTNAME and provided testimony to the Ohio Senate in support of Fair School Funding. It’s time for Ohio to #PassFairSchoolFunding!”
- Submitting written testimony: Choose a graphic from the social media library below or use a selfie with the comment, “Today I provided testimony to the Ohio Senate in support of Fair School Funding, the time is now for Ohio to #PassFairSchoolFunding.”
We will continue to share resources with you that make it easy for you to share your support and inform your community about this important, time-sensitive legislation. You can also find more key facts or direct your community to this website: bit.ly/FairSchoolFundingPlan.
The time is now!
It has taken school leaders 24 years to reach this point where Ohio has a constitutional funding formula that can be passed TODAY with a zero tax increase.
Thank you for joining us in passing the Fair School Funding Plan!
Important Resources
Legislator Contact Lookup Resources: