The state’s $777 million budget gap was created by a state tax revenue shortfall caused by the COVID-19 pandemic as DeWine ordered all non-essential businesses closed to slow the deadly new coronavirus.
“Decisions like these are extremely difficult, but they are decisions that are part of my responsibility, as your governor, to make,” DeWine said in a statement. “We believe that instituting these cuts now will provide the most stability moving forward, however, I am greatly concerned about the cuts we must make in education. We have an obligation to our schools to give them as much predictability as we can, but if we don’t make these cuts now, future cuts would be more dramatic.”
Large universities received the largest dollar amount cuts — $14.9 million at Ohio State, $8.2 million at the University of Cincinnati, and $6.65 million at Ohio University. Aside from education, Medicaid and other state-funded programs and agencies were notified of reductions in their budgets.
The majority of the state budget gap will be made up from education cuts across the board, totaling $465 million followed by Medicaid at $210 million.
Miami University’s budget will take a hit of more than $2.9 million in the plan.
“Gov. DeWine has been forthright and clear that reductions in the state budget would need to be made,” the school said in a statement. “This prepared Miami to anticipate a reduction in state support as we entered the final quarter of this fiscal year. The impact on Miami from the announced reductions … is within our budget plans for the remainder of the fiscal year.”
Of the K-12 cuts, Lakota Schools faces the biggest decrease at $3.43 million. Jenni Logan, the district’s treasurer, said DeWine’s school funding cut didn’t surprise officials.
“We were anticipating reductions to our state funding based on the revenue shortfall the state is experiencing due to this pandemic,” said Logan.
Still, she said, “a reduction during the last two months of a fiscal year (ends June 30) does create a challenge. But, this situation is challenging for our entire community and nation. So to believe we would be exempt from the financial reality of the situation is not practical.”
Logan said the district, which is the ninth-largest in Ohio and has an annual operating budget of $177 million, will begin to assess the impact of the just-announced budget cuts.
Holli Morrish, spokeswoman for Talawanda Schools, which will lose $751,608, sounded an alarm about the possible impact. The district has an annual operating budget of $37 million.
“Talawanda is devastated to hear of the cuts to public education,” she said. “We fear this will send the public school systems in Ohio into financial ruin. The realization that these serious cuts will occur in just two months time is very overwhelming. Talawanda will lose approximately $751,608 in May and June of this year alone.”
Middletown Schools treasurer Randy Bertram, whose district will lose $633,126 in the plan, described the state funding reductions as “disappointing.”
“I believe the state’s rainy day fund would have been a better option for the cuts this year,” he said. “We are unable to make necessary cuts to match the state cuts since our school year is over and the money is spent.”
“Middletown has already approved $2 million in cuts for next school year,” he said of district’s own imposed reductions announced last month.
One piece of the equation has not been resolved yet. When a student attends a charter school or a private school on a voucher, the student’s local school district is required to deduct their funding amount and pass it on to the charter or private school. Murnieks said the state has not yet decided whether school districts still will have to pass along the full amount, given their cut in state funding.
These $355 million in K-12 budget cuts are only for the next two months, to the end of the school fiscal year. Murnieks said state revenue will also be down in the 2020-21 year, but OBM does not have a firm projection yet, as analysts disagree on what the recovery curve will look like.
Policy Matters Ohio, a Cleveland-based think tank, said DeWine should have taken a balanced approach as opposed to having education and Medicaid make up the majority of the budget shortfall. The cuts will hurt school districts and colleges and universities across the state, said Policy Matters’ Senior Project Director Wendy Patton.
“Every Ohioan, no matter where they live or how much money they have, deserves medical care when they are sick and access to great public schools. Budget cuts work against that,” she said.
“Gov. DeWine can and should take a more balanced approach to the budget shortfall. He can reduce funding for Medicaid services that providers have not delivered or for school testing or reporting that will not happen. Going beyond that undermines institutions that keep people healthy, put people to work and prepare Ohio’s children for the future.”
Cuts to area colleges in the region:
Clark State Community College: $576,735
Central State University: $136,696
Edison State Community College: $327,788
Miami University: $2,928,414
Sinclair Community College: $1,955,878
Wright State University: $3,227,472
Other state cuts to close the $776 million budget gap by June:
Medicaid: $210 million
K12 Foundation Payment Reduction: $300 million
Other Education Budget Line Items: $55 million
Higher Education: $110 million
All Other Agencies: $100 million
Local school district cuts
Lakota: $3,428,888
Mason: $2,132,777
Fairfield: $1,658,003
Lebanon: $1,123,097
Hamilton: $1,098,518
Kings: $875,595
Talawanda: $751,608
Middletown: $633,126
Edgewood: $581,408
Ross: $525,500
Franklin: $522,114
Monroe: $242,295
Carlisle: $238,492
Madison: $205,783
New Miami: $66,705