Ida Lieszkovszky · Cut, Tax, or Change: Ohio’s Budget Challenge

April 19th, 2011


Ohio is facing an $8 billion dollar budget deficit. Governor John Kasich has put forward his ideas on how to solve that in his budget proposal, but what does the rest of Ohio think?

Cleveland, Ohio. Photo by Steven Vondruska via Flickr.

On Monday, WCPN 90.3, the civic commons, the Cleveland Plain Dealer, and Changing Gears teamed up for “Cut, Tax, or Change: The Kasich Budget Challenge,” a public forum exploring the budget crisis.

The forum was split into two parts. First, it looked at the impact the proposed budget would have. Education was a key topic, as guests and attendees alike questioned what the effect of evaluating teachers based on a mix of classroom performance, student test scores, and other criteria would be. Anthony Podojil of the Alliance for Higher Ed said Senate Bill 5, Ohio’s recently signed law the greatly reduces the collective bargaining power of public employees is intended to give the state more options on how to control its budget. But, he said the state also wants to attract the best and brightest to teach in its classrooms. Podogil asked, “Can both be done?”

Consolidation was another idea that was brought up. Cleveland Plain Dealer reporter Aaron Marshall called that idea “dangerous.” It’s one thing to share certain services between school districts, he said, but people can get very upset at the idea of blending school mascots or colors.

The second half of the forum brought such concerns straight to legislators. Democratic State Senator Nina Turner and Republican Senator Tim Grendell were in the studio to answer questions, while Republican State Representative and House Finance Chair Ron Amstutz joined the conversation via web-cast. Senate Bill 5 was born under the “guise of giving local governments flexibility,” said Turner, adding that she thinks it vilifies public employee unions.

Amstutz said some of the pain is being shouldered by public employees like teachers, but it’s also spread out amongst nursing homes, local governments, and other groups. He said he can’t tell how many people may lose their jobs because of this budget, but he thinks “it will be less than what people are worried about.”

If you missed it, the webcast is available on The Ohio Channel and the full audio is available here, or listen to this report from WCPN 90.3

Category: Biztech, Government, Ohio
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