Ohio Budget Process On Hold Until Rep. Morgan Works His Way Through Strickland’s Bibliography

I got a chuckle out of this from the Associated Press today:

The House also announced it would delay final action on the budget until after its spring break, pushing expected passage from late March into mid-April. The spending plan has to make it through both the House and Senate before July 1.

One frustrated member of the House Finance committee, Republican Seth Morgan, filed a second public records request with Gov. Ted Strickland seeking a road map to understanding his “evidence-based” school-funding formula.

Morgan’s first request was met with an almost 400-source bibliography of studies and reports upon which the formula is based.

For as long it would take for a child to be born and advance all the way into junior high school, Republicans were in charge of both houses of the Ohio General Assembly.  They had the Governor’s Office for four years longer than that.  What did they do about public education in Ohio?  Not a freaking thing.

Ted Strickland has been all over the state and worked with groups interested in fairly funding public ed and providing a 21st century curriculum for two years.  He’s put his plan out there.  If you’ve got particular issues, bring them up.  But guess what Seth? Evidence-based study is not some right wing home schoolin’ methodology.  It means the Governor and others have gone through an intellectual process.  The road map is that bibliography.  You might want to get reading …

Ohio Sunday Papers – Waiting to be Stimulated

• Experienced lobbyists have advantage due to changes in Ohio legislature – The Plain Dealer
• Editorial: Lt. Gov. Fisher could get chance to keep pledge – Youngstown Vindicator
• Editorial: Assault on Education (Charter Schools) – Columbus Dispatch
• Editorial: Brunner should sidestep the conflict – Columbus Dispatch
• Editorial: Triage for a sick economy – Toledo Blade
• Op-Ed, Thomas Suddes: The bumps in Strickland’s road – The Plain Dealer
• Op-Ed, Dennis Willard: Legislators need some backbone – Akron Beacon Journal
• Donations v. Impartiality on docket – Columbus Dispatch
• School funding formula criticized – Associated Press
• Strickland plan would slash online school funding – Columbus Dispatch
• Stimulus requests rolling in to state government – Dayton Daily News
• How Clevelanders would spend stimulus – The Plain Dealer
• Path to stimulus money hazy – Columbus Dispatch
• Ohioans tuned into state’s history – Columbus Dispatch
• Hospitals object to fees for Medicaid – Columbus Dispatch

Ohio Sunday Papers – It’s the Economy and Education with a smattering of Fisher, Brunner

• Editorial: Lawmakers must stop Strickland from killing charter schools – The Plain Dealer
• Editorial: Governor needs to tweek how he pays for education reform – Akron Beacon Journal
• Editorial: No Stimulus for Teardown – Toledo Blade
• Op-Ed, William Hershey: Ohio Dems Face Likely ‘Family Fued’ – Dayton Daily News
• Op-Ed, Thomas Suddes: Will Ohio House Dems Hold Together on Budget? – The Plain Dealer
• Op-Ed, Joe Hallett: Governor Sinned a Bit in Securing Manna from Washington – Columbus Dispatch
• Welfare rolls soaring in Ohio – Columbus Dispatch
• Toledo aid agencies fear what’s over horizon – Toledo Blade
• Late bill payments cost state – Columbus Dispatch
• Big repairs needed for U.S. automakers – Toledo Blade
• How would you spend $500 million taxpayer dollars? – The Plain Dealer
• Dems’ fight a cost of success – Cincinnati Enquirer
• Op-Ed, Dennis Willard: Race crucial for Fisher, Brunner – Akron Beacon Journal
• Brunner: Senate bid not a conflict – Columubus Dispatch
• Ohio tries to clean up payday lending one more time – The Plain Dealer
• Op-Ed, Jonathan Riskind: Obama’s economic plans leave some edgy, angry – Columbus Dispatch
• Development board’s City Center planning only quasi-public – Columbus Dispatch
• Farmland disappearing – Columbus Dispatch
• Preservationists hope to see some stimulus – Columbus Dispatch
• Ohio businesses must file sales taxes electronically for first time this year – The Plain Dealer
• Ohio officials OK new workers compensation program – Dayton Daily News\
• KELLY PAVLIK COVERAGE – The Youngstown Vindicator

Ohio Sunday Papers – February 15

• Celeste, (Chris), exploring U.S. Senate run – The Plain Dealer
• Part of Strickland’s school funding formula involves judgement calls – Columbus Dispatch
• Plan calls for judging teachers on results – Columbus Dispatch
• Editorial: School Funding – Evidence of Confusion – Akron Beacon Journal
• State’s use of stimulus: Plodding or on Pace? – Columbus Dispatch

• Economists: This recession deeper than ‘83 – Dayton Daily News
• Op-Ed, Thomas Suddes: Ohio Legislature = Boys Town - The Plain Dealer
• GM, Chrysler labor talks slow – The Plain Dealer
• Steamed about heating bills – Toledo Blade
• Surprise: Pryce becoming a lobbyist – Columbus Dispatch
• Ohio Turnpike toll plan takes from other states – Toledo Blade
• Food inspection complex, has holes – Columbus Dispatch
• Payday lenders use loophole to continue high interest rates – The Plain Dealer
• Health agencies brace for cuts – Columbus Dispatch
• Editorial: Improve Democracy – Columbus Dispatch
• Op-Ed, Roger Geiger: Secret ballots must remain in union elections – Toledo Blade
• Op-Ed, Joe Hallett: High School buddies solve economic mess – Columbus Dispatch

Ohio Sunday Papers – February 8, 2009

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• Op-Ed, Thomas Suddes: Strickland’s budget has some odd twists and turns – The Plain Dealer
• GOP’s Carey scrutinizes Strickland budget – Dayton Daily News
• Op-Ed, Joe Hallett: Ohio Dems Clumsily stoop into the mud in attacking Portman - Columbus Dispatch
• Sen. Brown touts Ohio’s $6.8 BN in stimulus - Toledo Blade
• No stimulus deal for Voinovich – The Plain Dealer
• Unemployment hits nearly every area of Ohio analysis shows - The Plain Dealer
• Ohio likes Obama – Columbus Dispatch
• Ohio Mayors in line for stimulus cash – Columbus Dispatch
• Op-Ed, Jonathan Riskind: Buy American is no sale for Obama – Columbus Dispatch
• Ohio prison staffs feeling strained – Dayton Daily News
• Malaise grows, resources shrink – Columbus Dispatch
• Some wealthy districts would gain, some poor would lose in school funding – Columbus Dispatch
• Op-Ed, Dennis Willard: Reforming schools starts with audits – Akron Beacon Journal
• Factors in Strickland school funding plan – Columbus Dispatch
• Kasich says wait and see – Columbus Dispatch
• Region has clout in Ohio legislative ranks – Cincinnati Enquirer
• Ohio stem cell researchers get ready for old rules to be tossed – Columbus Dispatch
• Head of PUCO reappointed – Associated Press
• Maureen O’Connor to run for Chief Justice – The Plain Dealer
• Lake Erie ice fishermen rescued, one dies – The Plain Dealer

Economic Stimulus Bill – White House Talks About Impact for Ohio

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is the proper name of the Obama Administration’s economic stimulus bill now pending in the U.S. Congress.  The purpose of the bill is to jolt our flagging economy by government investment in infrastructure, health care, green energy efforts and other measures that create jobs immediately or over the next 18 months.  The way the bill is shaping up in Congress, much of the money will flow through state governments.  Original bill drafts and summaries made fairly clear that state governors would be key to helping to target funds for the wisest use with the most immediate job-creating impact.  Yesterday, the White House produced a fact sheet for selected potential impacts, state by state.

What the White House Said About Ohio:

• Creating or saving 141,700 jobs over the next two years. Jobs created will be in a range of industries from clean energy to health care, with over 90% in the private sector. [Source: White House Estimate based on Romer and Bernstein, “The Job Impact of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan.” January 9, 2009.]•

• Providing a making work pay tax cut of up to $1,000 for 4,530,000 workers and their families. The plan will make a down payment on the President’s Making Work Pay tax cut for 95% of workers and their families, designed to pay out immediately into workers’ paychecks. [Source: White House Estimate based on IRS Statistics of Income]•

• Making 128,000 families eligible for a new American Opportunity Tax Credit to make college affordable. By creating a new $2,500 partially refundable tax credit for four years of college, this plan will give 3.8 million families nationwide – and 128,000 families in Ohio – new assistance to put college within their reach. [Source: Center on Budget and Policy Priorities analysis of U.S. Census data]•

• Offering an additional $100 per month in unemployment insurance benefits to 666,000 workers in Ohio who have lost their jobs in this recession, and providing extended unemployment benefits to an additional 92,000 laid-off workers. [Source: National Employment Law Project]•

• Providing funding sufficient to modernize at least 369 schools in Ohio so our children have the labs, classrooms and libraries they need to compete in the 21st century economy. [Source: White House Estimate]

Ohio Newsbreak – State Budget Coverage

• State of Pain – Columbus Dispatch
• Budget winners and losers – Columbus Dispatch
• School funding plan not so simple – Columbus Dispatch
• Pay cuts, medical facilities stir outcry – Columbus Dispatch
• Higher fees a tax hike? – Columbus Dispatch
• GOP leaders troubled by one time budget money – Columbus Dispatch
• Federal money for federal debt – Columbus Dispatch
• Governor Strickland’s transportation plan – The Plain Dealer
• Budget effect on NE Ohio schools – The Plain Dealer
• New and increased fees – The Plain Dealer
• Strickland reveals budget – The Plain Dealer

Sen. Coughlin Tilting at Windmills or Just Building the Name Rec?

He Can’t Really Be Running for Governor

Question: What distinguishes State Sen. Kevin Coughlin from any other Republican in Columbus?

Answer: Nothing.

What is this all about if it’s not about ego?  Coughlin is running for Governor?  Yep.

This quote from the Dispatch article takes the cake:

Promising to change “the smallness of our politics and our government,” Coughlin said, “We have to make sure we are focused on issues that are really important to Ohioans and there is nothing more important than reviving our economy and bringing jobs to this state and retaining jobs.”

The only “smallness” in Ohio politics and government has come from two places over the past six or seven years:

1. Ohio Republicans
2. Marc Dann

The only adults in the room at any given time on Capital Square are Ted Strickland and sometimes Sen. Harris.  It appears that Strickland has put forth something the Republicans couldn’t do in sixteen years of being in charge – a plan for reforming Ohio’s education system.  I also seem to remember that last year the Governor dragged the Republican House and Senate through the Energy bill.  Without Ted Strickland’s leadership, Ohioans would be paying more to heat and light their homes and Ohio businesses wouldn’t be able to count on stable energy costs.  Republicans came along, but only at the Governor’s urging.

Republicans have done a lot of small talk over the years when it comes to state regulatory reform – Strickland has done something about it.  An Associated Press article that got more treatment around the country than it did in Ohio reported a couple of weeks ago about the weeks of time businesses are being saved in their dealings with Bureau of Workers Compensation.  Not too long ago Strickland had ODNR, Ohio EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers all in one room for a week to fix the problems with some coal mining permit processes.

The “biggest” thing that’s happened to Ohio politics and its positive impact on people since the bygone era of Vernal G. Riffe and Jimmy Rhodes is Ted Strickland.

When Coughlin talks of  “smallness” in state leadership he need only look at his own Ohio Republican Party for the best contemporary example.

Ohio Sunday Papers – February 1, 2009 – A Lot of Ohio Education Debate

• PNC Bank considered less stable after National City purchase – The Plain Dealer
• Editorial: ACT for Ohio – Akron Beacon Journal
• Editorial: Reshaping Ohio’s Schools – Toledo Blade
• Op-Ed, Dennis Willard: No Money to Back Up School Plan – Akron Beacon Journal
• Op-Ed, Michael Douglas: Flaws and all, Strickland’s plan good start – Akron Beacon Journal
• All day kindergarten reflects expectations – Dayton Daily News
• Officials: All Day K costly – Dayton Daily News
• Stakes high for Strickland – Dayton Daily News
• Strickland’s plan could help district retain teachers – Dayton Daily News
• Is Education Strickland’s ‘Afghanistan?’ – Dayton Daily News
• Will Strickland’s longer school year fly? – Toledo Blade
• Longer school year worries Ohio’s tourism industry – Associated Press
• LaTourette’s lobbyist wife’s clients – The Plain Dealer
• Editorial: Closer look at Ohio lobbyists – The Plain Dealer
• Husted takes second job with Dayton Chamber – Columbus Dispatch
• Op-Ed, Aaron Marshall: Strickland Boxes Himself In – The Plain Dealer
• Op-Ed, Jonathan Riskind: Boehner can have impact – Columbus Dispatch
• Editorial: What does it take to grow NCR here? – Dayton Daily News
• More nepotism from Cuyahoga Sherrif – The Plain Dealer
• Non-profit social service groups plight in this economy – Columbus Dispatch
• Property flipping scam bled $30 million from investors – Columbus Dispatch
• Truckers want uniform speed limit in Ohio – The Plain Dealer
• Editorial: PD’s goals for Cleveland – 2009 – The Plain Dealer
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Full Text: Gov. Ted Strickland, Ohio State of the State, January 28, 2009 | Ohio’s Economic Future & A New Plan for Education

(Source: Office of the Governor)

Governor Strickland’s 2009 State of the State address

I’d like to first recognize that one of Ohio’s great leaders, Senate President Bill Harris, was not able to be with us today. I know that he is in all of our thoughts and prayers, and we wish him a very speedy recovery.

Speaker Budish, Senate President Pro Tem Niehaus, Leader Batchelder and Leader Cafaro, Lt. Governor Fisher, statewide elected officials, members of the Cabinet, members of the General Assembly and the Supreme Court, distinguished guests, First Lady Frances Strickland, and my fellow Ohioans…

There was a time when Ohio State University played its football games on a dusty field surrounded by a humble collection of wooden bleachers.

Back then, OSU played teams from universities and small private colleges. They even scheduled a game against the soldiers from an army camp in Chillicothe.

Just after World War I came to an end there was a painful combination of high inflation and high unemployment that produced economic misery in Ohio and across the nation.

It was a truly frightening moment – hardly the time for a bold new idea.

Read more

Ohio Sunday Papers, January 25, 2009: Strickland, Battelle, Ohio Opinions, State Workers, Term Limits, Medicaid, State Budget, Ohio Economy

• Editorial: Term Limits: Harm at the Statehouse – Akron Beacon Journal
• Can Gov. Strickland right the ship? - Columbus Dispatch
• Governor boxed in by budget - Cincinnati Enquirer
• Ohio’s Medicaid costs high – Cincinnati Enquirer
• Editorial: State workers should share in sacrifice – Columbus Dispatch
• Editorial: OSCEA gets warning – The Plain Dealer
• Op-Ed, Joe Hallett: Dewine, Obama, Strickland appear up to the challenge – Columbus Dispatch
• Plain Dealer Annual Economic Poll – The Plain Dealer
• Poll Graphic – The Plain Dealer
• GOP looks to Portman – Cincinnati Enquirer
• Op-Ed, Thomas Suddes: How will state legislators act? – The Plain Dealer
• Op-Ed, Bill Hershey: New Agenda wants woment in U.S. Senate race – Dayton Daily News
• Battelle’s World - Columbus Dispatch
• Battelle manages national labs – Columbus Dispatch
• Why Hagan’s sudden rush on Medical Mart siting? - The Plain Dealer
• Editorial: Now what are commissioners up to? – The Plain Dealer
• NCR-Dayton ties uravel – Dayton Daily News
• NCR: ‘Dayton is our HQ’ – Dayton Daily News
• Teen sex slavery here too – Columbus Dispatch
• Can green jobs bring prosperity? – Columbus Dispatch
• Editorial: School Calamity Days – Columbus Dispatch
• State jobless rate up to 7.8% – Columbus Dispatch
• Kazcala details decision not to take Noe money – Toledo Blade
• Op-Ed, Joe Rugola: Does Labor need card check? – Toledo Blade

Ohio School Funding Has Me Seeing Red Today, Literally

It’s no wonder school funding in Ohio makes folks see red. What I got in my mailbox today, did, literally.

Notice to the left an image of the cover of some publication or other the wife and I received today from the Ohio Department of Taxation. This bad boy is all orange, red and scary. One minute you’re leafing through a handful of junk mail and in a second you are assaulted with this catalog-sized publication, seemingly on fire in your very hands, screaming: TAXES FOR SCHOOLS!

I wanted to weep. We’re just trying to get the credit card balance back to zero after Christmas. The Four Horseman of the American Economic Apocalypse may be just around the corner and I’m staring into the Great Seal of the State of Ohio with a nuclear burst in the center and the words, “2008 School District Income Tax Return and Instructions.” To add insult to my heightened senses, this document has pages and pages.

Well, this will be our first tax year in Ohio. I grew up here, went to college at Ohio University and then left for 15 or 16 years. I never owned property here and thought that my school district taxes were property-based and bundled into my mortgage like back in Illinois. I didn’t know there was ‘rigamarole.’

But then, this says, “School District Income Tax …”. Huh? I knew moving to Bexley, Ohio the property taxes were high because of the good city services and school system. What’s this with another income tax? I guess I’m going to have to read this damn book.

One hint to the marketing folks at Taxation. Taxes already make people see red – whether they willingly pay them, like me, or join the local chapter of Posse Comitatus, like others. I would suggest you adjust your color palette more to the muted blues or greens.

Well, I guess I know how I’ll spend the next hour or two …