Columbus — Senate Democratic Leader Capri S. Cafaro (D-Hubbard) and the Ohio Senate Democratic Caucus joined with labor leaders today to call for swift passage of the Education Funding Protection Act (HB 318). The legislation, which passed the Ohio House last week with bipartisan support, protects education funding while ensuring Ohioans will not pay more taxes in 2009 than they did in 2008.
“Given the nation’s economy, Governor Strickland proposed the most prudent course of action to balance Ohio’s budget,” said Senator Cafaro. “Speaker Budish and members of the House have also showed tremendous leadership by introducing and passing HB 318 in a timely manner. Now it’s time for the Senate to follow the same course of action.”
Senators Dale Miller (D-Cleveland), Ray Miller (D-Columbus) and Nina Turner (D-Cleveland) also spoke at the Statehouse news conference that highlighted the urgency of passing HB 318. The legislation calls for a temporary freeze in income tax cuts to restore $851 million of funding to Ohio’s schools.
The news conference also addressed the following points:
*Ohio schools face potential cuts of 10.31% in FY
2009 and 15.74 in FY 2010 if funding is not restored.*The Administration has already cut billions from the state budget and reduced the state workforce by 4,909 employees.
*Potential savings from additional government consolidation would not be adequate or timely enough to fix this current budget.
Senator Cafaro and the Senate Democratic Caucus were joined at the news conference by representatives of the Ohio Federation of Teachers, Ohio AFL-CIO, Ohio Education Association, OCSEA and SEIU.
