Republican House Finance Chair Rep. Jay Edwards speaks to reporters, Friday, June 30, 2023, at the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus, Ohio, after a long conference committee hashing out the last details the state’s $86.1 billion budget. Lawmakers cleared the budget in both chambers, and it now heads to Republican Gov. Mike DeWine for final approval – and possible vetoes. (AP Photo/Samantha Hendrickson)
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Ohio’s new budget could include almost $3 billion in income tax cuts, funding for universal school vouchers, bans on flavored vape products, and hundreds of other measures. The $86.1 billion two-year budget cleared both chambers of the Republican-dominated Legislature on Friday evening, just hours before the legal deadline.
But the arduous six-month process isn’t over yet. Lawmakers also voted to extend the constitutionally binding June 30 deadline until July 3 in order to send the budget to Republican Gov. Mike DeWine for final approval — and possible vetoes.
It’s not clear when that might happen. In the meantime, the extension will take the form of an interim budget that will fund the state at the same levels as the last two fiscal years.
Despite a Republican supermajority in both chambers, the House and Senate versions had nearly 900 differences between them, including measures on how to fund education, public assistance programs and tax cuts as well as far-reaching policy issues overhauling how both K-12 education and public colleges and universities operate in the state.
Republican Sen. Matt Dolan, co-chair of the budget’s conference committee, said the budget meets Ohioans’ needs and makes sure the state is a great place to start a business, educate kids and raise families.
And while Democrats said they got some wins, overall, the budget still doesn’t do enough to protect vulnerable populations while providing more benefits for the wealthy.
Here’s a look at what the state budget will be funding, or not funding, for the next two fiscal years:
TAXES
1. Ohioans could see nearly $3 billion in income tax deductions over the next two years — in part by consolidating the current four tax brackets down to two. Critics say it mostly benefits those making over $100,000 per year.
2. A business tax cut would eliminate the state’s Commercial Activities Tax for 90% of companies who currently pay it.
3. Lawmakers cut out a $2,500 child tax deduction championed by DeWine, but eliminated a sales tax on certain baby products.
4. The budget would also create a Low Income Housing Tax Credit program, income tax deductions for homeownership savings accounts and a tax credit for the construction of single-family affordable housing.
EDUCATION
5. Roughly $2 billion would be spent phasing in a universal voucher program over the next two years, providing income-based scholarships on a sliding scale for any Ohio child to attend private school, with scholarship amounts decreasing as income increases.
6. The budget also continues efforts to implement a fairer, more reliable school funding formula from the last two-year budget, but factors in updated costs for expenses such as teacher salaries, transportation and technology needs, adding another $1.5 billion to the state’s allocations for public education over the next two fiscal years.
7. It would also shift K-12 education oversight from the Ohio State Board of Education to an official appointed by the governor — drastically changing who makes decisions about academic standards, curriculum and district ratings.
8. Lawmakers nixed a heavily-opposed ban on nearly all diversity and inclusion training requirements at public colleges and universities, a prohibition on faculty strikes, and barring public universities from taking stances on “controversial” topics such as abortion and climate policies.
9. The base salary for teachers would increase from $30,000 to $35,000.
10. High school students in the top 5% of their classes would receive a $5,000 scholarship to attend in-state universities starting in 2025.
11. Universities would be prohibited from requiring students to have certain vaccinations to be on campus.
12. The budget eliminated a provision under the state’s “third-grade reading guarantee” which made kids repeat third grade if they didn’t pass a reading exam. The exam under the guarantee remains in place.
CHILDREN AND FAMILIES
13. The budget would include a measure to require parental consent on social media platforms for Ohio children under 16.
14. Children could see increased access to free meals at school.
15. The income eligibility for government-funded child care would be raised from 142% to 145% of the federal poverty level. Critics say the small hike would not help with Ohio’s scarcity of affordable childcare, which is among the highest in the nation.
16. A provision that would have provided Medicaid to pregnant women and children up to 300% of the federal poverty level remains out of the budget. However, it would provide continuous enrollment for all children in the state.
17. Some hurdles to obtaining household SNAP benefits were eliminated.
OTHER NOTABLE ITEMS
18. A budget provision would allow over 7,000 Native American remains to be laid to rest in the state.
19. It cut down a $1 billionOne Time Strategic Community Investment Fund for special projects down to $750 million, diverting some of that funding to Connect 4 Ohio, which will spend $500 million on state road projects.
20. Funding for food banks would significantly increase from previous versions of the budget.
21. The budget would overturn an Ohio Supreme Court decision to make the records of the OneOhio Foundation public. The foundation is in charge of spending $1.1 billion in opioid settlement money coming to the state over the next 18 years.
22. The budget would ban the sale of flavored vape products, a priority for DeWine, but leaves few consequences for those who violate it and does not allow local communities to place further restrictions on sales themselves.
23. In-home health care workers providing services through Medicaid could see a wage increase from $16 to $18 under the proposal, something advocates say is desperately needed to boost recruitment into that workforce to meet demand.
24. $16 million would be appropriated for a hotly contested Republican-backed August special election that could impact abortion rights.
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Samantha Hendrickson is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
