An Assessment of the Adequacy of Ohio School Funding: New Performance Standards and Alternative Measurements of Adequacy

Reflecting upon Rose v. Council, this research traced the development of adequate school funding in Ohio. DeRolph v. State centered the constitutional requirement for adequate education in Ohio. Thereafter, scholars estimated costs of adequate education and legislators adjusted those estimated costs. Plaintiffs and justices questioned many of the legislative adjustments. Consequently, a consensually determined cost of adequate education was not fully realized. Since that time, new performance standards were established and the state’s school funding program underwent several pertinent changes. The present study began with a brief review of school finance adequacy and alternative methods of estimating the costs of adequate education. Thereafter, a successful schools strategy was employed to assess the adequacy of Ohio school funding. The assessment methodologically developed four alternative measurements of adequacy, each of which specified a statewide school funding shortfall. In order to study and alleviate conditions of inadequate school funding, the establishment of a statewide school finance commission was recommended as well as incremental school funding increases matched to economic expansions.