3/24/97

Contact: Jim Shirey, (Monday) Coalition for Equity and
Adequacy, 614/227-4841; (Tuesday) 614/592-1344

ATHENS, Ohio -- The Ohio Supreme Court ruling today that declared the public school funding system unconstitutional is a clear victory for children, according to Ohio University Associate Mathematics Professor James Shirey, who is a member and past president of the Athens City School Board.

"They will have to rewrite the funding formula in favor of kids instead of for the special interests who funnel off funding for their own purposes," Shirey said. "There is no question this is a victory. It means the money that is raised for schools will have to be spent on schools."

Shirey has studied the history of school funding in Ohio and testified on education funding issues before the House Education and Finance committees and the Senate Education Committee.

"There has always been a school funding problem in Ohio. When the state increased the income tax and instituted the state sales tax and the lottery, they were supposed to supply money for schools but they funded everything else first -- welfare, Medicaid and the prisons -- and whatever was left over they spent on schools," Shirey said. "They always use the education system as the reason to pass a tax. They trot us out to bring in the bucks, but once the bucks come in they put us in the back room."

The Athens City School District is a member of the Coalition for Equity and Adequacy that brought the lawsuit challenging the current state school funding sytstem and the Coalition of Rural and Appalachian Schools, a supporter of the lawsuit.