Columbus, Ohio – Ohio Governor Ted Strickland today issued the following statement in response to the Ohio House of Representatives passage of the Education Funding Protection Act.

“Speaker Budish and the Ohio House of Representatives acted quickly, courageously and responsibly to protect Ohio schools from devastating cuts while reducing their own pay in solidarity with struggling Ohio families and businesses.

“While this first step was critical, the budget is out of balance and will remain so until the Ohio Senate takes action as well.   A failure to act means Ohio schools will, by default, be forced to absorb $851 million in state cuts, and perhaps as much as $2.3 billion if federal resources are lost. 

“The cost of inaction is clear.  But there are costs of delaying as well.  Because of the Supreme Court’s ruling and the subsequent education funding shortfall, one bond rating agency has already changed Ohio’s bond rating outlook.  Postponing this important decision will generate more fiscal chaos for our schools and further jeopardize the state’s bond ratings. 

“To fill the shortfall, we can choose to cut education, raise taxes or postpone the last phase of the income tax rate reduction.  Postponing the income tax reduction is my recommended solution.  It has the Ohio House’s support.  I know that the Senate Democratic Caucus today announced support for the House bill as well.  If Republican members of the Ohio Senate have other solutions that will realize the revenue necessary to fill the budget shortfall now, I encourage them to bring them forward.”