Focus Shifts Away From Cuts, Back to Reform in Ohio

By Lonnie Harp

As they emerge from a year dominated by state budget cuts, leading Ohio lawmakers and educators appear to be making progress toward drafting substantial school-finance changes and wide-ranging classroom and governance reforms.

The turning point in what has been a difficult political season for educators may have come late last month, when Gov. George V. Voinovich announced that he would order no more budget cuts for elementary and secondary education, even in the face of ongoing revenue shortfalls. As a result, the education focus in the state capital has turned to a series of projects that have been largely eclipsed by the past year's fiscal woes.

A coalition of state education groups spearheaded by Superintendent of Public Instruction Ted Sanders earlier had called for the Governor to exempt education from further cuts, which cost schools $78 million this year, and to move reform issues...