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S. J. R. No. 2 As Introduced
As Introduced
| 130th General Assembly | | Regular Session | | 2013-2014 |
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Cosponsors:
Senators Brown, Schiavoni, Turner, Cafaro, Tavares, Kearney, Gentile
A JOINT RESOLUTION
| Proposing to amend Section 2a of Article XII, and to
enact Sections 7 and 8 of Article VI and Section 8
of Article XII of the Constitution of the State of
Ohio to require and fund a high quality education
for each student enrolled in a public school.
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| Be it resolved by the General Assembly of the State of Ohio,
three-fifths of the members elected to each house concurring
herein, that there shall be submitted to the electors of the
state, in the manner prescribed by law at the general election to
be held on November 5, 2013, a proposal to amend Section 2a of
Article XII and to enact Sections 7 and 8 of Article VI and
Section 8 of Article XII of the Constitution of the State of Ohio
to read as follows: |
| 7. (A) In order to ensure that each student enrolled
in a public primary or secondary school in this state has an
enforceable state guaranteed right to the opportunity for a high
quality public education regardless of the property value, income
levels, or other demographic or geographic characteristics of the
student's resident school district, the general assembly shall do
all of the following: |
| (1) At least once every six years determine the educational
components that make up a high quality public education and the
actual cost of those components, including the rate at which the
cost shall be adjusted annually to reflect the projected rate of
inflation for the intervening years between each determination
made by the general assembly; |
| (2) Annually appropriate the full amount of state funds
necessary such that, when those funds are combined with the local
revenue contribution prescribed in Section 8 of this article, each
public primary or secondary school has the funds to pay the actual
cost of a high quality public education for each student enrolled
in that school; |
| (3) Direct that the full amount of the state funds
appropriated in accordance with division (A)(2) of this section be
deposited into an education trust fund, which shall be established
in the state treasury, and which fund shall be used only for
making payments to public primary and secondary schools for
operating expenses. |
| (B) As used in this section: |
| (1) "Actual cost" means the cost of ensuring the availability
of each component of a high quality public education for each
student enrolled in a public primary or secondary school, taking
into account the educational needs of each type of student, the
location and demographic circumstances of the student, and the
programs and services necessary to fulfill the student's
educational needs. |
| (2) "Educational components" means, collectively, the
curricular and extracurricular programs and services that make up
a high quality public education for each type of student enrolled
in a public primary or secondary school as determined by the
general assembly in accordance with division (A)(1) of this
section. |
| (3) "High quality public education" means preparing each
student enrolled in a public primary or secondary school for each
next grade or program of education so that the student has the
opportunity to be successful in that level or program and
preparing that student so that, after graduation from high school,
the student can carry out the duties of citizenship and function
at the highest level of the student's abilities in post-secondary
education or gainful employment. |
| 8. Laws shall be passed providing all of the
following: |
| (A) Except as provided in division (B) of this section, that
each school district shall levy taxes on taxable property, or
other taxes as may be authorized by law, in an amount to be
prescribed by law but not exceeding two per cent of the taxable
value of taxable property in the school district for the purpose
of providing the local revenue contribution toward the funding of
the educational components prescribed by Section 7 of this
article; |
| (B)(1) That, between January 1, 2014, and January 1, 2017, no
school district may levy taxes for the purpose of such local
revenue contribution in an amount exceeding three and four-tenths
per cent of the taxable value of taxable property in the school
district; |
| (2) That, if the taxes levied by a school district in 2016
for the purposes of such local revenue contribution exceed an
amount equal to two per cent of the taxable value of taxable
property in the school district, the taxes so levied shall be
reduced in six substantially equal annual increments beginning
with taxes levied in 2017; |
| (C) Authorization for school districts to levy additional
taxes, subject to Article XII, to supplement the funding of the
educational components with the local revenue contribution and the
state funds prescribed by Section 7 of this article. |
| Section 2a. (A) Except as expressly authorized in this
section, land and improvements thereon shall, in all other
respects, be taxed as provided in Section 36, Article II and
Section 2 of this article. |
| (B) This section does not apply to any of the following: |
| (1) Taxes levied at whatever rate is required to produce a
specified amount of tax money or an amount to pay debt charges; |
| (2) Taxes levied within the one per cent limitation imposed
by Section 2 of this article; |
| (3) Taxes provided for by the charter of a municipal
corporation; |
| (4) Taxes levied by school districts for the purpose of
providing the local revenue contribution toward funding
educational components, pursuant to Section 8(A), Article VI. |
| (C) Notwithstanding Section 2 of this article, laws may be
passed that provide all of the following: |
| (1) Land and improvements thereon in each taxing district
shall be placed into one of two classes solely for the purpose of
separately reducing the taxes charged against all land and
improvements in each of the two classes as provided in division
(C)(2) of this section. The classes shall be: |
| (a) Residential and agricultural land and improvements; |
| (b) All other land and improvements. |
| (2) With respect to each voted tax authorized to be levied by
each taxing district, the amount of taxes imposed by such tax
against all land and improvements thereon in each class shall be
reduced in order that the amount charged for collection against
all land and improvements in that class in the current year,
exclusive of land and improvements not taxed by the district in
both the preceding year and in the current year and those not
taxed in that class in the preceding year, equals the amount
charged for collection against such land and improvements in the
preceding year. |
| (D) Laws may be passed to provide that the reductions made
under this section in the amounts of taxes charged for the current
expenses of cities, townships, school districts, counties, or
other taxing districts are subject to the limitation that the sum
of the amounts of all taxes charged for current expenses against
the land and improvements thereon in each of the two classes of
property subject to taxation in cities, townships, school
districts, counties, or other types of taxing districts, shall not
be less than a uniform per cent of the taxable value of the
property in the districts to which the limitation applies.
Different but uniform percentage limitations may be established
for cities, townships, school districts, counties, and other types
of taxing districts. |
| 8. Laws shall be passed to create the local
government trust fund and to appropriate to the fund annually an
amount not less than the amount of state general revenue
distributed directly to local governments for their general fund
expenditure for the state's fiscal year ending in 2011. The amount
so appropriated shall be adjusted proportionately according to the
per cent by which personal income of the state changes. |
| EFFECTIVE DATE AND REPEAL
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| If adopted by a majority of the electors voting on this
proposal, the proposal shall take effect July 1, 2014, and
existing Section 2a of Article XII of the Constitution of the
State of Ohio is repealed from that effective date. |
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