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DeRolph v. State is a landmark case in Ohio constitutional law in which the Supreme Court of Ohio ruled that the state's method for funding public education was unconstitutional. [1]
Apr 18, 2017 · In a two-part series on The Sound of Ideas, we'll examine school funding and the legacy of DeRolph vs State, the lawsuit that prompted the Superme Court ruling. Then, civil rights photojournalist Matt Herron discusses the exhibit he curated at the Maltz Museum called, "This Light of Ours."
- Rachel Rood
Mar 24, 2021 · March 24, 2021 is the 24th anniversary of the DeRolph decision! On March 24, 1997, the Supreme Court of Ohio ruled that the state funding system “fails to provide for a thorough and efficient system of common schools,” as required by the Ohio Constitution and directed the state to find a remedy.
- I Jurisdiction and Judicial Review
- II Ohio's System of Public School Funding
- A The School Foundation Program
- The Formula Amount
- The Cost-Of-Doing-Business Factors
- The "Charge-Off"
- Disadvantaged Pupil Impact Aid and Categorical Programs
- Guarantee Provisions
- Am.Sub.H.B. No. 920 and Tax Reductions
- School District Borrowing
This appeal presents a number of issues for this court's consideration. Is the right to a free public education a fundamental right guaranteed by the Ohio Constitution? Does the system of funding public elementary and secondary schools in Ohio violate the Equal Protection Clause of Section 2, Article I of the Ohio Constitution? Does the system of f...
The focus of this case is R.C. Chapter 3317, the School Foundation Program for the allocation of state basic aid. In Walter, 58 Ohio St.2d at 378, 12 O.O.3d at 333, 390 N.E.2d at 820, this court recognized that "[t]he history of educational funding in Ohio * * * has been an accommodation between two competing interests — the interest in local contr...
Ohio's School Foundation Program can be found in R.C. 3317.01 et seq. The School Foundation Program for the allocation of state basic aid has operated in a similar manner since 1981. Under the School Foundation Program, state basic aid is available for school districts which, among other things, levy at least twenty mills of local property tax reve...
The "formula amount" in the calculation represents a figure set by the General Assembly as part of the biennial budget process. In January 1992, at the time the amended complaint was filed, the formula amount equaled $2,817. See Am.Sub.H.B. No. 298, 144 Ohio Laws, Part III, 3987, 4122. The formula amount is currently set at $3,500 pursuant to R.C. ...
Under the state basic aid calculation, the formula amount ($2,817 in school year 1992-1993) is adjusted by a school district equalization factor or cost-of-doing-business factor. R.C. 3317.022(E). The applicable rates of adjustment for the 1992-1993 school year were contained in former R.C. 3317.02(E). 144 Ohio Laws, Part III, 3987, 4118-4120. The ...
"ADM" stands for average daily membership, which is calculated pursuant to R.C. 3317.03. See R.C. 3317.02(A). By multiplying the formula amount, the cost-of-doing-business factor, and the ADM, the foundation formula establishes a minimum amount of combined local and state per-pupil aid per district. A "charge off" is then subtracted from that figur...
In addition to the formula amount, school districts with children whose families collect Aid to Dependent Children ("ADC") receive what is called "Disadvantaged Pupil Impact Aid" or "DPIA." Am.Sub.H.B. No. 298, Section 59.02, 144 Ohio Laws, Part III, 4556-4557. This funding is calculated pursuant to R.C. 3317.023 and consists of flat distributions ...
The School Foundation Program contains certain guarantee provisions to ensure that a school district receives the greater of the program amount or the guarantee amount. See R.C. 3317.04and 3317.0212. Thus, some districts receive guarantee payments from the state under the School Foundation Program rather than payments calculated pursuant to the fou...
School districts are required to levy twenty mills for current operating expenses in order to participate in the School Foundation Program. See R.C. 3317.01(A). The twenty mills comprise both "inside" and "outside" mills. Inside mills are levied without approval of the electorate. Unvoted property taxes are limited to ten mills, with the ten mills ...
To supplement their budgets, school districts have been forced at an increasing and alarming rate to borrow heavily against future expected revenue receipts. Under the so-called Spending Reserve Loan Program, school districts are permitted to borrow against a subsequent year's revenue with approval of the Superintendent of Public Instruction. See R...
Mar 24, 1997 · Case opinion for OH Supreme Court DeROLPH v. STATE. Read the Court's full decision on FindLaw.
In the DeRolph V decision, author Justice Stratton fully agreed that the system was unconstitutional; however, employing the separation-of-powers argument, she related that it was the sole
The Supremacy Clause of the federal Constitution makes federal law paramount over the contrary positions of state officials; the power of federal courts to enforce federal law thus presupposes some authority to order state officials to comply.
