OH SB19

Establishes a bipartisan joint committee appointed by the Senate President and House Speaker within 60 days to study and determine current and five-year projected costs of providing thorough and efficient education to each public school student.

Committee must recommend legislative changes to establish a funding system providing 100% of actual base costs for thorough and efficient education, plus 100% of costs for special education, career-technical education, gifted education, poverty-based assistance, and transportation on a per-pupil basis.

Requires the Department of Education to include in funding and expenditure reports the current and five-year projected cost of thorough and efficient education, district and building expenditures, and funding disparities measured by four methods (ratio of highest to lowest-funded districts, federal range ratio, Gini coefficient, and McLoone index).

Committee recommendations must include recalculation of costs every two years, authority for districts to levy additional taxes with voter approval for non-state-funded services, and a 10-year transition guarantee that no district receives less state funding than under the previous system, with a goal of reducing funding disparity to no more than 20 percentage points.

Requires uniform statewide accounting and auditing procedures for all school districts under the new funding system.