GOP adopts core priorities of Strickland budget: Spending for education, children's health insurance retained
BYLINE: Jim Provance, The Blade, Toledo, Ohio
Apr. 27--COLUMBUS -- House Republicans outlined their own version of a state budget yesterday, and for the first time in years rival Democrats were smiling when they finished.
Gov. Ted Strickland's plan to kill Ohio's school voucher program that sends students to private schools and to halt growth of charter schools did not survive.
But the GOP has adopted the heart of the Democratic governor's plan to increase access to health insurance for most uninsured children in the state.
It was less generous when it came to their parents and other lower-income adults.
Republicans agreed to the governor's plan to securitize the state's long-term settlement with tobacco companies for an immediate lump sum of $5 billion to finance school construction and indirectly underwrite a major property-tax cut for senior citizen and disabled homeowners.
"The governor's understanding of the budget is that it is in line with his core priorities," Strickland spokesman Keith Dailey said.
"He does want to make sure all uninsured children have access to health care as well as Ohio's poorest families, and he will continue to work closely with the General Assembly as the process continues," Mr. Dailey said.
The Republican-controlled House Finance Committee outlined a $52.1 billion two-year spending plan, $785 million less than what Mr. Strickland proposed.
"The system is working," said Rep. Mark Wagoner (R., Ottawa Hills), a committee member.
"We're able to find common ground on a lot of key issues. Take higher education, for example. The governor did some great things initially to cap college tuition to make college more accessible and affordable. Republicans improved on that," Mr. Wagoner said. "We added another $100 million for scholarships."
The committee plans to introduce its full budget plan today, with a full House vote expected next week.
"Quite frankly, the changes I've heard so far are small," said Rep. Peter Ujvagi (D., Toledo), a committee member. "They've increased commitments in areas that in the past we would have to fight for very hard."
A budget must pass the House and Senate and be signed by the governor by July 1.
"I look forward to learning more, but as it stands I think this is something we should not dismiss out of hand," said Rep. Chris Redfern (D., Catawba Island), chairman of the Ohio Democratic Party
The bulk of uninsured children in Ohio, roughly 20,000, would be offered access to the state-federal Children's Health Insurance Program by expanding income eligibility to 300 percent of the federal poverty level, about $62,000 a year for a family of four.
But Republicans balked at the idea of expanding that to families earning 500 percent of the poverty level, about $103,000, by allowing them to "buy into" Medicaid by paying part of the cost.
They also refused to go along with Mr. Strickland's plan to restore some 27,000 working-poor parents who were previously cut from the Medicaid rolls by lowering income eligibility thresholds.
"It's not a perfect budget, but it's the closest I've seen in the last 20 years," said Gayle Channing Tanenbaum of Voices for Ohio's Children, a chief advocate for the child health-care initiative.
Among other highlights:
--A cap on tuition growth at 3 percent this fall and a freeze the next year while direct aid to colleges and universities would climb 2 percent and 10 percent respectively.
--A $100 million scholarship program for those studying math, science, technology, and engineering.
--An elimination of the governor's proposal to do away with abstinence-only sex education programs.
--Authority for the Ohio Turnpike to participate in a multistate, easy-pass electronic toll system.
--Permission for Sunday drawings by the Ohio Lottery only if the governor issues an executive order approving it.
--brief preservation of the Ohio Student Choice Grant program now providing $900 a year to students attending private colleges regardless of family income. The grants would now go only to families earning less than $95,000.
Contact Jim Provance at: jprovance@theblade.com
or 614-221-0496.
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