Thursday, January 31, 2013
The governor’s plan also includes funds for a special grant, designed to encourage schools to try new approaches to increasing achievement and decreasing cost.
Gov. John Kasich today unveiled his school funding reform plan, “Achievement Everywhere,” which aims to distribute funds fairly to districts and give principals more autonomy. The plan will be part of the governor’s overall 2014-2015 budget proposal, which is expected to be released next week. Thursday’s proposal includes $1.2 billion in new money for schools during the next two years. Kasich told reporters on a conference call Thursday afternoon that the additional money is possible because the state has cut costs in other areas and brought in new jobs, which increases the state’s overall revenue. He said his plan would be fully funded from the start, rather than phased in over time. Ohio’s school funding formula, which is based on …
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Young discusses some of the ways that Ohio has improved its economy
- ELECTIONS
- Jason Lea
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Wednesday, February 29, 2012
The Lake County Development Council held its annual legislative breakfast Monday at LaMalfa Centre. U.S. Rep. Steven LaTourette, Ohio State Sen. John Eklund, Ohio Reps. Ron Young and Lorraine Fende, Lake County Commissioner Dan Troy and Max Blachman, a representative for U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, spoke at the breakfast and answered questions from the audience. While Fende criticized the state's budget, Young said Ohio has taken many steps to improve its economy and one of those steps was passing the aforementioned budget. Young also pointed to other signifiers, including STERIS's recently announced expansion and Mentor's dropping unemployment rate, as evidence that Ohio's economy is improving. Young is running for re-election this year. He …
Fende says Ohio's budget just passed state-level problems to the local government
- ELECTIONS
- Jason Lea
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Wednesday, February 29, 2012
The Lake County Development Council held its annual legislative breakfast Monday at LaMalfa Centre. U.S. Rep. Steven LaTourette, Ohio State Sen. John Eklund, Ohio Reps. Ron Young and Lorraine Fende, Lake County Commissioner Dan Troy and Max Blachman, a representative for U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, spoke at the breakfast and answered questions from the audience. Fende touched on several topics during her talk, including Ohio's budget, the Lake County seniors levy and the ghost of Issue 2. Fende said the Ohio budget -- with its cuts to the local government fund -- simply passed the state's problems to the local level. In addition to being a state legislator, Fende is running in the primary to be the Democratic candidate for Lake County …
Sunday, September 4, 2011
Ohio Reps Lorraine Fende and Ron Young give their opposing views on the state's budget cutting local government funding
- GOVERNMENT
- Jason Lea
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Sunday, September 4, 2011
The Mentor Area Chamber of Commerce hosted a townhouse meeting Tuesday morning at Seekers Coffee House. State Sen. Tim Grendell (R-Chester Township), State Rep. Lorraine Fende (D-Willowick), and State Rep. Ron Young (R-Leroy Township) discussed the state budget, Senate Bill 5 and JobsOhio. MACC members were also able to ask questions of their state legislators about job creation and federal health care. During the meeting, Mentor City Manager Ken Filipiak asked a question about what he perceived as the erosion of home rule, which lead to a discussion on the state cutting the money it gives to the local government fund. Fende condemned the cuts, saying it passed the buck and forced local governments to raise taxes. Young rebutted …
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Fende explains why she voted against the state budget during a 'coffeehouse meeting' with members of the Mentor Area Chamber of Commerce
- GOVERNMENT
- Jason Lea
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Wednesday, August 31, 2011
The Mentor Area Chamber of Commerce hosted a townhouse meeting Tuesday morning at Seekers Coffee House. State Sen. Tim Grendell (R-Chester Township), State Rep. Lorraine Fende (D-Willowick), and State Rep. Ron Young (R-Leroy Township) discussed the state budget, Senate Bill 5 and JobsOhio program. MACC members were also able to ask questions of their state legislators about job creation and federal health care. In this video, Fende explains why she voted against the state budget, specifically citing the cuts to schools, libraries and local government. Fende is, in part, replying to Grendell's comments on the budget. He talked about why he though the budget fell under the "good" of what the legislation has accomplished this term. …
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Grendell discussed the state budget, local funding cuts and a lot more at a 'coffeehouse meeting' for members of the Mentor Area Chamber of Commerce
The Mentor Area Chamber of Commerce hosted a townhouse meeting this morning at Seekers Coffee House. State Sen. Tim Grendell (R-Chester Township), State Rep. Lorraine Fende (D-Willowick), and State Rep. Ron Young (R-Leroy Township) discussed the state budget, Senate Bill 5 and JobsOhio program. MACC members were also able to ask questions of their state legislators about job creation and federal health care. In this video, Grendell talks about why he thinks the budget falls under the "good" of what the legislation has accomplished this term. Come back all this week for more opinions from Grendell, Fende and Young and more questions from local business owners and administrators.
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
While the state representative defended both the new law and budget, some members of Council and Mentor residents criticized them
Ohio Rep. Ron Young, R-Leroy Township, visited Mentor and discussed Senate Bill 5 and the recently passed state budget during the City Council meeting Tuesday. Young defended both the new law, which constricts unions' ability to bargain, as well as the state budget that significantly cuts funding to local governments. Young had initially intended only to discuss Senate Bill 5. However, due to some confusion between him, City Manager Ken Filipiak and City Council, he was also expected to address some questions on the state budget. Council Members Robert Shiner, Ray Kirchner, Scott Marn, Ed Walsh and Janet Dowling, as well as some residents of Mentor who came to the meeting, asked questions that criticized portions of Senate Bill 5 or the …
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Ken Filipiak says that state is seizing local funds to continue state projects
Mentor City Manager Kenneth Filipiak said the proposed state budget, which the Senate approved Wednesday, would cost the city about $3 million in funding. Slightly more than half of that will come from halving the local government fund over the next two years. The rest of the lost money is because of the removal of the estate tax and the acceleration of the commercial activity tax reimbursement's phaseout. Overall, the lost money represents about 7 percent of the city's general operating revenue, Filipiak said. He added that, while he understands the governor and legislature's intentions to overcome a $6 billion shortfall, he feels this budget just passes the problems of the state down to the local level. "We think it's very shortsighted …
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
CFO Daniel Wilson says school district will have about $1.7 million less next school year
The state legislature's conference committee has agreed upon a new two-year budget for the state of Ohio. This means, after months of estimates and forecasts, local schools, governments and libraries have a better sense of what their state funding will look like for the next two years. Mentor Schools CFO Daniel Wilson said the district will receive about $10.6 million fewer dollars from the state over the next two years as compared to 2010-2011 funding levels. However, $2.5 million of that was in stimulus funding, which was one-time money that the district did not expect to get. Overall, Wilson said Mentor Schools is ready for this leaner state budget because it had prepared for a "worst-case scenario." Because of the district's efforts to…
Thursday, June 9, 2011
House, Senate bills go to conference committee
State Sen. Tim Grendell, R-18, voted in favor of the Ohio Senate's version of the state budget, which is now headed to a conference committee to settle differences between the Senate and House bills. The Senate bill passed Wednesday by a 23-10 vote that went along party lines. Grendell said the budget proposed by the Senate increases funding for primary education in Lake and Geauga counties and the Mayfield school district by more than $10 million more than the House version and increases funding for local governments in those areas by more than $4 million. He said he advocated for proper funding of school districts and local governments. "Making sure that our schools and local government received adequate funding for my top budgeting …
Phyllis Stager
9:07 am on Wednesday, February 29, 2012
I grew up in Mentor. I love Ohio. I have lived in Texas now for years. I pray that Ohio can pull itself up by its boot straps and solve its economic woes. Today, the population of Texas is twice that of Ohio. In 1980 Texas and Ohio had almost equivalent populations give or take a million. Whereas Ohio lost population and lost industry and business, Texas has grown in all categories in the 30 … more ›