When will Kasich tell the truth about school funding?

The administration of Ohio Republican Gov. John Kasich is being criticized for not telling the truth about their education budget.  School boards, school superintendents, teachers, and parents are very confused about the budget numbers coming out of the Kasich administration on school funding.  One minute Kasich said that all districts would get more money, then evidence has been produced that shows that the budget sheet put out by Kasich is inaccurate because it is built on the stimulus money that will not be a factor this time. 

An article by John Michael Spinelli in the Examiner, explains that Innovation Ohio (IO) has found that Kasich's education numbers just don't add up:

...The district numbers released Thursday by Kasich's administration showed that overall state funding for schools would increase each of the next two years. But the positive spin on those numbers was they did not include the loss of $454 million in federal stimulus money that schools used this year for basic operations. When this is factored in, the 1.9 percent funding increase Kasich numbers show in 2012 turn into a 5.2 percent cut. In his gymnastics to close a $7.7 billion budget shortfall, is cutting basic operational funding next for more than 590 of Ohio's 612 school districts. This is bad but expected news, but school district will be faced with the loss of $730 million from cuts in tax revenue once promised them but now withheld from them. It's estimated that schools lose $3.1 billion in this, Gov. Kasich's first two-year budget.....

....Innovation Ohio has learned that the runs did exist but apparently were deliberately withheld from the news media, presumably because they flatly contradict the Administration’s March 23 claim that over 400 of Ohio’s 613 school districts would receive funding increases in FY 2012 and 2013. In fact, the Administration’s internal documents show that 610 districts would receive cuts in FY 2012 and 599 would receive cuts in FY 2013, compared to FY 2011.

“It’s always been clear that the Kasich Administration has had a problem with transparency. Now they even seem to have trouble with telling the truth," IO spokesman Dale Butland asserted. "First, they told reporters that the district-by-district breakdowns either did not exist or were not available. Then they tried to fool the public by releasing incomplete spread sheets which suggested most school districts would get funding increases."

For the full articles, visit these links for the Examiner  and Innovation Ohio.