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Phillis still fighting for fair system of funding public education
NATALIE PEACOCK
Legal News Reporter
Published: September 23, 2014
It’s been 17 years since the landmark DeRolph decision but William Phillis, executive director of the Coalition for Equity and Adequacy of School Funding, said there is still more work to be done to adequately fund Ohio’s public school system.
Phillis recently spoke to the Summit County Progressive Democrats about his experiences with the case and the current state of funding for public education in Ohio. Ohio Senator Tom Sawyer introduced Phillis to the audience.
“Bill Phillis is a tireless public servant for a thorough and efficient public education in the state of Ohio,” Sawyer said. “He’s been a champion for equitable and adequate system of funding public schools in Ohio even before the DeRolph decision.”
In the DeRolph decision, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled that the current school funding system was unconstitutional because it failed to deliver a thorough and efficient system of education of common schools throughout the state of Ohio, as required in the state’s constitution.
The court revisited its decision several times over the past 12 years before relinquishing its jurisdiction over the subject of school funding. Phillis said Sawyer worked to improve school funding by trying to establish a relationship between what state foundation money pays in educating a student and the actual cost of a quality education.
“We tried for years to try and get that concept through,” Phillis said. “Since that time, we have not had anybody, not had any leadership in the house, senate or governor’s office to work toward that concept. I’m here to tell you, we don’t have a foundation program. We have a funding mechanism but we don’t have a foundation program.”
Phillis took questions from the audience. When asked why the Ohio legislature was not forced to restructure the way Ohio funded it schools, as happened in Kentucky with their own school funding case, Phillis said the situations were different.
“The dynamic was different.” he said. “It was a very fragile situation of two Democrats and two Republicans working together on the court to give a decision in favor of the plaintiffs and they were getting all kinds of pressure. But we got 1,000 new school buildings across this state as a result of DeRolph, so we got something.”
Now Phillis says he is is alarmed by the growth of large, for-profit charter schools going into business in Ohio. When asked by an audience member what the motivation is to push against equitable funding for public schools, he said money plays the biggest role.
“A lot of this is coming from Wall Street,” he said. “There are foreign companies who are investing in the charter industry in the state of Ohio. Why? Because there is money to be made.”
One way to fight back against big business in education, Phillis said, is to support the right candidates for the upcoming state board of education race.
“There are enough people up for election that if the right person gets elected, the state board of education will no longer be totally controlled by the governor,” he said. “If the board has an independent voice, that can be huge. We need someone to raise their voice in opposition to the stuff that’s going on.”
Phillis’ career in education has included being a teacher, principal, superintendent and state education agency leader.
“The most challenging and maybe rewarding job I ever had was being a teacher,” Phillis said. “A few nights ago I got a call from a 70-year-old man who told me, ‘You were one of my teachers. I was a snot-nosed kid and sometimes you don’t appreciate teachers, but I’m calling you to tell you that I really appreciated you.’ ”
The Summit County Progressive Democrats is a grassroots political action committee working for progressive, democratic change at the local, state, and national level. For more information on it’s meetings and guest speakers visit www.summitprogsdems.org.