COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine is emphasizing the importance of funding and supporting schools as House lawmakers continue to consider overriding his vetoes. The latest Republican infighting started when the governor shut down several budget provisions that the GOP says would provide property tax relief.
The fallout from the Ohio House’s override of one of DeWine’s vetoes on Monday has landed at the executive's feet.
"We have to fund our schools," the governor said Wednesday. "We have to fund our mental health in the state."
In the two-year state operating budget, DeWine vetoed restrictions on the ability to put emergency levies on the ballot or request an increase to a current levy. That provision eliminated levy replacements on property taxes for all political subdivisions. For schools, it would have prohibited them from imposing a fixed-sum emergency levy, a substitute emergency levy and a combined school district income tax and fixed-sum property tax levy.
But the House narrowly passed an override on the provision, 61-28, just clearing the threshold of 60 votes. All Democrats present voted against it, and they were joined by Republican state Rep. Scott Oelslager (R). Former Speaker Jason Stephens (R-Kitts Hill) didn't come back for the override session, but if he did, said he would vote no.
RELATED: Ohio House Republicans override one of Gov. DeWine's vetoes, restricting school levies
On Monday, House Speaker Matt Huffman (R-Lima) explained why he's seeking to override vetoes.
"[Voters] don't quite know what they're voting on because everybody wants to 'Vote yes for the kids,' but later on they find out how high their taxes went," Huffman said.
Huffman said the GOP, minus DeWine, is aiming to immediately provide property tax relief, which is why the speaker also wants to override two other vetoes. However, he was unable to get the votes to override them.
DeWine removed a provision that would have allowed county budget commissions to unilaterally take money away from passed school levies if they find it "reasonably necessary."
He also vetoed another that would have required that emergency and substitute tax levies, incremental growth levies, conversion levies, and the property tax portion of combined income tax and property tax levies be included in the 20-mill floor calculation for school funding purposes.
"We have to have a governor who wants to do something about this," Huffman said, emphasizing the problem is that "taxes [are] too high" while "government spending [is]" too high at the local level."
Schools have been arguing that this will require them to make massive cuts to programs, teachers and buildings — and this comes as the GOP slashed hundreds of millions of dollars from expected funding this year.
We evaluated the impact the provisions could have on schools, as they are already facing financial shortfalls:
RELATED: Ohio schools sound alarm with the governor over what they're calling a destructive budget
"Does the state have an obligation to fund the schools more than we're doing in this current budget?" I asked DeWine.
"Well, we're in a process," the governor responded, adding that the override isn't set in stone yet. "The two big goals are: we have to get relief to those who really need the relief, and second, we have to continue to be able to support our schools."
Part of his solution, and a way to discourage overrides, is a new property tax working group. Made up of county auditors and superintendents, the group is set to evaluate the best policies.
"They're going to focus for the next 60 days," the governor said, adding that they are meeting for the first time Thursday.
The group isn’t necessary, Huffman said.
"I'm, I guess, flabbergasted that the governor would veto these and say, 'Well, let's just keep studying it,'" the speaker said.
There have been multiple property tax review groups over the past several years, but the lawmakers have not put forward any substantial relief.
"We have to do something to help those individuals in a pinpointed manner," the governor said.
The levy override still needs to go through the Senate before it takes effect.
The lawmakers will likely attempt the rest of their overrides before the law goes into effect at the end of September:
RELATED: Which other veto overrides are Ohio House Republicans considering?
Lawmakers have until the end of 2026 to override.
Follow WEWS statehouse reporter Morgan Trau on Twitter and Facebook.
