COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio House Republicans plan to override Gov. Mike DeWine’s vetoes on provisions they say would provide property tax relief but that public school advocates say come at the expense of education.
It is expected to be a tight vote.
Many teachers were relieved when DeWine vetoed several school-related provisions in the state budget, ones that Cleveland Heights School Board Member Dan Heintz said could harm public education.
RELATED: Here's what DeWine vetoed from the budget, and what he kept in
"It would have been a race to the bottom," Heintz said. "It would have put school districts around the state in a constant levy cycle."
DeWine vetoed restrictions on the ability to put emergency levies on the ballot or request an increase to a current levy. That provision would have 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.
He also 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."
The governor 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 evaluated the impact the provisions could have on schools:
RELATED: Ohio schools sound alarm with the governor over what they're calling a destructive budget
But the relief that educators felt didn’t last long.
"To make sure that our taxpayers across Ohio see some type of decrease or prevention of the spikes that will happen, we have to override the governor's veto to essentially be effective for November 1st," state Rep. David Thomas (R-Jefferson) said Friday.
Thomas and House GOP leaders have asked lawmakers to come back from their summer recess and override the three school-specific vetoes.
"What I'm hearing constantly from my taxpayers is that they need decreases and they need tax reform now," Thomas said.
But not every Republican is on board, like former House Speaker Jason Stephens (R-Kitts Hill), who said this will hurt schools more than it will help.
"An override — it's a big deal," Stephens said. "My concern is if the legislature overrides these particular vetoes, it's really not going to do that much to lower people's property taxes."
Stephens isn’t coming back for the override session. We've confirmed that at least three other GOP lawmakers aren’t returning or are voting no. Several others who had previously told News 5 they were no votes could not be reached on Friday.
"The summer is busy," Stephens said.
To override the governor takes 60 votes. With only 65 Republicans, Thomas can only afford to lose six people.
"Do you have the votes for this?" I asked Thomas.
"I would say that members who are saying they're not coming back — it's our job, it's our duty as elected representatives of the taxpayers of Ohio to make these votes and to do what's in the best interests of our residents," Thomas said.
On Thursday, we asked the governor for his thoughts.
"They have every right to come back and make their decision," DeWine said.
In an attempt to prevent an override, the governor created a new property tax working group to evaluate the best solutions.
"We have to give them some relief, at the same time, we have to balance this so that we continue or able to fund our schools," DeWine said.
The working group will be run by former Cincinnati Republican lawmaker Bill Seitz and Ohio Business Roundtable CEO Pat Tiberi.
Seitz said that he is helping to point out to lawmakers that the vetoed provisions could be improved by changing their language.
Heintz said he hopes that the lawmakers will listen to the governor, Seitz and Tiberi.
"We stretch every dollar we have," Cleveland Heights School Board Member Heintz said. "This can be done without the micromanagement of Mr. Thomas and the Ohio legislature."
The vote is set to take place on July 21, with the Senate following that day or later that week.
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