Unconstitutional school funding in Ohio

I'll be upfront about this. Most of the legalities and behind the scenes dancing by personalities I don't know are beyond me.

But this is what I do know. Too much of funding for schools is dependent on property taxes within the school districts. Thus, wealthy districts have wonderful schools, poor districts get indoor plumbing that usually works.

Also, as the problem of school funding was addressed, I could hear the folks in the wealthy districts not wanting any of their money going to the poorer districts. Well, so much for lip service to the principles of Christianity, upon which so many folks like to say is the basis of our entire country's laws.

Ten years ago this topic hit the big screen, and it's not done yet. Joe Hallett wrote an interesting summary of the process of addressing this problem here in Ohio in the March 18, 2007 Columbus Dispatch.

Sixteen paragraphs down something he wrote hit me between the eyes: "He (Douglas) and Pfeifer, two maverick Republicans who nurtured reputations for siding with the little guy…"

I read that again and chewed on it. Somebody said that. Outloud, more or less. In the Columbus Dispatch, a newspaper that is by and large a voice of the Republican party here. Is he saying that Republicans who side with the little guys are mavericks? Well, I won't act like I'd never considered that possibility myself, but it was so nice to see it in print, even if it was printed deep in the bowels of the Sunday paper where half of the front page was devoted to basketball. Oh well.

I also don't know whether Joe Hallett was trying to put a positive or negative spin on his words. It was enough for me to hear maverick, Republican, and siding with the little guy all stitched together. Again, it reminds me of what I've heard before. The test of any law is the effect it has on the poorest among us.