Latest news with #SciotoAnalysis
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
The long-term effects of abandoning Ohio's Fair School Funding plan
Getty Images. Early this budget season, Ohio House Speaker Matt Huffman said school funding cuts were on the horizon. His House budget certainly follows up with that promise. According to analysis by the Ohio River Valley Institute, the FY2027 school allocation under the House Plan falls $2.7 billion short of what the General Assembly agreed to invest in public education in the 2022 Fair School Funding Plan. That represents a funding cut of about 25% from the previous plan. These cuts will be felt across the state. According to the same analysis, 91% of school districts will have less funding under the House plan than the Fair School Funding Plan. An unlucky 26 school districts will see their state support reduced by 50% or more. In February, my firm Scioto Analysis asked 17 Ohio economists for their thoughts about the plan to cut spending on public education. Of those economists, 14 agreed the cuts would hurt Ohio's economy in the long run. Only one disagreed. Dr. Kathryn Wilson of Kent State University explained the harms reductions in school spending can have on the economy, saying they can lead to lower human capital development that hurts the productivity of future workers, but also that it can lead to more costs for taxpayers with more government assistance and criminal justice spending needed with a less educated state population. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE In 2023, we conducted a cost-benefit analysis of school spending in Ohio. We built off evidence of the relationship between school spending, test scores, and graduation rates to estimate the long-term impacts of school spending on labor force productivity. We found that increased investment in students leads to wage impacts in the long run that will grow the state's economy. We also found cuts will hurt productivity and reduce output for the state. According to the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce, Ohio has about 1.7 million children currently enrolled from Kindergarten to Grade 12. This means the proposed $2.7 billion cut would represent about a $1,600 per-student decrease in spending from the baseline of the General Assembly's Fair School Funding Plan. In our 2023 study, we estimated what would happen if the state reduced school funding levels to the per-student expenditure in Indiana, which is about $3,600 lower than Ohio. We estimated this would cost the state somewhere between $30 billion and $120 billion in economic value in the long run. Scaling these losses to match the Ohio House's $1,600 reduction in per-pupil spending, we can estimate the reduction in statewide school funding will cost the state economy somewhere from $14 billion to $54 billion in the long run in the form of lower earnings from lower test scores, lower graduation rates, and higher social spending. Yes, $2.7 billion is a lot of money. But educating a state workforce costs money. Cutting corners on education might lead to short-term benefits, but there are long-term costs the state will have to bear for decisions like this. These include lower productivity, lower earnings, and higher spending on social services and criminal justice. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
11-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Study: Raising Oklahoma minimum wage to $15 would address housing security
OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) – A new study estimating the impact of raising Oklahoma's minimum wage on housing security says thousands of Oklahomans would benefit from the change. The report was authored by Ohio-based Scioto Analysis, an economics and public policy group. Scioto Analysis principal Rob Moore says the study was a collaboration with the Oklahoma Donor Alliance, a civic engagement organization in the state. 'They really wanted to educate the public and have people go to get information about this ballot initiative that was going to be voted on next year,' said Moore. The ballot initiative in question, State Question 832, is set for a June 2026 ballot. The measure would see Oklahoma's minimum wage raise gradually from $7.25 an hour to $15 an hour by 2029. Governor Kevin Stitt set the date for the vote, saying it would save taxpayers close to $2 million as opposed to having it sooner. Oklahoma lawmaker wants $16 minimum wage by end of 2025 The Scioto Analysis study, according to Moore, consisted of running over 1,000 labor market scenarios if Oklahoma's minimum wage was raised to $15. The study used data from the American Community Survey and Congressional Budget Office information to run the scenarios. 'We're doing policy analysis, so trying to predict the future, and there's obviously always going to be a bit of error with that,' said Moore. Key findings from the study are below: 40,000 fewer households would be cost-burdened/spending over 30% of their income on rent. 32,000 fewer households would be severely cost-burdened/spending more than 50% of their income on rent. Up to 550 fewer Oklahomans would experience homelessness each year, including a reduction of 150 Oklahomans experiencing chronic homelessness. 630 fewer annual emergency room visits. Up to 330 fewer shelter beds needed statewide. 'Any time that you're trying to connect the dots with folks, I think that's a good thing,' said Amber England, spokesperson for Raise the Wage Oklahoma, which is advocating for the minimum wage increase. 'This report shows a direct connection between affordable housing, lowering homelessness, and raising wages, and so I think that this is a really good thing.' The Oklahoma State Chamber and Oklahoma Farm Bureau have been vocal critics of raising the wage. Opponents say it would crush working families through price increases on the heels of record inflation and put corner stores and family farms out of business. 'It just, it adds uncertainty to business owners, and that's unnecessary,' said State Chamber President and CEO Chad Warmington in an interview last fall. News 4 has tried, the week of May 5, to get comments from both the State Chamber and Oklahoma Farm Bureau on the study. The Oklahoma Farm Bureau declined an interview on Tuesday. News 4 checked in with a spokesperson for the State Chamber Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday for comment but was told an expert was out of the office. You can read the study in its entirety below: Mimum wages and housing security in Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
05-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Housing access would increase if Oklahoma's minimum wage grew to $15 an hour, report finds
Increasing the minimum wage would make housing more affordable for tens of thousands, report finds. (Photo by)(This image cannot be republished unless you have a Getty subscription.) OKLAHOMA CITY – Tens of thousands of more Oklahomans would be able to afford housing if the state's minimum wage were raised to $15 an hour, according to a new report. Up to 40,000 households would no longer pay 30% or more on rent with the increased minimum wage, according to the report issued by Scioto Analysis, which has offices around the country and provides analysis of issues to public policymakers. The Department of Housing and Urban Development defines anyone who is spending more than 30% of their income on housing as 'housing cost burdened,' which is high, said Rob Moore, principal with Scioto Analysis. 'If you are spending over 50% of your income on housing, you are considered very housing cost burdened,' Moore said. If the minimum wage was increased, up to 32,000 Oklahoma households would no longer spend more than half of their income on rent, according to the report. Lower-income Oklahomans spend a larger proportion of their income on housing, according to the report. The report was commissioned by This Land Research and Communications, a project of the Oklahoma Donor Alliance. The Donor Alliance is a nonprofit that funds strategic research projects. The groups are not affiliated with Raise the Wage Oklahoma, which collected enough signatures to get a state question seeking to increase the minimum wage on the June 16, 2026 ballot. If approved by voters, State Question 832 would gradually increase the $7.25 an hour minimum wage to $15 an hour in 2029. Additional increases would be tied to the cost of living measured by the U.S. Department of Labor's Consumer Price Index. The report said increasing the minimum wage to $15 an hour would result in as many as 550 fewer Oklahomans experiencing homelessness. Chronic homelessness would drop by 150 people a year, according to the report. Oklahoma has seen a dramatic increase in homelessness, doubling in the past three years, according to the report. More than 64% of chronically homeless Oklahomans live in Tulsa or Oklahoma City, according to the report. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
25-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Analysis shows universal pre-K in Ohio would repay its costs almost fourfold
Getty Images. A paper issued last month by Scioto Analysis concluded that every dollar spent on universal pre-K in Ohio would produce $3.80 in benefits. Unsurprisingly, most of that benefit comes in the form of greater future earnings of kids who attend pre-K and then show up to kindergarten prepared to learn, the analysis said. 'Seven dollars of every $10 of benefits generated by a universal prekindergarten program come from future labor market earnings of children,' Scioto Analysis Principal Rob Moore said in a written statement accompanying the report. 'According to the evidence we have, universal prekindergarten could be a strong long-term economic development investment for Ohio.' The Ohio state government doesn't fund universal pre-K. Some cities, including Cincinnati, Cleveland, Dayton, and Toledo, have funded pre-K programs that are less than universal. Head Start is a federal pre-K program, but in Ohio and most other states, eligibility is generally restricted to families living at or below federal poverty guidelines. For a family of four, that's less than $42,000 a year. Ohio near bottom in preschool spending compared to other states The Scioto Analysis report cited research showing that universal pre-K can benefit kids from middle-income families almost as much as it does those from poor ones. In Ohio, 57% of three and four-year-olds were enrolled in pre-K in 2022. Using the Washington State Institute for Public Policy's benefit-cost analysis of universal prekindergarten, the Scioto Analysis report modeled the impact on the economy if 71% of Ohio's preschoolers went to prekindergarten. It found that adding 29,000 Ohio kids to the program would benefit the economy by cutting the time kids would later spend repeating grades, in prison, or needing special education. But by far and away, the biggest benefit was in kids' future earnings. 'This benefit occurs because children develop essential cognitive and social skills during prekindergarten which lead to higher academic achievement and better job prospects,' the report said. In its draft of the biennial budget, the Republican leadership of the Ohio House has been generous to the state's wealthiest interests. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX The billionaire Haslam family wants $600 million to move the Browns out of downtown Cleveland and into a new stadium in Brook Park. House Finance Committee Chairman Brian Stewart, R-Ashville, built that funding into the budget, calling it 'a once-in-a-lifetime project.' He added that new stadiums are 'huge economic drivers.' However, most economists who have studied them would disagree. They say stadiums by and large don't create new spending. Instead, they shift existing discretionary spending from one part of a regional economy to another, experts say 'The empirical evidence shows repeatedly that stadium subsidies fail to generate new tax revenue and new jobs or attract new businesses,' the Tax Foundation said in an October report. 'While attending a sporting event or a concert in a new, publicly subsidized venue might benefit fans of the team or those who attend the event, those subsidies shift spending that would have occurred in other parts of the city or state in the absence of a new sports stadium or arena.' Meanwhile, by developing intellectual capital, public education provides multifaceted benefits to the economy, experts say. 'Research shows that individuals who graduate and have access to quality education throughout primary and secondary school are more likely to find gainful employment, have stable families, and be active and productive citizens,' Dana Mitra of Pennsylvania State University said in a research report. 'They are also less likely to commit serious crimes, less likely to place high demands on the public health care system, and less likely to be enrolled in welfare assistance programs.' However that may be, the Ohio House budget would slash funding for public education far below what's called for under a 2021 plan to make it sufficient to meet the requirements of the Ohio Constitution. The Fair School Funding Plan calls for $666 million in new spending on public education. The Republican House budget would provide only $226 million. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
09-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Ohio's exceptional libraries are an economic driver
Stock photo from Getty Images. Ohio House leaders released a range of changes in their substitute budget bill last week. Gov. DeWine's cannabis, gambling, and tobacco tax increases were out, and his proposed child tax credit was removed. The bill also included tax cuts for coal mining, a new tax expenditure to support anti-abortion advocacy centers, and many other changes to tax, budget, and other policy areas. Maybe the most historic change introduced in the new bill, however, was a proposal to eliminate the state's public library fund, which has funded Ohio's library system for the past 100 years. To be clear, this is not a total elimination of public library support, just the fund. The new bill folds the special line item into the state's general revenue fund. The proposed House budget still provides public library funding from the general revenue fund, though it does cut the governor's proposal to fund libraries by 9% — a $100 million reduction. Ohio ranks near the middle of the pack on a lot of metrics. Its library system is not one of those. Ohioans visit their libraries 3.41 times a year on average — second highest among all states across the country. The average Ohioan checks out over 12 books a year — more than any other state in the country. Two-thirds of Ohioans have a library card, which puts it second among states in that category. In the early days of my firm Scioto Analysis, I pondered a lot about market failure. Okay, I still do, but at the time I had a lot fewer clients to keep me occupied. I recall being on the phone with my benefit-cost analysis professor from graduate school asking him what services libraries provide to correct market failures. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX At the time, I was very focused on circulation: how does provision of books help correct market failures? What I missed at the time was right in front of me. I built Scioto Analysis at the library. I would bike there daily to have a place to work away from home. I would reserve conference rooms so I had places where I could have in-person or online meetings. I used their computers to do work and had a place to print RFP responses — a nice resource for someone who hasn't owned a printer in years. Entrepreneurs aren't the only people who benefit from libraries. A study out this year in the American Economic Journal found investments in public libraries lead to increased test scores for children who lived nearby. This means libraries are also helping build tomorrow's workforce. Economist Howard Fleeter estimates Ohio's libraries provided physical and electronic circulation, computer and technology services, reference services, programs, and other services to the tune of a total value of $3.1 billion in 2019. Comparing this to the total operating cost of the system of $780 million, Fleeter estimates the system generates about $4 in economic benefits for every $1 in operating expenses. There are certainly other benefits to public libraries. Services to low-income people and people struggling with housing security, as a place for children to spend time after school, and civic benefits from people having a place to be around others free of charge are all values of the library. The economic benefits are real, however, and they could be threatened by proposed cuts at the state level. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
