Higher education will be the cornerstone of a successful future for the current and future students of Ohio. In the modern economy, a high school graduate is not prepared to enter the work force without the advanced skills gained from post-secondary training. Thus it is imperative that the State of Ohio undergoes every effort to ensure that those qualified and willing to attend Ohio's colleges and universities are able to financially do so.
However, Ohio policy has been quite to the contrary. The percentage of the budget allocated towards higher education has dropped from 17.7 in 1979 to 11.7 in 2005. This is during a period in which the necessity of higher education has increased immensely.
In this same period, other parts of the Ohio budget have expanded. Corrections spending per capita has more than doubled. In terms of percentage of budget, funding for correction facilities and services has risen from 3.7% to 8 % from 1979 10 2005. So are building jails more important than funding higher education? Budgets determine policy above all political rhetoric. And the current Ohio policy gives priority to filling jail cells over filling classrooms.
While poor budget decisions are part of the problem, the lack of money available in the State for education also reflects an overall poor funding system. Ohio's primary and secondary public institutions suffer from an inadequate local levy system that encourages disparity among poor and wealthy districts. Likewise, Ohio higher education, with its rising tuition costs and decreasing availability of scholarships and grants, is further contributing to this economic divide.
Ohio Learn and Earn's billion-dollar-a-year scholarship program would be a great catalyst in bridging this gap. Starting with the highest achievers from each school district, poor and wealthy, students will be given scholarships to Ohio colleges and universities. Once the program is in full swing, scholarships will be offered to every student in the state who is admitted to an Ohio institution of higher education. Universal college scholarships will mean bridging the economic - education divide. It will mean giving more students the opportunity to further their education. It will mean developing a more educated and skilled work force. It will mean creating a brighter future for Ohio's students and Ohio's economy.
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