Buckeye Reporter

The Buckeye Institute presented its testimony to the Ohio House Finance Committee regarding the state's biennial budget outlined in Ohio House Bill 96. Greg R. Lawson, a research fellow at The Buckeye Institute, addressed several key areas including Medicaid, education, and taxes.

Lawson expressed concerns about Medicaid's growing costs, warning that they could soon become unsustainable and impact other spending priorities. He recommended implementing rigorous audits and ensuring the enforcement of work requirement waivers to control expenses.

In the realm of primary and secondary education, Lawson supported Governor DeWine’s proposal to phase out funding guarantees due to declining public school enrollment. He suggested that lawmakers should ensure local school district decisions do not automatically increase state funding. Lawson also advocated for allowing all scholarship recipients to receive Disadvantaged Pupil Impact Aid and recommended selling underused public school buildings to charter schools with increasing enrollment.

For higher education, Lawson praised changes aligning with The Buckeye Institute's recommendations for shifting some state share of instruction funding based on job outcomes. He advised that funding increases should target programs focused on workplace credentials.

Regarding taxes, Lawson urged lawmakers to maintain pro-growth tax policies established in 2023 and advised against suspending the indexation of tax brackets to inflation. He concluded by highlighting the importance of fiscal responsibility given potential federal spending cuts.

Lawson stated, "Ohio taxpayers will save even more if the General Assembly follows The Buckeye Institute’s recommendation and does not once again suspend the indexation of tax brackets to inflation."