Continued funding for Ohio’s Straight A and Community Connectors grant programs is included in Gov. John Kasich’s proposed budget for the next two years. A new program to support community school planning is also proposed.
The budget requires legislative approval and could take months to work its way through the process.
Kasich proposed $15 million for Straight A in each of the next two fiscal years, and $10 million each year for Community Connectors. Funding for the state’s competency-based learning pilots was not proposed to continue.
Competitive awards also might be coming for planning new community schools as part of a large federal grant awarded to the state last year. The proposed budget includes $42 million per year for that program.