By Patricia Beech-

Ohio is lagging behind the nation when it comes to college affordability, pre-K enrollment, youth incarceration, childhood poverty, infant mortality, overdose deaths, and other key areas, according to a 28-page report from One Ohio Now, published Monday, March 5, the day before Governor Mike DeWine delivered his first State of the State address.
“With a new governor, we believe it is important to take an honest look at where we are as a state so that the new administration can spend the next four years trying to move us forward as a state,” said One Ohio Now policy director Nick Bates. “To build a strong economy that will work for everyone, we need to invest in safe roads and bridges, great public schools and healthy communities.”
One Ohio Now is a nonprofit coalition of 100 human service, labor union, and advocacy groups. The group’s fourth annual report, “A Story Through Statistics: How Ohio Measures Up,” shows that despite some improvements, Ohio continues to struggle in four key areas including: Health and Home; Education; Economy and Employment; and Inequality.
While One Ohio Now acknowledged an upswing in the state’s 2018 job growth compared to recent years, it points out that an improved economy is not a panacea for all of Ohio’s issues.
“Ohio continues to struggle with high rates of hunger, infant mortality and poverty,” the report asserted. “Without new investments and strategies to address these issues, Ohio will fall further behind the rest of the nation.”
The report calls for more investment in public services to strengthen Ohio communities – a measure that would likely be achieved in part by ending tax cuts established under former Governor John Kasich which stripped billions of dollars from social services, local governments, and education.
“Ohio needs to invest to build the type of community we all desire,” the report asserts. “The state can gain the needed revenue by closing unnecessary tax loopholes, modernizing our tax code, and raising income tax and business tax rates on those with the greatest ability to pay.”
The report points out that Ohio’s plan to spur job growth by cutting taxes not only failed to solve the state’s biggest problems, it reduced state revenue by $6 billion – revenue that could be invested in Ohio’s future.
That lack of available revenue means Ohio has been unable to keep college affordable, expand affordable housing, or provide meaningful support for families struggling with addiction, according to researchers who compiled the report.
“Adjusted for inflation, Ohio has reduced our investment into higher education by $1 billion since 2000,” the report states. “Ohio families care about the quality of their neighborhood school, the safety of their community, and the health of their kids. These great public services need our investments.”
Many of Ohio’s Heath and Home issues are being addressed. Hunger and foreclosure rates, for example, are improving, however, they remain high compared to per-recessionary levels and compared to other states.
“Considering Ohio’s infant mortality, hunger and other Home and Health issues, it is clear that too many Ohioans do not have their basic needs met,” the One Ohio Now study concluded. “Most families are more concerned about paying bills and putting food on the table than any obscure economic talking point.”
The report also called for investments in education to guarantee “an equitable and adequate education for every child from preschool through higher education”.
Currently, less than 50 percent of eligible Ohio children attend pre-school, only 84.2 percent graduate from high school, and those attending college pay, on average, about 25 percent more than the national average for college. Ohio’s average annual tuition is $7,958 compared to $6,527 nationally.
Ohio also continues to trail other states with lackluster economic growth.
According to the One Ohio Now report, 1 in 8 Ohio households (13.2%) live in poverty, and twice that amount (28%) of Ohio families are at 200% of poverty or below (about $41,000 for a family of 3) – a level of income that makes it very hard to get by.
Ohio also continues to trail the nation in median household income ($54,021 to $60,336). Even though Ohio’s wages increased in 2016 and 2017, low and middle income working families continued to do without critical support structures.
The report calls for investment in projects to repair sewers, rebuild roads, and other infrastructure projects to put Ohioans back to work in good-paying jobs.
Recognizing the need for increased revenue, Governor DeWine in his first State of the State speech Tuesday pushed lawmakers to raise the Ohio gas tax by 18 cents to fix crumbling infrastructure across the state.
“Simply put,” he said, “It’s time for us to invest in our future.”