Catholic bishops of Ohio speak out against state budget cuts |
 |
 |
|
Written by .
|
|
Thursday, 30 July 2009 10:07 |
COLUMBUS—Speaking on behalf of Ohio’s Catholic bishops, Archbishop Daniel E. Pilarczyk of Cincinnati voiced dismay over state budget cuts to human services, Catholic hospitals and Catholic schools and disappointment with a political process that disregarded the concerns of many members of the General Assembly.
“We recognize the unprecedented economic situation facing Ohio, but we are troubled by the selectivity and harshness of certain cuts and the lack of public input into the conference committee’s recommendations,” Archbishop Pilarczyk said in a letter sent July 27 to Governor Ted Strickland and each member of the Ohio General Assembly.
In the letter, the bishops expressed strong concern over cuts impacting the elderly, mentally ill, Catholic hospitals, and students in Catholic schools.
In a prior letter sent March 24, 2009, to elected state officials, the bishops specifically addressed the negative impact of budget cuts on Ohio’s hospitals and nursing homes.
According to Carolyn Jurkowitz, executive director of the Catholic Conference, the bishops gave extra attention in their more recent letter to cuts totaling $59M in services to Catholic school students and administrative cost reimbursement to Catholic schools.
“We have the largest number of chartered nonpublic schools in Ohio, and therefore a major responsibility to promote fair and equitable treatment of all students, no matter where they attend school,” Ms. Jurkowitz explained.
The bishops wrote: “For over 25 years, state budgets treated students attending public and chartered nonpublic schools equitably. As state funding for public schools increased or decreased, line items benefiting students in chartered nonpublic schools increased or decreased proportionately. In HB1, this did not happen. The final budget reduced line items supporting students in chartered nonpublic schools by 15 percent from the House and Senate-passed versions of the budget bill … while state support for students in public schools [was] reduced by less than one percent and then bolstered with federal stimulus money. The new budget suggests that Catholic taxpayers and the children we serve will be the last to receive any consideration and the first to be cut.”
The bishops point out the high-quality education that Catholic schools provide to hundreds of thousands of citizens, and the tremendous contribution Catholic schools make to Ohio: “Catholic and other chartered nonpublic schools save the taxpayers of Ohio $2 billion a year in educational cost that the state would pay if these students were attending public schools. Our schools have a long history of public accountability for the public dollars and services they receive.”
The bishops also lamented the lack of opportunity to defend school funding during the conference committee process. Once the conference committee recommendations were made public, they were voted upon the same day, without the opportunity for amendments.
“Many legislators told us that they disagreed with the cuts made in benefits for students in Catholic schools, and with the lack of opportunity to voice their concerns or influence the conference committee process,” the bishops note.
---
The full text of the bishops’ letter can be found at http://www.ohiocathconf.org/I/Budget/BudgetCutLtr.pdf.
|
|
Last Updated on Thursday, 12 November 2009 15:05 |
