Advocates For Social Services And Education Say It's Time To Tap Ohio's Rainy-Day Fund

A coalition of more than 100 unions and progressive advocacy groups is calling on state leaders to avoid making cuts to front-line workers serving Ohio’s communities during this pandemic.

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine recently signed an Executive Order for an across the board $390 million budget cut. Last year, when he made three quarters of a billion dollars in cuts to Medicaid and education, he said he thought the budget would actually be worse off than it is now. But revenues have been coming in ahead of estimates lately.

But Nick Bates, budget and public policy director for One Ohio Now, says this pandemic has hit Ohioans who depend on the state’s social services hard. Bates thinks DeWine should tap some of the $2.7 billion dollars now in the state’s rainy-day fund.

“We cannot cut our way to solutions. Ohio needs a balanced approach to balancing the state budget. Ohio should use the rainy-day fund now to prevent further pandemic budget cuts,” Bates says.

Read more: https://www.statenews.org/post/advocates-social-services-and-education-say-its-time-tap-ohios-rainy-day-fund