Despite opposition from statewide business groups, Justice Alice Robie Resnick won re-election to the Ohio Supreme Court.

Saturday, November 18, 2000

Despite opposition from statewide business groups, Justice Alice Robie Resnick won re-election to the Ohio Supreme Court.

That win has local school leaders delighted, said Steve Sites, Dawson-Bryant School District treasurer.

"It means the make up of the court stays the same," Sites said. "And it’s a clear cut mandate that the legislature doesn’t have an alternative They must meet the Supreme Court’s directive to better fund Ohio’s schools."

Resnick’s re-election keeps the 4-3 majority on the court that has angered business groups by overturning the state’s method of funding schools and a lawsuit limiting the amount of money plaintiffs could receive in lawsuits.

Reformers and Democrats have said Republican leaders have done nothing on school funding since Resnick wrote the ruling May 11 that found Ohio’s system of funding public school unconstitutional for a second time since 1997.

Instead, they accuse Republican-supported business interests of spending up to $8 million to defeat Resnick.

”The idea was, instead of fixing the system, we’ll get a court that would accept the existing system,” Bill Phillis, leader of a coalition of schools that sued the state over the school funding system, told The Cincinnati Enquirer for a story. ”The clear message from the people of this state is, ‘Fix the system.”’

Republican leaders dispute Phillis’ allegations and say Resnick’s election has nothing to do with their search for a solution.

”I think the pressure was on us when we got our court response date of June of next year,” said House Speaker Jo Ann Davidson, a Republican from Reynoldsburg.

”We had to get this done whether the Supreme Court changed or not,” said Senate President Richard Finan, an Evendale Republican.

Some think a change in the Supreme Court would have resulted in the court declaring the state had done enough to reform education, Sites said.

So, local school leaders simply believe Resnick’s re-election is the people’s way of saying they want a change for their schools, he said.

The voting public agree with Resnick’s majority opinion and now it’s time lawmakers finish the job, Sites said.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.