Saturday Stats: 2020 Vision
Posted January 11, 2020 in eNews
1,200: EdChoice vouchers suck money from public schools and give it to private schools. Next year, 1,200 public schools will lose revenue due to this policy, up from 238 schools last year. Lawmakers said they’ll find ways to rein in the program by February 1st. Piet van Lier offers seven ideas for how they can start.
$33.5 billion: That’s how much money Ohio received from the federal government in 2016 because of census data. The 2020 Census is just around the corner and a lot of important state programs – from aid for new mothers and babies to federal support for roads and public transit - depend on every Ohioan getting counted. Daniel Ortiz talked to WEWS 5 in Cleveland about the importance of reaching people who have historically been undercounted and overlooked – like people of color and people with low incomes.
More than 200: Thirty-five of Ohio’s 53 largest employers paid their CEOs more than 200 times what they paid the typical worker in 2018, according to Zach Schiller’s analysis. He looked at reports filed by Ohio’s biggest employers with the Securities and Exchange Commission. CEO pay has skyrocketed since 1968, when the largest U.S. companies paid their top executives about 20 times more than the typical employee. Zach said it’s part of the larger problem of people at the very top capturing more than their fair share of wealth created by working people. Luckily, good policies can help.
$8.70: On January 1, Ohio’s minimum wage went from $8.55 to $8.70. Michael Shields has been all over the Ohio media explaining that it’s not really an increase, it’s a cost of living adjustment. When Ohio voters increased the minimum wage in 2006, they smartly made sure to index it, so inflation doesn’t erode the wage’s value over time. Still, it’s not enough to support a family and a far cry from what the minimum wage was worth fifty years ago.
18%: In praise of a Columbus Dispatch editorial calling for more scrutiny of state tax breaks, Wendy Patton pointed out that Ohio lawmakers have increased those giveaways by 18% over the past decade. She said tax breaks are projected to cost Ohio $9.8 billion by 2021.
5-10 minutes: That’s all it takes to complete a survey for The National Association of Commissions for Women (NACW). The survey seeks information about the challenges women face, and how organizations can help women overcome barriers. NACW is an umbrella organization for the Commissions on Women around the country, including the Columbus Women’s Commission.