COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio’s financial future is now in our lawmakers’ hands with the budget process for the 2026-2027 fiscal years off and running.
Monday Gov. Mike DeWine, R-Ohio, laid out his plan for how best to spend the tens of billions of dollars expected to be in the state’s revenue stream.
“Our goal for all Ohioans is to allow them to live up to their God-given potential, and the opportunity to achieve whatever their version is of the American Dream,” DeWine said.
He said it will take the state investing in its people to turn that dream into a reality.
DeWine’s 2026-2027 Executive Budget would prioritize three main areas: families/children, students/workforce and businesses/communities.
“I worry more about my kids, my grandkids, my great-grandkids,” he said. “And so much of the budget is for, you know, our kids.”
With the cost of child care a burden, DeWine wants to offer parents a child tax credit of up to $1,000 per year for each child through age 6, proposing the state raise its tax on cigarettes to provide the additional support to families.
“I just see struggling families all over the state of Ohio and you know, they just need some help,” he said. “And this is a little help that we can give them. And I think it’s just something we need. We really need to do.”
More than $23 billion of DeWine’s two-year, $218 billion budget plan would go toward K-12 education. To help ensure money’s well-spent, he is proposing a gradual reduction of guaranteed funding for school districts who lack the enrollment to support it.
“It is time that schools that continue to lose students, that we are not funding empty desks,” he said. “That we will not be funding phantom students.”
His budget also would provide funding to increase access to driver’s education. He said the training is currently out of reach for many families, either too expensive or too far to attend, which raises the risk of fatal crashes.
“Let me say very clearly it’s now time to put driver’s training back in our high schools,” he said. “This needs to be done.”
DeWine’s plan would continue the Governor’s Merit Scholarship, which provides the top 5% of students in each high school’s graduating class a $5,000 scholarship to attend an Ohio college or university. He said admission would be guaranteed to the main campus of state public schools for those students.
Ohio Office of Budget Management Director Kim Murnieks said more than $2 billion a year goes to higher education in the state. In DeWine’s proposal, a portion of a school’s funding would be based on whether students find employment after earning their degrees.
“Ohio has the most outcomes-oriented higher education funding for any formula already,” she said. “And this just takes it to that next step.”
DeWine said tracking whether students are job-ready after college is another way to help ensure Ohio has the trained workforce needed to fill any jobs entering the state.
“We have to answer to them when they look me in the eyes and ask if you have enough PhDs in chemistry and you have enough people who have this talent,” he said. “And our answer always needs to be, ‘Yes, we do.’”
Since taking office in 2019, DeWine said the state has made significant progress in improving access to mental health resources for Ohioans, something he plans to continue in this latest budget. He said he also budgeted for the H2Ohio program to continue work ensuring the state has clean water.
DeWine said prioritizing public safety is another must and is proposing funds go toward law enforcement training in addition to spending the $46 million he says is needed for infrastructure to roll out Next-Generation 911 in Ohio, which would improve emergency services efficiency, pinpoint precise geolocation of callers, and allow people to contact 911 call centers by text.
To help cover the cost of some of the law enforcement and mental health initiatives, DeWine’s plan includes a 20% increase on the state’s marijuana tax, a move he said is based on a proposed Ohio Senate bill introduced during the previous general assembly but failed to make it through both chambers before the end of session.
DeWine is also betting on what he calls a “new permanent solution” to handle state funding requests at professional sports stadiums across the state, by proposing the sports gaming tax be doubled to 40% and a commission be created to manage the funds.
“You know, these are the companies that are taking all this money outside, draining it outside the state of Ohio,” he said. “They ought to pay their fair share. And this would make them pay their fair share, and they will still have plenty of money to make.”
In response to DeWine’s budget proposal, Ohio House Minority Leader Allison Russo, D-Upper Arlington, released the following statement:
“As we begin working on Gov. DeWine’s final budget, which will help define his legacy, perhaps it’s best to make clear to the public that any budget is not about victories for Democrats or Republicans. It’s about putting people over politics and securing victories for all the hard-working men and women of Ohio. During these budget discussions, Ohio House Democrats are committed to fighting for policies that lower costs for every single Ohioan. From the preservation of public education funding so our children have the brightest future possible, to the protection of affordable health care coverage and mental health treatments, to bringing down the costs of child care for working parents, to ensure our senior can afford to stay in our communities. Doing anything less, like more giveaways to the wealthiest Ohioans and cuts to critical funding, will threaten the future of our children, families and Ohio’s economy.”
The Ohio House Finance Committee held its first meeting of this general assembly Tuesday to hear public testimony on the budget, kicking off the months-long budget process. At this point, the final version of the budget bill is expected to be passed by April.