More school vouchers, income tax cuts in Ohio House version of budget

• House Republicans want to raise the amount Ohioans can earn before paying taxes to $26,050
• House budget plan would allow residents of East Palestine to deduct income they received to compensate for lost business following the Feb. 3 train derailment.
• House budget plan keeps Gov. DeWine's push for a phonics-based approach to reading in schools.
• Survivors of "sexually oriented" offenses would get the rights to information about their rape kits if the House budget proposal becomes law.

The Ohio House introduced its own version of the state budget Tuesday, and it includes plans to reduce income taxes, increase school vouchers and create tax deductions for East Palestine residents following February's train derailment.

The 5,300-page proposal, known as House Bill 33, is the second version of a plan to spend more than $86 billion over the next two fiscal years.

Gov. Mike DeWine gave lawmakers his budget proposal in February.

More:Gov. Mike DeWine pushes for targeted tax relief, education spending in budget

Many of the items on the governor's wish list, like a plan to change how Ohio's children learn to read, remain, but the House made some important changes. Here's a look at what changed and what stayed the same:

Income tax cuts

DeWine didn't propose any overall income tax cuts in his budget. Instead, he focused on adding specific deductions for people with children, affordable housing and first-time home buyers.

The House, however, decided to make some overall changes to Ohio's income tax brackets.

The House proposal would raise the amount Ohioans can earn before paying taxes to $26,050. Then, it would combine the two lower brackets and set that rate at 2.75%.

Tax deductions for East Palestine

The House added a section into its budget that would allow residents of East Palestine to deduct income they received to compensate for lost business following the Feb. 3 train derailment.

Payments from Norfolk Southern, government entities and any agents (insurance) on behalf of the railroad company would be deductible if the federal government labels the accident a "qualified disaster."

Expanding school choice

DeWine's budget proposed increasing the income limits for Ohio's school voucher program, known as EdChoice, from 250% to 400% of the federal poverty level. That would amount to $120,000 of annual income for a family of four.

Republicans in both the House and Senate have introduced bills to go further, proposing a universal voucher system where every Ohio child is eligible. But the House budget didn't include those proposals.

Instead, it recommended moving the income limit up to 450%, or $135,000 in annual income for a family of four.

Funding public schools

Ohio implemented a new school funding formula when lawmakers passed the last two-year budget in 2021. The formula had a six-year implementation plan, and both budgets introduced so far have followed that schedule.

Reading and public instruction

The House's budget added a requirement that high school students learn how to apply for federal student aid as part of a mandatory course on financial literacy. And they kept the governor's push for a phonics-based approach to reading.

Known as the science of reading, the budget would require all public and charter schools to use curricula that follow this method by the fall of 2024.

Districts would not be permitted to use a method known as cueing that teaches children strategies to decipher unfamiliar words, like looking at a picture or context of the known words.

More:Gov. DeWine: Science is 'abundantly clear,' some Ohio schools teach reading wrong

The House budget also kept the governor's proposal to pay for teacher training in the science of reading and new materials/books for schools using other methods.

Rape kit testing

Survivors of "sexually oriented" offenses would get the rights to information about their rape kits if the House budget proposal becomes law.

Ohioans could request information about whether a DNA was found, whether that DNA matched someone in a state or federal database and the kit's estimated destruction date.

And all entities that retain sexual assault kits would have to submit annual reports about their inventory to the Ohio Attorney General's office.

This story will be updated.

Anna Staver and Laura Bischoff are reporters for the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau, which serves the Columbus Dispatch, Cincinnati Enquirer, Akron Beacon Journal and 18 other affiliated news organizations across Ohio.