State of Ohio Schools 2023

However, the combined effects of the COVID pandemic and Ohio’s legacy of inadequate, inequitable funding have weakened the role school plays as a foundational public institution. Ohio ranks 21st in the nation for K-12 education, 46th for equitable distribution of funding, and 40th in starting teacher salaries. Ohio public schools educate 1.7 million students across racial, gender, socioeconomic, and geographic lines — and every one of them deserves better.

This report describes how Ohio’s schools are funded in the most recent budget, examines staffing issues, summarizes critical performance metrics, and identifies new legislation that will impact education throughout the state.

Ohio not only needs to find new ways to attract and retain educators; we must also recruit from demographics that are underrepresented in the current teacher workforce. In 2022, Black teachers accounted for only about 4.2% of all teachers in Ohio but made up 12.3% of the state’s employed workforce.