Stater Home Page

Department of Communication

Ohio State Rep Troy James and eleven other members of the House Democratic Caucus voted against passage of the states first budget specifically for education.

James is the 10th District's representative and Cleveland State University is located within the 10th District.

In a phone interview on July 8, James said he voted against the bill to show support for the Democratic Caucus. He added the Democrats had tried to include several amendments to the budget and each amendment was either rejected or reduced by the Republicans.

An unnamed source from the representative's office said the Democratic Caucus voted no on principle because the Republicans continued to reject the Democrats' ideas.

From the communication department of the Ohio House of Representatives, a summary, released on June 24, listed several Democratic initiatives that the Republicans kept out of the budget.

The portion of the Democratic initiatives rejected by the Republicans that would directly affect Cleveland State University is the amount of money designated for higher education. The Democrats wanted $39 million to go into the higher education instructional subsidy, but the representative's office said the amount funded was only $20 million, Democratic Caucus voted no on going out $10 million per year. According to the house communications release from June 23, the instructional subsidy for higher education will help keep tuition rates down.

In a follow-up interview on July 14, James said, "I tried to keep CSU in mind when voting.. .there could have been more for the school." James added he also had the caucus in mind and felt he needed to support the Democratic Caucus when voting against the budget.

Rep James would not comment on specifically how the new education budget would affect CSU.

Top of Page