DaytonDailyNews.com

COLUMBUS — Every new year brings new questions.

Welcome to 2009 at the Statehouse. Let's get started.

Federal aid for Ohio

Gov. Ted Strickland says he's "totally confident" that fellow Democrat and President-elect Barack Obama will come through with help for Ohio and other financially struggling states. Strickland is part of a group of governors seeking a whopping $1 trillion overall in federal aid.

Strickland wants Obama to put $5 billion in Ohio's tin cup, but the governor doesn't know how much he'll get.

Even $5 billion wouldn't solve all of Ohio's problems.

The state's looking at a $640 million shortfall for the fiscal year ending June 30 and a $7.3 billion shortfall for the next two years.

Obama and the Democratically controlled Congress are likely to move quickly after the new president takes office on Jan. 20.

The devil will be in the details.

How much for roads, bridges and other infrastructure projects to stimulate the economy?

How much for Medicaid, unemployment benefits, child care, welfare and other parts of the fraying safety net?

Will Congress and Obama agree to expand the handouts to include money for preschools, schools and colleges?

What about

Strickland pledged to fix school funding — still technically unconstitutional, according to the Ohio Supreme Court — when he ran for governor in 2006 and hasn't backed down from that promise.

So far he hasn't done much about it publicly either, except hold forums around the state to discuss both school reform and school funding.

This is the year.

"You will hear my school initiative spelled out in, I think, some significant detail, I think early next year," Strickland said last month.

It's expected to be a proposal that combines changing how Ohio's students are educated with how their education is paid for.

Strickland says he'll pitch his plan to the legislature but if lawmakers don't go along:

"I don't say this in a threatening way ... just as a matter of fact, that I would go to the ballot only if it's impossible to get agreement with the legislature."

Asked if his "no-new-taxes" pledge applies to school funding, he said:

"I'm going to wait until I submit the proposal before I talk about any piece of it or any part of it. I want it to be presented as a package so people understand how various parts of it fit together."

What about

Dayton didn't have to wait until this year to feel the sting of state budget cuts.

An argument can be made that so far Dayton has been the only major city singled out for a specific whack from Strickland's budget choppers.

The governor closed Twin Valley Behavioral Healthcare mental hospital in Dayton last June – along with a mental hospital in Cambridge – in the first round of hole pluggings.

He took a different approach when he held six forums on school funding in November and December. Dayton got left out.

If you wanted to see the governor in person, the closest forum was in Cincinnati.

Strickland said in a year-end interview that he's interested in the Dayton area, hit badly by both recession and the domestic auto industry meltdown.

"I maintain close relationships with some of Dayton's business leaders and in this office we frequently talk about our concerns for Dayton and the heavy toll the Dayton region has experienced ... in terms of job loss and so on," he said.

The question in 2009 is whether he and the legislature can do anything about it.

Contact this reporter at (614) 224-1608 or whershey@DaytonDailyNews.com.