IO reports

  • IOEF New Policy Brief: Who Benefits From Eliminating Ohio’s Capital Gains Tax

    A new policy brief from Innovation Ohio Education Fund looks into House Bill 617 and how it would primarily benefit Ohio’s wealthiest residents. View Full Brief.

    Vivek Ramaswamy’s Data Center Portfolio

    A new report from Innovation Ohio looks into Vivek Ramaswamy's deep ties and investments in data centers and calls into question whether his policies will put Ohio, or himself, first. View Full Report.

    Report: The Power Plant Next Door

    Innovation Ohio examines how a little-known feature of state law is stripping communities of their voice over the power plants being built to serve data centers, and what the next governor can do about it. View Full Report.

    Report: Ramaswamy’s Property Tax Scam

    This report from Innovation Ohio warns that Vivek Ramaswamy’s plan to roll back local property taxes to pandemic levels would devastate funding for schools, libraries, and public safety. View Full Report.

    Report: Data Centers, Ohio’s Electric Grid, and Your Power Bill

    Innovation Ohio examines the rapid expansion of data centers in Ohio, the impact on electricity demand and utility costs, and the policy options other states are using to protect consumers. View Full Report.

    Report: What Vivek Ramaswamy’s Income Tax Plan Would Mean for Ohio

    Innovation Ohio has released a new policy analysis examining Vivek Ramaswamy’s proposal to eliminate Ohio’s personal income tax. This report evaluates the fiscal impact of the proposal using state budget data and historical comparisons to other states. View Full Report.

  • Disinformation Report

    Innovation Ohio conducted research to track and analyze disinformation being spread online during the 2024 election cycle. The election was marked by the continuation and evolution of disinformation tactics that emerged in previous cycles. Full Report: Disinformation Report 2024

    2024 Innovation Ohio Annual Report

    As Ohio’s communications and research hub, Innovation Ohio provided essential support to our progressive partners in 2024 to promote voter knowledge, optimize progressive messaging, and strengthen our coalition’s impact through a comprehensive research program. Full Report: 2024 Innovation Ohio Annual Report

    A Justice Agenda - Ohio’s Missing Voters Part 2

    In October 2023, Innovation Ohio Education Fund released an analysis of the Ohio voting population that showed 2 million Ohio residents, otherwise eligible to vote, who remain unregistered. The research found an additional 700,000 registered voters who were not actively participating in elections, putting them at risk of being purged from the rolls. Our latest analysis looks at the policies in place in other states for promoting participation in elections and what discrepancies exist in Ohio and whether they may play a role in why so many Ohioans aren’t engaged in voting. Full Report: A Justice Agenda – Ohio’s Missing Voters Part 2

  • 2023 Innovation Ohio Annual Report

    Founded over a decade ago, Innovation Ohio (IO) is an aggressive and strategic catalyst of research, communication, and policy activity that fills a crucial gap in our state’s progressive infrastructure. Full Report: 2023 Innovation Ohio Annual Report

    A Justice Agenda - Ohio’s Missing Voters

    In July and August 2023, Innovation Ohio Education Fund (IOEF) conducted an analysis of publicly-maintained and commercial lists of voters in the Ohio voter file. The goal was to gain insights into the population of unregistered and inactive voters in the state. Utilizing data from Catalist, the US Census, and the Ohio Secretary of State, this report aims to estimate the size and characteristics of these voter groups. We focus on voter geographical distribution, demographic makeup, and their significance in the context of Ohio's elections. Full Report: A Justice Agenda – Ohio’s Missing Voters

    A Justice Agenda for Black Women and Girls

    This report focuses on ways in which currently pending or passed state-level policy harms or holds back the lives of Black women and girls. We examine ways in which housing, workforce, and education policies create barriers for Black women and girls face in their lives and in seeking justice. We will then offer policy solutions for state-level policy makers to implement in order to close the gap on discriminatory policies and practices. Full Report: A Justice Agenda for Black Women and Girls

  • 2022 Innovation Ohio Annual Report

    Founded over a decade ago, Innovation Ohio (IO) is an aggressive and strategic catalyst of research, communication, and policy activity that fills a crucial gap in our state’s progressive infrastructure. Full Report: 2022 Innovation Ohio Annual Report

    Innovation Ohio Education Fund: 2022 Broadband Report

    The Biden Administration is aggressively working to address the digital divide and inequities caused by unequal access to broadband technologies that are becoming an increasingly essential part of modern life. With the passage of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 (IIJA), the administration has made a significant investment in broadband access and affordability. Thanks to billions in new federal funding, residents meeting basic income requirements can get $30 off a broadband plan with a participating provider through the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), and thanks to negotiations between the Biden administration and carriers, many providers are introducing new $30/month plans to the same customers, making service essentially free. Full Report: Innovation Ohio Education Fund: 2022 Broadband Report

  • How Ohio’s Secretary of State Can Ensure a Safe & Successful General Election

    In the face of a second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, Ohio must work aggressively to provide multiple ways for Ohioans to vote in the November election that are safe and convenient. The problems that surfaced in the delayed March primary -- a complicated process of requesting and returning a ballot, difficulty securing postage and lack of awareness of vote-by-mail procedures - all remain unaddressed. With the legislature at a standstill thanks to a federal corruption probe, it is up to Secretary of State LaRose, working with local Boards of Elections, to ensure that all modes of voting are easily accessible to all registered voters. Full Report: How Ohio’s Secretary of State Can Ensure a Safe & Successful General Election

    Who Has Access to COVID-19 Emergency Leave Benefits?

    As COVID-19 hit our communities, Congress came together to take action to address the far-reaching health and economic consequences of the crisis for working people and families, passing emergency paid sick days and paid leave benefits. Unfortunately, they left behind millions of working people in the final legislation. Full Report: Who Has Access to COVID-19 Emergency Leave Benefits?

    A Winning Economic Agenda for Ohio Working Families

    We can grow Ohio’s economy by supporting middle-class opportunity and local entrepreneurs, not tax breaks and special deals for those already at the top. Full Report: A Winning Economic Agenda for Ohio Working Families

    Ohio Resistance Guide

    Attacks from the Ohio Statehouse are not new. Our values have been under assault for years. But what is new is that we are now organized and informed. We have vowed to no longer be silent in the face of leaders who want to take our communities backwards. Full Report: Ohio Resistance Guide

  • Ohio’s State Budget Bill

    The July passage of House Bill 166, the state’s two-year operating budget for fiscal years 2020 and 2021, signaled a disturbing return to the lax oversight of Ohio’s charter school system that led to a massive taxpayer scandal, as well as a continued expansion of the transfer of taxpayer funds from public to mostly-religious private schools. Full Report: Ohio’s State Budget Bill

    Higher Education in Ohio’s State Budget

    The July passage of House Bill 166, the state’s two-year operating budget, included record funding for higher education, but much work remains to make Ohio’s public colleges and universities more accessible and affordable for more Ohio students, especially those from traditionally under represented populations most at risk for not exploring post-secondary educational options. Full Report: Higher Education in Ohio’s State Budget

  • What’s At Stake For Medicaid In The Race For Ohio Governor

    This fall, Ohio voters will choose between two candidates for Governor who have diverging philosophies on healthcare – and most importantly Medicaid – a program nearly 3 million Ohioans rely on for healthcare. Republican Mike DeWine notably sued to block the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and its protections regarding pre-existing conditions on his first day on the job as Attorney General, called Ohio’s expansion of Medicaid “financially unsustainable,”ii and signaled the need to reform the program through block grants and work requirements. Full Report: What’s At Stake For Medicaid In The Race For Ohio Governor

    Analysis of How Much Ohio Workers Are Losing Under Attorney General Mike DeWine’s Overtime Pay Cut

    This report provides data for the first time on the local impact on Ohio workers of Attorney General DeWine’s action blocking this middle-class raise. Starting with state-level data available from the Economic Policy Institute, the report breaks down the impact, county by county. Full Report: Analysis of How Much Ohio Workers Are Losing Under Attorney General Mike DeWine’s Overtime Pay Cut

  • Medicaid Expansion: Its Critical Role in Ohio’s Response to the Addiction Crisis

    Ohio expanded Medicaid in 2014 to provide healthcare coverage to low-income individuals (earning up to 138% of the federal poverty level). In a short period of time, Medicaid expansion has played an enormously important role in the treatment of the growing problem of opiate addiction in Ohio. Full Report: Medicaid Expansion: Its Critical Role in Ohio’s Response to the Addiction Crisis

    Private School Vouchers: The Ohio Lesson

    Ohio’s Private School Voucher program and its impact on our education system should stand as a lesson learned, not a blueprint for the future. Full Report: Private School Vouchers: The Ohio Lesson

  • Where Trump, Pence, and Portman Stand On Issues That Impact Working Families

    The Trump-Pence ticket, alongside Senator Rob Portman, have attempted to paint themselves as champions of the needs of everyday working Americans. Innovation Ohio has examined their records and proposals ranging from wages to paid leave. What we’ve found is that the worker-friendly rhetoric doesn’t quite match the records. For issues that are important to citizens in the 21st century workforce, these candidates have consistently come up short. Full Report: Where Trump, Pence, and Portman Stand On Issues That Impact Working Families

    A $458 Billion Budget Hole: Rob Portman’s Record as George W. Bush’s Budget Director

    This report takes a closer look at the impacts of this budget and the policy decisions within it. As we’ll see, the 2008 Bush-Portman budget resulted in a federal budget deficit of $458 billion because of a failure to control spending while also making permanent tax cuts that disproportionately favor income earners in the top 10 percent. Full Report: A $458 Billion Budget Hole: Rob Portman’s Record as George W. Bush’s Budget Director

    Rob Portman’s Track Record on Trade and Sudden Shift on TPP

    Rob Portman has supported every trade-related deal that has come across his desk. Not one of those deals addressed the harmful practice of currency manipulation, even with countries that are known currency manipulators. Now, Portman claims to oppose the Trans-Pacific Partnership based on its lack of currency manipulation practices. Full Report: Rob Portman’s Track Record on Trade and Sudden Shift on TPP

  • The School Funding Squeeze

    As the state of Ohio considers its budget priorities, Innovation Ohio takes a closer look at how school. funding has been squeezed over the last two decades by a steady reduction in the state income tax and the rapid increase in state funding to charter schools. Full Report: The School Funding Squeeze

    A Closer Look: The Kasich Record on Public Education

    Flat funding local schools, forcing local taxpayers to do more, unjustifiably pushing school privatization, and punishing teachers are some of the highlights Gov. John Kasich’s record on public education in Ohio. This report examines various Kasich administration policies championed during his tenure and what the impact has been on schools, communities, and most importantly Ohio’s 1.8 million school children. Full Report: A Closer Look: The Kasich Record on Public Education

    Paid Parental Leave

    The Benefits of paid parental leave for women, families, employers and local communities. Full Report: Paid Parental Leave

  • HB 5: Impact Analysis

    Understanding the cumulative financial impact of House Bill 5 in the context of the last four years of funding cuts to local communities. Full Report: HB 5: Impact Analysis

    2014 Innovation Ohio Annual Report

    For Innovation Ohio, 2014 represented a year of progress, change, and focus to ensure that the work that we do continues to influence the policy landscape now and long into the future. Full Report: 2014 Annual Report

    The Kasich Education Record

    As school begins this week for many of Ohio’s 1.8 million school children, Innovation Ohio felt it important to remind parents and taxpayers how dramatically funding and policy have changed under Republicans, led by Gov. John Kasich. Full Report: The Kasich Education Record

    Ohio’s Low-Wage Recovery

    Innovation Ohio sought to determine whether the jobs created since the recession’s end are substantively the same as those that were lost in the downturn. Using Occupational Employment data published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, we calculated the number of jobs in Ohio that paid at low, medium and high wage levels (adjusted to current levels of inflation) for every other calendar year from 2007 through 2013. Full Report: Ohio’s Low-Wage Recovery

    More on the Horizon: Test Score Disparities Raise More Questions about Embattled Horizon Academies

    Innovation Ohio watched recent shocking revelations about misdeeds at Dayton’s Horizon Science Academy with disgust. In response to the allegations of test manipulation and tampering made during a State Board of Education hearing earlier this month, IO examined publicly available testing data for signs of irregularities. Full Report: More on the Horizon: Test Score Disparities Raise More Questions about Embattled Horizon Academies

    Short-Changed: How Poor-Performing Charters Cost All Ohio Kids

    Last year, Innovation Ohio produced a landmark report proving that Ohio’s charter schools have received substantial sums of taxpayer money at the expense of better-performing school districts. The report used data from the 2011-2012 school year, which tracked every transfer of money between all districts and every charter school receiving state money originally intended for those districts. Because that report was so well-received, Innovation Ohio has updated its analysis using data from the 2012-2013 school year. While the state’s new Report Card has somewhat complicated the analysis, the results this year are equally bad, if not worse, for Ohio’s schoolchildren. Full Report: Short-Changed: How Poor-Performing Charters Cost All Ohio Kids

    What Will Ohio’s Electric Utilities Get for Campaign Cash?

    Senate Bill 58, introduced in 2013 by Senator Bill Seitz (R-Cincinnati) and currently before the Senate Public Utilities committee, aims to undo significant portions of Ohio’s energy efficiency and renewable energy laws that were adopted in 2008. Full Report: What Will Ohio’s Electric Utilities Get for Campaign Cash?

  • Medicaid Savings Could Support Ohio Schools

    An analysis by Innovation Ohio shows Sen. Widener’s claim to be demonstrably false. To the contrary, the impact of an extra $400 million on Ohio schools would be dramatic and profound. Full Report: Medicaid Savings Could Support Ohio Schools

    Unfair Funding – How Charter Schools Win & Traditional Schools Lose

    Charter schools can be an important component of Ohio’s K-12 education system. But unless the mechanism for funding them is fixed — and until the state insists on the same level of accountability for charters as it does for traditional public schools — charters will continue to unfairly drain away resources from traditional school districts that still educate 90% of Ohio children. Now that a new school funding system is being developed, there is no better time to address this issue. Full Report: Unfair Funding – How Charter Schools Win & Traditional Schools Lose

    Ohio School Choice: The Real Winners in HB 59

    In this report, Innovation Ohio will highlight provisions in the senate-passed version of HB 59 – many of which were introduced by the governor or the house – that further undermine public education and tilt the playing field in favor of poorly performing charters and unaccountable private schools. Full Report: Ohio School Choice: The Real Winners in HB 59