Ohio Gov. George V. Voinovich merely footnoted the issues of school funding and higher education in Tuesday’s State of the State address, opting instead to focus on his achievements in primary and secondary education.Voinovich highlighted several of the educational programs in Ohio, like “Help Me Grow” and the “Family and Children First” initiative, and introduced children and parents who had benefited from such programs.While he didn’t address the unresolved issue of school funding, Voinovich discussed some successful distributions of money for schools which occurred during his eight years in office.Six hundred million dollars has been directed to poorer districts that received no special allocation before 1991, he said.Voinovich also emphasized the $525 million distributed since 1994 for more technology in the classroom and the $870 million committed to the renovation of schools throughout Ohio.The governor also suggested the General Assembly set aside $300 million for school facilities and any surpluses accrued during the next years be allocated to fix Ohio’s schools.Voinovich briefly introduced Ohio State’s new President, William Kirwan, and Chancellor of the Ohio Board of Regents Roderick Chu. The governor congratulated the state’s higher education system for emphasizing the “harder-smarter, more-with-less” movement.The comment may have been a reference to a down-sizing of the state’s universities with an emphasis on stricter admissions requirements. Regarding the school funding issue, Voinovich agreed with the Ohio General Assembly. He said Ohio voters should have a chance to debate the issue and make a decision.”Let’s get it done and put it on the May ballot,” he said. Rep. Jon D. Myers (R-Lancaster) said he was disappointed that although Voinovich spoke strongly about the education funding issue today, he did not take an early lead on it.”I’m just upset that he wasn’t down here working with both legislative houses in trying to get this constitutional amendment (House Joint Resolution 22) passed,” he said.The amendment, if approved by Ohio voters, will raise the sales tax by one cent to fund House Bill 650’s proposed school funding procedures. Both houses have passed the bill, and it is awaiting Voinovich’s signature.Other legislators shared Myers’ view.”He could have solved this (school funding crisis) if he hadn’t been so damn political in round one,” Rep. Sean D. Logan (D-Columbia County) said.Senate Minority Leader Ben Espy (D-Columbus) said that he thought while the governor painted a rosy picture of education in Ohio, Voinovich has not been the “education governor.”Ohio is ranked 49th in the nation for public school facilities and 47th for safe school buildings, he said.”I think we should have a report card for the governor and the General Assembly for what they have done for schools over the last seven years,” Espy said.Tuesday evening, House Bill 697 made its way out of committee and is set to be voted on by the House today or tomorrow, said Colleen O’Brien, OSU’s director of state relations.The bill mirrors HJR22 in that it will put the one cent raise in sales tax on the ballot for a vote. This bill makes the one cent raise a law as opposed to an amendment to the Ohio constitution. This will make it easier for future legislators to change if they so desire, she said. HJR22, which needed 60 votes to pass, fell two votes short.