Ohio's students deserve a world-class education, including safe and well-resourced schools that are staffed with teachers who are well trained and fairly paid. 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. The state of the schools is a direct result of policy choices made by legislators. This report, which focuses largely on public schools, 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. Policy recommendations are provided that will make Ohio's schools better places to learn, grow, teach and work.