Statehouse lore has it that when someone asked multiterm GOP Gov. James A. Rhodes what the key issue was in gubernatorial campaigns, he reached into his back pocket, pulled out his wallet, gave it a slap, and panned the room with it. That is, the price of groceries, gas and housing, not hifalutin economic theories, always trump 'supply-side,' Reaganomics and allied Washington tosh in Ohio families' minds. So it was amid 1958's deep recession, when Toledo Democrat Michael V. DiSalle captured Ohio's governorship – helped along by a Looney Tunes Right to Work [for Less] ballot issue. Same goes for 1982, when Ronald Reagan's voodoo economics helped elect Lakewood Democrat Richard F. Celeste governor amid the bleak 1982-83 winter, when everyplace in Ohio looked gray, and four-term. Rhodes had become passé. And now, with the United States warring in the Middle East, gasoline prices – Ohioans' cost of getting to work – are exploding. The New York Times reported Wednesday that 'the national average price at the [gasoline] pump had risen 36% since [President Donald Trump's] war began.' Meanwhile, 'the average price of diesel rose to $5.18 a gallon ... up about 38%,' the newspaper reported. Fuel prices are about the most widely watched consumer prices out there. That old ditty about how, 'over the river and through the woods to grandmother's house we go,' may soon need a coda: 'And we'll be broke when we get there.' Naturally (and inevitably) Ohio voters aren't happy, and the kind of theoretical economics being ballyhooed by Republican gubernatorial nominee Vivek Ramaswamy doesn't cut it over at the barber shop or beauty parlor. Intellectually, his academic record suggests he may be a genuine genius. But that doesn't necessarily mean Ramaswamy knows what it's like to budget for a suburban Ohio family when the Consumer Price Index sprints upward. That's why Democratic gubernatorial candidate Amy Acton's emphasis on the economic squeeze Ohioans are enduring – thanks in part to state tax policies and rickety public school finances – is the right message. That's also why Acton's tax-relief plan, unveiled last week is not only an important campaign plank in itself, but also helps address Ohio's public school funding mess. Key points: * Expand Ohio's property tax homestead exemption so it can benefit an additional 55,000 older homeowners. * Create a property-tax rebate of up to $1,000 for homeowners with household incomes below $132,000 who pay property taxes on homes valued at or below $350,000 'when their property tax bill has increased more than 4% over the prior year.' * 'Crack down on predatory collection practices, including the sale of tax-lien certificates to private collectors who charge 18% interest rates'; and, perhaps most significantly, this: *Pass the bipartisan Fair School Funding Plan, devised by then-House Speaker Robert Cupp, a Lima Republican, and then-Rep. John Patterson, a Democrat from Ashtabula County's Jefferson. Thomas Suddes In effect, the Cupp-Patterson plan was killed by Ohio House Speaker Matt Huffman, a Lima Republican, who instead has sluiced an ocean of state tax money to private, often religious, K-12 schools. According to Ramaswamy's campaign, his tax plan would include: *'[Slashing] property taxes immediately,' though it's unclear how public schools – which now depend on almost 64 cents of every $1 in property taxes – could endure such a tax cut. (In the year that ended in June 2024, total property tax collections statewide for all local agencies were $24 billion). *Ramaswamy's take on school funding generally: 'Ohio taxpayers are now paying roughly 40% more per pupil than before the COVID pandemic yet academic outcomes have declined.' How that's fairly measured is unclear. (What if the teachers' unions endorsed Republicans?) *'Phase out the state income tax – starting with eliminating capital gains taxes.' In the year that ended in June 2025, the state collected about $11 billion in Ohio income tax. Criticism of school districts is perennial – and predictable. As a wise fellow reporter once observed, most parents think their own school district does a pretty good job: It's the district down the road that's a mess. From the perspective of responsible public-school funding, it's hard to fault Acton's plan. But Ramaswamy's? It's a non-starter. Thomas Suddes, a member of the editorial board, writes from Athens. To reach Thomas Suddes: tsuddes@cleveland.com Have something to say about this topic? * Send a letter to the editor, which will be considered for print publication. * Email general questions, comments or corrections regarding this opinion article to Elizabeth Sullivan, director of opinion, at esullivan@cleveland.com.