SCHOOL FUNDING--Joint Select Committee on School Funding and Accountability co-chairmen Rep. Randy Gardner, R-Bowling Green, left, and Sen. Robert Cupp, R-Lima, confer during the first committe meeting, at the Ohio Statehouse, in Columbus, Ohio, on Thursday, June 15, 2000. (JACK KUSTRON/photoj.com)

INTENSE QUESTIONS--Rep. Peter Lawson Jones, D-Shaker Heights, gestures as he questions attorneys from the state during the opening session of the Joint Select Committee on School Funding and Accountability, at the Ohio Statehouse, in Columbus, Ohio, on Thursday, June 15, 2000. (JACK KUSTRON/photoj.com)

REACHING OUT--Sen. Eric Fingerhut, D-Cleveland, gestures during a news conference to announce the formation of a committee to conduct a petition drive to place a safe storage gun initiative on the ballot, at the Ohio Statehouse, in Columbus, Ohio, on Thursday, June 15, 2000. Also seen is committe member Steven Ingram, of Cincinnati, and Columbus Million Mom March coordinator Julie Eichorn. (JACK KUSTRON/photoj.com)