Crew Stadium would get a property tax exemption, schools would get another option to raise revenue and more Franklin County students would be eligible for state vouchers under a budget-corrections bill introduced in the Ohio House yesterday.

However, Gov. Bob Taft and legislative leaders have not reached agreement on how to save a temporary tax exemption for Cardinal Health and other companies operating at Rickenbacker Airport. Senate President Bill M. Harris, R-Ashland, said he thinks the issue will be addressed before the bill is passed by the end of the month.

The bill reappropriates more than $1.7 billion to ensure ongoing projects get funding. Of the $1 billion in new capital money, $665 million goes for school building projects.

Most of the new money, as much as $60 million, will fill a shortfall in college tuition aid through the Ohio Instructional Grants.

The 1,277-page bill also contains about 300 amendments, many that clean up language mistakes from the 2005 budget. Some also are pet issues.

One would extend a propertytax exemption to Crew Stadium, as long as the Columbus Public Schools approve of the deal.

Rep. Larry L. Flowers, a Canal Winchester Republican, said he expects that the amendment will end the tax dispute between owners of the North Side stadium and county officials, who have said the stadium is delinquent on $1.4 million in property taxes.

The Ohio Board of Tax Appeals denied a request in February 2005 that the stadium, built on state-owned land leased from the Ohio Exposition Commission, be considered public property that's exempt from property taxes.

Republicans also have proposed expanding the number of students eligible for vouchers, which pay for private-school tuition.

Republicans approved a statewide voucher program last summer for as many as 14,000 students who attend schools that have been on "academic emergency," the lowest state quality ranking, for three consecutive years.

That opened the program to students in 49 schools, including 23 in the Columbus School District.

Under the new bill, slots would remain at 14,000 but students attending schools on either academic watch or academic emergency for three years would be eligible for vouchers. That would open up the program to students in as many as 50 more schools, including 13 in Franklin County.

"This is what I always believed was going to be in the budget -- we just didn't get it in there like that," said Speaker Jon A. Husted, R-Kettering.

The state pays $4,250 for each student in kindergarten through 8 th grade, and $5,000 for each high-school student. Ohio's private schools have offered to accept about 8,000 students next year, though that number could rise between now and the end of May, a state education department spokesman said.

Public-education advocates who opposed the initial expansion of Ohio's voucher program also oppose the change.

"If people believe there is an issue in an academic-watch school, then the public-policy decision is to fix the issue and make that school better rather than let the kids bail out," said John Brandt, who runs the Ohio School Boards Association.

The bill also would allow districts to pass a levy that grows as much as 4 percent per year to help make up for state money lost through "phantom" revenue. The provision is similar to one Taft vetoed from the budget in 2005, when he said bill drafting errors made it unworkable.