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Good Tuesday morning,

In May, attorneys for the state, and the Institute for Justice, an out-of-state intervenor in our EdChoice private school voucher lawsuit, bombed big time before the 10th District Court of Appeals.

Keith Neely, with the Institute, had a lump-in-the-throat exchange with Morgan Trau, a reporter for WEWS TV in Cleveland.

“The argument this morning, I think, went well for us,” Neely said after the hearing.

“You genuinely thought it went well?” I asked him, Trau reported.

“I do think that the argument went well on some of our claims…” Neely said. “Ultimately, I think we all recognize that this case is going to go to the Ohio Supreme Court one way or another.”

The appellate court judges will eventually rule on the case, but Neely expects the panel, all of them Democrats, to side with the schools.

He believes, eventually, the Republican-dominated Ohio Supreme Court will rule in his favor, Trau reported.

Unable to make a constitutional case for vouchers, attorneys defending the problematic program are resorting to writing everything off as political.

Don’t believe it.

We have faith in the judicial system.

We won at the Common Pleas court level on the merits of our case. Judge Jaiza Page ruled that three of the counts we raised against EdChoice were correct and the program was unconstitutional.

We witnessed our attorneys argue, we believe, successfully before the 10th District Court of Appeals and we watched as the pro-voucher attorneys stumbled so badly that a Cleveland Plain Dealer headline stated: “Ohio’s school voucher house of cards is collapsing in court. The state’s defense is embarrassing.”

We believe we will be successful before the Ohio Supreme Court as well.

Our counts are all based on a strict, originalist reading of the Ohio Constitution, and the Ohio Supreme Court is composed of a majority of originalist justices. The language is so clear, plain, and in black and white that we believe Antonin Scalia would have agreed with us.

Our Ohio Supreme Court is not issuing rulings in a judicial vacuum. There is precedent in the Ohio Supreme Court on this issue already. The justices will have to take into consideration rulings by Judge Page and the 10th District Court of Appeals.

In addition, courts in state after state are ruling against vouchers. Interestingly, the constitutions in many of those states, often written around the same time as Ohio, are strikingly similar in their language protecting religious freedom and emphasizing the critical importance of the separation of church and state.

EdChoice vouchers are unpopular and growing in unpopularity. In 2024, pro-voucher groups asked voters in three states to approve voucher programs at the ballot box, including Kentucky where Donald Trump won overwhelmingly.

In all three states, voters said NO.

Voters have never passed a ballot initiative in any state to support vouchers.

Ohio State Supreme Court justices are elected, responsible to the people and to their oath of office to the Ohio Constitution.

They are not immune to the consensus of the people of our state. Our Steering Committee Chair, former Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Eric Brown, who has sat on the court, believes the justices will take very seriously their duty to abide by and follow the Ohio Constitution.

Mike Curtin, a former editor and associate publisher of the Columbus Dispatch, a former two-term Ohio House member who served on the Ohio Constitutional Modernization Commission, researched and reported a great piece on the language barring the use of public tax dollars to pay for private, mostly religious schools.

Curtin makes a compelling case for why the Ohio Supreme Court will find vouchers unconstitutional based on their originalist beliefs.

It is well worth your time to read here.

Anyone who tells you the Ohio Supreme Court will rule against us because of party affiliation hasn’t done their homework.

Is your district part of our historic lawsuit? Check here.

If not, why not? Join here.

Sincerely,

Vouchers Hurt Ohio

Good Tuesday morning,

Here’s a headline that probably took state Rep. Jamie Callender and state Sen. Jerry Cirino down a notch last week after both skipped an invitation to speak at the Mentor School Board meeting where vouchers were discussed.

Mentor schools are fighting for survival , so why won’t their state reps show up to explain themselves?…read the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

You remember Callender? He introduced the Public School Bully bill, beat his chest for a few days stating he was going to punish school districts that joined our lawsuit by withholding all their state funding and then promptly backed down after seeing the severe backlash to his mean-spirited and unconstitutional idea.

Callender and Cirino represent Mentor. So does state Rep. Dan Troy, who attended the meeting along with Dan Heintz, speaking on behalf of Vouchers Hurt Ohio.

Here’s how the Plain Dealer reported the situation: “The district is staring down serious budget pressure and has now twice gone to voters for a tax levy — and twice been turned down. A third attempt is being drafted. Mentor also is weighing whether to join more than 300 other school districts in a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Ohio’s private school voucher program.”

Chris Quinn, the Plain Dealer editor, said: “It’s a very bad look. I think they were looking for real information and (Cirino) blew him off. What kind of state senator does that?”

Quinn continued: “Mentor is one of the largest school districts in Cirino’s senate district. And the issue at hand — where hundreds of millions in public money goes — is one he has influenced as the head of the Senate finance committee.”

Lawmakers live in the Statehouse bubble where they pat one another on the back and quietly joke, “hey, what’s a little Constitution between friends?”

House Speaker Matt Huffman told the Columbus Dispatch, “we kind of do what we want.”

It’s a different story when they have to leave the safe Statehouse confines, and actually meet with the people of Ohio and look them in the eyes and try to explain the EdChoice voucher boondoggle.

It’s not easy justifying giving wealthy families a refund and a rebate and giving $1.7 billion in our public tax dollars to private, mostly religious schools – an idea a judge in Ohio has already ruled is unconstitutional on three counts.

Is your district part of our historic lawsuit? Check here.

If not, why isn’t your board, superintendent and treasurer standing up for public schools, public school children and taxpayers? Join here.

Sincerely,

Vouchers Hurt Ohio

Good Tuesday morning,

We’re excited about tonight.

Mentor Public Schools, a suburban public school district in Lake County east of Cleveland, has invited local lawmakers and Vouchers Hurt Ohio to attend their board meeting for a discussion about EdChoice private school vouchers, and a possible vote to join our lawsuit.

Dan Heintz, a steering committee member for Vouchers Hurt Ohio, will speak to the Mentor board on behalf of our coalition.

Here is the question on everyone’s mind: Will he or won’t he?

He being state Rep. Jamie Callender, who happens to be one of two Ohio House members whose district contains Mentor Public Schools.

Callendar has not been heard from since his plan to bully school districts that joined our lawsuit backfired big time, and he suddenly was unavailable to answer questions from the press.

So will Callender accept the invitation?

And what about state Sen. Jerry Cirino, a voucher-backer who represents Mentor, whose daughter is on the Mentor board. Will he show up?

If they come, they will have to do a lot of explaining.

See Mentor, like a lot of districts, is facing financial struggles after the state shortchanged Ohio public schools $3 billion in the current two-year state budget, according to Policy Matters Ohio.

“Ohio’s legislature has repeatedly reduced the state share of public school funding, from a high of 47 percent in 1999 down to an estimated 35 percent in 2026 and 32.2 percent in 2027. This reduction in state share means that property tax revenue accounts for an increasingly large portion of Ohio public school funding,” states Policy Matters Ohio.

At the same time, state lawmakers like Callender and Cirino are sending $1.7 billion to EdChoice private school vouchers that are being used mostly by wealthy families to pay for their children who were often already enrolled in mostly religious schools.

Policy Matters Ohio correctly points out that when the state’s share of funding drops, school districts have one of two choices: make cuts in the district or ask local property owners to pay higher taxes.

Want to know why your property taxes are so high? Look to Columbus because they have been shortchanging your public schools for decades.

Voters in Mentor rejected a 4.9 mill operating levy last November and again earlier this month.

Tonight’s discussion comes as Mentor faces cuts amounting to $5.9 million.

Here is how Mentor describes itself to anyone interested in moving into the areas served by the district: Mentor, Mentor-On-The-Lake, Concord Township and Kirtland Hills.

“Our district operates seven elementary schools, two middle schools, one high school and one state-of-the-art specialized school for autism.”

Mentor offers more than 200 courses through their current Program of Studies, including college or honor level classes, AP, career technical education, art, music, electives, online and distance learning classes for about 6,600 students.

With the two failed levies, Mentor is looking at cutting staff, overtime and discretionary spending, reduction in travel and professional development, elimination of STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics), music, and art positions. Future cuts could include high school busing.

Cirino and Callender feign anger at public schools for paying $2 per pupil per year to join our lawsuit, which is a drop in the ocean compared to the $3 billion shortfall to public schools. They are really mad because they don’t like it when someone questions their authority or decisions. Cirino is the Senate Finance Committee chair so he has a lot of power in deciding where the legislature spends money.

We are suing the state to protect local public schools, public school children, and local taxpayers, and Franklin County Judge Jaiza Page agreed with us, ruling in June, 2025, that EdChoice vouchers are unconstitutional on three counts.

Our case is now before the 10th District Court of Appeals.

Any local school board that joins our lawsuit, and more are joining just about every day, is standing up for the future of public schools and for taxpayers.

Is your district part of our historic lawsuit? Check here.

If not, why isn’t your board, superintendent and treasurer standing up for local schools and local property taxpayers? Join here.

Sincerely,

Vouchers Hurt Ohio

Good Tuesday morning,

The 10th District Court of Appeals last week held a hearing before a three-judge panel on the state’s appeal of our winning lawsuit.

The state and intervenors were unable to make a constitutional argument because they don’t have one.

A headline from the state’s largest newspaper summed it up: Ohio’s School Voucher House of Cards is Collapsing in Court. The State’s Defense is Embarrassing!

Read the story here:

Ohio’s school voucher house of cards is collapsing in court. The state’s defense is embarrassing – cleveland.com

An excerpt from the story:

“The Attorney General’s appellate attorney argued that even though private schools can pick and choose who they admit, parents do have an equal choice: they’re free to apply to private schools. That’s why it is called school choice.”

“That’s hilarious,” said Cleveland.com | Plain Dealer Editor Chris Quinn. “That is the weakest argument I’ve ever heard. Well, you’re equal because you can ask for it. We’re not going to give it to you. But it’s equal because you’re allowed to petition for it. Imagine if everything worked that way.”

The attorney representing Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost (why isn’t Yost standing up for public schools against vouchers?) had no real answer when Appellate Judge David Leland pressed him to explain why it was the private, often religious schools, that had all the power and the choice in deciding which children were accepted and which children were rejected under the EdChoice voucher program.

The attorney, Keith Neely, representing the out-of-state Institute for Justice didn’t have any better of a day defending EdChoice because the pro-voucher crowd doesn’t have a constitutional leg to stand on.

Here’s how Morgan Trau, from News 5 in Cleveland, reported a post-hearing interview with Neely.

“The argument this morning, I think, went well for us,” Neely said after the hearing.

“You genuinely thought it went well?” Trau asked him.

It didn’t.

See Trau’s story here: Ohio judges question why taxpayers fund private school tuition

Judge Leland wasn’t done.

“What’s the purpose, counselor, of having an admission policy where students who can afford private tuition to private schools are nonetheless subsidized by EdChoice voucher? What is the governmental purpose of that?”

Judge Leland continued: “Why are we subsidizing wealthy students who can afford to go to private school? Why are we paying for their tuition with tax dollars?”

Great questions and the pro-voucher crowd has no good answers because EdChoice is $1 billion boondoggle for private schools and a refund and rebate for wealthy families whose children were already enrolled in private schools and that, at the end of the day, is indefensible.

Is your district part of our historic lawsuit? Check here.

If not, why not? School board members, superintendents and school treasurers need to stand up for their students, public schools, local taxpayers and their communities and join our lawsuit.

Learn how here.

Sincerely,

Vouchers Hurt Ohio

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Good Tuesday morning,

Our lawsuit challenging the harmful EdChoice private school voucher program that is siphoning away $1.7 billion from public schools to fund a separate and unequal system of mostly private schools for wealthy parents goes on trial today in the 10th District Court of Appeals in Columbus.

The state appealed after losing the case when Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Jaiza Page ruled last June that EdChoice is unconstitutional on three counts:

1. Lawmakers shall create a single system of common schools for the common good open to all children. Vouchers are open only to those students whose families can afford to pay mostly religious schools, a tuition charge on top of the voucher, and those religious schools choose who gets in based on wealth, religion, race, disabilities, etc.
2. Lawmakers have failed to fund public schools at a constitutional level. Policy Matters Ohio reports lawmakers shortchanged public schools $3 billion in the current two-year state budget. Judge Page noted lawmakers can’t pay for private vouchers out of the same line item in the budget that underfunds public education.
3. No religious sect or other sect shall ever have exclusive right to or control of any part of the school funds of the state. It’s there in black and white in the Ohio Constitution. More than 90 percent of the private schools receiving the $1.7 billion are religious.

The state and intervenors like the Koch family-backed Institute for Justice do not have a constitutional leg to stand on.

They are grasping at a U.S. Supreme Court decision made a long time ago that looked at the small voucher program in Cleveland, but their lawyers are way off the mark.

Judge Page debunked their argument in her ruling.

Judge Page noted the Goff ruling noted the Cleveland voucher program required that: (1) participating schools not discriminate on the basis of religion; (2) public schools in a school district adjacent to the covered district be allowed to participate; (3) participating adjacent public schools receive funding above the full per-pupil amount; and (4) all participating schools, whether public or private, must accept students in accordance with rules and procedures established by the state superintendent.

EdChoice has no such rule requiring that participating schools do not discriminate on the basis of religion, nor that participating schools must accept students in accordance with rules and procedures established by the state.

There are no rules for the EdChoice private schools. No fiscal or financial accountability either.

The U.S. Supreme Court, as Judge Page pointed out, “cautioned that their success should not come at the expense of public education, nor should the state be allowed to finance a system of nonpublic schools.”

Judge Page wrote: “From this language, the Court concludes that the Goff court foresaw a renewed challenge to a larger scholarship or voucher program like EdChoice as an unconstitutional state supported system of private schools. Goff warned that a system that does not create but supports nonpublic schools in a way that jeopardizes the thoroughness and efficiency of the State’s system of public schools violates Article VI Section 2 of the Ohio Constitution.”

Judge Page gets it. The U.S. Supreme Court ruling warned that a universal voucher program with no income limits that takes billions of dollars away from underfunded, shortchanged public schools and is a threat to the system of common public schools in Ohio would be unconstitutional. That’s what we have now, and that’s why the Ed Choice private school voucher scheme is unconstitutional.

So when you hear lawyers for the state cite Goff it is merely guff.

Is your district part of our historic lawsuit? Check here.

If not, why not. Join here.

Sincerely,

Vouchers Hurt Ohio