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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

Good Tuesday morning,

Primary voters across Ohio will go to the polls today and by tonight we will know who will be our nominees in November for governor, attorney general, auditor, secretary of state, treasurer and two seats on the Ohio Supreme Court.

We will know the matchups for 15 congressional districts, 33 Ohio Senate, 99 Ohio House and a host of local elected offices.

We will also know the outcome of 65 local tax issues for local school districts.

Something funny happened on the way to the primary polls this year: public school boards, superintendents and treasurers, and their local levy committees, have caught wind of the anti-property tax sentiment and they have made strategic adjustments accordingly.

First, according Cleveland.com, there are fewer levies on the ballot today compared to previous primary elections, but the number of districts asking voters to approve income tax increases for schools is the highest since 2020.

The Ohio Education Policy Institute (OEPI) reported 99 tax issues in the 2025 primary and 97 in the 2024 primary.

This year, 32 school districts are seeking an increase in the income tax compared to 22 in 2025 and just 16 in 2024, according to the OEPI.

This is a shift, but not a solution.

Four times during the DeRolph era, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled that a state funding formula for public schools that is over-reliant on property taxes is unconstitutional.

Moving from property to income taxes doesn’t change that idea. It’s the overreliance on local taxes that is unconstitutional because this indicates the state is shortchanging local public schools and local public school children.

Policy Matters Ohio estimates that when state lawmakers abandoned the Cupp Patterson Fair School Funding Plan in the current two-year state budget, they underfunded public schools by $3 billion.

This is Count 2 in our lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the EdChoice private school voucher program that will siphon away $1.7 billion in public tax dollars at the same time the state is underfunding public schools.

There’s a reason there is tremendous pressure to raise local taxes and the people crafting the state budget in Columbus are to blame.

When lawmakers take $1.7 billion from the same line item in the state budget that pays for public schools and gives it to private, mostly religious, schools, and at the same time they shortchange public school funding by $3 billion, lawmakers put tremendous pressure on schools to put levies on the ballot.

We’re witnessing this pressure in real time. Local public schools know property taxes are a sore spot for local voters, so they are shifting to income tax increases to make up for lost state revenues.

It’s a shift, it isn’t a solution.

Sincerely,

Vouchers Hurt Ohio

Good Tuesday morning,

Our historic lawsuit, challenging the $1.7 billion EdChoice private school voucher scheme, will go before the 10th District Court of Appeals in Columbus on Tuesday, May 12.

Oral arguments are scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m. in Courtroom 23B.

The state of Ohio, the Institute for Justice and another grasstops organization purportedly representing Catholic parents are appealing our victory in the lower courts.

On June 24, 2025, Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Jaiza Page agreed with our attorneys and ruled the EdChoice private school voucher program is unconstitutional on three counts.

The Ohio Constitution is clear: State lawmakers shall create and fund a single system of common schools for the common good that are open to all students. Vouchers create a separate and unequal system of uncommon schools that are open to some students, closed to others.

Secondly, the state is shortchanging funding public schools at a constitutional level by $3 billion in the current two-year state budget at the same time lawmakers will spend $1.7 billion on EdChoice vouchers. The funding for vouchers comes out of the same line-item in the two-year state budget that funds public schools so a dollar more for EdChoice is a dollar less available to fund public schools at a constitutional level. That’s unconstitutional.

Third, the language in the Ohio Constitution is clear as day: “No religious or other sect shall ever have any exclusive right to or control of, any part of the school funds of this state.”

Our attorneys brought five counts before Judge Page. She did not rule on our argument that vouchers resegregate public schools, and she ruled against our fifth claim that vouchers create a privileged class of Ohioans.

We are appealing the fifth count and believe we will prevail in the 10th District.

This is an historic lawsuit. Is your school district participating or sitting on the sidelines? Check here.

If not, why not? Join here.

Sincerely,

Vouchers Hurt Ohio

Good Tuesday morning,

We are witnessing a growing revolt against the $1.7 billion EdChoice private school boondoggle.

In district after district, concerned parents, educators, taxpayers, business owners and ordinary, everyday citizens are learning that this harmful program – designed to pad the coffers of private, mostly religious schools, and award refunds and rebates to mostly wealthy families – is taking a jackhammer to the foundation of their communities – the local public school.

Tonight, Tuesday April 21, Akron Public Schools is hosting a Summit County Public Education Community Forum bringing together districts from across the area to engage and inform the community about the growing threat to public schools.

“This important community event will feature speakers from public school districts across Summit County, including elected officials, superintendents, education labor leaders, and school board members.”

The event is free and open to the public, and community members are encouraged to attend from 6-7:30 p.m. at the Firestone Community Learning Center, 470 Castle Boulevard, Akron, 44313. Doors open at 5 p.m.

Tomorrow night, Wednesday, April 22, in Cincinnati, a public forum, “Public Education Is Under Attack,” will be held from 5-6:30 p.m. at the Cincinnati Public Schools Board of Education, 2651 Burnet Ave., Cincinnati, 45219. Doors open at 4:30 p.m.

The flyer for the program announces: “Learn about the current attacks on public education. Make your voice heard.”

This event will also include educators from area local public schools, superintendents, education labor leaders and local board members.

Here’s the deal.

School districts are forced to go back to local property taxpayers because the legislature has shortchanged public education to the tune of $3 billion in the latest two-year state budget, according to Policy Matters Ohio.

At the same time, the pro-voucher crowd in Columbus has implemented a universal voucher program so that even billionaires like Les Wexner is eligible for a private school voucher. This $1.7 billion comes out of the same line-item in the budget that pays for public schools so a dollar more for vouchers is a dollar less available for public schools.

The state is flush with money. They are giving away hundreds of millions of dollars to pro sports teams like the Browns to build stadiums.

Local folk are feeling it. They are getting enraged and engaged.

In January 2022, Vouchers Hurt Ohio sued the state, challenging the constitutionality of the EdChoice private school voucher scheme on five counts.

On June 24, 2024, Franklin County Judge Jaiza Page ruled EdChoice unconstitutional on three counts. The state and two other pro-voucher groups appealed.

The 10th District Court of Appeals will hold a hearing on our lawsuit on Tuesday, May 12.

We’re on the right side of history. The public is becoming increasingly aware of the threat posed to public schools and local communities and taxpayers by EdChoice.

Is your district part of our historic lawsuit? Check here.If not, why not? Learn more here.

Sincerely,

Vouchers Hurt Ohio