Blue Bird Blues

September 8, 2026

Good Tuesday morning,

Students have returned to school as a new year dawns so you are probably seeing those Blue Birds transporting our children each morning and afternoon.

Did you know that public schools are required to transport EdChoice Voucher students to and from school?

Do you know how much it costs our public schools and Ohio taxpayers to transport these students?

If you don’t, you’re not alone.

The state isn’t really interested in nailing down a price tag for transporting private school children because the cost is borne for the most part by local property taxpayers.

This is what you call an unfunded mandate.

Let us reiterate we are not against private schools.

We agree with Eleanor Roosevelt, who once said, paraphrasing here, she supported private schools and she also supported parents paying for making the decision to enroll their children in private schools.

We oppose using public tax dollars to give wealthy families a refund and a rebate and private, mostly religious private schools, $1 billion a year. 

This is why we are suing the state and challenging the constitutionality of EdChoice private school vouchers.

To extend the former first lady’s thinking, if parents want to make the decision to enroll their children in private schools, then they, not Ohio taxpayers, should foot the bill for transportation.

There are public schools that are cutting back on transporting their own students because the cost of busing is busting their budgets.

This issue was decided years ago when we had a constitutional convention and the delegates debated the idea of using tax dollars for private schools and rejected that idea wholeheartedly.

Read Mike Curtin’s excellent overview of those discussions here in an Op/Ed he authored and published in the Columbus Dispatch.

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

If not, why not? Join here.

Sincerely,

Vouchers Hurt Ohio