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In Texas, they’re talking about the $1 billion boondoggle private school voucher program in Ohio.

Why? Because our universal voucher program is funding private religious school campus renovations and expansion.

We’re building religious schools with taxpayer dollars.

Ohio “will allow the state to provide millions of dollars in grants directly to religious schools, thanks to a bill passed by its Legislature this summer. The bill aims to increase the capacity of religious schools so they can absorb more voucher students, according to Ohio Senate President Matt Huffman.”

This can be found in an article in the ReformAustin media outlet. Read all about it here.

ReformAustin (Texas) is following up on an in depth investigation conducted by ProPublica, which begins their report with a profound and shocking sentence: “The state of Ohio is giving taxpayer money to private, religious schools to help them build new buildings and expand their campuses, which is nearly unprecedented in modern U.S. history.”

ProPublica goes on to say: “While many states have recently enacted sweeping school voucher programs that give parents taxpayer money to spend on private school tuition for their kids, Ohio has cut out the middleman.”

“…the state is now providing millions of dollars in grants directly to religious schools, most of them Catholic, to renovate buildings, build classrooms, improve playgrounds and more.”

Read the ProPublica investigation here.

Meanwhile, public school children continue to attend schools in buildings that need renovated, need new classrooms, and need playground improvements.

This is one of the counts in our lawsuit. The Ohio Constitution is crystal clear. The legislature shall create a single system of common schools for the common good. Private school vouchers create a separate, unequal system of schools primarily for the privileged and wealthy.

Need proof? Long forgotten is the idea that private school vouchers were for poor families. Poor families can’t afford to enroll in the vast majority of private schools because the tuition exceeds the amount of the state voucher.

So vouchers are providing refunds and rebates for wealthy families, including millionaires, who already had enrolled their children in private schools, and hundreds of millions of dollars to private school operators, primarily religious schools.

Here’s the good news.

We have less than five weeks before the historic trial begins. Yes, on Monday, Nov. 4, vouchers go on trial in Franklin County in Judge Jaiza Page’s courtroom.

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

If not, why not? Learn how to get involved here.

Gov. Roy Cooper in North Carolina recently vetoed legislation in that state that would have spent $6 billion on private school vouchers over the next decade.

Here is what the governor said:

“Private school vouchers are the biggest threat to public schools in decades. Vouchers crater state budgets, with rural schools being hurt the worst.”

Crater state budgets! Rural schools hurt the worst. Read about it here.

Gov. Cooper is right.

In Ohio, right now, rural public schools, the bedrock of so many small town and village communities in our state, are being ripped off as the state stalls for time on fully funding them while siphoning away hundreds of millions of dollars, primarily for religious schools miles and counties away.

In some states, like Texas and Tennessee, rural lawmakers have rebelled because they understand the value of their public schools, and some of them have been punished for doing so by pro-voucher, anti-public school front groups like the Americans For Prosperity.

There is a national blueprint for voucher expansion, an agenda set by ALEC, AFP, the Koch Family, Betsy DeVos and others.

In state after state, the plan is to create a separate and unequal system of private schools with universal vouchers.

In North Carolina, the Supreme Court ordered the state to put more public dollars into public schools. Sound familiar?

We would have a funding formula in Ohio that is constitutional if not for the billions of dollars spent on vouchers and charter schools in the past 25 years.

The good news is vouchers go on trial in Ohio on Nov. 4 in Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Jaiza Page’s courtroom.

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

If not, why not? Learn how to get involved here.

Good news out of South Carolina.

The South Carolina Supreme Court recently ruled that vouchers are unconstitutional.

Justice Gary Hill wrote the program violates the state’s constitutional prohibition against public dollars directly benefiting private schools.

“The dissent claims our decision ‘pulls the rug out’ from under the feet of the General Assembly and ‘ultimately, the feet of the students the law was designed to serve,” Justice Hill writes. “Our duty is to serve the Constitution, the supreme policy of our land. As such, our obligation is not to allow a rug to cover up well marked constitutional ground, no matter how inconvenient that ground may prove to be.

“The entire concept behind the Constitution and the rule of law is that the end cannot justify the means,” he continued.

Read the story here.

All along, we’ve said Vouchers Hurt Ohio is not alone. In state after state, organizations like ours have organically arisen to push back against anti-public school extremists pushing a pro-voucher agenda.

The South Carolina decision is critical to saving public schools for all children.

We are challenging the state’s unconstitutional EdChoice private school voucher program that is no more than a refund and rebate program for wealthy parents, and a financial boondoggle for private school operators, primarily religious schools.

Our fourth count is based on just reading the language in the Ohio Constitution: Article VI, section 2: School Funds…”no religious or other sect, or sects, shall ever have any exclusive right to, or control of, any part of the school funds of the state.”

Vouchers go on trial in Ohio beginning Monday, Nov. 4 in Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Jaiza Page’s courtroom.

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

If not, why not? Learn how to get involved here.

Good Tuesday morning,

The Cleveland Plain Dealer recently asked and tried to answer the question: How well do private schools perform compared to public schools?

Their conclusion: “Parents debating whether to send their child to the local public school or private school may be baffled by the state’s system to compare academic performance.”

Read the story here.

A little ironic isn’t it? A program purportedly designed for parents and students and yet it is impossible for parents and students to use state data to determine whether their public school is better, worse or the same as a private school they are considering.

Ohio will spend nearly $1 billion on vouchers this year and there is no academic accountability for the money – on purpose.

There is zero financial accountability for the private school operators raking in millions and millions of our tax dollars.

The reporter for the Plain Dealer did her best, but she was frustrated by the apples and oranges system of public and private school testing.

This is purposeful.

The private school voucher scheme is not designed to help students go to better performing schools. It’s a ripoff of tax dollars to give wealthy families a refund or a rebate on their tuition, and it is a $1 billion boondoggle for private school operators.

It is also a way for religious schools to dip their hands into the state’s treasury. Remember, the vast majority of schools receiving voucher money are religious.

This is one reason there is not a hue and cry from private school parents for strong academic and financial accountability. They want public tax dollars to help pay to send their children to religious schools.

Funny thing is that is a violation of our Ohio Constitution and that’s why we are suing the state.

We will see the pro-voucher crowd in court on Nov. 4.

Is your district part of our lawsuit? Check here.

If not, why not? Learn how to get involved here.

All across Ohio, public school students are returning to classes, teachers have their classrooms and lesson plans in order, and the state is prepared once again to siphon away hundreds of millions of tax dollars toward private school operators with an ever-growing universal voucher program.

In less than 80 days, those EdChoice private school vouchers are going to go on trial in Franklin County beginning on Monday, Nov. 4, one day before Election Day.

If you care deeply about public schools, we need your help and you can get involved quickly and easily.

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Is your district part of our lawsuit? Check here.

If not, why not? Learn how to get involved here.

It’s going to be an historic year for vouchers. You can keep up on everything that is happening by following us on social media and reading our weekly emails.