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The historic DeRolph case originated in the poor, underfunded public schools of Appalachian, Ohio.

Four times, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled a funding formula that is over-reliant on local property taxes is unconstitutional.

Nick Messenger, a senior researcher for the Ohio River Valley Institute, put out a new report that shows the state budget, as passed by the Ohio House, will “slash” funding by $565.8 million in the next two years for public schools in Appalachia.

“Portions of Appalachia in Ohio are not places where property values themselves are going to be able to completely support that shortfall,” Messenger told the Statehouse News Bureau. “In Ohio, we see school districts request levies and put bond initiatives and operating levies on the ballot to raise property taxes but at some point, your voters are tapped out.”

Count 2 of our lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the harmful private school voucher program known as EdChoice points to the state’s policy decision to not fully fund the Cupp Patterson Fair School Funding Plan.

Remember, vouchers are paid for from the same line item in the two-year state budget that pays for public schools so a dollar more for EdChoice is literally a dollar less available for public schools. The House budget increases spending on vouchers to $1.25 billion in the next two years.

Messenger, in the study, also points out that the House budget requires school districts to return part of their cash reserves to taxpayers, and that this is going to create a great deal of financial chaos and force public schools to put even more levies on the ballot.

Messenger told the Statehouse News Bureau most Appalachian districts struggle to get enough cash to pay the bills. And he said Appalachian schools are experiencing rising inflation costs and can’t pass local levies to keep up.

Read the story here.

Read the report here.

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

If not, why not? Learn more here.

Sincerely,

Vouchers Hurt Ohio

Good Tuesday morning,

Last week, a judge in Utah ruled that the state’s private school voucher program “Utah Fits All,” was unconstitutional.

You can read about it here.

The judge found that the private school voucher program violated two sections of the Utah Constitution.

Article X states that the Utah legislature shall establish and maintain a public education system and a higher education system both free from “sectarian control.”

This is very similar to the fourth count in our lawsuit that cites Article VI, section 2, of the Ohio Constitution: The General Assembly shall make such provisions, by taxation, or otherwise, as, with the income arising from the school trust fund, will secure a thorough and efficient system of common schools throughout the State; but, no religious or other sect, or sects, shall have any exclusive right to, or control of, any part of the school funds of this state.

The Utah judge also said the private school voucher program in the Beehive State violated Article XIII of the Utah Constitution governing how the legislature spends income tax dollars.

In Utah, families are using the vouchers to pay for homeschooling costs, private school tuition, and even violin and swim lessons.

The judge ruled while participating in Utah Fits All is free, it is not “open.”

“As required by the Utah Constitution, public schools must allow all resident students to enroll and may not discriminate against them,” the ruling states. “In stark contrast, every school participating in the Program has some form of an application process, which may include assessments, interviews, or tests to determine if the student is the right ‘fit.’”

The judge points out private schools aren’t required to serve students with disabilities and can deny admission based on factors like gender, religion or income.

This is our third count in our lawsuit. We believe EdChoice private school vouchers are unconstitutional because the private school operators, mostly religious schools, can and do use litmus tests to accept or deny admission to students and families, including race, religion, family income and disabilities to name just a few.

In Utah, the state argued the voucher program was outside the public education system and not subject to Article X, but the judge said the Legislature there does not have the authority to create an education system funded with tax dollars that “sidesteps” constitutional protections.

This is our first count. The Ohio Constitution is clear. The Ohio Legislature shall create a single system of common schools for the common good open to all students. The EdChoice private school voucher scheme creates a separate and unequal system of uncommon schools for the few and the privileged.

To make matters worse, the state is spending more than $1 billion a year using taxpayer dollars with zero financial or academic accountability.

We are not alone in our effort to stand up for public schools and public school children and families.

In state after state, citizen-driven coalitions like Vouchers Hurt Ohio have organized, and we are winning in the courts of law, the court of public opinion, and sometimes even with state legislatures and governors.

Is your district part of the lawsuit? Check here.

If not, why not? Learn how to join here.

Sincerely,

Vouchers Hurt Ohio

Good Tuesday morning,

The Columbus Dispatch had a front page story on Sunday addressing the harmful universal voucher program that gives readers a keen insight into the thinking of the pro-voucher crowd, and also underlines why we are suing to challenge the constitutionality of EdChoice vouchers.

Here are quotes from Troy McIntosh, who works for the pro-voucher Center for Christian Virtue and the Ohio Christian Education Network that is funded, in part, by money from private religious schools that receive taxpayer-paid voucher dollars.

“We firmly believe that if the government is going to compel education, then parents ought to be permitted to determine which type of education is best for their kids and their family.”

We are not sure how to even begin to respond to that, but there’s more.

The Dispatch reporters point out EdChoice recipients grew by more than 240 percent in the 2023-2024 school year, yet private school enrollment in Ohio increased by just more than 2 percent so the vast majority of students taking vouchers were already enrolled in private schools.

“The first year is obviously going to be stilted more heavily towards kids who are already in private schools but every year following the opposite is going to be true,” McIntosh told the Dispatch. Yes, the Dispatch quoted McIntosh saying stilted.

The Dispatch also proves McIntosh’s “opposite is going to be true,” is actually false. In the 2024-25 school year, the explosive private school voucher program grew by 17.5 percent while enrollment in private schools grew by 10.5 percent, according to the Ohio Department of Education and Welfare (ODEW).

Oh, but there is more.

The Dispatch writes about how two Republican lawmakers introduced legislation to create accountability measures for the voucher program that went nowhere in the Ohio General Assembly last year.

One of the sponsors, former state Rep. Bill Seitz, described passing accountability as Sisyphean and noted, “I don’t think the contours of the General Assembly this time are any more favorable to those ideas than they proved to be last time.”

Then, McIntosh chimes in again, telling the Dispatch…private schools should “absolutely not” be subject to audits, comparing vouchers to SNAP benefits for groceries.

Oh, yes he did, going on to say:

“When a family uses SNAP or WIC money right to buy food at Kroger or Meijer, nobody’s calling for Kroger or Meijer to be held up to a public audit. That’s a private entity. These all have financial controls in place,” McIntosh told the Dispatch.

There are so many things wrong with this argument.

SNAP is the Supplemental Nutrition and Assistance Program that provides food benefits for low-income families. WIC is the Women, Infants and Children program designed to improve pregnancies, provide nutritional counseling and food assistance for low-income families.

SNAP and WIC are audited.

Vouchers are not audited. There is zero financial or academic accountability for a program that is spending more than $1 billion a year.

Oh, and SNAP and WIC have income caps for eligibility unlike private school vouchers where everyone including millionaires, even billionaires like Les Wexner, are eligible for a voucher.

Vouchers are a refund and rebate program for wealthy families, and according to the Dispatch, that is just hunky-dory with Gov. Mike DeWine.

“Everyone, all these people, are paying some taxes. Certainly, some are paying more than others. I don’t have a problem with it being used by middle-class families or even upper-middle-class families,” DeWine told the Dispatch in a quote that oddly channels Squealer from George Orwell’s Animal Farm.

Read the entire article here.

The Dispatch gives plenty of ink and space to the arguments against vouchers, but the quotes from the pro-voucher crowd are particularly insightful.

Vouchers go on trial this year before Franklin County Common Pleas Jaiza Page.

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

If not, why not. Learn how to join here.

Sincerely,

Vouchers Hurt Ohio

Good Tuesday morning,

The Network for Public Education held its annual National Conference this past weekend in Columbus where hundreds of public school supporters from across the country gathered to preserve, promote, improve and strengthen public schools for current and future generations.

Across three days, there were keynote speakers and sessions, and the subject on everyone’s mind: how private school vouchers paid for by tax dollars are hurting our schools, children, families, communities, taxpayers, homeowners and more.

Our Winning in the Court of Law panelists from left to right: Dan Heintz, Eric Brown, Miriam Fair, Steve Dyer, Charlie Wilson, and William Phillis.

Here are some things we learned about harmful private school vouchers by talking to attendees at NPE:

Ohio is the Wild West of vouchers, one of the top three states in the country when it comes to the amount of tax dollars going to private school operators. Hundreds of millions of public tax dollars with zero accountability and zero oversight.

In the new two-year state budget, the universal voucher program will take $1.5 billion ($750 million each year) from public schools.

We learned how much it would cost for a constitutionally funded public school formula in Ohio to ensure all students receive a high quality education. The legislature and the governor would need to increase spending on public schools by about $1.5 billion over the two years or $750 million a year.

Yes, lawmakers and the governor have a source to fund public schools at a constitutional level. Their priorities, however, are private school operators and wealthy families.

One attendee said she was outraged to learn the funding for private school vouchers comes directly from the same line-item in the state budget that pays for public schools.

So a dollar more for vouchers is literally a dollar less available for public schools.

Public school supporters from other states held sessions to talk about the private school voucher problems back home and how they were fighting for public schools.

One session was called, “Colorado Voters Turned Down A School Choice “Voucher” Amendment.”

The message, according to one attendee, was how Republicans, Democrats and Independents in Colorado came together to defeat the ballot initiative sponsored by pro-voucher billionaires.

In particular, voters representing rural schools in Colorado understood how critical their public schools are to their communities, and they rejected siphoning away hundreds of millions of public tax dollars to private school vouchers.

We also learned the number of private school vouchers paid for with public tax dollars in Ohio will exceed 100,000 this year, and the vast majority are going to wealthy families whose children were already enrolled in private schools.

Another person at the conference said they learned we need to educate Ohioans about the harmful impact of private school vouchers and we shouldn’t sugarcoat the problem.

Vouchers Hurt Ohio held two sessions. The first, on Saturday, was about winning in the court of law, and the second, held on Sunday, outlined how we are winning in the court of public opinion.

Learn more about our lawsuit here.

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

If not, why not. Learn how to join here.

Sincerely,

Vouchers Hurt Ohio

The Network for Public Education (NPE) is holding its National Conference in Columbus this weekend at the Hyatt Regency.

Founded in 2013 by Diane Ravitch and Anthony Cody, the NPE is an advocacy group dedicated to preserving, promoting, improving and strengthening public schools.

It has also been a leading group shining a bright hot spotlight on the harmful private school voucher scheme in state after state, and the conference is in Ohio this year because we have the reputation as the Wild West of vouchers.

Vouchers Hurt Ohio (VHO) will take part in two conference workshops.

Vouchers Hurt! The Ohio Story Part One: WInning In the Court of Law, will be held on Saturday, April 5 beginning at 3:40 p.m. in the Madison Room at the Hyatt.

The panel includes Eric Brown, former Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice and VHO Steering Committee Chair, who will be joined by Miriam Fair, one of the lead attorneys in the VHO lawsuit, and William L. Phillis, Executive Director for the Ohio Coalition for Equity & Adequacy in School Funding.

Also, Steve Dyer, former Chairman of the Ohio House Education Finance Committee, Charlie Wilson, Ohio State University Professor of Law Emeritus and Dan Heintz, a Cleveland Heights-University Heights board member will talk about our court case, and the reasons we believe the $1 billion EdChoice private school boondoggle is unconstitutional.

The two days are jam packed with great workshops featuring speakers and experts from across the country.

Vouchers Hurt! The Ohio Story Part 2: Winning in the Court of Public Opinion will feature Jeanne Melvin, President, Public Education Partners, Ohio, Dan Greenberg, President, Sylvania Education Association, and Maureen Reedy, Local Districts Coordinator for VHO.

They will be joined by Betsy O’Brochta, VHO Local Leader, Andrew Wilson, a VHO steering committee member, and Dennis Willard, VHO Communications Director.

This group will address VHO’s effort to raise awareness across the state, district by district, about the harmful impact of private school vouchers on public schools, public school children, parents, homeowners, communities and others.

The weekend kicks off on Friday night with Diane Ravitch and Josh Cowen in a special session entitled “Privateers Exposed.”

Keynote speakers include Tim Walz, Minnesota Governor, Kurt Russell, 2022 National Teacher of the Year, Gina Hinojosa, Texas State Representative, John H. Jackson, President and CEO Schott Foundation, and Jess Piper, Rural Communities and Public Schools Advocate.

For more information on the NPE Conference, please check here.

Sincerely,

Vouchers Hurt Ohio