Let’s Give Lawmakers A Report Card

September 16, 2025

Good Tuesday morning,

You are probably reading stories about how public school districts fared around the state on the so-called Ohio School Report Cards.

Rich Exner, a reporter with Cleveland.com produced a revealing story that shows clearly report card results are directly tied to family income.

Here is Exner’s excellent lead: “The richest school districts did the best again in 2025 report cards released Monday by the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce.”

Read the story here.

Forty-seven of the state’s 607 school districts received overall ratings of five stars – the highest possible rating. The average median income in those districts was $64,073, Exner writes.

Averaging the median income for districts in each star rating, here is how it came out:

• 5 stars – $64,073
• 4.5 stars – $47.245
• 4 stars – $44,003
• 3.5 stars – $40,699
• 3 stars – $38,185
• 2.5 stars – $35,027
• 2 stars – $33,2821

Could it be any clearer?

So what are we measuring with report cards that taint the reputation of some schools, teachers, administrators, principles, students and families?

Cleveland.com also wrote, in another story by Laura Hancock, that Cleveland public schools had “tumbled” on the 2024-2025 state report card from 3 stars to 2.5 stars.

In Columbus, the Dispatch wrote that Columbus public schools earned 2 stars and in Cincinnati, the Enquirer reported Cincinnati public schools received 2.5 stars for the second year in a row.

Are EdChoice private school vouchers hurting our state’s largest public schools and others in Ohio?

Let’s look quickly at some other information.

As you know, state lawmakers are giving a record $1.7 billion to private schools in the next two years while shortchanging public schools with an unconstitutional funding system.

How does this affect Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati?

If lawmakers had fully funded their own Cupp Patterson Fair School Funding Plan for a constitutional funding formula, here are the additional state funding amounts these three districts would have received:

Cleveland – shortchanged $157,283,811

Columbus – shortchanged $48,387,628

Cincinnati – shortchanged $50,282,002

You can’t take $1.7 billion in tax dollars, give it to private school operators for primarily wealthy families to receive a refund and rebate on the tuition they were already paying to enroll their children in private schools without having a severe impact on funding public schools.

That’s a math lesson our anti-public school lawmakers need to master, but they are only interested in destroying public schools.

So for those lawmakers who support the unaccountable, unbridled expansion of EdChoice vouchers, we have a report card for you: F.

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

If not, why not? Learn more here.

Sincerely,

Vouchers Hurt Ohio