Margaret Mead was right.

July 2, 2024

Margaret Mead was right. She once said:

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed individuals can change the world. In fact, it’s the only thing that ever has.”

Our organization, Vouchers Hurt Ohio, is not big, but it is composed of thoughtful, committed individuals who are determined to win in the court of public opinion and the court of law when it comes to challenging the constitutionality of the harmful private school voucher program known as EdChoice.

We have the facts and the truth on our side, and we have the Ohio Constitution in our back pocket.

On Nov. 4, vouchers go on trial in Ohio. You can read our five counts here.

In the court of public opinion, you would be hard pressed to find a positive article about private school vouchers in Ohio in recent months or even years.

Why? Because when it comes to the EdChoice plan, the emperor has no clothes.

What was once sold as a program to give poor families and students a choice has been exposed as a lie. Now, the hundreds of millions of dollars going to mostly religious private school operators are subsidizing the private education of wealthy families.

Recently, the Upper Arlington City School board members had two meetings before voting to join the lawsuit. At the first, a few pro-voucher people showed up to provide testimony that was riddled with falsehoods, misinformation and outright lies.

Prior to the second meeting, where the board voted to join the lawsuit, Lt. Gov. Jon Husted sent an email to the board trying to bully them into not joining that had four apparent lies in it that our small group of committed individuals easily exposed.

Husted did not show his face at the second meeting and he has avoided the media since sending the lying email, and no one supporting vouchers testified at the second meeting.

It’s hard to defend hundreds of millions of dollars being given to mostly religious private schools with zero financial or academic accountability.

Although we are winning in the court of public opinion, the legislature, led by Senate President Matt Huffman, continues to move forward with the expansion of universal vouchers.

As promised, Mr. Huffman put money in the recent capital improvement budget to use public tax dollars to pay for private school construction projects and expansion.

Read about that here in Mr. Huffman’s hometown newspaper, the Lima News.

Mr. Huffman was unavailable for comment. No surprise. It is hard to defend the indefensible.

Is your district part of our lawsuit? Check here.

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

Happy a great Independence Day!