When we let vouchers drain our schools, it hurts us all.
Our Mission Statement
Vouchers Hurt Ohio is a growing coalition of public school districts that have come together to sue the state over the unconstitutional and harmful private school voucher program.
How Vouchers Hurt Ohio
When we let vouchers drain funds from our public schools, our kids suffer. Students don’t have the resources they need to succeed and we are all hurt as a result.
Vouchers started as a “pilot program,” but quickly ballooned out of control as lawmakers continue to change the criteria for eligibility. Ohio is fast becoming the Wild West for vouchers.
The program has grown from $42 million in 2008 to more than $600 million in the current two-year budget. EdChoice vouchers are a refund and rebate program for parents who, in many cases, never intended to enroll their children in public schools. The draining of these resources places a burden on local property owners and taxpayers and deprives our children of the high quality education they need and deserve.
Vouchers also create a system of state-funded discrimination. Public schools are required to open their doors to all students regardless of race, sex, or financial status. Private schools regularly practice discrimination and reject students for a wide range of reasons. Giving taxpayer money to a school that can reject a kid based on their religion is a violation of our state’s constitution.
Our Kids are Counting on Us.
Things are only going to change if educators and families across the state stand up and say something. We are the ones our kids are counting on, there is no passing the buck on this one.
Our Coalition
Our coalition is growing as more and more school districts join our fight to challenge the constitutionality of the harmful EdChoice voucher program that is siphoning funds from our public schools at alarming rates and allowing for discrimination in our kids’ educations. While charter and private schools enjoy subsidies from the state, public schools are struggling to provide quality education that Ohio’s constitution mandates.
We are building a broad coalition to bring our argument before the Ohio Supreme Court and rein in the out-of-control voucher program that’s hurting our kids, our schools, parents, educators, businesses, our communities and all of us.
