The Myths: Choice

March 24, 2026

Good Tuesday morning,

Our attorneys are using the Ohio Constitution as the basis for our lawsuit challenging the harmful EdChoice private school voucher scheme that will siphon away $1.7 billion from public schools in the next two years.

The pro-voucher crowd cannot refer to the Ohio Constitution, so they rely on mythology to justify giving mostly wealthy families a tuition refund or a rebate for having already enrolled their children in private, mostly religious, schools.

One of the biggest myths is this idea called parental or student choice.

You’ve heard them say it: the money should follow the student or the parent who chooses where to send their children to school.

Is it really that simple? No.

Parents don’t get to choose under this EdChoice voucher system.

Want proof?

First, vouchers for K-8 students and high school students, while much more than the state is often giving to public schools per pupil for K-12 students, is not enough to pay to enroll in most of the private schools taking in millions of tax dollars.

Once the state passed universal vouchers with no income limits, which means Les Wexner and other billionaires and millionaires are eligible for voucher money, the private schools starting grabbing the voucher money and raising their tuition.

So parents are still paying something, but it is less than they paid before, which is why we say this is a refund and rebate program for the wealthy.

You know who gets left out? Families who cannot afford to pony up out of their own household incomes.

So the voucher program, once touted as a way to give poor, often minority, families a “choice” is really a cruel hoax and a lie.

A poor parent doesn’t have a choice.

It’s even uglier when you look into the private school voucher scheme because the real choice, the true power, in all of this is the private school operators.

See, they get to choose who gets in and who is told no because private school operators, while taking in $1.7 billion in the next two years, can and do apply litmus tests to students and their families.

These include religion, race, family income, academic and athletic ability, disabilities, and any other thing they want to use to open or close the door on parents and children.

It’s their choice. Not the parents. Not the students.

Public schools are open to all students.

Does this upset you? It should.

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

If not, maybe it’s time you joined our historic lawsuit here.

Sincerely,

Vouchers Hurt Ohio