The Problem With Rural Lawmakers

September 24, 2024

Gov. Roy Cooper in North Carolina recently vetoed legislation in that state that would have spent $6 billion on private school vouchers over the next decade.

Here is what the governor said:

“Private school vouchers are the biggest threat to public schools in decades. Vouchers crater state budgets, with rural schools being hurt the worst.”

Crater state budgets! Rural schools hurt the worst. Read about it here.

Gov. Cooper is right.

In Ohio, right now, rural public schools, the bedrock of so many small town and village communities in our state, are being ripped off as the state stalls for time on fully funding them while siphoning away hundreds of millions of dollars, primarily for religious schools miles and counties away.

In some states, like Texas and Tennessee, rural lawmakers have rebelled because they understand the value of their public schools, and some of them have been punished for doing so by pro-voucher, anti-public school front groups like the Americans For Prosperity.

There is a national blueprint for voucher expansion, an agenda set by ALEC, AFP, the Koch Family, Betsy DeVos and others.

In state after state, the plan is to create a separate and unequal system of private schools with universal vouchers.

In North Carolina, the Supreme Court ordered the state to put more public dollars into public schools. Sound familiar?

We would have a funding formula in Ohio that is constitutional if not for the billions of dollars spent on vouchers and charter schools in the past 25 years.

The good news is vouchers go on trial in Ohio on Nov. 4 in Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Jaiza Page’s courtroom.

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

If not, why not? Learn how to get involved here.