Three branches of government, not one

February 10, 2026

Good Tuesday morning,

We have a very important message for you this morning:

Do not be threatened by the anti-public school lawmakers in Columbus.

They want to bully you because they know the EdChoice private school voucher program they are pushing, for a rash of ideological reasons, is unconstitutional, wrong, and indefensible.

A few years ago, then-Senate President, now House Speaker, Matt Huffman sicced the State Auditor Keith Faber on our coalition.

It was a big public display of nothing. Faber issued threats and subpoena, and nothing happened.

What was their goal? They wanted to scare district superintendents, board members, and treasurers into not joining our lawsuit.

We had about 200 districts at that time.

Guess what happened since then?

Our coalition has more than doubled in size to 330-plus school districts.

Franklin County Judge Jaiza Page ruled on June 24, 2025 that the EdChoice private school funding program is unconstitutional on three counts. Our winning case is now before the 10th District Court of Appeals.

We keep growing and we keep winning, and that makes Huffman and his pro-voucher crowd uneasy.

After all, Huffman is the guy who once told the Columbus Dispatch “we kind of do what we want.”

Well, he’s not getting his way because we’re challenging him in the courts.

All of this brings us to the latest trial balloon threat floated last week by Rep. Jamie Callender.

Callender, a Huffman minion who carried water for David Brennan’s extremely profitable charter school crusade and has advocated for charter schools ever since, introduced legislation to withhold state funding from school districts that participate in our lawsuit.

Callender knows better. He knows this trial balloon will burst with the tiniest of pinpricks, but he and Huffman are sweating big time because they know they’ve got a loser on their hands in trying to make the case that EdChoice vouchers are constitutional.

Here’s what you need to know.

Callender’s bill is a dog that won’t hunt.

Our lawyers will go to court and quash this dumb idea faster than you can say Call-END-er.

We have three branches of government, not one.

People far wiser than Matt Huffman and Jamie Callender knew you can’t give absolute power to one branch, and created checks and balances.

We have the right to sue the state, and so do other governmental entities like cities, townships, and counties.

Callender’s threat is ludicrous.

Taking $1.7 billion from the same line item in the state budget that is supposed to fund public schools, which are underfunded, and giving it to mostly wealthy families in mostly religious schools is unconstitutional.

Don’t be intimidated. We’re not backing down.

Join our growing coalition.

Are you part of our lawsuit? Check here.

If not, why not stand up to the bully and be on the right side of history? Join here.

Sincerely,

Vouchers Hurt Ohio