COLUMBUS — A coalition of public schools is preparing for a new legal fight challenging the constitutionality of Ohio's widespread use of taxpayer dollars to fund private and religious schools.
The move comes after state lawmakers greatly expanded the dollar value of vouchers as part of the new two-year budget.
“The EdChoice voucher program started out as a $40 million project back in 2008,” said Bill Phillis, executive director of the Ohio Coalition of Equity and Adequacy of School Funding. “Now we have $350 million going to vouchers in the state of Ohio. At the same time, we have an unconstitutional school funding system.”
Voucher opponents did not provide an exact timeline for the filing of the lawsuit. They also did not indicate whether the litigation would also attempt to block the new budget provisions from taking effect this fall.
In a landmark case involving Cleveland schools in 2002, the U.S. Supreme Court held that it was constitutional for the state to spend public dollars on private schools.
Mr. Phillis said that case focused on Cleveland and the state's argument that students needed an escape from a failing school system.
“That's a far, distant situation compared to the voucher program that's in place today,” he said. “In fact, in terms of vouchers from the beginning, we've spent about $2.5 billion from the public treasury. That's $2.5 billion coming really from the public school system.”
The new state budget increased access to and the dollar amount of EdChoice grants toward tuition at private and religious schools for K-8 students from $4,650 a year to $5,500 and from $6,000 to $7,500 for high-school students. The budget removed the annual cap on the number of students who can receive vouchers.
It also created a tax credit for voucher student parents who earn less than 300 percent of the federal poverty level.
This was included in a legislative compromise that also included implementation of the first two years of the Ohio House's six-year plan to overhaul how the state funds public schools, seeking to reduce discrepancies between what districts can afford when it comes to providing a quality education.
For the first time, the budget will have the state directly fund vouchers itself rather than demand that districts pay for it out of their own state subsidies.
More than 50,000 students participated in EdChoice scholarships last year — either through the program based on family income or another triggered by school performance — while thousands more receive vouchers targeting autistic and disabled students as well as through the continuing Cleveland program.
The courts have already held that these programs are constitutional, said Eric Frank, president of the advocacy organization School Choice Ohio.
“This lawsuit is nothing more than an attempt by misguided individuals to pin the failure of some school districts on parents who simply want the best school option for their child. It's a slap in the face of thousands of families, the General Assembly, and Ohio taxpayers,” he said. “We have every confidence at School Choice Ohio in Attorney General Yost's ability to defend against this wasteful lawsuit.”
Roughly 200 school districts, one of every three in the state, are members of the equity and adequacy coalition, while about half of those have signed on to the litigation.
“This state budget is the latest in a progression designed to further disinvest in public schools and divert the resources to nonpublic schools,” said Eric Resnick, a Canton City Schools board member and coalition member.
“It has evolved to the point that it is not an exaggeration to say that in their war on public school districts, this budget amasses the tanks and the troops on the border, staging for the all-out assault to come next time.”
First Published August 2, 2021, 6:01 p.m.
