COLUMBUS — Ohio lawmakers on Tuesday began debate on a controversial, broad-reaching bill that would require state funds for K-12 education to follow students to any school they choose to attend — public, private, or religious.
The so-called “backpack” or “universal voucher” bill is seen as the ultimate expansion of school choice in which state dollars could be directed away from traditional public schools.
“The bottom line is this,” said Rep. Riordan McClain (R., Upper Sandusky), sponsor of House Bill 290 with Rep. Michele John (R., Shelby). “When parents know they have options for their child's education, they are more likely to be engaged in their child's education.
“We know, when parents are engaged in their child's education, that student is much more likely to be successful throughout their educational life, setting them up for a bright future as an Ohioan,” he said.
The bill, as rolled out before the House Finance Committee, would establish individual education savings accounts under the supervision of the Ohio Treasurer's office into which a child's per-pupil share of state subsidies would be deposited. At least initially, that amount would be set at $5,500 a year for K-8 students and $7,500 for high schoolers, the amount set in the current two-year budget for an EdChoice scholarship, the most common form of Ohio voucher.
The money could be used to pay tuition, fees, buy books and supplies, hire tutors, pay for skills training, and engage in after-school and summer programs. Or, if students or parents do nothing, that money would remain with the resident public school district.
The bill was unveiled just months after lawmakers agreed on a six-year phase-in of the “Fair School Funding Plan,” the first two years of which have been funded in the current state budget. That system determines what it would cost to educate a child in each public school, weighs that against the district's ability to raise money locally, and then distributes state dollars to make up the difference.
Rep. Bride Rose Sweeney (D., Cleveland) asked why the state would want to shift gears again so soon.
“Four years of dedicated work of individuals, superintendents, treasurers from urban, rural, (and) suburban districts (who) came together to create for the first time ever a constitutional framework...,” Ms. Sweeney said. “We're only in the first phase.”
Mr. McClain, whose district stretches north to Seneca County, said he believes the two systems can co-exist.
“The argument that this will defund our public schools, I don't think, is necessarily valid,” he said. “When choice programs have been implemented both in Ohio and other states, there is some precedence that that's not the case.”
The new school-funding system included in the state budget came with another expansion of eligibility for school vouchers, through which the state sends pupils' shares of state subsidies to the schools of their choice. House Bill 290 would carry that process out to its ultimate conclusion in which every student in the state is eligible.
It would not affect school districts' local tax revenue or federal subsidies.
Last month a coalition of school districts sued the state in Franklin County Common Pleas Court, accusing it of unconstitutionally diverting taxpayer dollars meant for a system of “common” schools to a separate system of private and religious schools, via vouchers.
Currently, Ohio has several voucher programs, including those targeting autistic children and residents of Cleveland. However, the most common form is the EdChoice scholarship, awarded based on either family income or the academic performance of the home school building.
For the first time this year, the state is directly sending voucher payments to the schools of choice rather than deducting them after the fact from the state subsidies given to the home public districts.
“Dumping precious resources into a universal voucher system that provides zero auditing requirements for the private schools that would rake in the taxpayers’ cash is just wrong,” Ohio Education Association President Scott DiMauro.
“This is especially true now, when Ohio finally has a public school funding system worth investing in after the adoption of the Fair School Funding Plan in the last state budget. Our lawmakers must hold up their end of the deal to fully fund that system before going off on yet another ideological misadventure with our hard-earned tax dollars,” Mr. DiMauro said.
First Published February 15, 2022, 6:11 p.m.
