Public School Kids get Much Needed Win!
Franklin County Judge rules Ohio's universal voucher program unconstitutional. Plaintiffs win on 3 of 5 claims in stunning loss for House Speaker Matt Huffman.
Ok. I don’t get to brag much. Especially given today’s political environment in Ohio.
But this is an exception.
Franklin County Judge Jaiza Page ruled today that Ohio’s EdChoice voucher program — which provides more than $1 billion in taxpayer funded tuition subsidies to parents who have always sent their kids to private schools — ruled that the program is unconstitutional because it does the following:
It creates a separate, uncommon school system
It prevents the state from fully funding its own public school funding system
It gives control to taxpayer money to religious schools, which is expressly forbidden in the Ohio Constitution.
Another count that claimed racial discrimination was denied for both parties, while another claim that the program violated another section of the Ohio Constitution was found in favor of the state.
But make no mistake. This is a win for Ohio’s kids. Period.
The judge seemed particularly swayed by the argument I’ve made several times here — that the funding being diverted to subsidize private school parents’ tuition was preventing the state from living up to its obligation to the 1.5 million kids attending the state’s public school system, which you can see below:
That’s about the exact amount the EdChoice Voucher program had increased.
The reason it matters is because of something Ohio’s school choice advocates have done for years — tried to make voucher and charter payments budget proof by burying them in the same line item as public school kids’ money. (I gotta admit that I love the fact that their all-too-cute attempt to hide their school choice money came back to bite them in the ass.)
Here’s how the Ohio Legislative Service Commission puts it:
So for years, voucher and charter money was never cut because they’d just take the increased money for the choice programs out of the money originally budgeted for public school students. Which, in turn, forced districts to go to the ballot more often and for more money to mean their students’ needs — driving up all our property taxes.
This has got to be killing House Speaker Matt Huffman, by the way. Not that I’m losing any sleep over what THAT guy thinks.
I want to congratulate our awesome legal team, the steering committee for the Coalition for Equity and Adequacy of School Funding, and especially the school districts that signed onto the lawsuit, despite the lingering fear and (not irrational) hysteria that Huffman would take out his vengeance on them.
But here’s my brag.
In 2020, Canton school board member Eric Resnick, legendary public school advocate Bill Phillis and I started talking about suing the state over the EdChoice program. The group eventually expanded to include many, many people. But those initial conversations happened at the beginning of COVID. I was speaking with them on the back patio of my in-laws’ Arizona home.
Our effort was ridiculed. Our ideas mocked by haughty politicians who thought their ability to rig and gerrymander elections in their favor made them good politicians rather than what they REALLY are: accomplished cheaters.
Hey. I know the hill that needs climbed. I know the Ohio Supreme Court is simply a rubber stamp for Huffman and others.
But for one, brief, glorious day, we have a triumph in Ohio for truth, justice and the American Way.
And I am proud to say I played a not-too-small role in making this day happen.