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A state-funded teacher scholarship program is winding down just as districts report shrinking candidate pools, while new bills propose student teacher stipends and license reforms.
A Catholic school alumnus and pastor argues Ohio's voucher program mostly subsidizes families already in private school while starving rural public districts with no alternatives.
A bipartisan bill would audit voucher spending and require private schools to report attendance, graduation rates, and test scores—but House Speaker Huffman opposes it.
The bipartisan bill faces skepticism from House Speaker Huffman and comes as 300 public school districts sue over the $1 billion voucher program.
Attorneys fighting on behalf of public and private school funding will present arguments before an appellate court today, Tuesday, in a continued battle over Ohio’s private school voucher program. A lawsuit that has been active since 2022 will now go before the 10th District Court of Appeals, as attorneys for more than 300 public school districts and advocates defend an attempt to force the state legislature to eliminate funding for the private school voucher program. Public school advocates are against the state funding of private school vouchers, partly because they argue the program funding has overtaken that of public schools. The Ohio Constitution includes a provision requiring the state to fund a single system of public schools. The lawsuit argues that the private voucher program represents an unconstitutional funding of a second system of education. The lawsuit also argued that the program violated the equal protection clause in the constitution. Schools including Cleveland Heights-University Heights, Columbus, Richmond Heights, Lima, and Barberton were signed on to the lawsuit, along with individuals and parents. The case landed in the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas, where Judge Jaiza Page said the legislature has “exceedingly broad powers” in its authority over the state’s education system, but the power does not come with “unlimited discretion.” Supporters of private school vouchers argued that it is a scholarship program, and does not purport to be a “system” of schools, something Page didn’t buy in the June 2025 decision in which Page said the voucher program was unconstitutional. Calling vouchers a scholarship program “is mere semantics” because the state pays schools directly, the judge wrote. “Where EdChoice participating private schools are inexplicably receiving double the per-pupil state funding than public schools, it is difficult to say that EdChoice is simply a scholarship that follows and/or benefits the students, as opposed to a system that benefits private schools,” Page wrote in 2025. The judge didn’t make a decision on one claim in the lawsuit: that the voucher program created “segregation” in public schools. Page wrote that there was no evidence of “discriminatory intent,” and denied the request for a summary judgment from both sides of the lawsuit, meaning the claim is still active and awaiting a ruling in the Franklin County court. Anticipating the rest of the lawsuit would be appealed, Page allowed the program to continue “in recognition that this decision may cause significant changes to school funding in Ohio.” The parties in the suit have appealed, with the state and private school advocates appealing the rulings that the voucher program is unconstitutional, that it creates more than one “system of uncommon schools,” and that the direct payments from the state allows unconstitutional funding for religious schools. Attorneys for private school parents maintain their argument that it is “a scholarship program, not a school-funding program,” according to appeals court documents. “It therefore cannot run afoul of any prohibition against funding ‘uncommon schools,” wrote attorney Keith Neely, of the Institute for Justice, a DC-based law firm representing private school parents. Public school advocates are cross-appealing, pushing back against the one ruling for which Page sided with the state. Page ruled that there was no evidence that the voucher program in Ohio creates a disparity in education. “While it seems inevitable that some Ohio students might be excluded from the EdChoice program by a participating private school, none of student plaintiffs have alleged or provided any evidence of denial of participation in the EdChoice program,” Page wrote. Cleveland-based attorneys Maria Fair and Mark Wallach argued in a brief to the appellate court that “there is no valid governmental interest in funding private education, much less seeking parity between public and private resources.” “The cycle never ends: The state insufficiently funds public schools, which are then forced to seek local tax levies or apply for private grants,” the attorneys wrote. “The state then diverts more taxpayer dollars to private entities, justifying this by citing those very same levies and grants.” The case is scheduled to go before the 10th District Court of Appeals on Tuesday morning. This story is republished from the Ohio Capital Journal under a Creative Commons license. View the original article.
Both candidates promise lower costs and taxes, but Ramaswamy hasn't explained how to fund $6.6 billion in property tax cuts while Acton targets voucher rollbacks.
If you’ve been paying attention anywhere on social media or perhaps have seen people trying to collect signatures for petitions…
In another time, we used to often hear the adage that politics and religion don’t mix. But that was then.…
Rep. Gary Click cosponsored 2 laws now costing Tiffin City Schools $1.2M annually and introduced a third bill to kill all continuing levies by 2030 — after his bid to fund his own church's private school with public dollars died 3 times.
An Ohio bill would withhold funding from districts suing over EdChoice vouchers. Critics call it unconstitutional retaliation as voucher costs top $1 billion.
Ohio spent $1.09 billion on private school vouchers in FY2025 as districts challenge EdChoice in court and lawmakers consider a bill to withhold funding from participating schools.
Rep. Gary Click backed a property tax cap costing Tiffin City Schools $1.2 million annually after authoring failed legislation to fund nonchartered religious schools tied to his church, without state oversight.
State Rep. Gary Click is promoting a federally enacted tax-credit scholarship program backed by ALEC, a policy critics say diverts funding from Ohio public schools and increases pressure on rural districts.
Ohio lawmakers introduced bills to limit school voucher eligibility to families earning under $500,000, make Election Day a state holiday, and ban marriage for 17-year-olds. Bills must pass by the end of 2026.
Is everything amazing in Ohio? Is that your experience? Do Ohio politicians have an outstanding record of winning big for…
Ohio school board members are increasingly opposing the state’s expanded voucher program after a court ruling deemed it unconstitutional, fueling a growing push to defend public education funding.
As school choice reshapes public education, one Ohio district is defying the odds. Worthington Schools has grown to record enrollment by focusing on innovation, community ties, and personalized learning — showing that public schools can thrive, not just survive, in a competitive education landscape.
Trump administration fired nearly all employees enforcing special education law as part of plan to dismantle Education Department. Advocates fear states lack resources to protect 7.5 million students with disabilities.
Ohio spent more than a billion dollars on private school vouchers for the 2025 fiscal year, the second full year…
Ohio spent nearly a billion dollars on private school scholarship programs for the 2024 fiscal year, the first full year…
