Latest news with #SchoolChoiceOhio
Yahoo
08-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Court ruling puts Ohio school vouchers in limbo
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – Advocates for Ohio's School Voucher System said even families with high incomes deserve taxpayer support for private schools. And they'll get it in the new Ohio budget that contains more than $700 million for vouchers that will go to private and parochial schools. GOP deficit hawks list complaints on megabill ahead of vote Last week, a Franklin County judge declared Ed Choice vouchers to be unconstitutional, but the order was delayed pending an appeal. In 2024, the state of Ohio spent nearly $1 billion on private school vouchers, with leaders of School Choice Ohio saying it's money well spent, giving parents and students educational options. 'We've placed children in private schools using Ed Choice,' School Choice Ohio President Eric 'Yitz' Frank said. 'We find options in public schools that work best for them so we are kind of agnostic about where people go to school, but we do believe they should have the ability to take their tax dollars and go to a school of their choice, whether it's a private or a public school.' 'The only difference is who pays for it?' teacher and Cleveland Heights School Board Member Dan Heintz said. 'Ohio went very successfully for a century with great private schools and great public schools, and it's really only been about the last 20 years that the private schools started to expect their neighbors, citizens from around the state to underwrite their decision to send their children to a private school.' How to get your unclaimed Ohio funds before they go to the Cleveland Browns Heintz is part of the Vouchers Hurt Ohio group that is suing the state. Their first victory came in Franklin County Common Pleas Court. 'The 'why not' is the Ohio state constitution, and that's what we saw Judge Page here in Franklin County decide this week when she ruled that Ed Choice vouchers are a violation of the state constitution,' Heintz said. Page ruled that lawmakers are violating the Ohio constitution by creating a second system of schools that receive an unreasonably high level of per-student tax dollars. Critics also point out that vouchers were promised to pull poor students out of underperforming districts, but vouchers often go to affluent families in high-ranking public school districts who never intend to send their children to public schools. Project underway to help relieve I-270/71 congestion on North Side 'There are kids that thrive in really what we would call poor-performing schools and there are kids that struggle in really what we consider to be, objectively, affluent schools and so putting the parents in the driver's seat, we think, will ultimately get better outcomes,' Frank said. And, for now, parochial and private schools will continue to receive public dollars. The vouchers are in the budget signed by Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine. The state is poised to appeal the finding in Franklin County Common Pleas Court that the vouchers are unconstitutional. It is expected that the case will go all the way to the Ohio Supreme Court, where Republicans hold all but one seat. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
06-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
School Choice Ohio celebrates 20 years, addresses voucher concerns
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — School Choice Ohio toasted to two decades of operations last week as the educational movement it fights for continues to make headlines amid Ohio's budget debates. School Choice Ohio celebrated 20 years of fighting for school choice, or expanded educational opportunities that emphasize parental control. In Ohio, this is closely linked with Ohio's five voucher programs, which provide state scholarships for students to attend private schools. Of them, EdChoice and EdChoice Expansion have the largest participation by far and allow at least partial scholarships for all students, regardless of financial need. NBC4 spoke with School Choice Ohio leadership before its anniversary party at the Columbus Athletic Club. President Eric 'Yitz' Frank said the organization is proud of the work it has done to increase options for parents. After weapons go undetected, nurses union at Ohio State hospitals asks for security updates 'We've spent the past 20 years communicating with hundreds of thousands of parents around the state and helping place them in better educational environments for their children and concurrently working with the legislature and governor to pass policies that help empower them,' Frank said. EdChoice has made headlines lately as public school districts speak out against Ohio's proposed biennial budget. In its current version, which passed the Ohio House, the budget does not implement the third phase of a school funding formula. School districts say the decision would cost public schools millions in state funding while expanding budgets for voucher programs. NBC4 asked Frank about the budget issues, and he said School Choice Ohio vouches for all education options. He said legislators have access to data that the general public may not have. Contrary to public district and educational nonprofits' impact estimates, he said some lawmakers believe districts are overinflating their need, although Frank neither agreed nor disagreed with this idea. 'I think that the state has proven that they can fund public schools adequately and school choice programs, they will do it again this budget and they will do it again in the future,' Frank said. Rare Civil War flag sold at Columbus auction for $468,000 Walter Banks Jr., national spokesperson for the American Federation for Children, said his life was changed — if not saved — by Ohio's EdChoice scholarship program. Banks said his mother went to his public school, which told her they would turn around the middle and high schools within five years. 'My mom knew I didn't have that much time to wait when it came to my education, so much so that she said, 'In five years, Walter will either be in jail or in a bodybag,'' Banks said. 'Because of the EdChoice scholarship program, I quickly found myself in an environment where I wasn't bullied every single day.' Banks also attended the 20th anniversary party, representing the American Federation for Children (AFC), founded by former Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos. NBC News found it helped fuel a rapid influx of public funding for private Christian schools. A national nonprofit challenged Ohio's allotment of tax dollars to private Christian schools, and it is a common criticism of the voucher system. However, state Republicans said it is constitutional because parents are able to choose where the money goes. A Utah court recently ruled voucher programs are unconstitutional, and Ohio's voucher system is currently being challenged in court. See previous coverage of the lawsuit in the video player above. In fiscal year 2024, Ohio allocated just under $1 billion to voucher programs, more than $667.6 million of which went to EdChoice and EdChoice-Exp scholarships. NBC4 analyzed data for all 91 EdChoice and 139 EdChoice-Exp schools that received more than $1 million from the state and found all of them were religiously affiliated. 'We support putting dollars in the hands of families,' Frank said. 'If they want to take those dollars and take it to a religious school, or a satanic school or a secular school, we support all of that. These are private decisions made by private families.' Banks said having choices expanded opportunities immensely, especially for low-income or minority students. He pointed to a new study by the Urban Institute, a nonprofit research organization, which found students were more likely to graduate college when they participated in EdChoice. Banks said the significant differences for low-income and Black students stood out to him, as he connected with them personally. Columbus targeting certain neighborhoods to crack down on crime 'When primarily lower income, minority families are given the option to pick the best educational environment for them, it has lifelong impacts, not just in K-12 but even beyond that when it comes to graduating college or actually going out into society to contribute and I'm living proof of that,' Banks said. 'The life that I live now is because of school choice.' According to state data, 89% of participants in both EdChoice and EdChoice-Exp programs in the 2024-2025 school year were not low-income qualified. However, Frank said that data only accounts for students who specifically declared their income status, which he alleged skews the data. Frank estimates about 50% of students have economic need for voucher programs, an area he has expertise in but NBC4 is unable to independently verify. Attorneys representing the six public school districts suing the state over voucher programs argued vouchers increase racial segregation, among other things. Franklin County Common Pleas Court heard oral arguments from both sides last week, and Judge Jaiza Page will now make a ruling or refer the case to trial. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to NBC4 WCMH-TV.
