Two Approaches to Equity

Heading into the Conference Committee, the House and Senate budget plans differ significantly for nonpublic schools. At the heart of the difference is a philosophy around equity, and how to achieve it. The House budget advanced the plan created by a School Funding Workgroup consisting of public district leaders that provides for equity of inputs, guaranteeing amounts of funding based on inputs to each public district. It included no changes to existing state scholarship programs and funds, and no nonpublic leaders (schools that educate about 10% of Ohio students) were invited to participate in its creation. By comparison, the Senate plan similarly advances inputs to public districts based on actual enrollment, meeting the goals of the School Funding Workgroup, namely increased support for public schools that is sustainable, stable, and predictable. The Senate plan does so efficiently, while also strengthening the existing school choice provisions, including state scholarships (and charter schools), and adds new options for families in the form of tax credits and ESAs. To sum succinctly, the House plan aims earnestly for equity by ensuring inputs to district systems; the Senate plan similarly strives for equity by ensuring that dollars follow pupils to the greatest extent possible, whether to public, charter, or non-public schools, a more efficient distribution of resources.

The Catholic Church has decades of writings and teachings on the rights of parents as primary educators of their children, the principle of subsidiarity, and the role of the state in advancing educational pluralism. Our Church and our schools should be on the side of funding students, regardless of where they choose to attend. This approach is far stronger in the recent plan from the Senate. Please let your voice be heard, and encourage our legislative leaders to achieve equity by providing parents choice and funding students, not merely funding school systems.





The Conference Committee:

It was recently announced that conferees will include:

Sen. Matt Dolan; Sen. Theresa Gavarone; Sen. Vernon Sykes

Rep. Scott Oeslager; Rep. Erica Crawley; Rep. Phil Plummer

Rep. Bill Seitz will serve as the Secretary for the Conference Committee.





Contacting Your State Senators and Representatives:


Use the link provided by our friends at School Choice Ohio to contact your Representative easily, or find other legislators' information (below) and contact them.


A list of elected officials according to Catholic School location can be found at this link, also bolded below. If the officials for your home is different than your school, you may consider writing multiple. Simply click on the name on the list below to visit the lawmaker’s website and see contact information.


State House & Senate Members by Catholic School location:

https://www.ohiocathconf.org/Portals/1/Legcontacts/01-21-Cleve__Schools.pdf?ver=SjYihITApe9eDV5U1ymkpw%3d%3d



How to communicate:


Phone calls or emails (time may be short to mail a handwritten letter). Emails or phone calls may be heard/read by the member or likely counted and summarized by an aide. Any communication is appreciated. You can typically send an email directly from the member’s website by finding the “contact” link.


Keys to a good message:

  1. Identify yourself as a constituent (where you live and/or where your child or children are in school).

  2. Urge lawmakers to Support the Senate Provisions for School Choice

  3. Explain why you choose the school you do, or Catholic schools in general. Specific is good, and the more specific the better. You do not have to be a scholarship recipient to advocate or say why you love your school!

  4. Closing, signature, and if not already mentioned, note address or city/neighborhood.






For More Information:

The Ohio Senate puts educational choice front and center (Thomas B. Fordham Institute, June 9, 2021)

Op Ed: Senator Matt Dolan (June 13, 2021)

Ohio Senate School Funding Explanation Video (June 1, 2021)

Popular posts from this blog

One Billion Dollars

Image
Haven’t you heard? Ohio is spending  a billion dollars  on private school choice! Numbers had been moving as the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce finalized the reconciliation of the fiscal year. They appear to have settled, showing that Ohio provided $962 million in payments to just over  150,000 state scholarship students  in all 5 programs for school year 2024, an average of just over $6,500 per FTE. Film buffs of a certain age may remember the   Austin Powers   movies from the 1990s, where super spy Powers and his nemesis Dr. Evil, both played by comedian Mike Myers, square off in the modern day after being frozen since the 1960s. In one scene Dr. Evil threatens to hold the world hostage for… “one MILLION dollars!” And that’s the gag – his evil henchmen have to point out that it “isn't exactly a lot of money these days.” Over a century ago, Mark Twain popularized the phrase about three kinds of lies: “lies, damned lies, and statistics.” Today i...
Read more

150,000+ Reasons to Celebrate: National School Choice Week

Image
  It is National School Choice Week, and we in Ohio have reason to celebrate – in fact, more than 150,000 reasons and counting, since that’s how many total students have applied for state scholarships since Ohio’s expansion of school choice to every household this year. All five scholarship programs are growing, to the benefit of Ohio taxpayers, families, and school systems. While it is cause for celebration, not everyone in Ohio is happy: a group known as “ Vouchers Hurt Ohio ” attacks this mechanism that permits state dollars to follow pupils. A spokesperson has been cherry picking facts to craft two partisan narratives that are troublingly misleading that I’ll address in this space and show why they are actually  cause for celebration . Program Growth The first misperception is that there are too many applicants, or the insinuation that the programs' wild popularity as people exercise choice will somehow result in being over budget. That claim was made by an advocate for th...
Read more

The Enemy

Image
School choice is not the enemy of public schools; rather, it is a component of “public education,” the ideal in the State Board of Education’s  vision   that all Ohioans “graduate from the PK-12 education system with the knowledge, skills and behaviors necessary” for continued education or the workforce. This position,   long held by the Catholic Church , is also the basis for Ohio’s scholarship programs that provide vouchers to students disadvantaged by low income, assignment to underperforming public schools, or diagnosed special needs. Every student who attends on a voucher -- all children of taxpaying Ohioans -- represents a savings to the state due to the efficiency of nonpublic schools. Some opponents have been grasping for reasons to protest, like a recent example in the  Cincinnati Enquirer , reprinted around the state, that employed some crude comparisons to conclude that state voucher programs were not performing better than public schools on state tests an...
Read more