School Choice on the Move in Ohio

Yesterday, January 31, Governor DeWine held his State of the State address, where he previewed his priorities for the next biennial budget. In the biggest news for nonpublic schools, the governor proposed expanding the income limits for EdChoice scholarships to 400% of the federal poverty level, presumably around $120,000 of household income for a family of four, up from the current 250% ($75K for the coming school year).


He also promised to continue the work of school safety and provide funding support for all public & private schools that want a school resource officer. Details on both are forthcoming as official budget documents will released in the days ahead.


Owing to the large number of Ohioans who would become eligible, Ohio Senate President Matt Huffman was quoted as stating, “Although it’s not a universal voucher, it practically speaking is in many regards.”


Meanwhile, Senator Sandra O’Brien (R-Ashtabula) has introduced a proposal to provide EdChoice to all families regardless of income or location. She’ll be in our diocese this Thursday and next to discuss with constituents and educate Ohioans about these policies. Please consider attending, and please spread the word (RSVP appreciated, but not required).



Click the image or here to RSVP


Once the governor officially unveils his executive budget, it will be introduced in the Ohio House, who will refine and pass a substitute version to the Senate, who will then pass a further version, likely needing to be reconciled prior to going to the governor for signature. Both chambers will undoubtedly propose changes to education funding.


The question of how best to fund Ohio's schools will have to be addressed. Two years ago, then-Speaker of the House Bob Cupp led bipartisan support for the “Ohio Fair School Funding Plan” (a.k.a. the Cupp-Patterson plan), a strategy for public school district funding, created by public district personnel without input from other sectors, that emphasized increasing inputs. That plan was reconciled with a funding proposal in the Senate to establish Ohio’s current school funding formula in temporary law. This compromise guaranteed that the formula would need to be revisited in the coming budget. There is no status quo; the question of how best to fund schools was left on the table to be addressed in the next budget by considering the citizens served, available resources, and legal precedents such as the DeRolph decisions and others. Despite what some powerful special interests say to the contrary, school choice is very much a part of the makeup of Ohio’s educational landscape.


Call to Action:

For now there are two main things supporters can do.


1. Stay informed. These are just a few of the parent-friendly proposals that will benefit families in choosing nonpublic schools, including Catholic schools. From now through June, these and others of Governor DeWine's very pro-family and pro-life budget proposals will be debated. Watch this newsletter and other news outlets for developments.


2. Let your voice be heard. Please talk to others, ask questions, and share what you know. Consider writing an op-ed to your favorite news publication. We will call upon you to contact your elected officials through writing, calling, or responding online when the right time comes in the process.



For more information on how the state of visit the Center for Community Solutions' excellent online Ohio Budget Process 2024-25 primer and timeline.

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