“In recognition that this decision may cause significant changes to school funding in Ohio and the high likelihood that the parties will immediately appeal, the judgment in this case shall be stayed,” Judge Jaiza Page wrote.
“We are pleased that the court affirmed what we have been saying all along,” said William L. Phillis, executive director for the Coalition for Adequacy & Equity of School Funding. “The EdChoice private school voucher program, which has been diverting hundreds of millions of much needed tax dollars from public schools to private schools, is unconstitutional.”
On the opposite side of the issue, leaders said EdChoice allows for equal opportunities.
“We remain confident the EdChoice program will prevail in the appeals process,” Brian Hickey, executive director for the Catholic Conference of Ohio, said in a statement early Wednesday. “Ensuring EdChoice scholarships for students is a matter of social justice, as it allows for equal opportunities for all of Ohio’s children. It is also sensible public policy, encouraging a more robust education system for families that ultimately benefits society and the common good.”
One group of plaintiffs, called “Vouchers Hurt Ohio,” said on its web site that the state’s voucher program had “become a refund and rebate program to reimburse families already committed to placing their children in private schools. The drain on public schools and children has been extremely harmful, growing from $42 million a year in 2008 to more than $1 billion a year.”
A Dayton Daily News investigation last year found that Ohio awarded $993.7 million for families to send kids to private schools in a recent school year.
That was $383.7 million more than a year earlier and over $30 million more than legislative analysts predicted when lawmakers first expanded the program.
A Dayton Daily News analysis of Ohio Department of Education data found that, by that point, the project “largely subsidized families already sending their kids to private schools.”
Over time, the number of school districts participating in the case tripled from about 100 to more than 300, or more than half of the districts statewide. The lead plaintiff was the Columbus district.
Dayton Public Schools, Springfield City Schools, Centerville City Schools and Fairborn City Schools were among the plaintiffs, as were districts in Hamilton, Greenville, Middletown and beyond.
In her ruling, Page wrote that, “The Dayton City School District Board of Education ... enrolls about 12,000 students annually, over 96% of which are considered economically disadvantaged. A lack of funding has caused (the district) to struggle to provide its students with: (1) bus transportation; (2) technology and educational materials; (3) qualified teachers; and (4) adequate facilities.”
The number of income-based EdChoice vouchers used in private schools in six area counties — Montgomery, Miami, Greene, Warren, Butler and Clark — jumped from 3,058 in the 2022-23 school year to 12,637, this newspaper reported last year.
The next legal step is expected to be an appeal to the Tenth District Court of Appeals.
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