The bill, House Bill 671, mandates the state to withhold public education funds “for any school district that is a complainant or a member of a complainant in a legal action against the state that challenges or otherwise seeks to change, invalidate, or declare void the calculation or distribution” of public education dollars, both to standard public school districts and to the state’s universal school voucher program.
The bill goes on to say that the set-aside funds would be put in an escrow account, only to be released back to the school district “upon the termination of the legal action or the district’s withdrawal from the action.”
DPS is a plaintiff in a landmark court case against the state‘s EdChoice voucher system. The program now allows any family in the state, regardless of income, to receive a stipend to send their child to a private school instead of a public school.
The legislature put $1.7 billion into the EdChoice program in its most recent two-year operating budget — a sum public school advocates say should have been sent to local districts instead, both as a matter of policy and of obligation under the Ohio Constitution.
Also involved in the lawsuit is an organization called Vouchers Hurt Ohio, which today claims support from from DPS, more than a dozen other local districts, and more than 340 districts across the state. H.B. 671 would block state funding for each, if passed.
Mark Wallach, an attorney for Vouchers Hurt Ohio, said the enacted bill would impact hundreds of thousands of children at these districts. But, he also expressed a confidence that the bill would be quickly struck down by the courts.
“The legislature has been instructed by the Ohio Constitution to secure a thorough and efficient system of common schools or public school throughout the state,” Wallach said at a Thursday press conference. “Well, cutting the funding off from about half the schools in the state would clearly violate that constitutional requirement.”
The participating districts’ argument, according to Rhynard, is that “public tax dollars should not be spent on nonpublic entities that do not have the same accountability standards as public districts do. It’s pretty simple, honestly.”
This lawsuit and a raft of others have proven a pet peeve for some lawmakers, citing court costs both from the state’s side and from the school’s side.
Senate President Rob McColley, R-Napoleon, was asked about the nature of the bill on Wednesday. He didn’t comment directly on it, but added: “I do know there has been some frustration shared among some of my Republican colleagues that we are funding these state institutions and then they are using the very funding that we’re providing (them) with to sue us with this stuff.”
McColley also expressed a confidence that the state would win its legal defense of the EdChoice program.
The sponsor of H.B. 671, Rep. Jamie Callender, R-Concord, did not respond to requests for comment. Introduced in early February, his bill has been assigned to the House Finance Committee and awaits its first hearing.
Dayton Daily News reporter Eileen McClory contributed to this story.
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