The Great Ohio Voucher Scam:
Dismantling Public Education in Plain Sight
If you followed my campaign, you know I spoke a great deal about Ohio's EdChoice voucher scam – and it is a scam, through and through. This issue was critical to my campaign and remains a critical issue for me because:
I believe public education is one of the greatest ideas formed in our democratic system.
This program is nothing but a theft of public funds.
Let me walk you through my thoughts on EdChoice – why it’s a problem, why the arguments from the private school lobby don’t hold up for me, and what I believe the bigger picture driving this push is.
How EdChoice Has Evolved: From Narrow to Universal
The EdChoice program was signed into law in 2005, originally aimed at providing scholarships to families in areas where schools were failing to meet academic achievement standards. It was about offering families an option to pull their kids out of underperforming public schools and enroll them in private schools that might be better equipped to meet their needs.
While I fundamentally disagree with the premise of this program – personally, I believe the focus should have been on fixing the public schools – I understand the desire to provide families with more options.
However, since its inception, EdChoice has drastically expanded. In 2013, the program moved away from being tied to public school performance and became income-based. Low- and middle-income families could now access scholarships regardless of how their local public school was performing. By 2020, the definition of “low-performing” schools was broadened even further.
Then, in 2023, the biggest overhaul yet took place. The legislature introduced the Universal EdChoice Voucher, which eliminated any connection to public school performance. Now, families across all income levels were eligible for some form of scholarship. Families earning up to 450% of the federal poverty level could receive the full scholarship, and those above that threshold could still receive a partial scholarship.
As expected, the price tag for this program has grown significantly over the years, reaching nearly $1 billion for the 2023-2024 period. This is money being pulled directly from our state education budget, and as public schools face the prospect of shortfalls, we are left paying the difference through increased taxes and levies.
Why the "Money Follows the Child" Argument Doesn’t Hold Up
One of the most common arguments from the private school lobby is that “the money should follow the child” or that it’s the parents' tax money, so they should be able to decide where it goes.
This argument doesn’t stand up under even the lightest scrutiny.
For starters, parents are not the only ones paying school taxes. Single people, childless couples, and those whose children are grown still contribute to school taxes. We don’t offer exemptions for those who don't have children in public schools, nor do we double the tax burden for parents with multiple children. The tax is for schools, not for each individual child.
As part of our social contract, we’ve decided it’s in everyone’s interest to have an educated public. Educating children benefits us all, whether we personally have children or not. Those kids will become our future nurses, electricians, doctors, neighbors, and leaders. They will impact all of us, regardless of whether we are their parents.
Public education, funded by the taxes of all citizens, is meant to serve the public. It’s supposed to be accountable to the public. That’s why we elect school boards – not based on whether or not someone has children, but because education impacts the entire community. This is why we don’t allow public schools to endorse or promote a particular religion, why we don’t allow "whites-only" schools, and why public education must serve everyone.
The EdChoice program, however, allows public funds to be used for private schools that may not accept all children. A religious school, for instance, could refuse to admit a gay student – even though that gay student’s family is helping to fund that school through their tax dollars. A private school could refuse a child with developmental disabilities, despite the fact that the child's parents are paying into the same system.
While parents absolutely have the right to send their kids to a school that aligns with their personal values, they shouldn’t have a special right to pull their children from public schools using public funds.
The Deeper Problems with Voucher Programs
Now let’s talk about some of the deeper issues with voucher programs.
Separation of Church and State: The fact is that the most common type of private school is a religious school. These schools have the right to operate as they see fit, but this also means that parents who don’t share that religious viewpoint face an inherent unfair disadvantage. If a private religious school is the only option in a community, religious parents have a taxpayer-subsidized option, while non-religious families or those from different faiths have no choice but to remain in the public system.
Accountability Issues: Private schools are not held to the same standards as public schools. They do not have publicly elected school boards, meaning taxpayers – even those without children – have no recourse if they disagree with how the school is run. These schools don’t have to report their admissions policies, and they don’t have to submit to the same standardized testing that public schools do. We can’t even measure whether they’re performing better than the schools they’re supposedly replacing.
Financial Transparency: We have a right to know how our tax dollars are being spent. In public schools, salaries are publicly available, and we can demand changes if needed. Not so with private schools. They are under no obligation to disclose how much they pay their staff, what percentage of their income is spent on education, or how they manage their finances.
In fact, the Ohio House of Representatives recently held a hearing on a bill requiring basic accountability from private schools receiving taxpayer-funded vouchers. The bill proposed measures like requiring private schools to disclose how they spend voucher money, take the same standardized tests as public schools, and make their admissions process public. Private school lobbyists fought back, and nearly all of those provisions were stripped from the bill.
The Real Agenda Behind Voucher Programs
So, what is the real purpose behind voucher programs? In my opinion, it’s about dismantling public education.
A vocal segment of the population wants to impose their religious, social, moral, and political views on the entire system. They want to ensure that their views are not challenged, even indirectly, through the teaching of evidence-based science. They don’t want topics like evolution, LGBTQ rights, or racial inequality to be taught because these topics challenge their worldviews and the status they’ve gained through systemic inequality.
The goal is to ensure that children are taught to think in ways that reinforce the existing power structures. They want to limit critical thinking and push children into adopting the same views that maintain their social and political dominance.
Public education, based on democratic values and evidence-based learning, poses a threat to this agenda. It teaches kids how to think critically, how to challenge ideas, and how to evaluate evidence. That's why those pushing for voucher programs want to starve public education of funding, replacing it with a system of private, unaccountable schools.
In Conclusion
The EdChoice program is not about giving families more choices. It’s about undermining public education and diverting public funds to private institutions that are unaccountable, discriminatory, and opaque.
We need to stand up for public education – not just for the sake of our children, but for the sake of the entire community. We all benefit when kids receive a quality education. It’s time to hold these policies accountable and fight for an education system that serves everyone.