Ohio School Voucher Program Faces Growing Teacher Lawsuit

Ohio teachers warned the state's universal voucher entitlement program will negatively affect public education, and in a lawsuit expected to move forward this month, they are arguing it is unconstitutional.

Recent changes to the EdChoice Expansion Scholarship Program allow all families, regardless of income, to apply for more than $8,000 dollars in vouchers per child to pay for private schools.

Dan Heintz, an Ohio public schoolteacher and elected member of the Cleveland Heights-University Heights Board of Education, said Ohio will now spend $1 billion a year in taxpayer money on private school tuition, and the money is withdrawn from the same budget line item funding public schools.

"In my school district, Cleveland Heights-University Heights, the state spends around $3,000 to educate a student," Heintz explained. "Yet, through the new voucher entitlement program, the state will send more than $8,400 to a private school to educate the exact same student."

He added under the expanded program, families earning $30,000 a year are essentially subsidizing the private school tuition for families earning $300,000 a year. Nearly a third of Ohio's public school districts have joined the lawsuit filed in Franklin County. Supporters of vouchers argued they help expand school choices for families.

Heintz noted private schools receiving taxpayer money are operating outside the public eye, not required to be transparent, and not held accountable for how the money is spent or the quality of the education provided. He emphasized it is troubling given the rise in voucher applications across the state.

"We've heard that between 900 and 1,000 new voucher applications are coming into the Department of Education, at least as of about two-and-a-half, three weeks ago," Heintz reported. "That's a really big jump."

According to the Brookings Institution, seven states have passed new school voucher programs this year and nine expanded existing ones, despite a decade of research showing either negative voucher impacts, or inconclusive results on educational attainment.