school vouchers
Sponsors of ‘backpack bill’ for per pupil Ohio school vouchers push back on $1 billion price tag
A new proposal in the Ohio House of Representatives, dubbed the “backpack bill,” would cost more than a billion dollars if all eligible students would take advantage of the scholarship. But the lawmakers proposing House Bill 11 — Rep. Marilyn John, R-Richland County, and Rep. Riordan McClain, R-Upper Sandusky — don’t anticipate the actual cost […]
How will an expansion of school vouchers impact Ohio public school funding? Answer is ‘speculative’
As Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine wants to expand the state’s school voucher program, the future of fair funding for Ohio’s public schools has become a weighty topic. State Rep. Tracy Richardson, R-Marysville and chair of the subcommittee on primary and secondary education committee, asked about that very thing Tuesday morning — how the proposed expansion […]
Ohio can’t afford to prioritize private and charter schools over fully-funded public schools
Gov. Mike DeWine laid out the first budget of his second term in office and centered much of his agenda around education. DeWine wants to expand private school choice in the Buckeye State, which includes more public funding for private and religious schools and for publicly-funded but privately-operated charter schools. The governor proposes to increase […]
As some lawmakers debate Nazi home schooling scandal, others propose expanding vouchers
The following article was originally published on News5Cleveland.com and is published in the Ohio Capital Journal under a content-sharing agreement. Unlike other OCJ articles, it is not available for free republication by other news outlets as it is owned by WEWS in Cleveland. A bill to expand the school voucher system and provide more money to […]
Ohio cheats taxpayers and public schools by funneling money to unaccountable private interests
Many Ohioans pay taxes for schools but don’t have school-age children. Their taxes are meant to fund quality public schools because having educated citizens is a public good. Sending their money to unaccountable for-profit, private, and religious schools is a terrible abuse. Compelling taxpayers to support private interests at the expense of public ones is […]
ECOT owes Ohio $117 Million. What are we going to do about it?
Like the famed Casablanca police captain Louis Renault, Ohio taxpayers were shocked, shocked to learn recently from the state auditor’s office that the notorious online charter school ECOT, which closed in 2018, owes the state $117 million. A “Finding for Recovery” posted last week on the auditor’s website provided the details. The announcement by Auditor […]
The charter school and voucher wars continue: A tale of two cities, or maybe three
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness,” Charles Dickens famously wrote. But if a latter-day Dickens were writing today, the tale might be about foolishness and not wisdom in the misuse of public funds. And the setting would […]
State report cards should be a wakeup call for Ohio’s charter, voucher hawks
I remember taking home my report cards when I was in school. I was a pretty good student; my grades always reflected my passion for subjects I loved, and more importantly, provided some real-time feedback on areas where improvement was needed — Time management, for example, was a skill I had to learn over time. […]
Public schools, vouchers, privatization, and educational choice: Be careful what you wish for
In the last few months, Americans have witnessed a series of assaults by the political right on key parts of the bedrock principles of democracy. Those attacks include new restrictions on voting rights in more than half of the states, the storming of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 by thousands of insurrectionists, and most […]
Honoring Black history and fighting for the future of education
On Feb. 1, as Black History Month began in Ohio’s classrooms and virtual classrooms, Gov. Mike DeWine unveiled his proposed budget for the next two years, which continues the education funding policies that systematically underfund public schools that educate Black students and even shift some of that funding away toward unaccountable, for-profit private schools. Black […]