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Vouchers Wholesale Ohio has sharply criticized a new Republican bill that would withhold state funding from school districts that are involved in an ongoing lawsuit against the state’s school voucher program.
Recently introduced Ohio State Rep. Jamie Callender, R-Concord Ohio House Bill 671 which would allow the Ohio Department of Education and Labor to withhold payments funding from a state foundation from school districts covered by Vouchers Hurt Ohio Coalition.
Callender now says he intends to ask that the bill be amended so that the department does not withhold all school funding from districts in escrow, but only the amount that districts spend on the lawsuit.
Under the bill, the director of the Ohio Office of Budget and Management would place the amount of the withheld funds into a trust fund, and ODEW would release the funds only if the legal action was stayed or the school district dropped the lawsuit.
“This piece of legislation is not a serious piece of legislation because it is clearly unconstitutional,” he added. Mark Wallach, attorney at McCarthy, Lebit, Crystal & Liffman representing Vouchers Hurt Ohio, – he said during Thursday’s press conference.
Above The Vouchers Hurt Ohio coalition includes 300 school districts – about half of the school districts in the state.
“You’re talking about billions of dollars that are going to be cut,” Wallach said.
Columbus City Schools will lose about $150 million, said Eric Brown, former chief justice of the Ohio Supreme Court and former member of the Columbus City Schools Board of Education.
About 60% of Dayton City Schools’ general fund comes from state foundation money, said Jocelyn Rhynard, a Dayton City Schools board member.
“This would be a huge loss to our ability to provide every child in the city with a decent education,” she said.
Vouchers Hurt Ohio filed suit in 2022 focusing on the EdChoice private school voucher program, arguing that the program has grown disproportionately while resources for public school districts have declined.
in June a Franklin County judge ruled in June that Ohio The EdChoice program is unconstitutional. Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost appealed that decision and the case is pending in the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals. The date of the next hearing has not yet been set.
Lawmakers expanded Education Choice Expansion eligibility to 450% of the poverty line in the 2023 state budget, creating near-universal school vouchers.
Under the expansion, elementary and middle school students can receive a $6,166 scholarship and high school students can receive a $8,408 state scholarship.
Ohio spent over billions of dollars in private school vouchers for fiscal year 2025, the second full year of near-universal school vouchers. Nearly half of the money ($492.8 million) came from Education Choice Expansion vouchers.
If HB 671 were to be signed into law, Wallach said they would file a warrant immediately.
“The Ohio Constitution directed the legislature to provide for a sound and effective system of common or public schools throughout the state.” he said.
“Well, cutting off funding to about half the schools in the state would clearly violate that constitutional requirement.”
No one at Vouchers Hurt Ohio said they tried to talk to him Callender on the bill.
The Ohio Capital Journal reached out to Callender’s office for comment but did not receive a response.
“This bill is outrageous and does not belong in the Legislature or anywhere else,” Brown said. “Representative Interlocutor tries to bully and intimidate our local school districts, but it doesn’t work.”
It’s a bullying bill, said William L. Phillis, executive director of the Coalition for Ohio School Funding Equity and Adequacy.
“I want to leave a message for school districts across Ohio – we support you,” he said.
Ohio Senate Minority Leader Nickie Antonio, D-Lakewood called the bill absurd.
“They went way beyond what anyone initially expected, that over a billion dollars would be spent on vouchers,” she said. “This is money taken from public schools.”
Ohio’s voucher program began with scholarships in Cleveland in 1996, and today approximately 90% of Ohio students attend public schools.
“Actually, under our constitution, we have an obligation to fund public schools in the state of Ohio, and I think we really need to… make sure that we live up to our obligation and responsibility to the majority of Ohioans,” Antonio said.
Follow a Capital Journal reporter Megan Henry in Bluesky.
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