State Rep. Jamie Callender, R-Concord. (Photo by Graham Stokes for the Ohio Capital Journal. Only repost photo with the original article.)
A Republican lawmaker has introduced a bill to limit state funding for public schools that sue Ohio’s school voucher program. After massive reaction, he changed course, modifying his proposal.
School leaders in Cleveland Heights-University Heights say they have been forced to make arduous decisions.
“We have made cuts,” said school board member Dan Heintz. “It breaks my heart to say that with the budget cuts we are considering, there will be many more of them.”
Each cut hurts nearly 5,000 students in the district, he added.
The district sued the state in 2022 to get more money.
About 320 districts have joined in filing a lawsuit over the state’s school voucher program. It allows every family, regardless of income level, to obtain taxpayers’ money for education in non-public schools.
Last summer, a judge ruled the program unconstitutional, but the state is appealing the decision.
“Ohioans see very clearly the impact of battle after battle, with Ohio public schools having to fight and claw for every penny while private schools in Ohio are swimming in money and building new buildings every other day,” Heintz said.
But the newly introduced bill targets public school districts that are suing the state over private school vouchers.
“It’s ridiculous that they think they can file a lawsuit using school-funded dollars,” said state Rep. Jamie Callender, R-Concord.
In an exclusive interview, Callender said that under Ohio House Bill 671, any school lawsuit would have state funds restricted and placed in escrow until the lawsuits cease.
“If we limit this behavior, it will actually put more money into school coffers if they don’t have to spend money and they don’t spend money on things that don’t directly go to teacher salaries and improving classrooms,” Callender said.
The legislation has the support of GOP leaders such as Senate Finance Chairman Jerry Cirino, R-Kirtland.
“There has been some frustration among, I would say, some of my Republican colleagues about the fact that we fund these state institutions and that they are using the same funds that we provide them to sue us on this,” said Senate President Rob McColley, R-Napoleon.
Callender reiterated that it is frustrating for schools to employ funding against the state.
“They got more this year than ever before; they expect more, but unfortunately you can’t expect more,” he replied.
Over the past four years, each participating school has spent $2 per student, Heintz said. Based on that number, the coalition spent $1.7 million in legal fees.
The nonpartisan research group Policy Matters Ohio found that K-12 schools will be underfunded by nearly $3 billion over the next two years.
In fiscal year 2025, more than $1 billion in taxpayer dollars went to private schools. They are expected to receive more than $2 billion over the next two years.
Callender should focus his concerns on the “unconstitutional” voucher program, Heintz said.
Callender’s Theme
“Representative Callender knows very well that the state only funds a small portion of what we do,” Heintz said. “How the hell can he say this money was used to support our lawsuit? This is ridiculous.”
Callender, a moderate Republican who votes more Democratic than any other lawmaker, has previously been hailed as a champion by some public school advocates.
Sponsored the 2021 Cupp-Patterson Fair School Funding Plan.
The plan was expected to take six years to implement and is expected to change the way public money is given to K-12 schools. This would provide additional support to local neighborhoods so they could rely less on property taxes.
The first two years were partially financed and the second two years were fully financed. Lawmakers fought for months over the plan, and House leaders vehemently opposed it.
Ultimately, the plan was partially funded, but with significant cuts to expected funding.
“I’m very frustrated that we fought so hard to get the Fair School Funding Plan, and then two years ago we were trying to get it back up and running, and two years ago we were trying to get it fully funded,” Callender said. “This year the Legislature moved away from that. One of the reasons we couldn’t get the votes was because of things like this – this lawsuit.”
Callender says he’s trying to facilitate schools avoid a “disaster” as activists push to repeal property taxes and collect signatures for a ballot measure.
Return
After the bill was introduced, school advocates and lawmakers were quick to react.
“Representative Callender is trying to bully and intimidate our local school districts, and it’s not working,” said former Ohio Supreme Court Justice Eric Brown.
After hearing the outrage, Callender backed down.
“I will ask that this provision be amended so that the amount deposited in the escrow account represents only the amount spent on the lawsuit and not the entire amount the school district will receive,” Callender said.
The bill was supposed to start a conversation, but not in the way he would have liked.
“One of the reasons we introduced this legislation was to spark some difficult discussions about how we can save funds without having to reduce staff and without having to reduce teachers,” Callender said.
Heintz rolled his eyes when he heard what Callender said.
“The Ohio legislature very clearly, very clearly acknowledges that there is no case,” Heintz said. “He is a man who is desperately trying to justify an unjustified position.”
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This article was originally published on News5Cleveland.com and are published in the Ohio Capital Journal under a content sharing agreement. Unlike other OCJ articles, it is not available for free republication on other news outlets because it is owned by WEWS in Cleveland.
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