Ohio spends $5.5 million in taxes to renovate private schools

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – Ohio state lawmakers are using more than $5.5 million in taxpayer money to support renovations at some private schools, a decision that has been linked to the debate over education vouchers in Ohio.

Large payments to nonpublic schools are part of the state budget passed over the summer that is earmarked for one-time strategic community investments. These grants to 11 private schools – some over $1 million – are earmarked for projects such as building additions, window replacements and playground improvements.

Eight of those 11 schools are private Christian schools where students participate in the EdChoice program, Ohio’s controversial scholarship program that offers state-funded vouchers to cover the cost of attending a nonpublic school.

John Fortney, spokesman for Republicans in the Ohio Senate, said these one-time payments allow organizations to apply for grants they would not normally be eligible for. In total, the state provided $700 million for various one-time projects.

The Ohio Constitution says that state funds cannot go to religious or private schools, and nearly $4 million of nonpublic school grants went to private, Christian schools. In response, Fortney points to another part of the state constitution:

“It shall be the duty of the General Assembly to enact appropriate laws to protect every religious denomination in the peaceful exercise of its own form of public worship, and to promote schools and means of instruction.”

Ohio Constitution

When asked whether the General Assembly interpreted this section as a duty to protect religious schools or as two separate duties – protecting schools and protecting religion – he had a plain answer.

“Yes to both,” Fortney said. “Support schools. It doesn’t mean only support public schools.”

Fortney said lawmakers continue to prioritize public schools, saying the Ohio General Assembly allocated an additional $1 billion for public K-12 schools in this budget. He also mentioned the EdChoice Scholarshipswho had previously raised questions about the employ of taxpayers’ money for private, often religious schools.

“Remember that religious schools and private schools have no responsibility or control over how parents make decisions about various educational scholarships,” Fortney said.

The EdChoice scholarship program was initially only eligible for low-income students in low-performing districts, but in 2013 it was expanded to allow any student outside the Cleveland Municipal School District, which has its own state-funded voucher program, to provide proof of income.

According to state data, nearly 130,000 Ohio students will attend school with an EdChoice or EdChoice Expanded scholarship in 2024. Of those students, more than half are recent scholarship recipients. In 2023 alone, Ohio has spent over $350 million on EdChoice scholarships.

This expanded eligibility led to a lawsuit against the state, led by Vouchers Hurt Ohio. More than 200 school districts across Ohio signed the lawsuit, which claims the voucher program is hurting students because more people are participating in it.

“One dollar more for private school vouchers means one dollar less available for public schools,” Vouchers Hurt Ohio writes on its website. “If someone applies for a voucher, they are eligible for a private school voucher, even if they are a millionaire or billionaire.”

“Education Choice Scholarships empower parents to make decisions that are best for their son or daughter’s education,” Fortney said. “Unfortunately, special interest groups have turned parents into the enemy, forgetting that these mothers and fathers are also taxpayers.”

William Phillis, executive director of the Ohio Coalition for Equity and Adequacy of School Funding, points to a recent ruling in South Carolina that said vouchers violate the state constitution. According to the Associated Press, nearly 3,000 students received $1,500 each before the ruling prohibited parents from spending the money on tuition or fees.

The South Carolina ruling complicates previous precedents. Ohio State education vouchers have been around for nearly 30 years, and Fortney pointed to a Supreme Court case that upheld the legitimacy of the Cleveland Scholarship in 2003 as evidence of the vouchers’ constitutionality.

However, this argument has already been challenged. In 2022Franklin County Common Pleas Court Judge Jaiza Page said key differences between Ohio’s two programs made the facts and issues of the case “distinguishable” from those in Cleveland and sent the current lawsuit to court.

The trial in the EdChoice voucher lawsuit is scheduled for November 4, one day before the November election.