Public education has been serving Ohio citizens since the late 1700’s and financial support was written into our constitution during the creation of our great state.  That fiscal backing understandably comes with necessary accountability.  All public schools undergo state audits each year and must be able to account for every penny of taxpayer funds.  Detailed reports on every school district are available on the Auditor of the State website for free.  

However, did you know our state government dramatically expanded the private-school voucher program this past summer with no accountability measures attached?  The EdChoice voucher program was supposed to target lower-income and minority students in struggling districts.  Yet, as Stephen Dyer noted in his November 2023 article in the Ohio Capital Journal, “Ohio’s Disastrous Voucher Explosion,” that $242 million is going to families in the highest income brackets.  So, $9 out of every $10 is going to subsidize families who could already afford to send their kids to private schools.  He goes on to state “even though the voucher program is now expected to cost more than $1 billion, not a single penny can (nor ever HAS been) audited by the state.”

This means that a quarter of the state’s education budget is now divided up among only 10% of Ohio students who mainly come from well-to-do families.  Laura Hancock of The Plain Dealer and Cleveland.com reports that to be eligible for the full voucher, a family of four can make $135,000 -- 450% of the federal poverty level.  Make more than that?  No problem, you’re still eligible for over $7,000 in taxpayer scholarship assistance to send your student to private school.  This also means that Ohio has now sent over $3 Billion in taxpayer funds to private schools.  After receiving this large sum of accountability-free funding, private schools are still able to deny any student enrollment to their private institution for any reason which has created even more segregation and discrimination.  

For these reasons, several Hardin County Schools have joined over 200 other districts in a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of providing public taxpayer dollars to private schools.  We are also asking you to vote wisely this coming election as well as sharing your thoughts with your state elected officials.  Lastly, we are hosting a community meeting at the Mid-Ohio Energy Cooperative Community Room at 6:30pm on March 7th.  We invite the community to come and learn more about our concerns regarding school funding.

Signed,

Hardin County Superintendents
Denny Recker, Ada
Andrew Cano, Hardin Northern
Chad Thrush, Kenton
Brian Hogan, Ridgemont
Greg Rossman, Riverdale
Craig Hurley, Upper Scioto Valley