The Lawsuit to Stop Universal Vouchers
How YOU Can Help...and WHY it's so important that you do
The explosion of universal vouchers in states around the country is nothing short of a five-alarm fire, consuming both public education and democracy, and spreading rapidly.
Every month, we see the cost of these new, unrestricted private vouchers exploding—skyrocketing toward $1 billion in Ohio, already above that in Arizona, and not far behind in other states. And these uncapped dollars come right out of funding otherwise dedicated to public schools, already underfunded in many of these same states.
And the reason the numbers are exploding everywhere is clear.
Without any restrictions left on who can claim private vouchers, data consistently show these states have created a free-for-all that’s being largely soaked up by families:
1) who were already attending private schools; and
2) who could already afford the tuitions of those private schools.
They are often doing so at the encouragement or insistence of the private schools themselves, many of which are raising tuition at the same time.
It’s now become obvious these policies are as reckless as can be, and it’s equally clear that eliminating all restrictions has nothing to do with the original narrow “sales pitch” for private vouchers (as a way for low-income families to “escape” “poor performing” public schools). Once people understand the reality (ie. that this is becoming a runaway subsidy of better-off families already attending private schools), private vouchers also turn out to be unpopular.
With all this becoming so clear, are they slowing down, or reforming?
Going for Broke
Not at all. Those pushing all this are going for broke right now. In more states. With fewer restrictions.
Why?
Well, some of the most powerful and deep-pocketed interests in America are pushing them hard to do so. And politicians don’t often say no to the Devoses or Kochs of the world, especially when these billionaires punish any dissenters with brutal dark money attacks in their next campaigns (as they did just did in Texas GOP primaries).
And even worse, they are banking on the fact that once hundreds of thousands of families or more grow accustomed to having the government subsidize private school education to the tune of $6,000-$8,500 or more per child, amid now-rising tuition (making previously affordable schools less/un-affordable without those new vouchers), these private vouchers will be politically impossible to reverse. They will become baked into the budgets of both these private schools and the families.
It’s a reckless and cynical “genie out of the bottle” gameplan. And they’re pushing that plan everywhere at once, right now. Endure a little bad press in the short term to score permanent gains in the long term.
How You Can Help
Which is why, to stop it, time is of the essence.
Public education and democracy activists in communities and states must build the political movements NOW, in every state, to call out and stop this audacious assault on public education. I’ll write more on this in the near future.
But here in Ohio, you have a practical way you can help immediately. Today!
A number of Ohio school boards have filed a suit to stop Ohio’s reckless voucher expansion in its tracks. A forum I spoke at Wednesday in Upper Arlington (near Columbus) focused in part on this lawsuit, rallying to convince UA’s local school board to sigh on and support the suit:
You can see the coverage of our discussion HERE.
The suit, described in detail here, lays out a number of arguments/counts as to why the universal voucher explosion is not just warped policy and fiscally reckless, but undermines Ohio’s constitution, including that:
It defies the Ohio Constitution’s, Article VI, Section 2, requirement that the state fund a “common,” single system of public schools throughout the state. The private voucher expansion promotes multiple private systems of schools, while draining funds from the common public schools. And in many communities (such as Upper Arlington), the state support per student for private vouchers is dramatically higher (5 to 10X) than the state support per public school student;
Because the vast majority of funds (and hundreds of millions of public dollars) flow to religious schools, Ohio’s private vouchers defy a clear Ohio Constitution prohibition: that “No religious or other sect shall ever have any exclusive right to or control of, any part of the school funds of this state.”
The exploding (and uncapped) cost of the private school voucher program comes out of the same state budget line-item that pays for public schools. “[V]irtually all growth in school funding authorized by the General Assembly in the past five years has gone to fund voucher programs…, rather than to the public school system—which the Legislature is constitutionally mandated to fund thoroughly and efficiently.” Long term, this leads to further defunding of Ohio public schools, already found to be unconstitutionally underfunded in prior Ohio Supreme Court cases—a Constitutional violation that has never been remedied.
Universal vouchers make racial segregation in Ohio schools far worse, harming the very children that the program falsely purports to help, and once again undermining the requirement of providing “common schools” spelled out so clearly in Ohio’s Constitution.
The case will go to trial later this year in Franklin County.
But — let’s not just sit and watch with our fingers crossed. If you live in Ohio, you can help.
How?
Most importantly, we need every public school district in Ohio to sign on to help this case (which is in their interest, because they will pay a huge price financially if what’s already underway keeps accelerating).
Which is where you come in:
1) take a look at the list of schools who are already supportive of this landmark litigation (it’s an impressive list);
2) if the school district where you live is on that list, thank them. Better yet, do whatever you can to draw attention to the suit and the broader damage universal vouchers are doing to public schools so that members of your community understand what is happening and why your school district made the wise decision to be supportive; (also, help step 3, by helping neighboring school districts do the same thing your district has);
3) if the school district where you live is not on that list, please advocate that your district sign on as well. Call, email, talk to folks you know on the school board, etc. Attend meetings. The coalition that has brought the suit has even provided a Model Resolution that can be presented at school boards and voted on to support this critical effort. You can learn more about how to advocate for your school board here.
Again — new districts that join will be in good company. The list of school boards already on board includes red, blue and purple communities across this state. Saving public education in Ohio is truly a multi-partisan effort. Above party.
The suit is critical. All that support from all these districts helps move it forward. It makes strong legal claims.
But all this work goes beyond even a lawsuit. This also has to be about politics. Our broader goal must be that parents and taxpayers and constituents across Ohio (most of whom still believe in a strong system of public education) all wake up to the mortal threat that this voucher explosion has become—and there’s no better way to begin that crucial political awakenkng than having a public conversation in each school district as to why it’s so important that school boards express and provide support for this work.
So think of the suit as an organizing tool to bring the attention and energy this fight needs (yet does not currently have).
While you’re at it, there are other ways you can help spread the word as well:
Be sure your Democratic state legislative candidates, running in 95 out of Ohio’s 99 districts and all of the senate seats that are up, make this issue a central part of their campaigns; also, if you have a legislator who supports universal vouchers, flood them with the opposition you and your neighbors feel—they are undermining every public school in their/your district;
Invite school advocates to upcoming meetings you take part in to present what’s happening and get people involved;
Add this topic as part of a regular agenda item on your group’s meetings—the data keeps coming, so keep updating those who care;
Write letters to the editor about what’s happening wherever you are. Localize the issue as much as possible. Make it about what your school has to lose if this continues. And all public schools—urban, rural and suburban—stand to lose. Share it on social media as well.
More to come, but advocating for the suit in school districts across Ohio, then taking these other steps, are practical and easy steps all Ohioans can take, right now.
It’s crunch time, folks. Do whatever you can.
(If you have any questions on getting your school board involved in the suit, or ideas on how to do so most effectively, feel free to email me at davidpepper4ohio@gmail.com)
Few issues are more important than the education of our children, and with the voucher system--determined to undermine public schools--we have the risk of history and civics being taught in ways that distort the truth of our country's history and governmental systems. Project 2025 makes the destruction of public schools a clear goal of the Heritage Foundation and future Republican administrations. Let's fight to stop this in every state.
Protecting public schools is critical for the progress of our nation. Public schools should be the best way to achieve an education. Public schools provide children with a better cross section of people of various colors, ethnic backgrounds, religions and other cultures. I can understand the basic concern of a public education - underfunding. Teachers are poorly paid and are required to commit too much personal time to daily preparation. Working conditions have become everything from a classroom distraction to worrying whether they would be able to protect their students from a gunman.
No one should have to work in a hostile environment created frequently by crazy parents, religious zealots, disruptive, spoiled, untrained children and angry people attacking the school system and weak administrations.
Moving children to private schools does nothing for the majority of families. Although theoretically vouchers should level the playing field for every child to find a school that fits his/her needs. But in reality, private schools can create situations where families on lower economic rungs simple cannot keep up financially. The voucher system simply is geared to offset tuition that families are already capable of paying.
People get all worked up over having to pay for schools for other peoples kids. It takes a village and school taxes are an investment in our nation’s economic growth, reduces crime, helps create safe and solid neighborhoods, and maintains our shared obligation to Americans to improve lives.
My son went to private school from 2nd grade through high school because he needed the extra care and attention we found in the smaller classrooms. We are an ordinary middle class family but tuition was a priority for us. We also felt that it was our responsibility to support public schools. If vouchers were available then, we would have not used them.
As vouchers become more common around the U.S.the needs for more private schools would probably mean tuition increases. There is already a shortage of teachers, the majority which have to attend a public university. Upper education isn’t cheap and fewer people are going into teaching. Where are the qualified teachers coming from? Teachers and resources cannot be cut into pieces to make certain everything is equal.
My biggest concern would be proper certification and government monitoring. Who would want to send their kids to an uncredited school? We cannot allow just anybody to create a school without proper oversight. Private schools including religious schools must be safe schools. There will be buildings, kitchens and playgrounds to inspect. Teachers and other staff members would need background checks including criminal background research.
The idea that a cadre of non-public schools would require extensive government oversight is a problem in and of itself. Public schools have truancy officers. Would private schools? Who would pay for them? Or would attendance monitoring be the schools responsibility. The rapid growth of private schools opens up a whole can of worms.
For example look at the homeschooling trend, wherein parents are afraid of the” bad world”, people of color and society norms. Currently in most states, there is simply little to no accountability to ensure children receive a well-rounded and thorough education. Any parent can suddenly be a qualified teacher. Who is to monitor attendance? What happens when alcoholism, drug use, child abuse threatens children. There is no one to be alert for problems.
Homeschooling has skyrocketed mostly do to the eagerness of religious people and organizations. There isn’t any thing inherently bad about private schools or homeschooling but how do we know if there is no monitoring or accountability?
We could be doing children and our communities a real disservice. What if the graduates weren’t suitable for a wide variety of jobs? We already have an employee shortage and companies often complain that job candidates simply aren’t prepared to be successful. Poor quality workers mean poorer communities. It’s hard to attract good businesses if finding employees is difficult. That’s a problem here in Nevada.
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