Ohio
Judge rules Ohio’s EdChoice school vouchers are illegal, but will ruling stick? | Opinion
Columbus, Bexley, and Worthington schools among plaintiffs suing state
Thomas Suddes is a former legislative reporter with The Plain Dealer in Cleveland and writes from Ohio University. tsuddes@gmail.com.
In a late-June ruling, a Democratic Franklin County Common Pleas judge outlawed spending Ohioans’ tax money to help parents pay private school tuition for the state’s K-12 pupils via the state’s EdChoice school voucher program.
Because Judge Jaiza Page issued her sure-to-be-appealed decision amid the General Assembly’s budget-writing frenzy, some voters may have missed it. And that is, or should be, a problem for Ohioans who like to keep an eye on how the politicians on Capitol Square spend the people’s money. That’s especially so given the sneaky way that voucher fans expanded voucher spending during the 30 years since vouchers first surfaced in the 1995-97 state budget.
For one thing, as inaugurated then, vouchers could only be used by pupils living in the Cleveland school district. And the total amount of tax money the Republican-run legislature agreed to spend on Ohio’s first “school choice” venture in the 1995 budget amounted to about $5.25 million, The Plain Dealer reported. In terms of today’s population, that’s about 44 cents per Ohio resident.
The budget Gov. Mike DeWine just signed allots about $2.44 billion for voucher programs over the next two years — or about $205 per Ohio resident, an incredible increase resulting from stealthy, year-by-year legislative scheming.
Page’s decision was a clear-cut victory for the public school systems supporting the Vouchers Hurt Ohio coalition (lead plaintiff in the lawsuit: the Columbus schools). Among the coalition’s many other members: The Bexley, Upper Arlington and Worthington schools; the Dayton schools; and such Greater Cleveland districts as Brecksville-Broadview Heights, Cleveland Heights-University Heights, Mayfield, Richmond Heights and Shaker Heights schools; DeWine’s Greene County school district, the Cedar Cliff schools; and Republican Ohio House Speaker Matt Huffman’s hometown district, the Lima schools.
How vouchers violate Ohio’s constitution
Reduced to essentials, the judge ruled that Ohio’s school voucher spending violates the state constitution on a number of fronts. That’s the state constitution that Ohio’s 99 state representatives and 33 state senators must swear to uphold before they can take their seats in the General Assembly.
The state will appeal Page’s decision to the Ohio 10th District Court of Appeals, which encompasses Franklin County. If the all-Democratic appellate court upholds the Common Pleas ruling — it likely will — the state would undoubtedly ask the Ohio Supreme Court, with a 6-1 Republican majority, to save the voucher program. And the Supreme Court’s GOP incumbents have shown zero appetite for challenging the similarly Republican-run General Assembly.
Page sided with the voucher foes on three of the arguments they made.
First, the plaintiffs argued that vouchers breached the Ohio Constitution, which requires the General Assembly to create and fund “a thorough and efficient system of common schools throughout the state.” But she found that “the evidence … [showed] that, in expanding the EdChoice program to its current form, the General Assembly has created a system of uncommon private schools by directly providing private schools with over $700 million in funding.”
Page said the plaintiffs had also shown the state had additionally violated Ohio’s constitution to maintain a “thorough and efficient” school system when General Assembly Republicans decided against fully funding what’s known as the Cupp-Patterson Fair School Funding Plan. Result: Ohio public schools received $6.48 billion in state aid instead of $7.24 billion for fiscal year 2022. She said the difference was close to the amount of state voucher funding that same fiscal year.
Finally, the judge agreed with voucher foes that because the program “provides private religious schools with approximately $1 billion in public school funds [the voucher program] violates … the Ohio Constitution by giving a religion or other sect the exclusive right to, or control of, a part of the school funds of Ohio.”
Voucher partially to blame for rising property taxes
What the judge didn’t say, but fairly might have observed, is that the creation and steady increases in Ohio’s state-tax-subsidies for non-public schools has been Statehouse government by stealth: start small, then, budget-by-budget, year by year, divert more and more public school money for the benefit of private schools. The resulting financial squeeze on public school districts is a big reason why skyrocketing property taxes are hammering Ohio homeowners — property tax burdens the General Assembly is making heavier by steadily diverting public school money to private schools.
Thomas Suddes is a former legislative reporter with The Plain Dealer in Cleveland and writes from Ohio University. tsuddes@gmail.com.
Top headlines of the week, May 22 2026
Here are some stories you may have missed this week in central Ohio.
Less than 100 protesters gathered at the Ohio Statehouse on May 27 to protest legislation that would criminalize certain drag shows.
Individual organizers, as well as Ohio 50501 and Ohio Equal Rights, organized the demonstration, said Logan Moon, one of the organizers. Some of the attendees were dressed in drag and donned bright colored face paint, colorful clothing, and high heels as requested in the protest announcement. One of the attendees also had a drum.
As with other protests in Columbus, members of the Columbus Division of Police Dialogue Team stayed on the periphery of the demonstration. Troopers from the Ohio State Highway Patrol also watched from a distance as one of the organizers led chants criticizing state lawmakers.
The protest was in response to Ohio House Bill 249, which would criminalize certain drag performances anywhere but adult entertainment facilities if they’re deemed obscene or harmful to children. It also changes the definition of public indecency, with an exception for women who are breastfeeding.
The Ohio House voted to pass the legislation 63-30 on March 25. It is now before the Ohio Senate, where no hearings have been scheduled yet. Republicans control both chambers of the General Assembly.
Moon, 24, said Ohio HB 249, and hundreds of other bills throughout the country targeting transgender people, are an example of “genocide” against trans people in the country.
Moon said she was disappointed by the low turnout at the May 27 protest, saying it was an example of the apathy of the general public.
After one of the organizers led a series of chants, protesters marched at least once around the Ohio Statehouse. There were no counterprotesters in attendance.
Reporter Shahid Meighan can be reached at smeighan@dispatch.com, at ShahidMeighan on X, and at shahidthereporter.dispatch.com on Bluesky.
Strauss victims call for Wexner name to be removed from OSU athletic facility
Victims of Dr. Richard Strauss are calling on Ohio State to remove Les Wexner’s name from its athletic center.
More Columbus first responders publicly shared at a May 26 press conference that they were sexually abused by former Ohio State University doctor Richard Strauss, as the leaders of Columbus’ fire and police unions called for justice and accountability for abuse survivors.
“Today is about courage. Today is about truth. And it’s about the men standing beside other men who for decades carried trauma and silence that was never their to carry,” said Michael DiSabato, an Ohio State wrestler who competed for the Buckeyes from 1987-91.
DiSabato, the whistleblower who initially spoke out about sexual abuse that he and others endured at the hands of Strauss, was joined by fellow former Ohio State student athletes and central Ohio first responders outside the Woody Hayes Athletic Center.
Tim Becker, Gahanna’s Director of Public Safety and a former Deputy Chief of the Columbus Division of Police, publicly shared for the first time that he was among the hundreds of individuals sexually abused by Strauss. Becker said he first met Strauss as an Ohio State student in the mid-1980s seeking medical treatment for a rash he developed from cycling.
Becker said he was abused multiple times by Strauss during his visits to the student health clinic. He also said he felt violated by Strauss in the showers at Larkins Hall, the university’s former campus gymnasium. Strauss would often shower alongside students, according to multiple former Ohio State students and athletes.
Though he’d seen stories about Strauss in the news for years, Becker said he would often change the channel to avoid having to relive his experience. Becker was inspired to come forward after seeing recently retired Columbus Fire Chief Jeffrey Happ share that he too was a Strauss survivor.
Bishop Ready alumni share abuse stories
Happ shared publicly on May 14 that Strauss first assaulted him when he was a 15-year-old multi-sport athlete at Bishop Ready. Strauss sexually abused Happ and his teammates during a body fat study conducted by Ohio State, the former fire chief said.
Todd Schroeck, a former Columbus firefighter who was present at the press conference, also experienced sexual abuse by Strauss as a Bishop Ready wrestler.
Schroeck said he was 17 years old when his wrestling team was selected to be part of Strauss’ body composition study. It was during a closed-door physical that Schroeck said he was fondled by Strauss.
“It’s time to be brave,” Schroeck said during the press conference. “Being a victim doesn’t have to define you.”
Becker said he isn’t sure if he’s planning to join the lawsuits against Ohio State. He ultimately chose to come forward with his story because he hopes more survivors will feel empowered to speak out.
During his law enforcement career, Becker worked closely with victims of sexual abuse and domestic violence. Becker said very few men who were sexually abused by men come forward to report crimes.
“I can’t ask anyone to come forward if I wouldn’t do it myself,” Becker said.
Union leaders speak on abuse
Steve Stein, president of Columbus Fire Fighters Union Local 67 of the International Association of Fire Fighters, began his remarks with an apology to the men standing beside him at the press conference.
“I heard about this stuff in the news, and I just assumed that justice was being served,” Stein said. “I just assumed that the victims were being heard, that they were being treated fairly… That assumption ends today.”
Stein said he knows that there are others out there who have been abused but haven’t shared their story.
“We all have your back,” he said, referring to the 1,700 Columbus firefighters and thousands of others statewide. “We all stand with you.”
Brian Steel, president of the Fraternal Order of Police Capital City Lodge 9, echoed Stein’s remarks.
“The survivors of sexual abuse at Ohio State deserve to be heard, deserve to be respected, and they absolutely deserve to be supported,” Steel said. “What happened to them was a profound betrayal of trust at an institution that should have protected them.”
Steel said institutions like Ohio State “should never be above accountability, especially when innocent people are being involved.”
Higher education reporter Sheridan Hendrix can be reached at shendrix@dispatch.com and on Signal at @sheridan.120. You can follow her on Instagram at @sheridanwrites.
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