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Dec 10 2020

Lame Duck Continues Despite Statehouse COVID-19 Outbreak

Still operating without a mask mandate as at least two lawmakers have tested positive for COVID-19 after attending committee hearings and session, it appears that things are still business as usual at the General Assembly this week. Two days of hearings are scheduled on dozens of bills as the House and Senate work to wrap up the 2019-2020 legislative session.

Ironically — as COVID keeps some lawmakers away from the building — the agenda once again are more bills to strip power from the Governor to control the pandemic. Republicans also seem intent on moving multiple bills that would loosen Ohio gun laws, including proposals to eliminate the Duty to Retreat in armed conflicts (also know as “Stand Your Ground”).

A detailed list of committee hearings we’re watching is provided below, but bills we are watching this week include:

  • Rollbacks of COVID-19 public health orders (SB374 and HB621), elimination of statewide mask mandate (SB387) and changes to testing data requirements (HB624)
  • HB6 repeal (HB798)
  • Stand Your Ground (HB796, SB383) and Concealed Carry (HB425) gun bills. … see “Statehouse Meetings and Events” below for a full rundown of the committee hearings and events we’ll be watching this week

The following bills were introduced since our last update. You can keep an eye on all the bills we’re tracking here.

New Legislation This Week

  • House Bill 798 (Hoops) – Nuclear Subsidies – to delay for one year the charges and payments for nuclear resource and renewable energy credits, and revise certain other laws, enacted by H.B. 6 of the 133rd General Assembly, to amend Power Siting Board law and other electric utility law, to prohibit certain restrictions on solar energy systems, and to declare an emergency.
  • House Bill 799 (Reineke, Lang) – Face Masks – to terminate certain provisions of the “Director’s Order for Retail and Business Compliance for Facial Coverings throughout the State of Ohio,” issued on November 13, 2020, and to declare an emergency.

Take Action to Keep Democracy Open

  1. Tell Senate Leader Obhof and House Speaker Cupp to make virtual testimony available as an option for policy experts and everyday Ohioans to safely participate in committee hearings at allontheline.org/OHTestimony
  2. Copy & share this tweet from your personal account calling for virtual testimony. Or write your own tweet sharing the link to take action at allontheline.org/OHTestimony:

    We want options for virtual testimony at the Statehouse to #KeepDemocracyOpen by making the process
    ✅ Healthy & Safe
    ✅ Transparent & Fair
    ✅ Accessible to all of us!
    ➡️ allontheline.org/OHTestimony

Written by Terra Goodnight · Categorized: coronavirus, Education, Gun Safety, Healthcare and Human Services, K-12 Education, Legislative Updates, Statehouse Update · Tagged: concealed carry, covid-19, face masks, nuclear subsidies, ohio statehouse, statehouse update

Dec 01 2020

On the Agenda: COVID-19, Education Funding and More

Back from the Thanksgiving holiday (and without a mask mandate in the Statehouse), Ohio lawmakers have another packed week of committee hearings and floor votes as they attempt to wrap up the 2019-2020 legislative session.

On the agenda include more bills to strip power from the Governor to control the pandemic, Stand Your Ground, abortion restriction, school funding reforms, and the repeal of HB6.

A detailed list of committee hearings we’re watching is provided below, but bills we are watching this week include:

  • Fetal burial and cremation (SB27)
  • School funding reform (HB305, SB376)
  • Rollbacks of COVID-19 public health orders (SB374 and HB621)
  • HB6 repeal (HB772, SB346)
  • Stand Your Ground (SB383)

Full House Committee Schedule

Full Senate Committee Schedule

Ohio Channel Broadcast Schedule

New Legislation This Week

The following bills were introduced since our last update. You can keep an eye on all the bills we’re tracking here.

House Bill 796 (Koehler) – Stand Your Ground – to expand the locations at which a person has no duty to retreat before using force under both civil and criminal law.

Senate Bill 383 (Johnson) – Stand Your Ground – to enact the Ohio Duty to Retreat Act providing an expansion of the locations at which a person has no duty to retreat before using force under both civil and criminal law.

Senate Bill 387 (Burke) – Face Masks – to terminate certain provisions of the “Director’s Order for Retail and Business Compliance for Facial Coverings throughout the State of Ohio,” issued on November 13, 2020, and to declare an emergency.

Written by Terra Goodnight · Categorized: Education, K-12 Education, Statehouse Update · Tagged: COVID19, Lame Duck

Nov 10 2020

Lame Duck Season Starts

Lame Duck: The perfect time to sign up for our Statehouse Update Newsletter

Today, the Statehouse will see a number of hearings as the 133rd General Assembly kicks off the first week of its always-interesting Lame Duck session. Lame Duck is a colloquial name for the period of time between the general election and the end of the year when a new legislative term starts.

For this two month stretch, term-limited lawmakers and those who lost their bids for reelection are effectively “lame ducks,” on the way out the door. It’s often a time when lawmakers rush to pass priority bills before time runs out at the end of a term, but also is when we tend to see some of the most extreme proposals enacted. Recent examples include restrictions on local minimum wage increases and the 6-week abortion ban.

Lame Duck requires close watch by statehouse activists.

Most of what is on the agenda this week is uncontroversial, as committees work to clear the deck of bills that have been introduced but not yet heard in committee.

Two proposals up for hearings, however, are priorities for legislative leadership and merit careful monitoring: a school funding overhaul in the House Finance Committee and a Senate bill to repeal House Bill 6, the bailout of failing nuclear plants, the 2019 passage of which is the subject of an FBI bribery investigation.

After this week, many anticipate more controversial bills will begin moving. One concern we hear from allies is that conservative lawmakers will enact a full abortion ban in the form of a “trigger law” — one that only takes effect or becomes “triggered” by a ruling of the United States Supreme Court overturning Roe v Wade. In that case, the Ohio law would then take effect.

We will continue to send weekly updates about what’s on the Lame Duck agenda.

New Legislation This Week

The following bills were introduced since our last update. You can keep an eye on all the bills we’re tracking here.

House Bill 777 (Lang, Perales) – Alcohol Sales – to reinstate the authorized hours of operation for liquor permit premises that existed prior to the state of emergency declared in response to COVID-19 and to declare an emergency.

House Bill 783 (A. Miller) – Election Intimidation – to prohibit any person from intimidating, threatening, or coercing a person for the purpose of interfering with that person’s right to vote in an election.

House Bill 784 (Adams, Carruthers) – Law Enforcement – to increase penalties for certain assault, vandalism, and riot offenses, to allow peace officers to bring civil suits against persons participating in a riot, and to prohibit bias-motivated intimidation of first responders.

Senate Bill 374 (Obhof, Peterson) – Alcohol Sales – to reinstate the authorized hours of operation for liquor permit premises that existed prior to the state of emergency declared in response to COVID-19 and to declare an emergency.

Senate Bill 375 (Hoagland, Schafer) – County Fairs – to void the Director of Health’s July 30th order regarding county fairs and to declare an emergency.

Statehouse Meetings & Events

Tuesday, November 10

10:00 am – Senate Energy and Public Utilities – Informal hearing on HB772 (HB6 Repeal) and 2nd hearing (proponent) on SB346 (HB6 Repeal). Senate Finance Hearing Room or watch online. 

10:00 am – House Finance – 7th hearing (invited testimony, possible substitute) on HB305 (School Funding). Statehouse Room 313 or watch online.  

11:00 am – House State & Local Government – 4th hearing (all testimony, possible amendments & vote) on HB621 (Pandemic Business Closures). Statehouse Room 116 or watch online.  

12:30 pm – House Health – 1st hearing (sponsor) on HB316 (firearm “red flag” orders). Statehouse Room 313 or watch online.  

12:30 pm – House Criminal Justice – 1st hearing (sponsor) on SB3 (Drug Sentencing). Statehouse Room 121 or watch online. 

Get these updates weekly in your inbox when lawmakers are in session. Sign up now for Statehouse Update.

Written by Terra Goodnight · Categorized: Education, Energy, K-12 Education, Statehouse Update · Tagged: Abortion, abortion ban, HB6, Lame Duck, School Funding

Aug 11 2020

Unfinished Business: Important Bipartisan Reforms Await Legislature’s Return

Several bipartisan proposals — among them gun safety reforms, a fix to Ohio’s out of control private school voucher program and modernization of our voting systems, just to name a few — still await action in the legislature 20 months into the General Assembly’s current two-year term.

The Ohio Senate this week announced that it is canceling its scheduled Session next week, joining the Ohio House in having no plans to return to Columbus in August. Both chambers have tentative plans to conduct business in mid-September, which may represent the last best opportunity for important legislation to be enacted before the election and the end of the legislative term.

Several bipartisan proposals — among them gun safety reforms, a fix to Ohio’s out of control private school voucher program and modernization of our voting systems, just to name a few — still await action in the legislature 20 months into the General Assembly’s current two-year term.

Without action by the end of this year, all progress on these and many other important proposals will be lost, and bills must be reintroduced in January 2021 with the process starting over at the beginning. 

Bipartisan proposals still awaiting action in the legislature:

  • The Ohio Fairness Act, to prohibit discrimination in housing, employment and public accommodations on the basis of gender identity and sexual orientation
  • Ending Ohio’s out-of-control and unsustainable private school voucher program
  • Reform of Ohio’s property wealth-based formula for funding schools
  • Bipartisan gun safety reforms like a red flag law and safe storage requirements
  • Nuclear bailout repeal and restoration of renewable energy and efficiency standards
  • Ending the failed experiment with Academic Distress commissions 
  • Modernizing Ohio’s election system including online ballot requests and automatic voter registration
  • Drug sentencing reform
  • Aisha’s Law

Other pending proposals that haven’t had the attention they deserve:

  • Increasing the minimum wage
  • Creating a paid family and medical leave system
  • Ending the spousal rape loophole
  • Policing reforms

As voters head to the polls, it’s important to press lawmakers for a commitment to return to Columbus to do the people’s work on these and other important proposals.

With an eye toward the November elections, beginning next week we’ll be back with a scorecard evaluating how lawmakers have performed on important votes taken so far in the 133rd General Assembly.

New Legislation This Week 

Below are some of the new bills introduced in the last several weeks since we last sent an update. You can also view the complete list of bills we’re tracking.

  • House Bill 742 (Crossman, Brent) – John Lewis Voter Registration Day – to designate February 21 as “John Lewis Voter Registration Day” and to require the boards of elections to promote that day to encourage voter registration.
  • House Bill 744 (Leland, Brent) – Rental Assistance – to enact the Eviction Crisis Response Act to create the COVID-19 Emergency Rental Assistance Program, to make an appropriation, and to declare an emergency. 
  • House Bill 746 (Lanese, Greenspan) – HB6 Energy Repeal – to repeal the changes made by H.B. 6 of the 133rd General Assembly to the laws governing electric service, renewable energy, and energy efficiency and the changes made to other related laws.
  • Senate Bill 348 (Schaffer, Roegner) – Health Orders – to prohibit local boards of health from using certain threatening words in notifications to the public, to allow local boards of health to reject Department of Health orders during an emergency, to allow health care professionals who serve on a board of health to receive continuing education credit, and to change the makeup of local boards of health.
  • Senate Bill 349 (Fedor) – Campaign Finance – to modify the campaign finance law, to name this act the Ohio Anti-Corruption Act, and to amend the versions of sections 3517.10, 3517.105, and 3517.106 of the Revised Code that are scheduled to take effect January 1, 2021, to continue the provisions of this act on and after that effective date.
  • Senate Concurrent Resolution 17 (Fedor) – Campaign Finance – to urge Congress to pass legislation requiring corporations and labor organizations that make political expenditures to disclose the identities of their donors.

Written by Terra Goodnight · Categorized: Democracy, Education, Gender Equity, Statehouse Update · Tagged: academic distress commissions, bipartisan, drug sentencing reform, HB6, John Lewis, John Lewis Voter Registration Day, nuclear bailout, Ohio Fairness Act, paid family and medical leave, paid family leave, policing reforms, reform, repeal hb6, spousal rape loophole, Statehouse, Vouchers

May 19 2020

At The Statehouse: Lawmakers Look To Grant Business Immunity

Both chambers are working on legislation to limit the ability for businesses to be sued for liability during the COVID pandemic emergency. A Senate committee will hold a third hearing and vote on that chamber’s version of the bill (SB308) while the House plans two hearings this week to consider the House Bill (HB606). 

Lawmakers last week introduced new legislation (SB311) to rescind current health emergency orders and limit the power of the Director to enact new orders. 
The House and Senate have session scheduled for Wednesday with an additional meeting of the House penciled in for Thursday if necessary.

New Legislation This Week

Several new bills were introduced last week that we will be monitoring. You can also view the complete list of bills we’re tracking.

  • House Bill 633 (Boggs) – Workers Compensation – To make COVID-19 contracted by specified types of employees an occupational disease under the Workers’ Compensation Law under certain circumstances and to declare an emergency.
  • House Bill 634 (Denson, Upchurch) – Marijuana – To allow for the cultivation and possession of marijuana, to modify possession and cultivation penalties, and to allow for the expungement of certain marijuana convictions.
  • House Concurring Resolution 27 (Russo) – Health Insurance – To urge the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to immediately issue a special enrollment period through HealthCare.gov for uninsured Ohioans who may be unable to access COVID-19 testing and treatment.
  • Senate Bill 311 (McColley, Roegner) – Health Orders – To rescind certain orders of the Director of Health regarding COVID-19, to require the approval of the Joint Committee on Agency Rule Review for Department of Health orders to be effective for more than fourteen days, to require statewide Department of Health orders to include the Governor’s signature, to modify the Department’s rulemaking authority, to allow in-person high school graduation ceremonies, and to declare an emergency.

Statehouse Meetings and Events

Tuesday, May 12

  • 9 am – House Criminal Justice – 7th hearing (all testimony, possible amendments & vote) on HB3 (Domestic Violence). Statehouse Room 017. Watch online at ohiochannel.org.
  • 10 am – House Insurance -1st hearing (sponsor) of HCR27 (Emergency Health Insurance Enrollment), HB571 (Occupational Diseases), and HB579 (COVID Testing). Statehouse Room 116 (overflow in Room 114 for social distancing). Watch online at ohiochannel.org. 
  • 10am – House Rules and Reference – meeting to set agenda for May 20 House session. Statehouse Room 018 (overflow in 017). No broadcast.
  • 1 pm – House Finance – 8th hearing (all testimony, possible amendments & vote) on HB388 (Out of Network Care) and 2nd hearing (all testimony) on SB310 (Federal Funds). Statehouse Room 313. Watch online at ohiochannel.org.
  • 1:30 pm – Senate Finance – Invited testimony from Buckeye Association of School Administrators, Ohio School Boards Association, Ohio Education Association, and Ohio Federation of Teachers on re-opening of K-12 schools for 2020- 2021 school year. Senate Finance Hearing Room. Watch online at ohiochannel.org.
  • 2 pm – Gov. DeWine Briefing on COVID-19. Watch online at ohiochannel.org.
  • 3 pm – House Civil Justice – 3rd hearing (all testimony) on HB606 (Civil Immunity) and SB175 (Firearms Immunity). Room 121 (overflow in Room 122). Watch online at ohiochannel.org. 
  • 3 pm – House Higher Education – 1st hearing (sponsor) on SB40 (Campus Speech). Statehouse Room 116 (no overflow). Watch online at ohiochannel.org.

Wednesday, May 13

  • 9 am – House Civil Justice – 4th hearing (all testimony, possible amendments, and substitute) on HB606 (Civil Immunity). Statehouse Room 116 (overflow in 114). Watch online at ohiochannel.org.
  • 9:15 am – Senate Judiciary – 3rd hearing (all testimony, possible amendments, and vote) on SB308 (Civil Immunity). Senate South Hearing Room. Watch online at ohiochannel.org.
  • 11 am – Senate Rules and Reference – meeting to set agenda for May 20 Senate session. Senate Majority Conference Room. No broadcast.
  • 11:45 am – House Rules and Reference – meeting to set agenda for May 21 House session. Statehouse Room 017 (overflow in Room 018). No broadcast.
  • 1 pm – House Session – agenda TBD. Watch online at ohiochannel.org.
  • 1:30 pm – Ohio Senate – agenda TBD. Watch online at ohiochannel.org.
  • 2 pm – Gov. DeWine Briefing on COVID-19 – Watch online at ohiochannel.org.
  • 3 pm – Senate Local Government – 2nd hearing (all testimony, possible amendments & vote) on HB242 (Plastic Bag Ordinances). Senate South Hearing Room. Watch online at ohiochannel.org

Thursday, May 14

  • 1 pm – House Session – agenda TBD. Watch online at ohiochannel.org.
  • 2 pm – Gov. DeWine Briefing on COVID-19 – Watch online at ohiochannel.org.

Friday, May 15

  • 2 pm – Gov. DeWine Briefing on COVID-19 – Watch online at ohiochannel.org.

Written by Terra Goodnight · Categorized: coronavirus, Higher Education, Ohio State Budget, Statehouse Update · Tagged: Budget Cuts, coronavirus, hb606, hb633, hb634, hcr27, Mike DeWine, ohio house, Ohio Senate, ohio statehouse, sb308, sb311, state, State Budget, Statehouse

Feb 26 2020

SB 89 Could Prevent Disaster For Ohio Public Schools

Without legislative action, Ohio public schools face a funding crisis as expanded eligibility for private school vouchers could drain local school districts of state funding necessary to operate.

The latest data from the Ohio Legislative Service Commission clearly shows that House-passed changes to the EdChoice voucher program (contained in amendments to Senate Bill 89) would offer a needed reprieve to children in public school districts across the state when compared to the status quo if nothing changes.


Lawmakers are currently debating two solutions to the voucher crisis, but the House plan, contained in Senate Bill 89, is preferred by most education groups.

That’s because Senate Bill 89 eliminates the performance-based EdChoice voucher which awards students a private school voucher if their local school building fails on even a single state report card measure. Recent changes to state report cards have driven a huge increase in the number of districts slated to lose students and funding as early as next year.

If left unchecked, 1,227 buildings – more than 1/3 of all Ohio public school buildings – would qualify for a voucher next year, potentially increasing the amount of money spent on the state’s 5 voucher programs to $500 million or more a year.

A bar graph that shows the drastic increase in spending on Ohio's 5 school voucher programs that siphon tax dollars from public schools to find private schools.
Bar graph illustrating how the historical cost of Ohio’s voucher programs has skyrocketed.

Senate Bill 89 would reduce that expansion in buildings losing funding and students to vouchers by significantly limiting eligibility for any new vouchers based on school building “performance” (as measured by state report cards).

Senate Bill 89 retains the state’s other, income-based version of the EdChoice voucher, which would be limited to families earning up to 300 percent of poverty. Under the plan, the state would begin directly funding vouchers, eliminating the transfer of taxpayer dollars meant for kids in local public schools to private schools.

Here is how it plays out for a few key State Senators who would need to vote to agree to House changes to Senate Bill 89 for it to become law:

Buildings At Risk of Voucher Funding Losses: Status Quo vs Senate Bill 89

The Problem
The Proposal
Senator2019-20 school year2020-21, if nothing changes (current law)If SB89 passes, 2020-21
Dolan
8
24
3
Hottinger
12
59
0
Kunze
4
32
2
Obhof
7
31
3
Peterson
18
62
6

*Please note that a school district is counted as part of the Senate District if the Senator represents 10% or more of the school district.

Click to view complete data

The impacts on many vulnerable lawmakers in an election year are stark.

If Senate Bill 89 were to become law, Franklin County Senator Stephanie Kunze would see the number of voucher-eligible buildings set to lose students and funding to private schools in the 2020-2021 school year go from 32 to just two. Similarly, Cuyahoga County’s Sen. Matt Dolan would see eligible buildings plunge from 24 to 3.

Even members of Senate leadership would see major benefits from the passage of Senate Bill 89.

State Sen. Jay Hottinger, in line to have 59 voucher-designated buildings in his senate district next year, would see that number drop to zero under Senate Bill 89, while State Sen. Bob Peterson would see his district’s 62 voucher-eligible buildings drop to 6. Even Senate President Larry Obhof would see his buildings drop from 31 to 3.

Statewide, under Senate Bill 89, the number of eligible buildings would drop from potentially 1,227 next school year to just 343.

An attached spreadsheet shows how Senate Bill 89 would address the voucher explosion in all Senate districts.

The analysis is clear: Senate Bill 89 is needed to address the immediate voucher crisis facing Ohio public school districts

Written by Stephen Dyer · Categorized: Education, K-12 Education · Tagged: Bob Peterson, Jay Hottinger, Larry Obhof, Matt Dolan, private schools, Public Schools, sb89, school voucher crisis, school vouchers, senate bill 89, Statehouse, Stephanie Kunze, Vouchers

Feb 14 2020

10 Senators With A Voucher Problem: Where the impact of the voucher crisis will be hardest felt

The Ohio House and Senate are advancing two competing plans to address Ohio’s private school voucher explosion, but without a fix, some lawmakers will feel acute pain as their local schools see funding losses skyrocket.

Without action, the impacts on local school districts could be catastrophic.

Thanks to years of policy changes expanding eligibility for vouchers, the scope of the problem continues to grow, with local public schools set to lose $62 million more to private school vouchers this year alone. As the two plans to address the crisis are debated at the statehouse, it’s important to understand just how much of an issue this could become for lawmakers considering these changes.

Without action, the impacts on local school districts could be catastrophic. Next year the number of local school buildings where students would be eligible to take a voucher to attend private schools is set to skyrocket:

2019-20202020-2021
Public school buildings affected by voucher losses4831,221

Districts statewide will be affected, but some lawmakers see more impacts than others.

For example, State Sen. Tim Schaffer, R-Lancaster, would see the number of public school buildings in his district eligible to lose students to private school vouchers rise next school year by 53 from 11 to 64.

Likewise, state Sen. Jay Hottinger, R-Newark, would see the number of buildings losing students (and funding) to vouchers jump from 9 to 58. 

Top Ten Senate Districts Impacted By Rise In Voucher Eligibility:

Senator 2019-2020: Buildings eligible2020-2021: Buildings eligibleChange in number of eligible buildings
Tim Schaffer1164+53
Andrew Brenner90142+52
Tina Maharath97148+51
Jay Hottinger958+49
Bob Peterson1462+48
Frank Hoagland956+47
Terry Johnson549+44
Dave Burke1859+41
Rob McColley545+40
Theresa Gavarone4078+38

These exponential increases are thanks to a recent change in how the state assigns report card grades to school buildings that even the legislature’s top voucher proponent, State Sen. Matt Huffman, R-Lima, has called “arbitrary.” In 2011, Huffman wanted to turn the entire EdChoice voucher program into an income-based voucher program, not unlike what House Speaker Larry Householder passed last week in House Bill 89.

“It should be based on need and ability to pay, not some arbitrary standard,” he said during his 2011 press conference about his House Bill 136 that would have created the statewide, income-based voucher program.

If nothing is done to fix this crisis over the next few weeks, Huffman’s Senate colleagues – many of whom represent rural districts – will have to explain to their constituents why they approved increasing the number of buildings eligible to lose state funding to private school vouchers by as much as 800 percent. 

Huffman is also in line to be the next Senate President.

Written by Stephen Dyer · Categorized: Education, K-12 Education, Legislative Updates · Tagged: Charter Schools, EdChoice, Public Schools, Vouchers

Feb 05 2020

Voucher Proponents Sue Ohio Over 60-Day Delay

Pro-voucher forces have sued the state over a meager 60-day deal to delay the initial sign-up period for taxpayer-funded vouchers to send students to private schools. 

Lawmakers moved the deadline from Feb. 1 to April 1. 

This recent lawsuit on behalf of families seeking vouchers and religious private schools was spurred by a meager 60-day delay which allows lawmakers to address significant problems with a program that has skyrocketed in taxpayer cost over the last few years.

First of all, let us be extremely clear. The Ohio Constitution guarantees zero right for families opting to send their students to private schools to receive a taxpayer subsidy to do so. 

However, there is a constitutional provision requiring that the state establish a system of common, public schools – a system that has yet to be fixed.

60 days vs. 10,200 days

Ohio’s school funding formula produces drastically different outcomes in poor districts versus wealthy districts. The Ohio Supreme Court has ordered four times that our system be fixed because the state relies too much on property taxes to equitably pay for the education of Ohio’s 1.7 million students.

Ohio’s school funding system is as unconstitutional today as it was more than 10,200 days ago when the DeRolph lawsuit was first filed. Sixty days doesn’t seem very long in comparison.

The delay spurring this recent lawsuit on behalf of families and religious private schools entailed a meager 60-days to address structural problems with a program that has skyrocketed in taxpayer cost over the last few years.

Competing priorities cause 60-day delay

What caused the 60-day delay? State Sen. Matt Huffman, R-Lima, wants to fix education not by investing in the system for 90 percent of Ohio’s students as Ohio’s Constitution demands, but by removing hundreds of millions of dollars from that system and instead handing it out to families that make as much as $100,000 a year or more to subsidize their child’s private school education.

The stated intent of vouchers is to give an out to students in “failing” school districts. Huffman wants to give vouchers even to students who never attended the qualifying public school districts in the first place.

Because of the primary way the vouchers are funded – directly removing state money from traditional public school districts – vouchers leave many districts with substantially less state aid. This loss of funding forces districts to choose between more frequent and larger property tax levies or fewer opportunities for students in districts.

Meanwhile, House Speaker Larry Householder, R-Glenford, doesn’t want the program to be based on the report card performance of school districts because everyone in the General Assembly agrees that the current state report card is deeply flawed.

Speaker Householder also does not want the money to be directly deducted from school districts’ state funding amounts. He wants the state to pay for vouchers directly.

A list of Ohio’s different school voucher types

While both sides could not agree on the future course of EdChoice performance-based vouchers before Saturday’s deadline (necessitating the delay), the fact that there are serious divisions among the Ohio Republican Caucuses suggests that changes may be soon to come.

Is a comprehensive fix for our broken school funding in sight?

In the background of this conversation about vouchers lingers the Cupp-Patterson education funding plan. If modified, Cupp-Patterson could provide the long-awaited fix to Ohio’s education finance system for the 90 percent of students attending our state’s public schools. 

Speaker Householder has made it very clear that fixing school funding is a top priority for him.

We shall see how this all shakes out.

Vouchers do not produce better outcomes for students

Meanwhile, let us not forget that a pro-voucher group – the Thomas B. Fordham Institute – found a few years ago that “the students who actually left the public schools—at least those on the margin of eligibility—perform worse on statewide tests.”

Recently, I compared how public school districts performed on state tests versus how private schools taking vouchers in those communities performed. 

In 8 of 10 cases, public school districts outperformed voucher schools by an average of 27 percentage points.

The 2 of 10 cases where the private school performed better was by a far more modest 9 percentage points (and that’s assuming every voucher provider with a mailing address is actually in that city, which we know is not true, but I wanted to be as generous as possible to the voucher schools).

Ohio is pouring more and more taxpayer money into a program that doesn’t appear to improve outcomes for our students but rather harms them.

Written by Stephen Dyer · Categorized: Education, K-12 Education, Uncategorized · Tagged: education, education funding, school vouchers, voucher

Jan 28 2020

Statehouse Preview: Make Or Break Time for Voucher Fix

This week, lawmakers are scrambling to pass legislation to slow down the problem of runaway private school vouchers that are draining millions of dollars from our public schools as a result of misguided policy changes expanding the school choice program. The problem — and a potential legislative fix that is under discussion — are explained well in this article in the Marion Star.

On the Innovation Ohio blog, Education Policy Fellow, Stephen Dyer explains in four charts how Ohio’s voucher problem got to where it is today and why, even with a short-term fix, it remains out of control.

The most likely scenario for a legislative patch is a bill already passed by the House will be amended in a Senate committee as early as today, and quickly move to the Senate floor. If it passes, the House must then vote to concur with Senate changes. The bill also requires a legislative supermajority in order to take effect immediately rather than in the normal 90 days. 

This all needs to happen before Friday in order to prevent another round of funding losses to hit public school districts. 


Elsewhere in the Statehouse, House leaders scheduled–and later postponed–a committee hearing featuring testimony on the House version of the Ohio Fairness Act (HB369), prohibiting discrimination in housing and employment on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.

Ohio still has no anti-discrimination law on the books. The new hearing date is now planned for February 4.

Also this week, two House proposals to weaken Ohio’s gun safety laws (HB425 and HB381) are getting sponsor testimony in committee. See below for schedules.

New legislation

Below are the bills that were introduced last week that we’ll be keeping an eye on in the coming months:

  • House Bill 475 (K. Smith, Galonski) – Presidential Candidates – to require a candidate for President or Vice-President of the United States to submit copies of the candidate’s five most recent federal income tax returns for publication on the Secretary of State’s official web site.
  • House Bill 478 (A. Miller, Miranda) – School Vouchers – to make changes regarding the eligibility criteria for the Educational Choice scholarship program.
  • Senate Bill 260 (S. Huffman) – Abortion Drugs – regarding abortion-inducing drugs.

>> You can monitor the status of all the bills we are watching here.

>> Sign up for our weekly Statehouse Preview newsletter for even more insight on what’s happening on Capitol Square this week.

Written by Terra Goodnight · Categorized: K-12 Education, Statehouse Update · Tagged: Charter Schools, private schools, Public Education, school vouchers, voucher explosion, Vouchers

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