Franklin County Judge Jaiza Page ruled on June 24 that the EdChoice private school voucher program, or what is known as the $1 billion boondoggle, is unconstitutional.

If you are a teacher, work in a school, pay property taxes, care about public schools, or are concerned about your community, then you should be happy because that ruling is in your favor.

If you are a public employee, a union member, you’re a target of private school vouchers although the pro-privatization crowd will never admit it.

Let’s look at the ruling.

Judge Page ruled vouchers are unconstitutional because they create a separate, and unequal system of schools paid for with public tax dollars that are open to some, closed to most.

Elite schools for the wealthy, but in order to pay for vouchers the state has to get the money somewhere so they are shortchanging public schools – another reason Judge Page ruled the way she did.

Judge Page also said the Ohio Constitution is clear. It states…“no religious or other sect, or sects, shall ever have any exclusive right to, or control of, any part of the school funds of this state.”

More than 90 percent of the private vouchers schools taking in hundreds of millions of tax dollars are religious.

Let’s look at how vouchers hurt unions, teachers, taxpayers and our communities.

When you take $1 billion a year out of public schools and put it in private hands, teachers, cafeteria workers, bus drivers, school personnel are all going to feel the pain.

Do you think the private schools are paying competitive wages? No.

Do you think private schools are paying into the public pension systems for their underpaid workers? No.

Vouchers are costing our public pension systems more than $100 million a year.

Yes, you should be angry.

What about unions? Do you think workers in private schools have collective bargaining rights? No.

Public schools in Ohio could add 10,000 teachers to public school classrooms with the money being sent to religious private schools.

If you are a homeowner or pay income taxes to support your local schools, get ready. The state is shortchanging your community by giving refunds and rebates to wealthy families to go to private schools and your school district is going to feel more and more pressure to put more and more levies on the ballot.

Yes, wealthy families. There are no income caps for families to be eligible for vouchers. Millionaires, even billionaires like Les Wexner, can get a voucher.

And students aren’t moving from public to private schools. More than 90 percent of the students taking a voucher were already enrolled in a private school.

Judge Page saw through all this nonsense and ruled Ohio’s voucher scheme is unconstitutional.

The state is appealing.

Do you oppose vouchers? Sign our petition and join us in fighting for common schools for the common good open to all children.

Sincerely,

We Are Ohio