COLUMBIANA — With a lawsuit already filed against the state by several Ohio public schools questioning the constitutionality of the ever expanding school voucher program, local school officials are urging the public to be informed and proactive.

Columbiana School District Superintendent Dr. Don Mook and members of the board of education say that local residents need to be informed about how the voucher system hurts public schools, how tax payer money is being spent and whether the voucher system is even constitutional.

Mook said that vouchers divert attention, commitment and dollars from public schools to pay private school tuition for a few students, including many who are already in private school.

“Vouchers use tax dollars to fund private unaccountable organizations while public schools are audited several times a year to ensure appropriate educational uses of tax funding,” he said. “In stark contrast to the strict accountability faced by public schools, non-public schools do not have to meet standards and mandates established by the legislature and department of education ensuring educational rights of students.”

Mook and the Columbiana school board’s concerns align with several other current and former educators and administrators across the state — many of whom have publicly outcried the continued expansion of the state’s voucher system through the Ohio General Assembly.

The 135th General Assembly is currently considering Senate Bill 11, which allows for the voucher expansion.

Gov. Mike DeWine told the Cleveland Plain Dealer in January that the voucher expansion allows parents to have a choice where their children can attend schools.

“We still have children who are stuck in schools that aren’t doing that well. It seems to me that parents should have some choice in this matter. And we have built this system of choice, which has been somewhat inconsistent,” he told the Plain Dealer in a sit-down interview.

DeWine’s proposal calls for an increase in income eligibility requirements for EdChoice Scholarship vouchers to 400 percent of the Federal Poverty Guidelines, meaning a household income of $111,000 for a family of four.

Dan Heintz, a history teacher at Chardon Local High School, was quoted in the most recent issue of Ohio Schools magazine as saying that the voucher expansion “siphons” taxpayer money from public schools, leaving them to depend more on levying taxes to provide the education that “their students deserve.”

Heintz was also quoted in the magazine as saying that Ohio’s public school funding system was declared unconstitutional more than 25 years ago.

He and other educators are on board with the Vouchers Hurt Ohio lawsuit filed against the state in early 2022 that claims the EdChoice voucher system goes against the Ohio Constitution, specifically with regards to federal equal protection laws and education funding, among other things.

Mook said that the Ohio Constitution clearly states that no public tax dollars can be used for sectarian schools.

He also said that the Ohio Constitution contains an equal protection clause “that states we all must be treated equally under the law. Vouchers are creating a separate and unequal group of people in Ohio.”

Furthermore, he said that various grassroots organizations are falsely promoting vouchers under the guise of populist message of protecting educational freedom.

“Columbiana Schools is an open enrollment school district. In fact, all public schools in Columbiana County are open for parents to choose to attend, as well as most public schools in the state of Ohio. Choice is available using public funds to attend any of Columbiana County’s public schools. We have supported the public to have a choice in attending our public school along with other public school districts in this county and neighboring counties. We do not support the unconstitutional use of public state or local funding to be used in non-public schools who have zero accountability for the use of those funds.”

Mook and school board members want to see parents reach out to their local elected representatives to voice their concerns regarding the voucher expansion.