The state of Ohio is allocating taxpayer funds to private, religious schools to support the construction of new buildings and the expansion of their campuses, marking a rare occurrence in contemporary U.S. history.
While numerous states have recently implemented comprehensive school voucher programs that provide parents with taxpayer money for private school tuition, Ohio has taken a direct approach. According to legislation passed by its Legislature this summer, the state is now awarding millions of dollars in grants directly to religious schools, primarily Catholic, to renovate buildings, construct classrooms, enhance playgrounds, and more.
The primary aim of these grants, as stated by the bill’s chief architect, Matt Huffman, is to increase the capacity of private schools to accommodate more voucher students promptly.
“The capacity issue is the next big issue on the horizon” for voucher initiatives, Huffman, the Ohio Senate president and a Republican, told the Columbus Dispatch.
Huffman did not respond to ProPublica’s requests for comment.
Historically, federal taxpayer money has occasionally been used to repair and improve private K-12 schools, such as following Hurricane Katrina and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Churches operating schools often receive governmental funding for their social services, and some orthodox Jewish schools in New York have relied on substantial financial support from the city, according to findings by The New York Times.
However, national experts on education funding assert that Ohio’s current actions represent a distinct departure from past practices.
“This is new, dangerous ground, funding new voucher schools,” said Josh Cowen, a senior fellow at the Education Law Center and author of a recent book on the history of billionaire-led voucher efforts. Historically, churches have depended on conservative philanthropy, fundraising drives, or diocesan support to build their schools, Cowen noted.
Until now, they have not been able to construct schools explicitly using public funds.
“This breaks through the myth,” commented David Pepper, a political writer and former chairman of the Ohio Democratic Party. Pepper explained that courts have long permitted voucher programs, asserting they do not breach the constitutionally mandated separation of church and state because a publicly funded voucher technically passes through a parent before reaching a religious school.
Ohio’s latest measures, however, directly fund the establishment of a separate religious educational system. Pepper emphasized that if this goes unnoticed, “It will happen in other states — they all learn from each other like laboratories.”
The Ohio Constitution mandates the General Assembly to “secure a thorough and efficient system of common schools throughout the state,” while stipulating that no religious or other sect shall have exclusive right to or control of any part of the school funds.
Nonetheless, Troy McIntosh, executive director of the Ohio Christian Education Network, which includes several schools that received the new grants, revealed to the Lima News that part of the rationale for allocating public dollars to private school expansion is to ensure “Christian school options are available to any kid who chooses that in the state.”
When initially introduced in the 1990s, vouchers in Ohio were limited to parents of children attending underfunded public schools in Cleveland. The intent was to provide these families with funds to potentially afford better private school tuition, thus empowering them with school choice.
Over the years, Ohio expanded voucher eligibility to a broader segment of applicants. Last year, legislators, along with Gov. Mike DeWine, extended the most notable voucher program, EdChoice, to all Ohio families.
This represented a significant victory for Ohio’s school-choice proponents. However, a challenge remains: in many parts of Ohio and other states, particularly rural areas, parents cannot utilize the new voucher money because private schools are either too distant or already at full capacity.
This situation has become a significant political issue for voucher advocates, with rural conservatives increasingly opposed to their tax dollars funding vouchers for upper-middle-class families in metropolitan areas with more private school options.
In April, the Buckeye Institute, an Ohio-based conservative think tank associated with the Koch brothers’ political advocacy group Americans for Prosperity, acknowledged the issue. In a policy memo, the institute suggested lawmakers should find “additional solutions to address the growing need for classroom space” in private and charter schools, noting the success of the Ohio EdChoice program. One recommendation was to leverage the Ohio One-Time Strategic Community Investment Fund for construction and repair of buildings, among other “capital projects.”
Subsequently, the Legislature followed suit. Led by Huffman, Republicans discreetly included at least $4 million in grants to private schools within a larger budget bill. This maneuver faced little debate, partly due to the overwhelming scope of budget bills and the Republican supermajorities in both Ohio legislative chambers.
According to an Ohio Legislative Service Commission report, the grants, some exceeding a million dollars, were allocated to various Catholic schools. ProPublica contacted administrators at these schools to determine their plans for the new taxpayer funds, but responses were either unavailable or indicated uncertainty. Unlike public schools, private schools are not obligated to disclose budget details to the public even if they now receive public funding.
William L. Phillis, executive director of the Ohio Coalition for Equity & Adequacy of School Funding, noted that the total grant amount of approximately $4 million this year might appear modest. However, he highlighted that Ohio’s voucher program began similarly small three decades ago and has since grown into a billion-dollar system.
“They get their foot in the door with a few million dollars in infrastructure funding,” Phillis remarked. “It sets a precedent, and eventually hundreds of millions will be going to private school construction.”
Mollie Simon contributed to this report.
