COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Ohio House's proposed budget increases the private school voucher system by $500 million and only gives half of that to public schools.
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine visited a public school Monday morning, hearing from teachers and kids about literacy efforts. But schools like Hamilton Elementary School in Columbus may have to undergo massive cuts under the proposed state budget.
"Are you worried about that?" I asked the governor about the elimination of the Fair School Funding Plan in the budget. "And do you see the concerns from teachers, from superintendents, from kids?"
"Sure, look, I received communication from parents, communication from school superintendents," the governor responded. "What I tell them is they're doing the right thing. They should make their point of view available to the governor, but they also should do it to their legislators."
I've been talking to parents like Kia Woodward for months now, who are stressing about funding for their kids.
"It's disheartening to see that people are trying to shut [public school] doors and just trying to shut it with funding," Woodward said.
While House Speaker Matt Huffman (R-Lima) and Finance Chair Brian Stewart (R-Ashville) say the state doesn't have enough to fund public education — slashing its expected budget by hundreds of millions — the same leaders have given even more money to the private school voucher system, giving taxpayer dollars to nonpublic schools.
My previous story goes much more in-depth about the voucher program.
In the proposed budget, public schools would get about a $220 million increase, while private schools are set to receive double that — $500 million.
RELATED: Ohio House GOP budget proposal slashes public school funding
Huffman and Stewart argue that what they are doing is actually giving more over the biennium than in FY25 to public schools, just not as much as they had hoped — or were expecting due to the FSFP.
"Well, when you see the proposal, which was, 'We'll just increase the inputs to FY '24,' that was the ask — it cost $1.8 billion to the taxpayer," Stewart responded. "We simply don't have it."
That is misleading, Democrats argue.
"What is being produced is likely one of the lowest state shares in our state's history... meaning that it's even less state money going into our schools than when this was deemed unconstitutional," Finance Ranking Member Bride Rose Sweeney (D-Cleveland) said.
"You have the privilege to send your kid wherever you want to, and you're gonna use my tax dollars to do it, and I don't have the right for my kids to go to school and be in a safe building," Woodward said.
Parent and conservative activist Greg Lawson is on the other side of the debate — arguing that dollars are best served following each individual child to the best school of choice.
"I spend a lot of tax money, my tax money... I want a little bit of that back so that I am able to put my student where I think it's the right thing," Lawson said.
Some Republicans argue that poor-performing school districts may not be spending money wisely. Woodward responded that public schools face audits, while nonpublic schools don't have to follow transparency guidelines.
For a further in-depth recap of education funding, click here.
"There is no way to tell where they are spending that money or what they're doing with it," I said to Lawson. "Should we be having that with taxpayer dollars?"
"Well, look, I think that we could have some further conversation about that," he responded. "I think we want to be very careful on how we do it because what we don't wanna see happen is a heavy hand of the government coming in and then dictating certain things from a curriculum standpoint."
The governor sits in the middle of this debate, saying he wants to protect public schools — despite cutting 100 million from what they were expecting, as well — while also providing choice for families.
"We are still early on this process," DeWine said.
The budget will likely be passed out of the House this week, but it still has to go through the Senate.
Follow WEWS statehouse reporter Morgan Trau on Twitter and Facebook.
