EdChoice Vouchers

Ohio now runs one of the country's most expansive school-voucher programs, and a trial court has already ruled it unconstitutional. The fight over EdChoice — how much public money it diverts, who actually benefits, and whether it can survive Article VI — is a defining education and budget question of the 2026 election, and its survival may turn on the Ohio Supreme Court.

Near-universal by design

The 2023 budget made the EdChoice Expansion Scholarship effectively universal: any family earning up to 450% of the federal poverty line — $135,000 for a family of four — gets a full voucher, and higher earners get tiered partial ones. K-8 students receive up to $6,166; high schoolers up to $8,408. The 2026–27 budget went further, adding Education Savings Accounts worth 75% of the voucher for families at non-chartered nonpublic schools and expanding the homeschool tax credit from a flat $250 per household to $250 per student.

The money, and who gets it

In FY25 the state spent more than $1.09 billion across its five voucher programs — EdChoice Expansion alone $492.8 million, well past Legislative Service Commission estimates. More than 143,000 students used EdChoice vouchers. The distributional catch is the heart of the critique: public districts serve about 88% of Ohio students, but the universal voucher flows to the roughly 12% in nonpublic schools — and district data show upwards of 95% of expanded-voucher users were already enrolled in private school. The state is subsidizing existing private tuition, not moving students out of struggling public schools. Every voucher dollar competes with the unfunded Fair School Funding formula in the same budget.

Vouchers Hurt Ohio

In 2022 a coalition operating as Vouchers Hurt Ohio — more than 300 districts, roughly half the state's — sued, arguing EdChoice violates Article VI of the Ohio Constitution: the duty to fund a single "thorough and efficient" public system, and the bar on any religious sect controlling school funds. It is the DeRolph argument turned on the voucher system.

On June 24, 2025, Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Jaiza Page issued a 47-page ruling declaring EdChoice unconstitutional — that the state "may not fund private schools at the expense of public schools," that the program funds religious institutions and creates a "second system of uncommon, private schools" barred by Article VI, Section 2. She stayed her ruling pending appeal, so the program keeps running. (Coalition size is reported variously — some accounts say ~200 districts, others 300-plus.)

The appeal and the retaliation

AG Dave Yost appealed to the 10th District Court of Appeals; oral arguments are set for May 12, 2026 in Columbus (the Institute for Justice and a group representing Catholic parents are appealing alongside the state). The case is widely expected to reach the Ohio Supreme Court, tying the voucher system's fate to the court's balance on the ballot.

Meanwhile the Ohio General Assembly moved to punish the plaintiffs. HB 671 (Rep. Jamie Callender, R-Concord, early 2026) would let the Department of Education and Workforce withhold state foundation funding from any district in the coalition, holding it in escrow until the district drops the suit. Callender floated narrowing it to litigation costs. Columbus City Schools faced a projected ~$150 million loss under the original text. Legal scholars call HB 671 an unconstitutional strike at districts' right to petition the courts.

Charters in the same frame

EdChoice sits alongside Ohio's charter sector, which drew $1.56 billion in state funding for 2025–26 — more than the state sends its eight largest urban districts combined. That sector still operates under the shadow of ECOT (Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow), the online charter that closed in 2018 after ~$60 million in enrollment-fraud clawbacks — the standing proof that public per-pupil money without verified accountability invites abuse. Ohio law requires charters to be non-profits, yet roughly 150 of 313 contract operations to for-profit managers.

Why it matters in 2026

• The courts. The Ohio Supreme Court's balance decides whether near-universal vouchers survive — a direct line from the ballot to the program.
• Governor. Candidates split between fully funding public schools and questioning voucher growth versus defending near-universal eligibility and "results-first" funding.
• Legislature. The Ohio General Assembly wrote the universal expansion and HB 671, and controls whether both stand — those seats are up.