06-05-2025
School Choice Ohio celebrates 20 years, addresses voucher concerns
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — School Choice Ohio toasted to two decades of operations last week as the educational movement it fights for continues to make headlines amid Ohio's budget debates.
School Choice Ohio celebrated 20 years of fighting for school choice, or expanded educational opportunities that emphasize parental control. In Ohio, this is closely linked with Ohio's five voucher programs, which provide state scholarships for students to attend private schools. Of them, EdChoice and EdChoice Expansion have the largest participation by far and allow at least partial scholarships for all students, regardless of financial need.
NBC4 spoke with School Choice Ohio leadership before its anniversary party at the Columbus Athletic Club. President Eric 'Yitz' Frank said the organization is proud of the work it has done to increase options for parents.
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'We've spent the past 20 years communicating with hundreds of thousands of parents around the state and helping place them in better educational environments for their children and concurrently working with the legislature and governor to pass policies that help empower them,' Frank said.
EdChoice has made headlines lately as public school districts speak out against Ohio's proposed biennial budget. In its current version, which passed the Ohio House, the budget does not implement the third phase of a school funding formula. School districts say the decision would cost public schools millions in state funding while expanding budgets for voucher programs.
NBC4 asked Frank about the budget issues, and he said School Choice Ohio vouches for all education options. He said legislators have access to data that the general public may not have. Contrary to public district and educational nonprofits' impact estimates, he said some lawmakers believe districts are overinflating their need, although Frank neither agreed nor disagreed with this idea.
'I think that the state has proven that they can fund public schools adequately and school choice programs, they will do it again this budget and they will do it again in the future,' Frank said.
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Walter Banks Jr., national spokesperson for the American Federation for Children, said his life was changed — if not saved — by Ohio's EdChoice scholarship program. Banks said his mother went to his public school, which told her they would turn around the middle and high schools within five years.
'My mom knew I didn't have that much time to wait when it came to my education, so much so that she said, 'In five years, Walter will either be in jail or in a bodybag,'' Banks said. 'Because of the EdChoice scholarship program, I quickly found myself in an environment where I wasn't bullied every single day.'
Banks also attended the 20th anniversary party, representing the American Federation for Children (AFC), founded by former Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos. NBC News found it helped fuel a rapid influx of public funding for private Christian schools.
A national nonprofit challenged Ohio's allotment of tax dollars to private Christian schools, and it is a common criticism of the voucher system. However, state Republicans said it is constitutional because parents are able to choose where the money goes. A Utah court recently ruled voucher programs are unconstitutional, and Ohio's voucher system is currently being challenged in court. See previous coverage of the lawsuit in the video player above.
In fiscal year 2024, Ohio allocated just under $1 billion to voucher programs, more than $667.6 million of which went to EdChoice and EdChoice-Exp scholarships. NBC4 analyzed data for all 91 EdChoice and 139 EdChoice-Exp schools that received more than $1 million from the state and found all of them were religiously affiliated.
'We support putting dollars in the hands of families,' Frank said. 'If they want to take those dollars and take it to a religious school, or a satanic school or a secular school, we support all of that. These are private decisions made by private families.'
Banks said having choices expanded opportunities immensely, especially for low-income or minority students. He pointed to a new study by the Urban Institute, a nonprofit research organization, which found students were more likely to graduate college when they participated in EdChoice. Banks said the significant differences for low-income and Black students stood out to him, as he connected with them personally.
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'When primarily lower income, minority families are given the option to pick the best educational environment for them, it has lifelong impacts, not just in K-12 but even beyond that when it comes to graduating college or actually going out into society to contribute and I'm living proof of that,' Banks said. 'The life that I live now is because of school choice.'
According to state data, 89% of participants in both EdChoice and EdChoice-Exp programs in the 2024-2025 school year were not low-income qualified. However, Frank said that data only accounts for students who specifically declared their income status, which he alleged skews the data. Frank estimates about 50% of students have economic need for voucher programs, an area he has expertise in but NBC4 is unable to independently verify.
Attorneys representing the six public school districts suing the state over voucher programs argued vouchers increase racial segregation, among other things. Franklin County Common Pleas Court heard oral arguments from both sides last week, and Judge Jaiza Page will now make a ruling or refer the case to trial.
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