On April 10 The Columbus Dispatch published an editorial by State Representative Sandra O’Brien (R-Ashtabula) supporting House Bill 11, the “Backpack Bill.” In her editorial Rep. O’Brien said the bill “offers the best educational opportunity for students of both public and private schools.”
Current school voucher laws already provide private school students with a significant amount of taxpayers’ money. Toledo area private schools receive on average about $500 more per student from the state than the public Northern Lake League schools. Statewide, school voucher laws move millions of dollars annually from the Ohio public school budget to private school coffers.
HB-11 will expand that, costing the state an additional $1.13 billion, according to the non-partisan Ohio Legislative Services Commission. Backpack Bill sponsor, Riordan McClain (R-Upper Sandusky), says the OLSC’s cost estimate is too high because not all eligible students will take the money and move to a private school. He’s right for two reasons. First, even with the public taxpayer subsidy, private schools are still too expensive for many lower income families. Second, it is legal for private schools to, without explanation, turn away any student they don’t find desirable, including students with special needs. So, not all eligible students will be welcome in private schools for reasons unknown to the very taxpayers who willingly or unwillingly fund them.
Rep. O’Brien said the bill is good for private schools. She’s right. It is good for private schools. But not for private school students or their parents because private schools are nearly unregulated. They don’t have to conduct the same testing as public schools and they don’t have to report what testing they do conduct. Further, unlike public schools, private schools don’t have to report how they spend the taxpayers’ money they receive or tuition they collect. So, the parents and students at private schools are at the mercy of private sector administrators to know how school money is being spent, how much is going to instruction (instead of, say, legal defense fees), and how effective that education really is.
For these reasons, and many others (including separation of church and state) any increase of public taxpayer funds going to private schools expands a tax boondoggle, which is also supported by Sen. Theresa Gavarone (R- whose unconstitutionally gerrymandered district includes Bowling Green, Sandusky, Perrysburg and some oddly shaped pieces of Toledo.)
Rick Busselle
Bowling Green
