Elida schools to stay in voucher lawsuit

ELIDA — The Elida school board renewed its participation in the coalition of public schools suing Ohio’s EdChoice voucher system in a split vote Tuesday.

A motion to pay Elida’s dues toward the Ohio Coalition for Equity and Adequacy of School Funding and EdChoice litigation — for a combined cost of $4,110 for the upcoming school year — passed by a 3-2 vote, with board members David Peters and Jaired Birks opposed.

“Why are we spending money on this?” said Peters, adding: “I’m not sure why we can’t be for public education and private education.”

Elida schools joined the lawsuit in September 2021, becoming one of more than 250 school districts to support litigation against Ohio’s voucher program, which provides taxpayer-funded scholarships for students to attend private schoolx.

The district spent nearly $11,600 on the lawsuit since then, excluding dues for the upcoming school year approved on Tuesday.

Peters unsuccessfully tried to introduce a resolution last month withdrawing Elida from the lawsuit, but the board did not take a formal vote on the resolution.

Peters resumed discussion Tuesday when he suggested the board reject a motion to continue paying dues to the Coalition for Equity and Adequacy of School Funding, which represents school districtions in litigation against the state.

A majority of board members voted to continue supporting the lawsuit, which President Jeffrey Point described as “necessary” litigation.

“What they’re doing with the way the voucher system is set up is a violation of the Ohio constitution,” Point said, referring to a constitutional mandate that the state provide a “thorough and efficient system of common schools.”

Point defended the original voucher program, which provided taxpayer-funded scholarships for students to leave struggling Cleveland schools for private schools in the 1990s.

Most families using vouchers today were already sending their children to private schools, Point said.

“They’re not going out from public schools for private schools necessarily, but it’s those that are within the private establishment are now taking that money, and that’s not what school funding was designed for,” he said.

“So there’s a billion dollars that is not available to us as public schools.”

The lawsuit is set to go to trial in November.