Ohio spent more than a billion dollars on private school vouchers for the second consecutive year during the latest fiscal year, while an Ohio appellate court recently ruled the state's EdChoice program unconstitutional. Data from the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce indicates that the total amount for Ohio’s five private school voucher programs reached $1.173 billion for the 2026 fiscal year. This spending comes as an appellate court ruled last Thursday that the EdChoice voucher program is unconstitutional. Interim Ohio Republican Attorney General Andy Wilson stated last Thursday that he intends to appeal the decision to the Ohio Supreme Court.
The $1.173 billion figure is slightly below the nonpartisan Ohio Legislative Service Commission’s estimated $1.18 billion for the voucher programs for fiscal year 2026. Nearly half of the money, totaling $532.8 million, was allocated through the Education Choice Expansion vouchers, according to the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce. This marks the third full year with near-universal school vouchers, following lawmakers' expansion of Education Choice Expansion eligibility to 450% of the poverty line three years ago via the state budget.
Critics voice concerns about the state's allocation of funds. Melissa Cropper, president of the Ohio Federation of Teachers, stated it is frustrating to see money go to vouchers when public schools are not yet fully and fairly funded. She added that policymakers are funneling a lot of money to private schools instead of fully funding public institutions. Jeff Wensing, president of the Ohio Education Association, also called for the state to fully fund public schools. He expressed concern that policymakers are diverting over $1.1 billion annually to private schools, noting that these are public tax dollars going to largely unaccountable private schools.
Wensing also asserted that it is an illegal use of taxpayer money, characterizing the program as a "handout to the wealthy" that largely benefits students already enrolled in private schools, often from affluent families.
Despite the appellate court's ruling, the EdChoice program will remain in existence, as the judges anticipated an appeal by the state. Attorney General Wilson's planned appeal will go before the Ohio Supreme Court, which is controlled by Republicans with a 6-1 majority. Ohio Republican state lawmakers made Ohio Supreme Court races overtly partisan by adding party labels in 2021.
The five private school scholarship programs in Ohio are the Autism Scholarship Program, the Jon Peterson Special Needs Scholarship Program, the Cleveland Scholarship, the Education Choice Scholarship, and the Educational Choice Expansion Scholarship Program. Under the EdChoice vouchers, K-8 students can receive a $6,166 scholarship, while high schoolers can receive $8,408 in state funding.
Data from the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce details the number of scholarships awarded and average amounts per participant across the programs: * More than 105,000 EdChoice Expansion scholarships were awarded, averaging $5,114 per participant. * More than 42,000 traditional EdChoice scholarships were awarded for a total of $284.6 million, with an average of $6,807 per participant. * The Cleveland scholarship saw more than 8,000 scholarships awarded for a total of $55.09 million, averaging $6,875 per participant. * For the Autism Scholarship, more than 6,000 scholarships were awarded for a total of $186.7 million, with an average of $30,318 per participant. * The Jon Peterson Scholarship accounted for more than 9,000 scholarships, totaling $114.2 million, with an average of $13,511 per participant.
The Ohio Department of Education and Workforce data also shows a decline in the number of students enrolled in Ohio’s public schools, with 1,629,346 students during the 2025-26 school year. Conversely, the number of students enrolled in nonpublic schools has been on the rise. Total payments for these five scholarship programs for the past five fiscal years are also available through Ohio Department of Education and Workforce data.
