William Phillis started teaching in 1958. “I’ve always liked the idea of schooling. I’ve always liked the idea of the public school system,” said Phillis. Only five years before, the people of Ohio passed a constitutional amendment to create a Board of Education, and schooling in the state was changing rapidly. “The state started making progress in terms of curriculum and programs for kids,” he said. “At that point in time, there was no vocation, there were no charter schools, there were no vouchers.”
School vouchers are public funds that help parents pay for education at private schools—ostensibly to give children in low-performing public schools the chance to attend a participating private school. The first major voucher programs were introduced in the 1990s. “There’s only going to be a certain portion of the state general revenue fund going to education,” Phillis said. “And so for every dollar that’s taken out of school districts and given to charters and vouchers, it’s a dollar less that’s provided for public education.”
The Cleveland Scholarship Program was started in 1996, which allowed Cleveland parents to use public money for tuition at private schools as well as allowing students to attend schools in neighboring districts. The Educational Choice Scholarship expanded the program in 2005. Last year, House Bill 33 revised the EdChoice program to include all students— regardless of school district performance or family income. Ohio now spends more than $970 million on private school voucher scholarships.
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