The Thursday media event in Butler County – put on at the Hamilton office of the Butler County Educational Services Center – saw dozens of area superintendents and school board members from Butler, Warren and Hamilton county join forces.
They hope to publicly pressure Ohio legislators into rescinding or amending the new EdChoice options, which would apply starting with the 2020-2021, and enlist the public to do the same.
The application window for school parents to apply for EdChoice tuition vouchers starts Feb. 1, and in recent weeks, public school officials have intensified their social media campaigns.
Jon Graft, superintendent of Butler Tech career schools, said:
A politician is a person involved in party politics. An elected official should represent ALL of their community...there is a SIGNIFICANT difference between the two. Fix school funding in Ohio for all of the community! Don't help one at the expense of another. #education #CTE
— Jon Graft (@JonGraft) January 14, 2020
Billy Smith, superintendent of the 10,000-student Fairfield Schools, has been one of the more vocal critics of EdChoice on social media:
Our public schools and communities deserve more than small “fixes” to the voucher program! Make sure your voice is heard! Time is of the essence! https://t.co/ORdPwVaQlZ
— Billy Smith (@fcsdsuper) January 14, 2020
Fairfield Board of Education member Balena Shorter commented on a Facebook posting:
“The cat is out of the bag. Vouchers are about channeling public dollars into private hands. The initial push was couched in the notion that economically disadvantaged kids needed an escape route from failing schools. Many were uncomfortable with this use of public dollars, but it was easier to sell the program to many by focusing initially on this at risk group. Now as many feared, the scheme seems to be to simply fund private, predominantly parochial schools with tax dollars by cleverly deeming the majority of public schools as underperforming. The aggressive voucher lobby is enabled by too many willing politicians who want education privatized. I was hopeful about legislative fixes, but I’m concerned….”
Ed Theroux, superintendent of Talawanda Schools, tweeted:
EdChoice, School Funding, and the report card NEED to be fixed NOW. Contact our legislators. It is time to fix all of it and NOT piecemeal/bandaid or ignore the issues. https://t.co/gSNPrfJH6k
— Edward Theroux (@TalawandaSupt) January 17, 2020
Mike Holbrook, superintendent of the 10,000-student Hamilton Schools, tweeted:
If EdChoice is truly about students, a logical solution ... Scholarships should only be available to the students that score below "proficient" on state testing. Any student scoring "proficient" or higher isn’t failing! @BCESCsupt @MCSDSuper @fcsdsuper @BillColeyOH @FriendsofSara
— Michael Holbrook (@Hamilton_Supt) January 16, 2020
Marlon Styles Jr., superintendent of Middletown Schools, tweeted:
Please activate your voice and email, call, and write letters to elected officials advocating for #IMMEDIATE change to the EdChoice Voucher program. They need to hear from everyone including you! https://t.co/jTo2Bq2fqQ
— Marlon Styles (@MCSDSuper) January 17, 2020
Even non-school officials are weighing in such as Hamilton Vice Mayor Michael Ryan, who tweeted:
I’m hopeful @Sara4Ohio and @BillColeyOH will continue to fight for our community and resolve EdChoice.
— Michael V. Ryan (@MichaelRyan316) December 8, 2019
This will negatively impact @Hamilton_CSD and the @HamiltonOh community. This will be devastating if not resolved.
https://t.co/y0FHHQjp1E
And Ohio Representative Sara Curruthers (R-Hamilton) used Facebook Friday to push back and criticized public school officials recent public lobbying:
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