Ordained Minister Opposes Ohio’s School Voucher Program Despite Catholic Education
A pastor with 13 years of Catholic education says Ohio’s voucher program primarily subsidizes families already in private school rather than expanding access.
COLUMBUS, OHIO — A pastor who attended Catholic school for 13 years has written a critique of Ohio’s private school voucher program, arguing that it primarily subsidizes families who already chose private education rather than expanding access to new students.
The ordained minister, writing for the Ohio Capital Journal, stated he remains “firmly, unequivocally opposed to Ohio’s school voucher program” despite his personal experience with Catholic education and his continued commitment to the values those schools provided.
“No child will be denied a Catholic education,” the author recalled hearing throughout his childhood, describing it as “a moral declaration: that access to a values-grounded education shouldn’t depend on a family’s bank account.”
Voucher Program Statistics Challenged
The pastor cited specific data showing that roughly 90% of Ohio’s EdChoice voucher scholarships are going to students who were already enrolled in private school. “That’s not expanding access. That’s a subsidy,” he wrote.
He argued this public funding comes “directly at the expense of the 90% of Ohio students who attend public schools.” Every dollar redirected through vouchers, according to his analysis, represents money that doesn’t reach essential services like speech therapists, school counselors, science labs, or building renovations needed by public schools.
Fair School Funding Plan Concerns
The author referenced Ohio’s Fair School Funding Plan, which he said legislators failed to fully implement. He argued that vouchers don’t fill that funding gap but instead widen it.
According to the pastor, certain politicians are now “prioritizing private school students with more public dollars per pupil than the local public school receives.”
Personal Family Experience
The minister described how his parents paid private school tuition out of pocket while also paying taxes that funded Ohio’s public schools. “They never complained about that arrangement,” he wrote.
He acknowledged that his parents and other families making similar choices understood that “a voucher program would have made their lives easier.” However, they chose to carry the cost anyway because “they understood something that Ohio’s voucher advocates seem to have forgotten: a commitment to your own children’s education doesn’t require defunding someone else’s.”
The pastor concluded that the voucher debate “was never really about parents like mine” or about “helping working families stretch toward a private education for their kids,” pointing to the statistical evidence as support for his position.
