Ohio Appeals Court Rules EdChoice Vouchers Unconstitutional — and Leaves Them Running
Ohio's 10th District Court of Appeals ruled on Oct. 15 that the state's private school voucher program, EdChoice and EdChoice Expansion, violates the Ohio Constitution. The three-judge panel — Judge David Leland, who wrote the opinion, joined by Judges Kristin Boggs and Shawn Dingus — voted 3-0 to uphold Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Jaiza Page's June 2025 decision. The court stayed its own ruling, so the program keeps operating while the state appeals.
Leland wrote that the name "EdChoice" is misleading because the choice sits with the private schools, not the parents: those schools decide whom to admit and whom to turn away. In the panel's words, EdChoice "as presently structured and funded, secures with taxpayer funds a competing system of uncommon schools that is not subject to the same obligations imposed on Ohio's system of common schools." Participating private schools, the court found, face substantially less state oversight.
First, the panel held that the program breaks Article VI, Section 2 of the state constitution, which requires a "thorough and efficient system of common schools." Vouchers fund a second school system that operates with little oversight, can use discriminatory admissions policies, and is largely unavailable to rural Ohioans who still pay for it. Second, the court found the program "drawing taxpayer money away from public schools" and "cherry-picking students from public schools, causing financial hardship." It noted uncontested evidence that some EdChoice private schools get a majority of their funding from vouchers, and that some public districts receive less in total state per-pupil funding than private schools inside them collect in voucher dollars.
The ruling cites more than $1.4 billion in taxpayer spending on the voucher system. Statehouse News Bureau reporting puts current enrollment at about 180,000 students since the 2023 expansion made the program near-universal; other coverage describes more than 100,000 families using vouchers. Ohio spent over $1.1 billion on its scholarship programs in fiscal 2026, more than $800 million of it on EdChoice, at $6,166 per K-8 student and $8,408 per high schooler in 2025-26.
Republican Attorney General Andy Wilson said his office is disappointed but appreciates that the court stayed its decision, "so the EdChoice program will continue uninterrupted as we appeal to the Ohio Supreme Court." He defended the program: "The current system does not hurt our public schools... This is about a family's choice on how they want to educate their kids." Gov. Mike DeWine called the ruling legally wrong and said it was always understood the state's high court would have the final word. House Speaker Matt Huffman, a Republican, said school choice laws have been upheld repeatedly by courts over decades and "the decision of one of 12 courts of appeal in Ohio will not affect that."
School Choice Ohio President Yitz Frank said the group "vehemently" disagrees and is confident the Ohio Supreme Court will side with them on appeal, warning of a "devastating" outcome for families if the ruling stands. Brian Hickey of the Catholic Conference of Ohio said pulling scholarships would not improve educational outcomes. Families represented by the Institute for Justice and EdChoice Legal Advocates have also vowed to defend the program before the high court.
The plaintiffs — more than 300 public school districts organized as the Vouchers Hurt Ohio coalition — argued the state shirked its constitutional duty to public education while sending growing sums to private schools that can reject applicants. Coalition figure William L. Phillis called it a "$1 billion boondoggle for mostly religious schools" and "a refund and rebate program for mostly wealthy families whose children were already enrolled in private schools," adding that "local taxpayers are left holding the $2 billion bill." Senate Democrats said tax dollars should fund a single system open to all children, and that EdChoice creates "a separate, and unequal system of schools — one for the haves and one for the have nots."
The state is expected to appeal to the Ohio Supreme Court, where seven justices — now 6-1 Republican, with partisan labels on the ballot since 2021 — hold the final say. The ruling is narrow: it does not ban every voucher model, and the equal protection and segregation claims were rejected at the trial level. Until the high court rules, vouchers keep flowing and families see no immediate change.