Public school leaders across the state are speaking out against a state lawmaker’s bill they say is designed to force them to stop fighting the state’s school choice voucher program in court.
House Bill 671, introduced by Ohio Rep. Jamie Callender, R-Concord, would strip state funding for any public school participating in lawsuits against the state’s EdChoice voucher program, which has been expanded to allow nearly all students to receive vouchers to attend private schools, not just those who are low-income. Callender’s bill was introduced on Feb. 2 and has been referred to the Ohio House Finance Committee.
In 2022, 100 public schools sued over the private school voucher program. That coalition, called Vouchers Hurt Ohio, has since tripled in size to more than 300 public schools and associations statewide. In June 2025, the group won a lawsuit after a Franklin County judge ruled that using public funding for private school education was unconstitutional. The state has since appealed the decision.
Among the Summit County public school districts that have joined Vouchers Hurt Ohio’s voucher challenge are Akron, Barberton, Cuyahoga Falls, Hudson, Nordonia Hills, Norton, Twinsburg and Woodridge. The Educational Service Center of Northeast Ohio, whose member districts include Akron, Barberton, Revere and Twinsburg, is also participating in the lawsuit.
William Phillis, executive director of the Ohio Coalition for Equity and Adequacy of School Funding, which is behind Vouchers Hurt Ohio, said the legislation was «purely an intimidation tactic» during a Feb. 12 press conference at the Ohio Statehouse.
«And that intimidation tactic didn’t work,» Phillis said. «So in a sense, Representative Callender has given us a gift – he raised public attention to the egregious nature of this kind of legislation.»