Columbus, OH – On Monday, The Buckeye Institute filed its second amicus brief in Columbus City School District v. State of Ohio, rebutting the school districts’ claim that Ohio’s school choice program violates the equal protection clause of the Ohio Constitution.

“The argument put forward by the anti-school choice coalition reveals that money is what this case is about. Not the education achievements of Ohio’s children,” said David C. Tryon, director of litigation at The Buckeye Institute. “The strict uniformity in funding that the schools demand ignores the fact that there is no correlation between increased funding and improved education.”

In its brief, The Buckeye Institute argues that 1) the goal of education, going back as far as the Northwest Ordinance, is to provide a basic education necessary for a self-governing people, it was never to provide equal funding to education bureaucracies; 2) the state gives money to public schools based on a funding formula, which provides different amounts to different schools, something the school districts do not argue violates the equal protection clause; 3) studies demonstrate that increases in funding does not correlate to improved education outcomes; and 4) the Ohio Supreme Court has already ruled that schools outside of the traditional public school system are a part of the “thorough and efficient system of common schools” in Ohio.

“The plaintiff’s underlying theme in its appeal is that money equals education and that more money means better education. This trope has long been refuted, both nationally and in Ohio,” said Greg R. Lawson, research fellow at The Buckeye Institute. “Ohio’s school choice program is designed to give parents the resources they need to educate their children in a way that best fits their children’s needs. It recognizes that education is not, and never has been, one-size-fits-all.”

In its first amicus brief in Columbus City School District v. State of Ohio, The Buckeye Institute called on Ohio’s 10th District Court of Appeals to protect school choice for parents and students who have benefited from voucher programs and those who will benefit from them in the future.

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