School-choice rally draws 1,000-plus

More than 1,000 students, teachers and school officials rallied outside the Statehouse on Tuesday to thank lawmakers for helping parents have a choice about where their children attend school.

There was much for them to celebrate.

Gov. John Kasich and the Republicancontrolled General Assembly are preparing to pass a state budget that increases per-pupil funding for charter schools and private schools. In addition, legislators are considering a bill to expand statewide a program offering tax-funded vouchers for privateschool tuition.

“I wanted the same opportunity of attending a school full of students like me (interested) in achieving our long-term goal of obtaining higher education,” said Victoria Langley, a sophomore at Cristo Rey Columbus High School, a Catholic college-prep academy.

Private-school tuition, she said, would not have been affordable for her family without a schoolchoice voucher to cover the cost.

Several legislators who spoke at the rally shot down criticism that school choice is an attack on traditional public schools. It’s about choice for parents and their children, the legislators said.

“Some of our families feel they need another choice,” said Senate President Larry Obhof, R-Medina.

House Education Chairman Andrew Brenner, R-Powell, said, “School choice is the civil-rights issue of our day. This is the right for every parent and student to go to the school of their choice and make a decision in the best interest of their family and kids.”

About 120,000 students attend tax-funded, privately operated charter schools in Ohio, and about 45,000 go to private schools using one of the five state-paid voucher programs.

“We’re here to support parents as the primary educators of their children,” said Sister John Paul, principal of St. Michael School, a Catholic K-8 school in Worthington.

“It’s important to us that parents have the freedom to choose what is best for their child and their education. For St. Michael School, our parents are choosing a Catholic education for their child.

“School choice recognizes that all parents have different financial situations, and it creates more equality for our parents to make a choice based on what they think is best for their child.”