Advocacy group Honesty for Ohio Education mounts defense of public schools, targets voucher funding

A nonprofit called Honesty for Ohio Education is stepping up its advocacy for public schools in Ohio, where some observers believe public education is under pressure. The group, which describes itself as nonpartisan, is also pushing back against funding for private school vouchers.

Earlier this year, the organization launched a campaign at a Columbus press conference calling for more openness about how school vouchers are used. It is working with two state senators, one Democrat and one Republican, on Senate Bill 443, dubbed the "Take the Dough, We Gotta Know Act." The measure would require private schools that receive voucher money to be more transparent. The bill has not yet received a hearing.

Executive Director Christina Collins said the group is taking an all-in approach amid what she called a "crisis" in public education. It has created a website, "Vouchers Aren't Free," which describes the private-school scholarships as "theft from public education." The group is also urging people to back a lawsuit, filed by more than 300 schools, that challenges the constitutionality of vouchers, and it uses its website to explain how policy decisions have affected school funding.

Collins pointed to a third of the state's schools projecting budget deficits within the next couple of years. "That is not a sign of mismanagement or over-allocation," she said. "That is a sign of something real that is really happening to those schools." Dozens of Ohio schools have moved to close buildings and lay off staff in 2025 and 2026.

She listed several pressures on districts: fewer students as birth rates fall, rising costs for goods and services, and the state's failure to fully fund the Fair School Funding Plan in its last budget. Gov. Mike DeWine also signed several property-tax relief measures last year that are expected to reduce schools' local tax revenue over the next three years. In addition, the Ax Ohio Tax movement, which seeks to eliminate all property taxes in the state, fell short of the signatures needed for the 2026 ballot but plans to try again for November 2027.

Piet van Lier, the group's deputy director and a co-founder, acknowledged that Ohio needs broader reforms to how it funds schools and government in order to ease the burden on taxpayers. Ending all property taxes, though, is not the answer, he said. "What we're doing is making this system work for wealthier people," he said.

Honesty for Ohio Education formed in 2021 as a coalition of public education advocates and obtained nonprofit status in 2024. Its board includes people from policy advocacy and education, among them Jeff Wensing of the Ohio Education Association and Melissa Cropper of the Ohio Federation of Teachers, the presidents of the state's two largest teachers unions. The group's tax return does not name its funders, and Ohio nonprofits are not required to disclose them. Van Lier said support comes from individual donations and Ohio-based foundations, including The Cleveland Foundation, the George Gund Foundation and the Greater Cincinnati Foundation.

Collins is a former State Board of Education member who ran unsuccessfully as a Democrat in 2022 for the Ohio House District 66 seat. She said the organization remains committed to being nonpartisan and to working strategically with people it may not always agree with. She added that it will not back away from supporting diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in schools, calling that "a nonpartisan message."

Looking ahead, Collins said the group hopes SB 443 gets hearings during the lame duck session later this year, though it "fully expect[s]" to reintroduce the bill in 2027. It also plans to be active in pushing for more public school funding as lawmakers craft the next two-year state budget. Van Lier said the state's share of school funding, compared with what local property owners provide, has fallen from 47% to 32% since 2019, and he argued that state leaders have favored tax breaks for corporations and the wealthy at schools' expense.