In Ohio, taxpayer dollars are being used to expand Christian schools

Private religious schools are now getting millions of dollars to cover construction costs

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Republican lawmakers in Ohio, taking full advantage of a gerrymandered state, have already wasted nearly a billion dollars on school vouchers in a single year, allowing students to use taxpayer dollars to cover the costs of private school (often Christian school) tuition.

Apparently that’s not enough.

According to a stunning piece from ProPublica, reporter Eli Hager says that millions of taxpayer dollars are now being used to cover construction costs for religious schools. That money helps “renovate buildings, build classrooms, improve playgrounds and more.”

Cross in a classroom (image via Adobe Spark)

How did that even happen? The short answer is that when lawmakers passed their massive multi-billion-dollar appropriations bill earlier this year—a bill so large that most politicians don’t have the ability or desire to nitpick every item in it—it included over $4 million in grants to private schools. A lot of that money will go to Christian schools across the state in order to help them accept more students… who are using taxpayer-funded vouchers. One grift is fueling another.

The idea comes directly from a right-wing advocacy group affiliated with Americans for Prosperity, an organization funded by the Koch brothers. The group said in April that lawmakers should use money from the “One-Time Strategic Community Investments Fund” to pay for private school improvements under the guise of “capital projects.” Republicans got the memo and put it into practice.

The grant recipients, as listed in the official document, include:

• Temple Christian School Building Expansion ($250,000)

• Saint Edwards High School Sustainable Urban Agriculture ($800,000) (It’s actually “St. Edward” but who’s keeping track?)

• St. Mary School Playground Enhancements ($4,000)

• Bellefontaine Calvary Christian School ($250,000)

• Mansfield Christian School Improvements ($1,500,000)

• Holy Trinity Orthodox Christian Academy and Preschool ($1,000,000)

• Victory Christian School Renovation ($100,000)

• Ohio Christian University for Science ($500,000)

A screenshot of some of the grant recipients reveals a massive gift to one Christian school for “improvements”

Even if the argument is that these are secular projects—as opposed to directly funding religious indoctrination—the schools would be able to shift their own resources to pay for that indoctrination since they’re using state funds to pay for these expansions. Ultimately, these gifts are promoting the spread of Christianity.

Even more troubling? Some of the grants are so vague (“enhancements,” “improvements,” “renovation”) that no one can really tell where the money is going. ProPublica couldn’t get the answers even after contacting some of the schools.

ProPublica contacted administrators at each of these schools to ask what they will be using their new taxpayer money on, but they either didn’t answer or said that they didn’t immediately know. (One of the many differences between public and private schools is that the latter do not have to answer questions from the public about their budgets, even if they’re now publicly funded.)

So… either the administrators don’t know what the money will be used for or they don’t want to say. I’m not sure which of those options is more concerning. If they aren’t willing to say what the money is being used for, why are they receiving it at all?

Last month, Temple Christian School, which got $250,000 for building expansion, opened its new elementary building and celebrated its largest-ever kindergarten class with 40 students. Superintendent Bruce Bowman directly credited the voucher program for the enrollment jump: “The EdChoice scholarship makes it more affordable.” He didn’t mention the quarter-million-dollar gift, courtesy of taxpayers.

Keep in mind that those vouchers, according to a recent Washington Post story, were used by over 150,000 students last year. When you remove from that list students who need specific services (like those with disabilities or autism), roughly 98% of vouchers are used for religious education.

Also concerning is the amount used for these construction projects. $4 million may be a drop in the bucket when compared to the total budget, but as the ProPublica article notes, the voucher plan was relatively small too… until it exploded. This could simply be a test run to gauge the reaction, and if people don’t complain loudly enough, there’s no telling how much money Ohio Republicans will give to Christian schools in the future.

“They get their foot in the door with a few million dollars in infrastructure funding,” [William L. Phillis, executive director of the Ohio Coalition for Equity & Adequacy of School Funding,] said. “It sets a precedent, and eventually hundreds of millions will be going to private school construction.”

Ohio’s Constitution makes clear that “no religious or other sect, or sects, shall ever have any exclusive right to, or control of, any part of the school funds of this state.” Lawmakers could argue that these grants are legal because they’re not coming from “school funds.” They’re coming from capital funds instead. They’re not endorsing religion; they’re simply helping already existing schools accommodate a larger number of students taking advantage of “school choice” vouchers.

Whatever spin they use, though, it all benefits religious indoctrination with the help of taxpayer dollars.

Public schools, which are already underfunded, will continue to struggle. And when that happens, lawmakers will inevitably cite those struggles—the struggles they fueled— as reasons to expand the voucher program and capital investments in these private religious schools.

Incidentally, voters in Ohio could put an end to gerrymandering this November. They also have the opportunity to flip the State Supreme Court, which currently has a 4-3 Republican majority. They could also re-elect Democrat Sherrod Brown, a necessary step in helping the party maintain control of the U.S. Senate. A lot is on the line this election. Whether enough voters care is anyone’s guess.

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