Ohio appeals court finds EdChoice unconstitutional

Appeals court upholds lower court

Ohio’s 10th District Court of Appeals unanimously upheld a June 2025 ruling that found the EdChoice voucher program unconstitutional. The three-judge panel said the program conflicts with the Ohio Constitution’s requirement that the state maintain a thorough and efficient system of public schools.

The decision does not immediately shut down EdChoice. The program was allowed to continue operating in anticipation of an appeal.

Judge David Leland wrote that EdChoice uses taxpayer money to support a separate system of private schools that does not have the same obligations as Ohio’s public schools. The panel focused in part on participating private schools’ authority to set admission standards, reject applicants or discontinue a student’s enrollment. The court found that this gives the schools, rather than families, the final say over whether a voucher can be used.

Court identifies effects on public schools

The court identified three ways EdChoice affects public schools: Private schools can selectively admit students, participating schools are concentrated in urban areas, and voters may have less reason to approve local school levies.

The judges found that those effects can reinforce each other, reducing public-school enrollment and revenue while increasing financial pressure on districts.

The lawsuit and what came before

The case began in 2022 and includes hundreds of public school districts organized as Vouchers Hurt Ohio, along with parents, students and the Ohio Coalition for Equity & Adequacy of School Funding.

The plaintiffs argued that the nearly 30-year-old program created a separately funded private-school system. They also raised an equal-protection claim, but Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Jaiza Page rejected that part of their case in the lower court ruling. Ohio expanded voucher eligibility statewide in 2023.