Poland joins the fight against vouchers | News, sports, jobs

Stephen Hanzley attended the Polish Education Board meeting on Wednesday to support the board's move to join the state school voucher lawsuit, which Polish board members approved in a 4-1 vote.

POLAND – The school district's board has joined a lawsuit against private school vouchers in Ohio.

Calling the action unlawful, members voted 4-1 in the “Vouchers Hurt Ohio” lawsuit at their regular meeting on Wednesday.

The case has been extended into next year, allowing more counties to join the lawsuit.

At the September board meeting, residents and retired Youngstown State University professor Stephen Hanzley called on members to join the lawsuit. Hanzley said about 300 public district schools across Ohio are listed as plaintiffs. Hanzley began urging board members to join the lawsuit in June.

He said at last month's regular meeting that the state's proposed budget, passed in spring 2023, included $2 billion to cover the cost vouchers. According to Hanzely, that bill provided $8,407 per year for high school students and $6,165 for lower school students.

“Vouchers are increasing in Poland,” said Hanzely. “There used to be around 20 students in private schools in Poland. That number is now around 200.”

In order to join the lawsuit, Poland had to pass a resolution.

“The original lawsuit was scheduled to be heard today before Judge Jaiza N. Page of Franklin County Common Pleas Court.” Hanzley said the judge pushed the matter back to 2025 to give more counties a chance to join.

“Due to their busy record, it won’t be heard until early 2025,” Hanzley said.

Even if Polish schools join, Hanzley said he will continue to stay in touch with the Equity and Adequacy Coalition for updates. According to district Superintendent Craig Hockenberry, the next step for Poland is to complete the paperwork and pay a fee of $2 per student.

“We have to pay about $3,400,” he said.

Board members Laurent Dinopoulos, Jeff Sabrin, Michelle Elia and Larry Warren approved the move. The lone no vote was Gregg Riddle, who said he was unhappy with the fee.

“I had previously communicated at the work session that I did not want to spend my tax dollars on this politically biased organization,” he said. “Vouchers have been discussed in the House of Representatives for many years and have been determined to be 'unconstitutional.'

“Not unconstitutional in the opinion of the Coalition for Justice and Adequacy. I swore to protect and defend the Constitution of the State of Ohio and believed that the Constitution would allow the process to proceed without giving money to this organization. That was before the case was postponed.”

With Tuesday's election including Ohio Supreme Court races and a constitutional amendment on voucher balloting in Kentucky, Riddle believed investments might not bring any benefit.

“I felt like our $2 per student could be better spent.”