05/30/2026
In this article, Ohio House Speaker Matt Huffman defends the continued lack of oversight for private schools receiving taxpayer dollars through vouchers.
One of the concerns raised is that rural Ohioans may be paying into a voucher system even when there are few, if any, private school options in their communities. Huffman’s response was basically that this is just part of life. He said there are lots of things people pay taxes for that they do not personally use. If you never had children, you still pay for schools. If you do not use the parks, you still pay for parks.
That sounds reasonable for about five seconds.
Then it falls apart.
Yes, we all pay taxes for public goods we may not personally use every day. That is how a society works. People without children pay for public schools because an educated public benefits everyone. People who never call the fire department still pay for fire protection. People who never use the library still benefit from living in a community where knowledge is available.
But that is not what is happening here.
Public schools are public goods. They are required to serve the public. They must educate every child who walks through the door. Rural kids. Disabled kids. Poor kids. Kids who need transportation. Kids who need special education services. Kids who move into the district halfway through the year. Kids whose parents cannot afford private tuition.
Private schools do not have that same obligation.
So no, this is not like paying for parks.
Parks are open to the public. Public schools are open to the public. Private schools can limit who gets in, what services they provide, what standards they follow, and how much information taxpayers are allowed to see.
That is the part Huffman is trying to blur.
The issue is not whether taxpayers sometimes fund things they do not personally use. The issue is whether public money should be handed to private institutions that are not required to serve the public, disclose their finances, or follow the same rules as the public schools being drained.
Rural Ohioans are not wrong to question this. They are being asked to subsidize a system that may not even exist in their community, while their actual local public school is still expected to serve every child and answer to taxpayers.
That is not shared sacrifice.
That is public money without public accountability.
A bipartisan group of Ohio lawmakers wants to know how private schools are using taxpayer dollars, but Republican leadership likely won't require the EdChoice program to have more transparency.
