A Koch family bankrolled group—Americans for Prosperity-OH—is mailing a voucher promotional flyer to Ohioans.
The super wealthy Koch family has a long history of initiating and bankrolling organizations and campaigns devoted to the privatization of government services, particularly education. Americans for Prosperity is among those groups the Koch family bankroll.
The Koch-sponsored flyer is an attractive two-sided mail piece that shouts out the privatization buzzwords:
  • Education freedom
  • Parents choose the school
  • Education funds follow each child
  • Empower Ohio parents
  • Demand education excellence
  • Support education freedom
The flyer advises receivers to contact Ohio lawmakers.
Let us check the validity of the buzzwords:
  • Education freedom and support education freedom: Vouchers give private schools the freedom to choose students. A private school is not required to appropriately serve students with disabilities or provide due process for students. Freedom is the prerogative of the private school—not the parent or student.
  • Parents choose the school and empower the parents: Wrong! Private schools, unlike public schools, can reject and dis-enroll students with disabilities, bad behavior records, or beliefs inconsistent with the private school mission. Parents however are empowered to waive some of the rights of their children.
  • Education funds follow each child: This process is in violation of the Ohio Constitution’s provision requiring the General Assembly to secure, by taxation or otherwise, a thorough and efficient system of common schools.
  • Demand education excellence: Research in Ohio shows that voucher students do not perform as well academically as their peers in the school district of residence.
At its core the Koch agenda is ultimately to require parents to pay for the education of their children.
Learn about EdChoice Vouchers: An Existential Threat to Public Schools
VOUCHERS HURT OHIO