Ohio's $1.4 billion private school voucher program violates the state constitution, an appeals court ruled Thursday, Oct. 15, but east-side families using the scholarships will see no immediate change.

The 10th District Court of Appeals unanimously declared the Educational Choice Scholarship Program, known as EdChoice, unconstitutional. The three-judge panel stayed its own ruling, keeping the program running while the Ohio Attorney General appeals to the Ohio Supreme Court.

"Families should not worry, as there is no immediate impact from the ruling," Attorney General Andy Wilson said in a statement, the Columbus Dispatch reported.

More than 140,000 Ohio students used EdChoice in 2025, according to Ohio Department of Education and Workforce data cited by the Dispatch. The program provides up to $6,166 a year for grades K-8 and $8,408 for grades 9-12 on a sliding scale based on household income. Republican lawmakers expanded it to near-universal eligibility in 2023, opening it to students regardless of family income or public school quality.

What the court found

Judge David Leland, writing for the panel that included Judges Kristin Boggs and Shawn Dingus, said the program funds a competing system of private schools while weakening the public schools the Ohio Constitution requires the state to maintain.

"EdChoice, as presently structured and funded, secures with taxpayer funds a competing system of uncommon schools that is not subject to the same obligations imposed on Ohio's system of common schools," Leland wrote.

The court identified three ways the program harms public schools, according to Education Week's coverage. Private schools can choose which students to admit. Participating schools are concentrated in urban areas, leaving rural taxpayers to fund a program they cannot easily access.

The court also found that drawing students away from public schools erodes voter support for local school levies. East-side districts that depend on voter-approved levies could feel the pressure the court described.

Leland noted the ruling does not suggest "that school vouchers in all forms violate the Ohio Constitution," only that EdChoice does "as presently structured, funded, and challenged in this case," according to Education Week.

What happens next

The state has 45 days from Thursday, Oct. 15, to file an appeal with the Ohio Supreme Court, which holds a 6-1 Republican majority, as Spectrum News reported. The high court must accept the case for it to proceed.

Ohio House Speaker Matt Huffman, R-Lima, said in a statement that school choice programs have been upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court and the Ohio Supreme Court. He called the appeals court one of 12 in the state and said its decision "will not affect that."

State Sen. Andrew Brenner, a Delaware Republican, called the ruling "political" and questioned its timing ahead of the Nov. 3 general election, the Dispatch reported.

School Choice Ohio President Yitz Frank called the decision "disappointing" and said his organization plans to appeal.

On the other side, former Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Eric Brown, who chairs the Vouchers Hurt Ohio steering committee, called the ruling "a victory for public schools and all the children in this state," according to statewide public media coverage.

William L. Phillis, speaking for Vouchers Hurt Ohio and the Coalition for Equity & Adequacy of School Funding, called EdChoice "a $1 billion boondoggle for mostly religious schools, which decide who they let in and who they shut out."

The ruling affirms a June 2025 decision by Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Jaiza Page, who first declared the program unconstitutional. The lawsuit, filed in 2022, was joined by hundreds of public school districts.

The Ohio Supreme Court's decision will determine whether EdChoice survives in its current form. Until then, the program continues unchanged.