DeRolph, 26 years later

On March 24, 1997, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled 4-3 in the DeRolph v. State case that Ohio's school funding system was unconstitutional and the Ohio legislature must fix it. It has now been 26 years since that decision came down, meaning two entire 13 year education cycles of kids entering kindergarten through graduating high school have gone through Ohio's public schools without lawmakers making things right. Dan Heintz, a teacher in Chardon who serves on the Cleveland Heights-University Heights school board explains why ongoing voucher expansion schemes cannot coexist with a constitutional public school funding system in our state.

READ THE OP-ED | Click here to see Dan Heintz' piece in the Columbus Dispatch, "Teacher: Today marks 26th year of lawmakers being 'willfully negligent' of Ohio kids"

Featured Education Matters guest: 

• Dan Heintz, Chardon Education Association member
  • Dan Heintz teaches at Chardon High School. He was elected to serve on the Cleveland Heights - University Heights Board of Education in November, 2017. Overcoming a slate of far right culture warriors, he was re-elected in 2021. In his spare time, he serves on the steering committee for the Vouchers Hurt Ohio lawsuit.   

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• The Ohio Education Association represents about 120,000 teachers, faculty members and support professionals who work in Ohio’s schools, colleges, and universities to help improve public education and the lives of Ohio’s children. OEA members provide professional services to benefit students, schools, and the public in virtually every position needed to run Ohio’s schools.
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This episode was recorded on March 27, 2023.