Parents of children attending diocesan Catholic schools gathered at the Ohio Statehouse and the Vern Riffe Center in Columbus for the Office of Catholic Schools’ first Advocacy Day on March 29.
Parents shared with three state legislators why they value Catholic education and support Catholic schools.
The day kicked off just after noon at the Statehouse.
Five parents met with Catholic state Sen. Bill Reineke (R-Tiffin), who represents Ohio’s 26th Senate District, which covers Marysville and area north of Delaware County. The district includes Marion St. Mary School.
Reineke is sponsoring Senate Bill 1, which would rename Ohio’s Department of Education as the Department of Education and Workforce Development (DEW) with the director appointed by the governor. Most duties of the State Board of Education would be transferred to the DEW.
The parents voiced support for Senate Bill 1, as well as expanding eligibility for the state’s Educational Choice Scholarship (EdChoice) Program. The program provides scholarships to families living in a low-performing school district and to families that are considered low-income.
Families that are 250% of the federal poverty line are currently eligible.
Christy Schaffner and her husband have three children attending Columbus St. Mary School in the German Village neighborhood.
“The decision would have been made for us,” Schaffner said of how, without EdChoice, she and her husband would have been unable to decide where to educate their children.
Because they were eligible for the scholarship, Schaffner said, she and her husband could choose to send their children to St. Mary School.
The parents also talked about the importance of increasing the Jon Peterson Special Needs (JPSN) Scholarship amounts and allowing JPSN scholarship recipients who are eligible for EdChoice to receive both scholarships.
The JPSN Scholarship provides scholarship funds for services for special needs students in nonpublic schools. The amount of the scholarship is determined by the category of the disability.
The group voiced the need for school transportation provided by the public school district.
Ohio law requires public school districts to offer transportation to all resident students, from kindergarten to eighth grade, who live more than two miles from their school, according to Ohio Revised Code (O.R.C.) section 3327.01. This includes nonpublic schools that children attend.
The parents addressed issues with school districts failing to transport students to nonpublic schools.
In the late afternoon, five other diocesan school parents met with state Sen. Andrew Brenner (R-Delaware) at the Statehouse.
Brenner represents Ohio’s 19th Senate District, which is northeast of Columbus. Catholic schools including Westerville St. Paul the Apostle, Delaware St. Mary, Mount Vernon St. Vincent de Paul and Coshocton Sacred Heart are located in this district. Brenner also chairs the Senate Education Committee.
The group discussed increasing the Scholarship Granting Organization (SGO) state tax credit, which would allow individuals to put their state tax dollars toward tuition assistance for scholarships for families to attend Catholic schools.
The parents also voiced support for expanding EdChoice eligibility.
“Every kid doesn’t learn the same way, and the fact that many … public schools are more of a cookie-cutter type of approach, where in Catholic schools you can get a lot of individualized tutoring and learning that you could not get otherwise,” said Marilyn Tomasi, whose daughter attends Columbus Bishop Watterson High School.
Kevin Schmidt will have children attending three Catholic schools next academic year: Gahanna St. Matthew, Columbus St. Francis DeSales High School and Columbus St. Charles Preparatory School.
“There’s a lot of parents who would be more than happy to take their kids to (Catholic) schools,” he said. “Even with expanded choice, there’s a financial decision that families really have to sit down and budget. Next year, I’m looking at three different schools, three different tuitions, … but it’s important to us.”
Don Ellis, whose children attend Lancaster St. Mary School and Lancaster Fisher Catholic High School, said that a Catholic school can give children a better sense of identity.
“There’s only 12 kids that can play varsity basketball in a high school of 700, and if you have a school of 150, that’s a large percentage of kids who can do sports,” he said. “A lot of kids at smaller schools can play multiple sports. They can be in a place where they have their own identity.
“They’re not just a walker in the halls as somebody who doesn’t have a permit to fit in or doesn’t have a place where they feel like they have their friend group or their activity group. It gives them more of a chance to be an individual who means something in their community.”
To conclude the day, the parents met with state Rep. Dave Dobos (R-Columbus) in the Vern Riffe Center.
Dobos represents Ohio’s 10th House District, largely based southwest of Columbus, and is a member of the House Finance Subcommittee on Primary and Secondary Education. The district includes Columbus Bishop Ready High School and Grove City Our Lady of Perpetual Help School.
The parents further discussed their support for expanding EdChoice eligibility.
Schmidt told Dobos he believes more parents would send their children to a Catholic school if they could financially afford it.
“If there were more resources available, I know a lot of parents would have their kids in a school where they felt more comfortable,” he said. “It would be a better learning environment.”
Laura Kogan, whose son is in fourth grade at Columbus Trinity Catholic Elementary School, shared the difference a Catholic education has made in his life.
“Our journey to Trinity started with sending our son to Columbus City Schools,” she said. “During COVID, remote learning was not working at all. So, we, being supporters of a public education, decided to move him to a public charter school.
“It was definitely better in terms of academics, but the environment was a challenge. He’s gifted, but he also has ADHD. My son started getting in trouble a lot, to the point where he’s getting suspended, and so eventually I was like, ‘We can’t do this anymore. This is not working.’”
Kogan said she and her husband are thankful they switched to a Catholic school.
“Thank goodness Trinity had a spot,” she said. “They welcomed us in, and it has been a night-and-day difference. I mean, this kid went from getting suspended all of the time, coming home saying he felt like a failure and like he couldn’t do it anymore. Now he looks forward to going to school again.”
Kogan said she believes the environment is part of why her son loves his school.
“It’s smaller, it’s more managed, and he is just thriving in that setting.”