Ohio officials plan to ask the state Supreme Court to overturn a ruling declaring the EdChoice voucher program unconstitutional.

Interim Attorney General Andy Wilson said in a statement that he would appeal a 10th District Court of Appeals ruling that found the Education Choice (EdChoice) voucher program, as currently structured and funded, is unconstitutional, the Ohio Capital Journal reported. The program remains active during the appeal. K-8 students can still receive $6,166 and high schoolers $8,408 in state-funded scholarships to attend private schools.

The coalition behind the lawsuit, Vouchers Hurt Ohio, said it is confident the court will strike down the program. The coalition represents more than 300 public school districts, according to the Ohio Capital Journal.

"We're hopeful that the justices of the Ohio Supreme Court will be able to put the Ohio Constitution and the welfare of Ohio public school students ahead of politics," Mark Wallach, an attorney with McCarthy, Lebit, Crystal & Liffman who serves as legal counsel for the coalition, told the Ohio Capital Journal.

Republicans control the Ohio Supreme Court 6-1.

What it means for Hilliard

The case carries direct stakes for Hilliard City Schools. A community petition on Change.org states that 16% of taxpayer education funding for students in the district went to private school vouchers in the 2023-24 school year. About 6% of students living in the district area received those vouchers, according to the petition.

As we reported Oct. 21, Ohio spent $1.173 billion on private school vouchers in fiscal year 2026. Total voucher spending has jumped about 164% since fiscal year 2021.

As of the board of education's Sept. 14 meeting, Hilliard had not joined the more than 330 districts backing the Vouchers Hurt Ohio lawsuit. At that meeting, resident Debbie Cochran urged the board to sign on. Cochran said board members had acknowledged during a July discussion that vouchers hurt public schools but cited financial concerns and a need for more community input before joining, according to board meeting notes. A separate speaker at the same meeting said the cost to join is $2 per student per year.

The district is already navigating tight finances. In a May 2025 statement, Treasurer Melissa Swearingen and Superintendent David Stewart said Hilliard ended fiscal year 2024 with a 38.6% cash balance projected to drop to 23.5% within five years, according to a district funding page.

Statewide, the Ohio General Assembly did not fully fund the final phase of the Fair School Funding Plan in the latest budget. The state appropriated $2.75 billion less for fiscal years 2026 and 2027 than the plan required, according to Policy Matters Ohio, as reported by the Ohio Capital Journal.

Both sides weigh in

Eric Brown, Vouchers Hurt Ohio steering committee chairman and a former Ohio Supreme Court chief justice, expressed confidence the coalition will prevail at the Supreme Court level, saying lawmakers would then no longer be able to use public tax dollars for the program, the Ohio Capital Journal reported.

Wilson countered that the program is about parental choice and does not harm public schools.

Ohio House Speaker Matt Huffman, R-Lima, said in a statement that school choice programs have been upheld by courts "over the past several decades" and predicted the appeals court ruling would not change that, the Ohio Capital Journal reported.

The Ohio Supreme Court has not yet scheduled oral arguments in the case.