Cincy Reporter

Jenn Giroux, a candidate for Ohio’s 27th House District, strongly supports the Ohio Backpack Bill in the 27th District. The bill hopes to fund students instead of schools. 

“There’s a bill right now called the Backpack Bill that is in the legislature, which says that the tax cut that the education tax dollars follows the kid with the backpack – so they call it the Backpack Bill," Giroux said to Cincy Reporter.  

According to backpackbilll.com, the Ohio Backpack Bill (HB 290) sends state resources to the individual students, not buildings and bureaucrats. In many school districts across the state, radical sexual and political material is being taught to the kids, and they have no way out due to the public schools' monopoly on education. The bill cracks this monopoly by offering families a choice for the education that best suits their child. This will force public schools to compete more and thus the quality of their education will get better. The bill funds individual children, whose parents choose what school is best for them.

HB 290 has already been advanced in the Ohio House and would expand the state’s current school voucher system to the entire state. It would expand the program to certain private schools, public schools and homeschooled students in the state. Under the current program, only families who live in underperforming districts or low-income families quality are eligible to receive assistance. The proposed bill would expand this to all families and allow between $5,500 and $7,500 in state dollars to use toward private schools or to allocate back to the local school district. Proponents of the bill say that allowing more choice for parents is a good thing and will lead to better educational outcomes, while opponents of the bill say it could have a disproportionate effect on suburban schools, Dayton Daily News reported. Professors at Miami University in a commentary published in Ohio Capital Journal called the bill "a backpack full of empty promises."

Public school teacher Dan Greenberg is alarmed by the bill because he believes it will expand the state’s voucher system which could mean fewer resources for public schools. Ohio Education Association President Scott DiMauro echoed the same sentiment, asking where the money would come from. Rep. Riordan McClain, a sponsor of the bill, responded to this by explaining that the bill aims to "put kids first in our funding model for education," and that education is not “a one-size-fits-all approach,” Spectrum News 1 reported.

The Backpack Bill would give K-8 students $5,500 per year and 9-12 students $7,500 per year for use in private schools. The bill's sponsors say that public schools will not lose funding, but the Ohio Education Association (OEA) disputes this claim. 

OEA President Scott DiMauro says that the bill would “force local communities to rely even more heavily on local property taxes to fund schools for the 90% of Ohio children who attend public schools.” The OEA also says that most private schools would still be unaffordable even with state dollars, 19 News reported.

Giroux, a firm believer that each kid deserves a good education, is vying to represent the 27th District which includes parts of Cincinnati, Anderson Indian Hill, Simms Township and Hyde Park, according to Cincy Reporter.