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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 24, 1999

News Release

NEA Wins Ohio Voucher Victory

Washington, D.C. -- The National Education Association (NEA) hailed today's decision by a federal district court to halt Cleveland, Ohio's ill-advised voucher plan. NEA President Bob Chase said that Ohio lawmakers should heed the decision and devote their energies to improving public schools. "Children and taxpayers would be much better served by proven education reforms that serve all children," he said.

Today's injunction by the federal district court is the fourth court decision in the last four months that has ruled that religious school voucher programs are illegal.

"The ultimate test of any education reform should be student achievement," Chase continued, "and on that score, the Cleveland program fails miserably. Vouchers have not improved student performance. In fact, voucher students at some of the newly established private schools in Cleveland are achieving at significantly lower levels than public school students in all subjects. Worse, other voucher schools in Ohio failed to administer state proficiency exams at all."

The troubled two-year program has also suffered from financial abuse and mismanagement. An independent audit showed the program ran 41 percent over budget in 1998, which forced the state to take nearly $3 million from public school funds to cover the overruns. In its first year, the program misspent $1.4 million on taxis to transport students to voucher schools.

Chase pointed out that the annual Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup poll, also issued today, shows that 71 percent of Americans support improving public education, as opposed to finding alternatives (27 percent). Specifically, 70 percent of the American people choose strengthening public education over vouchers (26 percent).

Chase offered a number of proven solutions to improve education, including supporting smaller class sizes, boosting teacher quality, enhancing school safety, and strengthening programs to help children achieve reading proficiency.

NEA joined the Ohio Education Association and other organizations in filing the lawsuit in July.

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The National Education Association is the nation’s largest professional employee organization, representing more than 2.7 million elementary and secondary teachers, higher education faculty, education support personnel, school administrators, retired educators, and students preparing to become teachers.