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LIBERTY – It’s been nearly two years since a longtime resident expressed concern that school vouchers will “endanger” public schools and two years later, she’s taking the stage to seek more support.
During the public comments portion of Monday’s Liberty Board of Education meeting, Julia Catchpole, a former teacher who has lived in Liberty since the 1980s and put two children through the district, thanked the board for being a part of the Vouchers Hurt Ohio coalition, a group to which multiple school districts in Trumbull County ---- Bristol, Girard, Hubbard, LaBrae, Lakeview, Lordstown, Mathews, Howland and Niles ---- belong. Boardman, Canfield, Poland, South Range, Struthers, Youngstown and West Branch are districts in Mahoning County that are involved.
The Liberty board unanimously approved entering the litigation in February 2025, two months after Catchpole approached the board.
“The lawsuit was brought by a number of public schools, including ours, and it reached the 10th Court District, and they declared that vouchers are unconstitutional,” she said. Ohio allows no federal or state school dollars to go to private or religious schools. It says so in the Ohio Constitution,” Catchpole said.
Catchpole was referring to a 10th District Court of Appeals opinion in early October that confirmed a lower court's June 2025 ruling that found the EdChoice program violates an Ohio constitutional requirement for a “thorough and efficient system of common schools," cited in Article VI, section 2 of the state’s Constitution.
Catchpole said the verdict isn’t being enforced, and it’s going to the Ohio Supreme Court for evaluation.
“My greatest concern is that the state assembly right now supports vouchers; when you go to the polls and vote, remember the state assembly right now supports vouchers and are taking billions from the public schools,” Catchpole said. “Secondly, there are two Ohio Supreme Court judge vacancies that will be voted on. Remember that also when you vote, because it will be up to the Ohio Supreme Court, whether they decide to enforce the Constitution as it’s written or not.”
Catchpole emphasized the importance of public schools, explaining that they bring communities together and allow people of different backgrounds to gather at events the schools offer.
“They are part of bringing our community together, and I see that the public schools are being slowly bled to death, and I don’t want to see that to happen,” Catchpole said, adding she doesn’t think many people are aware of what vouchers are doing to their schools.