A timely commentary by Ohio's Teacher of the Year
I’m Ohio’s Teacher of the Year. Proposed state budget changes betray our students.
June 4, 2025
Recently, I received a message from my son’s teacher, excitedly letting me know he passed his Math Ohio state test. When my son was diagnosed with a neurological disability, I worried about the ways he might struggle, not only physically and emotionally, but academically. I found peace in knowing that Ohio’s public schools would support him through protections provided by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).
What I didn’t expect was the depth of care, commitment and expertise his public school teachers would bring. They see him. They celebrate his brilliance, advocate for his growth, and make sure I am part of a team.
This is why it is devastating to watch our state systematically strip resources from public education while funneling hundreds of millions of dollars more into private and charter schools that are not held to the same standards. This isn’t just a financing shift. It’s a shift in values.
Early in my career, I worked in charter schools, and while that experience shaped me as an educator, it also exposed me to harsh realities. I saw how poor accountability led to inefficiency and blatant disregard for students. These schools prioritized profit over people, with faceless management sending impersonal directives from beach homes in Florida.
I watched students be discarded for not fitting an image and dedicated educators penalized for speaking up. My experiences confirm these are not the schools that best serve Ohio’s children, yet our state continues to prioritize them over public schools that educate all students – no exceptions.
Our public schools don’t pick and choose. They don’t push out students who need more support. They don’t quietly ignore civil rights protections like IDEA. My child thrives today because of this commitment, but I worry—for how much longer?
Proposed education budget changes feign a preference for school choice, but reflect a deeper truth: Ohio is abandoning its responsibility to educate all children.
Underfunding public education puts supports like my son’s at risk. As an educator and a parent, I know what questions to ask and what rights to fight for, but many parents do not. Without the legal oversight and rules public schools must follow, too many students with disabilities may receive inadequate support, or be denied support, and their families may not even realize it. My child, and every child, deserves an education that meets their needs, not one that depends on whether a school chooses to serve them.
Voucher and charter schools are not bound by the same transparency, equity, or admissions requirements as public schools. They can, and do, exclude students of color, LGBTQ+ students, students in poverty and students with disabilities, further damaging how these students feel seen and valued in the world. Yet, they’re receiving hundreds of millions more in taxpayer dollars.
Meanwhile, public schools are expected to do more with less. Because Ohio refuses to fund public education fully, districts are forced to rely on local property taxes. When those levies fail, as they did recently in my own communities of Twinsburg and Stow-Munroe Falls, students pay the price. Teachers stretch their resources, families scramble for support, and achievement gaps widen, particularly for rural and urban districts already struggling.
I’m proud to be Ohio’s Teacher of the Year, but this title means little if I don’t speak up. My colleagues in my district, the educators so tenderly caring for my baby in his, and those across the state working every day to make public schools places of learning, belonging, and possibility for every child can’t do it alone, and shouldn’t have to.
Ohio’s children deserve better—all of them.
posted by Kathie Bracy at 2:22 PM
