Befitting a busy year with so many education topics to cover—including a state budget, a voucher lawsuit, and a full court press to cut down on chronic student absenteeism—Ohio Gadfly readers found a diverse roster of blog posts to pay attention to in 2025.
Here are the top six most-read pieces of the year, in chronological order, neatly telling the story of 2025.
1. Five bold predictions for Ohio education policy in 2025, by Aaron Churchill
Ready to hit the ground running for 2025, readers flocked to our annual prognostication piece starting on New Years Day. Ohio’s K–12 education system would be the envy of the country if all of Aaron’s forward-looking, positive predictions for the year had come true—including those that would boost access to high-quality school choice and solve ongoing transportation woes. Alas, while some progress was made, stakeholders and policymakers have more work to do in future years to bring these to fruition.
2. The irrational hysteria over the billion-dollar price tag of Ohio’s private school scholarships, by Aaron Churchill
As a prelude to the budget (and legal) battles ahead, voucher critics across Ohio engaged in sky-is-falling rhetoric early in the year, denouncing not only the cost of Ohio’s private school scholarship programs but also spreading the false notion that wealthy families were disproportionately benefiting from them. Aaron’s well-read analysis concluded with the inescapable fact that “the vast majority of these funds support less advantaged families who rely on scholarships to enroll their child in a private school of their choice,” and that “scholarship spending remains small in comparison to overall public school funding.” Both findings resonated with readers. Unfortunately, his hope for “a calmer, more fact-driven discussion” around the issue as 2025 went on did not come true.
3. DeWine’s state budget overhauls Ohio’s absence intervention framework, by Jessica Poiner
Among the many education provisions included in the state budget proposal released by Governor DeWine in early February was a revamp of the way Ohio schools address student absenteeism. Specifically, DeWine wanted to move from a “prescriptive, legalistic, and reactive response to students missing school” toward locally-driven interventions that would anticipate and address specific reasons for student absences. The problem is serious, and readers were eager to see all the possible solutions laid out. Most of them ultimately became law, too, hopefully igniting positive change that will lead to significant declines in chronic absenteeism.
4. Governor DeWine is right: Ohio must stop funding “empty desks”, by Aaron Churchill
The governor’s budget also proposed ending fiscal “guarantees,” a longstanding feature of education funding in Ohio that provides excess money to protect districts from reductions that would otherwise be prescribed under the state’s funding formula—especially for districts who are shedding enrollment. At a press conference, DeWine likened that process to paying for “phantom students” who did not really exist, and Ohio Gadfly readers eagerly read Aaron’s analysis supporting this contention. The final budget lamentably walked back the governor’s ambitious proposal in favor of minor adjustments.
5. Let’s stop crying “unconstitutional” about Ohio school funding, by Chad L. Aldis
In the midst of the budget debate in April, an old rallying cry arose in the media: Ohio’s school funding system is “unconstitutional.” As Chad Aldis explained in one of our most-read blogs of the year, this is an outdated view. Ohio has enacted four major funding overhauls in the years since the court decisions cited. “The current model is fundamentally different than the one the Ohio Supreme Court found lacking two decades ago,” he wrote. “As the Senate gets to work on its version of the budget, let’s stop pretending we’re still stuck in the DeRolph era. Ohio’s school funding system may not be flawless. But unconstitutional? That dog won’t hunt.”
6. Ohio’s state budget yields a mixed bag on education funding, by Aaron Churchill
Finally, readers flocked to our analysis of the final budget bill that went to DeWine’s desk in late June after months of debate in the General Assembly. While only “baby steps” were made toward sunsetting those pesky guarantees, an understanding of the true state of the funding system (and overall economic concerns) did serve to restrain increases overall, with charter school students and EdChoice and Cleveland Scholarship recipients seeing little or no boosts. Aaron’s analysis also examined several marquee non-funding-related provisions, including a continuation of DeWine’s early literacy push, industry-recognized credentialing, and career-connected learning.
*****
As has long been the case in Ohio, substantive education policy often comes about via the biennial state budget process. Stakeholders pay attention to every nuance, debate, and vote, and that was no different this year. We at Fordham are proud to be a go-to resource for analysis, commentary, and research that informs the discussion.
Thank you, as always, for turning to us for your news and information.
