Take the Dough, We Gotta Know: A conversation with the bipartisan sponsors of SB 443
Ohio is now spending more than $1 billion in public taxpayer dollars each year on private school vouchers, but how much do we really know about where that money goes and whether it delivers any real results? In this episode, State Sen. Kent Smith (D-21st District) and State Sen. Bill Blessing (R-8th District) discuss their bipartisan efforts to bring transparency and accountability to Ohio’s near-universal voucher system, while also tackling the bigger questions of school funding, property taxes, school meal access, and the future of public education.
LEARN MORE ABOUT THE PRO-PUBLIC EDUCATION, PRO-LABOR CANDIDATES ON THE BALLOT | State Sen. Kent Smith is the OEA member-recommended candidate for the 21st Ohio Senate district. OEA members can click here to check out the list of all the OEA member-recommended candidates running for state and federal office. And listen to Season 7, Episode 2, starting around 28:55, for more on what goes into these candidate recommendations.
WATCH THE PRESS CONFERENCE | Click here to see the video of Sens. Blessing and Smith's press conference on May 27, 2026, announcing the introduction of SB 443 in the Senate. Blessing and Smith were joined by Representative Justin Pizzulli (R-Scioto County); Alana Cropper, Treasurer of Forest Hills School District; Piet Van Lier, Deputy Director of Honesty for Ohio Education; and Karen Rego, President of the Cleveland Heights Teachers Union for this press event.
BLESSING'S LETTER TO THE EDITOR | While discussing property tax levies in this episode, Sen. Blessing mentioned a letter to the editor he previously wrote. Click here to read his statement.
SMITH'S 2023 PREDICTION | During our conversation for this episode, Sen. Smith referenced a Cleveland.com article about Gov. DeWine's announcement in the 2023 State of the State about expanding vouchers in Ohio to near-universal eligibility. Smith warned of the consequences of voucher expansion for public education funding, which have since come to pass. Click here to read the story from January 31, 2023.
ICYMI: STATEHOUSE EDITION | Sen. Smith has released weekly, award-winning video updates on state government since Spring 2023. Access the full video archive and keep an eye out for new releases on Smith's Senate webpage.
SUBSCRIBE | Click here to subscribe to Public Education Matters on Apple Podcasts or click here to listen on Spotify so you don't miss a thing. You can also find Public Education Matters on many other platforms. Click here for some of those links so you can listen anywhere. And don't forget you can listen to all of the previous episodes anytime on your favorite podcast platform, or by clicking here.
LEARN MORE ABOUT THE PRO-PUBLIC EDUCATION, PRO-LABOR CANDIDATES ON THE BALLOT | State Sen. Kent Smith is the OEA member-recommended candidate for the 21st Ohio Senate district. OEA members can click here to check out the list of all the OEA member-recommended candidates running for state and federal office. And listen to Season 7, Episode 2, starting around 28:55, for more on what goes into these candidate recommendations.
WATCH THE PRESS CONFERENCE | Click here to see the video of Sens. Blessing and Smith's press conference on May 27, 2026, announcing the introduction of SB 443 in the Senate. Blessing and Smith were joined by Representative Justin Pizzulli (R-Scioto County); Alana Cropper, Treasurer of Forest Hills School District; Piet Van Lier, Deputy Director of Honesty for Ohio Education; and Karen Rego, President of the Cleveland Heights Teachers Union for this press event.
BLESSING'S LETTER TO THE EDITOR | While discussing property tax levies in this episode, Sen. Blessing mentioned a letter to the editor he previously wrote. Click here to read his statement.
SMITH'S 2023 PREDICTION | During our conversation for this episode, Sen. Smith referenced a Cleveland.com article about Gov. DeWine's announcement in the 2023 State of the State about expanding vouchers in Ohio to near-universal eligibility. Smith warned of the consequences of voucher expansion for public education funding, which have since come to pass. Click here to read the story from January 31, 2023.
ICYMI: STATEHOUSE EDITION | Sen. Smith has released weekly, award-winning video updates on state government since Spring 2023. Access the full video archive and keep an eye out for new releases on Smith's Senate webpage.
SUBSCRIBE | Click here to subscribe to Public Education Matters on Apple Podcasts or click here to listen on Spotify so you don't miss a thing. You can also find Public Education Matters on many other platforms. Click here for some of those links so you can listen anywhere. And don't forget you can listen to all of the previous episodes anytime on your favorite podcast platform, or by clicking here.
Featured Public Education Matters guests:
- State Sen. Louis W. Blessing III (R-Colerain Twp.)
- State Senator Louis W. Blessing, III is serving his second term in the Ohio Senate. He currently represents Ohio's 8th Senate District, which encompasses a portion of Hamilton County. He began his career in the legislature serving as a member of the Ohio House of Representatives, representing the 29th Ohio House District.
- Senator Blessing has an extensive background in electrical engineering. He currently works as an engineer at Super Systems, Inc. in Cincinnati and previously worked at Duke Energy and Nova Engineering.
- He earned his Bachelor of Arts in mathematics and Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering at the University of Cincinnati. The Senator is a licensed professional engineer and is a member of the Ohio Society of Professional Engineers. He currently resides in Colerain Township with his wife Heather and their three sons.
- 136th General Assembly Committee Assignments:
- Ways & Means (Chairman)
- Education Committee (Vice Chair)
- Finance
- Financial Institutions, Insurance and Technology
- Judiciary
- State Sen. Kent Smith (D-Euclid)
- **OEA member-recommended candidate for re-election in November, 2026**
- State Senator Kent Smith currently represents Ohio’s 21st Senate District - having been elected to the Ohio Senate in 2022. Prior to his service in the Senate, Smith served four terms in the Ohio House of Representatives (from 2015-2022). He joined the Ohio General Assembly after serving Euclid, Ohio as a Member of the Euclid Board of Education from 2002 – 2013. In his 12 years on the Euclid School Board, Senator Smith never missed a meeting. As a Euclid School Board Member, he was a four-time winner of the “Award of Achievement” which is awarded annually by the Ohio School Boards Association to less than three percent of all School Board Members in Ohio.
- Senator Smith graduated from Miami University in 1988 and earned his Master of Science in Urban Studies from Cleveland State University in 2001. His master's degree thesis - which was written in 2001 - was about the emerging threat of Predatory Lending and the Subprime Market. He also co-authored the first Predatory Lending Report by Policy Matters Ohio in 2002. Following his master’s degree studies, he sought his Ph.D. at Cleveland State University in Economic Development.
- In late 2019, prior to the COVID pandemic, Senator Smith was admitted into the Public Leadership Credential program offered by Harvard's Kennedy School. Senator Smith completed the coursework during 2020 and 2021. He finished the program's Capstone requirement in January 2023 and graduated from the program in May 2023.
- Senator Smith serves as the Ranking Member on the Senate Energy and Local Government Committees. He also serves on the Senate Education, Judiciary, Public Utilities, Rules and Reference, and Transportation Committees.
- Throughout his time in the State House, he served as the Ranking Member on the House Public Utilities (134th and 133rd GA), Financial Institutions (133rd GA), Financial Institutions, Housing, and Urban Development (132nd GA), and Economic & Workforce Development (131st GA) Committees. He also served on the House Higher Education and Career Readiness, Technology and Innovation, Education, Commerce and Labor, and Rules & Reference Committees. During his first term in the Ohio Senate (135th GA) he served as the Ranking Member on the Senate Energy and Public Utilities, Financial Institutions and Technology, and Ways and Means Committees. He also served on the Senate Judiciary, Transportation, and Rules and Reference Committees.
- Click here to learn more about Sen. Smith's guiding principals in his legislative work and his personal history.
In this episode:
- 00:00 - Voucher Accountability, Public Dollars, and Why This Debate Matters
- 03:01 - “If You Take the Dough, We Gotta Know”: The Bipartisan Case for Transparency
- 06:03 - Public Schools Open Their Books. Voucher-Funded Private Schools Should, Too.
- 08:45 - The Accountability Gap: The Missing Student Outcome Data Behind Ohio’s School Choice Debate
- 14:21 - School Choice, Public Goods, and the Limits of the Market
- 19:59 - Common Ground: Why Education Accountability Transcends Party Politics
- 22:27 - Following the Money: What Ohio Taxpayers Deserve to Know About a $1 Billion Voucher Program
- 25:40 - “Kids Are 25% of Ohio’s Population but 100% of the Future”
- 26:56 - Feed Kids, Address Absenteeism, Help Them Learn: The Bipartisan Push for Expanding Access to School Meals
- 27:37 - The School Funding Squeeze: Levies, Property Taxes, and Fair Funding
- 31:00 – How Ohio’s Voucher System Changed and Why Costs Exploded
- 34:47 - The Road Ahead for Senate Bill 443 and Ohio Education Policy
- 37:29 - Investing in the Future: Why Public Education Remains Ohio’s Competitive Advantage
- 40:58 – Final thoughts, OEA member recommendations for pro-public education candidates, and links in the show notes worth checking out
Connect with OEA:
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About us:
- The Ohio Education Association represents approximately 115,000 teachers, faculty members and support professionals who work in Ohio’s schools, colleges, and universities to help improve public education and the lives of Ohio’s children. OEA members provide professional services to benefit students, schools, and the public in virtually every position needed to run Ohio’s schools.
- Public Education Matters host Katie Olmsted serves as Media Relations Consultant for the Ohio Education Association. She joined OEA in May 2020, after a ten-year career as an Emmy Award-winning television reporter, anchor, and producer. Katie comes from a family of educators and is passionate about telling educators' stories and advocating for Ohio's students. She lives in Central Ohio with her husband and two young children.
This episode was recorded on September 4, 2026.
