Dublin Property Taxpayers Fund Local Schools While State Voucher Spending Tops $1 Billion

Dublin homeowners paid roughly $229 million in real estate taxes to Dublin City Schools in the fiscal year that ended June 30 — money that covered about 76 percent of the district's $307.3 million general-fund revenue. State grants-in-aid, a broader category that includes $21.9 million in foundation funding, added just 9.17 percent.

Those numbers capture the deal Dublin property taxpayers have long accepted: high mill rates bankroll some of Ohio's top-rated public schools, and state dollars play a supporting role. But as Ohio's voucher spending climbed past $1 billion annually in fiscal year 2025 — reaching $1.095 billion, up from $970.7 million the year before — and statewide foundation funding for traditional districts fell, the question sharpens. Are Dublin residents subsidizing private school tuition across Ohio while their own district's state support flatlines?

A $275,000 raise over four years

Dublin City Schools' state foundation funding inched from $21.6 million in FY2022 to $21.9 million in FY2026 — a gain of roughly $275,000, or 1.3 percent, across four fiscal years.

The statewide trend ran the other way. The Ohio Education Policy Institute found that foundation formula funding for traditional districts dropped $31.6 million from FY25 to FY26 and another $40.2 million from FY26 to FY27, leaving FY27 funding $71.8 million below FY25 levels. A Policy Matters Ohio analysis put the gap in starker terms: the FY2026–2027 biennial budget underfunded K-12 public schools by an estimated $2.75 billion to $2.86 billion compared with what the Fair School Funding Plan formula called for.

Meanwhile, lawmakers allocated approximately $2.44 billion over two years for voucher programs in that same budget, enacted as House Bill 96 and effective June 30, 2025. Total Ohio voucher spending has exceeded $3 billion over the last three years.

Who's using the vouchers — and were they already in private school?

Ohio's 2023 budget removed all income caps from EdChoice voucher eligibility, opening the program to every family in the state regardless of household earnings. By 2024–2025, combined EdChoice participation reached 143,546 students statewide: 42,607 on Traditional EdChoice and 100,939 on the EdChoice Expansion.

In Dublin's district, nearly 500 more students received vouchers in one recent year compared with the year prior. Most other Franklin County districts saw similar surges, with no corresponding drop in public school enrollment.

That pattern points to a dynamic critics have flagged statewide: private-school enrollment grew by only about 3,700 students in 2023–24, even as Ohio issued nearly 69,000 new EdChoice Expansion vouchers — suggesting the vast majority went to families who were already paying private tuition.

Dublin's demographics make it a likely hotspot for that effect. The city's median household income is $155,282, and its median home value is $514,900. Families at or below 450 percent of the federal poverty level — $144,675 for a family of four in 2025–2026 — receive the maximum voucher: $6,165 for grades K–8 and $8,407 for grades 9–12. Families above that threshold receive a prorated, reduced award on a sliding scale with no upper income cutoff. In a community where the median household already sits above the full-award threshold, many Dublin voucher recipients likely qualify for partial awards on tuition they were already paying.

Dublin can absorb the hit — many districts cannot

Dublin's ability to weather stagnant state aid rests on its property tax base and its voters' willingness to use it. In 2023, voters approved a 7.9-mill operating levy paired with a $145 million bond to address enrollment growth and avoid a negative cash balance projected for FY2026. Enrollment has continued to climb — 16,916 students in FY2024, with projections of 17,299 in FY2025 and 17,552 in FY2026.

Dublin City Schools Treasurer and CFO Brian Kern's August 2026 five-year forecast shows the district projecting a positive general-fund balance through FY2027 and beyond, despite state funding pressures.

That stability is not shared evenly. Dozens of Ohio school districts are already closing buildings and laying off staff, and the districts most reliant on state aid face the sharpest cuts when foundation funding falls. Dublin's high property values let it offset what the state won't provide; property-poor districts have no such cushion. The result is a two-tier system in which local wealth — not state policy — determines whether a community can keep its schools whole.

The bill comes due locally

Dublin families are split on the voucher program's fiscal impact. Some public-school households question why local property taxes keep climbing while state foundation aid stays nearly flat and state voucher spending crosses the billion-dollar mark. Others defend their access to private school options now partially subsidized by the state.

The math, though, frames a common bind. Dublin's financial footing depends on property taxes supplying more than three-quarters of revenue and on voters continuing to approve levies to fill the gap the state leaves behind. Statewide voucher costs show no sign of leveling off: the biennial budget commits $2.44 billion over two years, eligibility carries no income ceiling, and participation is still climbing.

The Fair School Funding Plan's formula called for billions more in public school support than lawmakers appropriated — at the same time voucher spending surged past $1 billion a year. Dublin can continue voting for higher local levies to make up the difference. Property-poor districts facing the same state funding cuts are already making a different kind of choice: which buildings to close, which staff to let go.