COLUMBUS – While Columbus City Schools (CCS) and the teachers’ union lock students out of their classrooms yet again, Center for Christian Virtue (CCV) has purchased advertising on billboards throughout the city informing families that they can break free from CCS and attend the private school of their choice, thanks to a variety of school choice programs.

Many families in Columbus qualify for an EdChoice Scholarship either because the family earns less than 250% of the federal poverty level, or because the family’s local Columbus City School is underperforming academically. The sad fact is this includes most of Columbus City Schools.

The billboard campaign is scheduled to run for at least the next two weeks:

Center for Christian Virtue purchased advertising on five billboards and is looking to purchase more if the teacher strike persists. 

“Columbus City Schools have reached a new low,” said Aaron Baer, President of Center for Christian Virtue. “After everything children have endured for the last three years, from being locked out of school under the guise of ‘safety protocols’ to being subjected to failing educational standards, now the schools have kicked kids out yet again, mere days before they were to report to class.”

“Making matters worse, CCS is justifying locking students out of schools by hiding behind complaints of being underfunded – all while they fund a lawsuit to abolish EdChoice and force the handful of Columbus children who have escaped their district out of the schools their family have chosen as an alternative,” said Baer. “Enough is enough. CCS needs to drop their lawsuit and the Ohio General Assembly needs to fix our broken education scheme by funding students, not systems, and passing the Backpack Bill.”

While the teachers are out on sidewalks with megaphones and strike signs, the students of Columbus City Schools will be at home with Chromebooks and substitutes filling in online. Yet during the pandemic, when students were forced into so-called “remote learning,” CCS had a chronic absenteeism rate of 74.6%.

“If there’s one lesson we learned during the pandemic, it is that there is no such thing in CCS as ‘remote learning.’ There may be ‘remote teaching’ but no actual learning is happening,” Baer said. 

For more information visit BackpackBill.com/Columbus, or contact CCV at 513-733-5775 or info@ccv.org.

As Ohio’s largest Christian public policy organization, Center for Christian Virtue seeks the good of our neighbors by advocating for public policy that reflects the truth of the Gospel.

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