Life, Family, Freedom: Ohio Budget Includes Key Priorities!
On Monday evening, the Ohio General Assembly sent the state budget to Governor Mike DeWine for his signature.
The budget included a number of key Center-for-Christian-Virtue-backed provisions to protect life, expand educational opportunities, safeguard religious freedom, and support families. CCV will provide a full overview of the budget after the governor acts, but here is a brief summation of the key victories, and a call to action!
Religious Freedom
Medical professionals could not be forced to perform procedures that violate their religious beliefs or conscience, thanks to a key provision added to the Senate budget. This means doctors, nurses, and med students could not be punished for declining to perform abortions or prescribe puberty-blocking drugs to children.
Take Action!
The pressure is mounting from the left on Governor DeWine to line-item veto this essential provision. Governor DeWine needs to hear from you to protect the religious freedom rights of medical professionals!
Call his office at 614-644-4357.
Or use CCV’s Action Center to send him an email to encourage the governor to support these important protections!
Educational Freedom
After a year of COVID lockdowns and Critical Race Theory in the classroom, this budget took significant steps to empower parents to choose the best education for their child! These victories include:
An increase in the dollar amount for EdChoice Scholarships for the 2021-22 school year to $5,500 per student for grades K-8 and $7,500 for grades 9-12. The cap on the number of available scholarships has also been removed.
A $750 state tax credit for individual contributions made to Scholarship Granting Organizations. Currently existing or newly formed SGOs may make contributions to tuition accounts for students enrolled at your school.
State tax credits for families paying private school tuition in the amount of $500 for those making under $50,000 and $1000 for those making under $100,000.
And so much more!
Ohio has an incredibly strong advocate for school choice and educational freedom in Senate President Matt Huffman, who showed his support for students and families through his leadership on the budget!
Protecting Life
The budget included a key provision to deal with a loophole in Ohio’s transfer agreement law on abortion facilities.
Currently, abortion facilities must have a transfer agreement with a local hospital in order to ensure that, in the case of an emergency, women can access medical care. However, if a local hospital will not consent to a transfer agreement, as no hospital will with Planned Parenthood of Southwest Ohio in Mount Auburn and Women's Med in Dayton, a “variance” can be granted, if they can find four doctors to sign on with the facility.
The budget will require those doctors to be within 25 miles of the clinic. If doctors cannot be found, the clinic cannot operate.
Sexual Risk Avoidance
The General Assembly allocated $2,000,000 to teach Sexual Risk Avoidance education in Ohio public schools. This abstinence educational model has proven to lower teen pregnancy, and encourage children to save sex until marriage.
The budget also requires schools to notify parents if other sex education goes beyond teaching abstinence and requires schools to give parents the names of any vendors, teachers, and curricula that will be used.
We Accomplished All This and More with You!
By God’s grace, for a second budget cycle in a row, a number of essential CCV-backed provisions were included in the state budget.
It’s because of your support that families and freedom have a strong advocate in Ohio. Make a tax-deductible donation today to support and expand this essential work to ensure a brighter future for Ohio!
