Ohio education officials are quietly lining up some big new powers over the state’s struggling public schools, and critics say the fine print reads like a roadmap to closure or privatization.
The Ohio Department of Education and Workforce has filed a draft federal waiver that would give the state more levers to overhaul chronically low-performing buildings, including turning them over to outside operators or shutting them down entirely. The proposal, released for public comment as Ohio rewrites parts of its ESSA plan, is already drawing sharp fire from district leaders and advocates who see it as a direct threat to neighborhood schools.
The agency says the idea is to let districts focus federal dollars on literacy, learning acceleration, student wellness, and workforce readiness while cutting red tape, according to the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce. The filing seeks flexibility across several Title programs and was posted alongside related ESSA amendments for public comment through May 28, 2026.
What the plan would let the state do
One key amendment lays out a menu of “more rigorous interventions” the state could require when schools fail to meet exit criteria. On the list: a comprehensive school redesign run by an approved evidence-based provider, plus escalating steps such as converting a campus to “a charter school that replicates a high-performing school,” merging it with a higher-performing operator, or contracting with an outside organization to run all or part of the school. The far end of the spectrum is blunt: “closure of the school.”
The proposal presents these as options the state might use if a building does not show sustained improvement over time, rather than automatic penalties. The full catalog of possible interventions appears in the state’s School Improvement amendment.
Why critics call it privatization
Opponents argue that, taken together, those options clear the way to outsource public schools at a time when Ohio is already pouring more public money into private education. The state’s five voucher programs cost roughly $1.09 billion in fiscal 2025, according to the Ohio Capital Journal.
Local officials and parent groups, cited in coverage by Cleveland.com and other outlets, warn that the waiver language could sideline locally elected school boards and speed the handoff of buildings to charter or private operators. To them, the state is dressing up a privatization push as school “improvement.”
What happens next
The waiver package is now in the public comment phase while Ohio waits on federal approval. The U.S. Department of Education will decide whether to grant the flexibilities the state is asking for.
Meanwhile, lawmakers in Columbus are still arguing over how easy it should be to close schools in the first place. Senate Bill 127, which would revise school-closure rules, is in front of the Senate Education Committee this month. If federal officials sign off on major parts of Ohio’s request and the Legislature follows through with new closure or takeover laws, districts could see interventions ramp up quickly, from campus overhauls and leadership changes to full-on conversion, contracting, or shuttering of neighborhood schools.
