Years ago, our school district told us that providing services to my son was “an inconvenience.” Sam has Down syndrome. By the time he entered kindergarten, the people charged with educating him had already decided how much he could achieve. Sadly, it wasn’t much.
I did not accept their predictions or their plans for Sam and children like him, nor does Vivek Ramaswamy. As our next governor, he will protect and expand school choice so every Ohio child can thrive in a school that is the right fit.
When Sam was young, families like ours who needed better options had to pay twice: once in taxes and again in tuition. That just isn’t in the budget for many families in Ohio and beyond.
Instead of accepting the status quo, I got to work. I joined other like-minded parents at the Statehouse, and the result was Ohio’s Jon Peterson Special Needs Scholarship, which lets a child’s education funding follow him or her to the right school.
For Sam, that meant Mansfield Christian School, which opened a program for him and many other children. Sam graduated in 2015 and landed his dream job at a pizza restaurant. Today he is an effective advocate for school choice, meeting with leaders including President Trump, former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, Rep. Jim Jordan, and Sen. Ted Cruz. Not bad for a kid whose neighborhood school district leadership’s vision for him involved playing indoors and coloring.
Sam didn’t need a babysitter. He needed a customized, quality education. When we put that in place, my son flourished.
Sam is a real person for whom Ohio’s school choice program made a real difference, and he is not alone. In fiscal year 2025, 8,680 Ohio students with disabilities used the Jon Peterson scholarship. And after Ohio expanded EdChoice to nearly every family in 2023, more than 168,000 students in all used a state scholarship to attend the school that fits their needs.
Numbers never tell the whole story, but these are eye-opening. A 2025 Urban Institute study found that 64% of EdChoice students enrolled in college within two years of high school, compared with 48% of similar students who stayed in public schools. Twenty-three percent earned a bachelor’s degree, versus 15% of their peers. Sam was among that 64% who went on to enroll in college, completing multiple certificate-granting courses.
Now Ohio has a chance to double down. Beginning Jan. 1, 2027, the federal Education Freedom Tax Credit will let Americans give up to $1,700 each to a scholarship granting organization and receive a dollar-for-dollar federal tax credit. That’s a credit, not a deduction: If you donate $1,700 to a scholarship organization and owe $1,700 in taxes, your tax bill is now zero. Everybody wins: students and taxpayers.
Ohio has opted in, and research from Dr. Patrick Graff of the American Federation for Children finds that about 93.5% of Ohio’s K-12 students would be eligible. These scholarships can cover tuition, tutoring, books, and disability services for students in public and private schools alike. For families like mine, they can be a godsend.
But here’s the catch: The scholarships reach Ohio only while our state participates, and that decision runs through the governor’s office. Our next governor will decide whether to empower our kids with these scholarships or rip them from their hands.
That is why I am supporting Vivek Ramaswamy.
Vivek is not new to this fight. Last year, I shared a stage with him on an education policy panel in Hilliard. He has called school choice “the civil rights issue of our time” and said Ohio should keep moving forward. He’s right. We should, and we must.
His opponent has promised to “bring reform to our corrupt school voucher system” and insists “public money should be for public schools.” Here’s the truth: Sam’s scholarship was public money invested wisely. It went to a school that saw him as a person with potential, not an inconvenience to tolerate. The 168,000 Ohio families using scholarships today are our neighbors, friends, and fellow Ohioans.
Every Richland County child deserves what Sam got: adults who believe in them and a school that does, too. Ohio has created that. Vivek Ramaswamy will protect it and build on it.
On Nov. 3, I hope you’ll join me in making him our next governor.
Tera Meyers
Mansfield, Ohio
– Tera Myers of Mansfield is a school choice advocate, a founding member of Moms on a Mission and host of the “Tuesdays Talks with MOM” podcast.