Ohio senator wasn't sorry he called public school socialism. He's trying to dismantle it now.

William L. Phillis is executive director of the Ohio Coalition for Equity and Adequacy of School Funding.

While serving as vice-chair of the House Education Committee in 2014, Andrew Brenner’s stated on an online forum that public schools are a form of “socialism."

Later, Brenner, then a state representative, apologized “to the people whom have been offended.” Note that the apology was merely to those offended, not for his view.

"We need to do something that was done about 25 years ago in the former Soviet Union and eastern bloc: sell off the existing buildings, equipment and real estate to those in the private sector," the Powell Republican reportedly wrote on Brenner Brief News, a website operated by his wife.

Those who follow Brenner’s politics realize that he is an extreme advocate for privatization of public education via charter schools, vouchers, and any other scheme that diverts public school funds into private hands.

Now a state senator, Brenner was a major player in the legislation requiring taxpayers to fund the universal voucher scheme legislated in House Bill 33, the state budget bill.

He was also a champion of legislation that illegally transferred the major responsibilities of the constitutionally-mandated State Board of Education to the governor’s office in violation of the 1953 constitutional amendment.

This egregious concentration of power was also included in House Bill 33.

Countering statements in Sen. Bill DeMora’s February 13 Dispatch guest column about the under-funding of Ohio school districts, Brenner cites some data about increases in funding for public schools over time.

He left some key thing out:

• Inflation is a factor and that the cost of educating children is escalating.

• The total state general revenue budget increases year after year and that the percentage of the state budget for school districts is decreasing.

• The school funding system was declared unconstitutional a quarter century ago, and under his watch, it remains unconstitutional.

• During the state budget process, the legislature had the opportunity to fully fund the Cupp-Patterson Fair Funding Plan, but the Senate “did not want to bind increased funding on future legislatures.” Instead, the legislature saddled future legislatures with the escalating costs of universal vouchers. Funds were not available for the full implementation of Cupp-Patterson but were available for a billion-dollar annual cost of the vouchers.

One more thing is of interest to property taxpayers: Brenner and his colleagues who control the legislature have failed to reduce the reliance on property tax in the school funding formula.

A quarter century ago, the Ohio Supreme Court determined that overreliance on property tax was a prime factor in the decision that the school funding system was (and still is) unconstitutional.

Dependence on property tax in school funding is as high now as it was prior to the DeRolph school funding case. Property taxpayers should hold legislators accountable that have resisted the court decision.

Brenner said vouchers actually save taxpayers money.

He didn’t mention that most of the new voucher recipients are those who were already enrolled in private schools; hence taxpayers via House Bill 33 are merely subsidizing private education. Public school enrollment remains stable, but taxpayers are subsidizing private school tuition across the board.

“So why is DeMora so vehement in his criticism of school choice. Money. But not for kids, he wrote. "Money for unions that fund campaigns for Democrats?”

This is laughable.

The school choice (privatization) crowd gives Brenner and his party associates boat loads of campaign funds. Remember the Bill Lager, the ECOT Man, gave millions to Brenner and his party associates.

Brenner invokes a statement by South Carolina GOP Senator Tim Scott who said, “I can’t think of anything more racist than trapping poor black kids in the failing schools in those big blue cities dominated by a super majority of radical progressives who are running the cities and destroying schools.”

Vouchers are not primarily about rescuing poor Black kids.

Does Brenner not know that most of the new vouchers are going to the white students who are already tuition students in private schools? The goal of voucher zealots was never about poor kids! Their goal is to privatize the public common school.

As a legislator, Brenner, in concert with his fellows, is bound by his oath of office, to “secure a thorough and efficient system of common schools.”

If he believes some students should be “rescued” from some public schools, he is admitting he has failed to “secure a thorough and efficient system as required by the constitution.

 William L. Phillis is executive director of the Ohio Coalition for Equity and Adequacy of School Funding.

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio Senator Andrew Brenner trying to kill public school