In a survey released last Monday, the overwhelming majority of economists said cuts to public education funding proposed by Republican Ohio House Speaker Matt Huffman would dampen the state’s future economic output at the same time that they would increase inequality in an already unequal state.

The state of Ohio is giving taxpayer money to private, religious schools to help them build new buildings and expand their campuses, which is nearly unprecedented in modern U.S. history.

A national study on the fairness and adequacy of school funding found Ohio had a high “fiscal effort,” but ranked low in closing the gap between high and low-poverty districts.