Laura Hancock wrote at Cleveland.com about the expansion of Ohio’s voucher program. The state now offers a voucher to everyone, but most vouchers are claimed by students who never attended public schools.
COLUMBUS, Ohio – The number of Cuyahoga County students receiving state-funded scholarships to attend private schools has skyrocketed this year after state lawmakers expanded a voucher program, but state data suggests that doesn’t necessarily mean more kids have opted out of public schools.
Across the county’s 31 districts, the number of students receiving tuition payments in the EdChoice-Expansion scholarship — one of five school voucher programs run by the state, and the one lawmakers expanded over the summer to give at least partial tuition payments to families of all income levels— has increased nearly four-fold, from about 2,500 students last year to nearly 9,200 this year.
Those districts, however, have not seen a corresponding loss in student population, indicating that most of the families newly benefitting from the vouchers were already enrolled in private schools, rather than fleeing a school district besieged by violence or bullying, mediocre test scores or other problems.
The data cut against arguments lawmakers and advocates have made over the years that vouchers are necessary to give families a chance to choose private schools over the public school district where they live.
In Rocky River, EdChoice-Expansion scholarships were nearly 20 times higher on Feb. 1 than last year. In Bay Village, they increased 17 times. Westlake’s increase is 14 times higher, according to an analysis of state data by The Plain Dealer / cleveland.com.
The number of students across Ohio who are attending private schools on state-funded scholarships spiked this year because the legislature — in the two-year budget bill signed by Gov. Mike DeWine — removed income eligibility caps for EdChoice-Expansion. Last year, the cap was 250% of the federal poverty level for a scholarship, or $75,000 for a family of four. Now, there are no income caps, although families only get partial scholarships when they earn above 450% of the poverty level, or above $135,000 for a family of four.
Full scholarship amounts are $6,167 for grades K-8 and $8,407 for grades K-12.
Enrollment losses in Cuyahoga County district classrooms, however, are more modest than the jump in private school vouchers. State data shows that families that live in the boundaries of suburban district schools— some of which are among the best performing in the state — but may have never set foot in a public school now are receiving vouchers.
Enrollment in Rocky River City School District fell by just 22 students between last year and this year, even though the number of kids receiving vouchers shot up from 16 to 309. In Bay Village City School District, there are 30 fewer students, despite a voucher jump from 13 to 229. Westlake City School District has 19 fewer students; vouchers in the district spiked from 41 to 581.
In the Cleveland Metropolitan School District, the number of kids receiving EdChoice Expansion vouchers increased from nine to 28 this year, a miniscule number compared against its student population of more than 32,000. But students in Cleveland also are eligible for the Cleveland Scholarship, which has no income caps, and is the oldest in the state, having been established in 1995. As of Feb. 26, there were 8,218 students in the Cleveland Scholarship program.
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Diane Ravitch's blog 
The Republicans remind me of the old-time political leaders who would trade whisky for votes. They are doing this even as they accuse the Democrats of buying votes by suggesting Medicare for all or SNAP.
Hypocrites
Trump now claims that he will protect Medicare and Social Security but Democrats will destroy them. To listen to him, you have to understand that everything he says is wrong.
It should be very clear by now that voucher programs are part of an ideological belief and has nothing to do with education quality!!
Vouchers have never been about providing better education. More choice is not necessarily a better choice. Vouchers are essentially a massive transfer of wealth from working families to the affluent as they provide a subsidy to those with enough money to pay for private school tuition. What is worse is that vouchers undermine the essential public schools that most students need and attend. They compel the majority to sacrifice for the choices of a few and make it difficult for public schools to plan when they are unsure of how much money they will have. The laws allow parents to drain public school budgets like an ATM, and districts cannot always predict how much they will lose each year. Vouchers are fools’ gold.
Thy are also a massive transfer of wealth from those without children to those with children.
The money goes directly to families with no oversight and no potential input from the childless. With a public school, I can at least attend meetings, speak or even run for the board. But vouchers remove any input from the childless or empty nesters.
It’s just free money for families. Many of whom have more money than those whose tax money they are collecting.
Gosh, what are the kids to do? No matter how much voucher-splainin goes on, the test givers, still give tests and more money goes to the testers than to the voucher “plan”…
Hah. Spotted the ubiquitous lie regarding NAEP “Proficient” from OH Christian Ed spokesman McIntosh. OH public schools really aren’t very good, he says– only 35% of 4th graders read “at or above the proficient level.” Reporter notes that’s actually above the US average. How could that be? readers think. Does that mean of the entire country’s 4th graders, barely over 1/3 read at grade level?
No, siwwy wabbit. NAEP “Proficient” is well above average achievement of grade level reqts. That would be the “Basic” descriptor, as usual left out of such disingenuous “analyses.” When we add that cohort in, we get 62% of US 4th graders reading at or above grade level. For OH, the number is 64%.
Thank you, Ginny.
Keep screaming from the rooftops: NAEP proficient IS NOT GRADE LEVEL. It is outstanding performance.
NAEP basic approximates grade level.
The kids who score below NAEP basic are disproportionately those with disabilities, limited English proficient, and low-income. Deal with root causes. Get tutors and small classes for these children.
Peter Greene has a post about our testing obsession. The Feds wasted $1.4 billion dollars to find the perfect test that would promote equity. Testing does not promote equity. It undermines it as it results only in ranking and sorting. Well designed programs can attempt to deliver greater equity. Imagine if that money had been in the hands of educators with a vision for community schools and other supports that actually meet students’ needs. https://curmudgucation.blogspot.com/2024/03/bs-test-blows-billion.html#comment-form