Lawmakers to address school voucher issue next week

Program expansion draws in 1,200 schools.

By Jim Provance / The Blade
Wed, 22 Jan 2020 19:34:50 GMT

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COLUMBUS — The Ohio Senate president said Wednesday his chamber will act next week to address worries about the pending broad expansion of vouchers for parents to send their children to private schools.

He said he's confident the bill will receive the supermajority necessary so that, should it be signed by Gov. Mike DeWine, it could take effect immediately before the start of the Feb. 1 application period rather than wait the usual 90 days.

“Both chambers will be in next week, and we'll knock that out,” Sen. Larry Obhof (R., Medina) said. He said it will not simply be a temporary delay that would push a final solution down the road.

He declined to say what the final plan may be, but lawmakers have been talking about a variety of solutions.

They have ranged from making the EdChoice Scholarship Program an income-based program available to any eligible student in the state, regardless of the district in which they live. Others have talked about tinkering with the program to remove individual schools that have earned D's or F's on recent report cards even though the districts in which they are located have generally performed well overall.

More than 1,200 individual school buildings were on the latest list released by the Department of Education for students that would be eligible next school year to receive vouchers to attend the private or religious schools of their choice. The number was more than double that of the current school year.

The application window is slated to open on Feb. 1 if lawmakers do not act before then.

Lawmakers are not of one mind on the issue. Some want to do away with the broad expansion altogether while others argue it would be unfair to pull the rug out from under parents who've been counting on that money.

Mr. Obhof said the bill that emerges next week will not include reforms to the report-card system itself, something that has stymied lawmakers in recent months.

The latest expansion of vouchers has alarmed even Republican fans because, for the first time, the list includes individual buildings located in wealthier, suburban districts that generally perform well as a whole on report cards.

Under the program, the home school district pays $6,000 for high-school students and $4,650 for other students. If those amounts exceed the per-pupil state aid that the district receives, then more of their state aid is deducted to make up the difference.

A Senate committee had been expected Wednesday to amend a potential fix into House Bill 9, a measure that passed the House unanimously in June. The bill would require the state to develop an electronic management tool to help students transfer credits between state colleges and universities.

The vote did not take place, although Mr. Obhof said House Bill 9 remains a potential vehicle for the EdChoice language. The chamber will return on Tuesday.

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