Change To Exploding Voucher Program Likely Coming, But Time Is Running Out

The number of public school buildings where students will be eligible for t he state’s largest private school voucher program will more than double in the coming school year. And that could blow huge holes in the budgets of 70 percent of Ohio’s school districts. Lawmakers who have said they want to change that are running out of time.

The EdChoice program was expanded in 2013, but because of changes in testing and state report cards, the grades school buildings got over the last few years weren’t counted in the criteria for whether they were considered “failing”. But now those grades are.

The number of buildings where students are eligible for vouchers went from 255 in the 2018-2019 school year to 517 in 2019-2020. And for the 2020-2021 school year, there will be 1,227 buildings in 433 districts where students will qualify.

So in the three-year period from last school year till the one that starts in August, there will be a 381% increase in the number of public school buildings where students qualify for EdChoice vouchers.

“That increase from about 250 schools to about 1,200 - I think there's probably fair to say some absurd results as part of that," said Sen. Matt Huffman (R-Lima), a strong supporter of vouchers. He made those comments on " The State of Ohio".

But he says there’s a huge problem for the state because under the law, thousands more students are entitled to apply for EdChoice vouchers starting on February 1.

“If we are going to look at them in the 11th hour just before they come in to apply and say 'we're gonna pull the rug out from underneath you', you've got a substantial legal problem.  And I think you need to do something for those folks, at least the low- and middle-income folks, to give them a chance to be involved," Huffman said.

School districts are bracing for a big financial hit.

Kevin Miller with the Ohio School Boards Association says public school budgets lost $300 million to EdChoice vouchers over the last two school years - $148 million last year alone.

“That $148 million represented 517 school buildings. So we're talking over 1,200, that's more than doubled. So we would see that single year loss probably double next school year based upon what we know," Miller said.

Sen. Teresa Fedor (D-Toledo) has long opposed the expansion of voucher programs. She noted that in that uncertainty, school districts also have to face that some students who have never gone to public schools now qualify for EdChoice vouchers to pay for the private schools they have been attending.

“That was a choice that the parents chose and never intended to use the public school. So we have put a huge burden, harmful effect for these school budgets, which by law they have to have a five year forecast. So now everyone is getting on the levy treadmill," Fedor said.

There’s widespread agreement that a fix is needed, and before the application process opens.  

Some suggestions include taking school buildings that got a grade of C or above in the last two years off the list of failing schools, along with buildings that moved up to a C from a D or F. And for many, a long term solution would include yet another overhaul of the state’s report card system, and likely scrapping the A-F grades, put in place in 2012 to replace labels such as “continuous improvement” and “effective”.

Senate Education Committee chair Peggy Lehner (R-Kettering) told the state school boarda few days ago that with only two weeks before the deadline, there isn’t time to propose a bill and put it through the committee hearing process.  So she expects changes or amendments to an education-related bill that’s already passed either the House or Senate.

And she’s worried this rushed plan won’t be a good one.

“In an effort to do something before February 1, I think we are at great risk of a solution that in the long run is not good for the children of this state.”

Lehner said a proposal from Huffman is gaining traction as part of a fix is an expansion of the income level to qualify for vouchers to up to 400% of the federal poverty level. Lehner says that’s an annual income of more than $90,000 for a family of four, so it would be a huge expansion of the program.  

Kevin Miller from the school boards association has concerns as well.

“School districts would be adamantly opposed to that because we've closed one dam yet to open up another floodgate and that that that would not be a positive," Miller said.

Lehner said without a EdChoice fix, or with a fix that includes an expansion of the income based vouchers, she’s worried not only about the hit to public schools. She’s also concerned about the effect on kids switching to very different school environments and on those private schools, which could see a flood of voucher students they’re not prepared for.

And while Lehner noted income-based vouchers would be paid for by the state, not by districts, that’s money that wouldn’t be going to other state programs.

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