St. Edward defeats Pine-Richland, 28-27, August 27, 2016
Private schools like St. Edward High School in Lakewood could soon have more middle-income families receiving state help with tuition through vouchers, if an upcoming bill passes the state legislature.
(John Kuntz/The Plain Dealer)
State Senator Matt Huffman (R-Lima).
COLUMBUS, Ohio - Ohio's complicated tuition voucher programs would be combined and expanded to offer more money to more middle class and suburban students under a bill that will be announced next week.
The bill to be proposed by State Sen. Matt Huffman, a Lima Republican, would combine three existing voucher programs - one with strict income requirements, one for students in "failing" schools and one for only Cleveland residents -into a single program.
The new plan would offer state subsidies to families to help pay private school tuition regardless of where in Ohio they live, regardless of the rating of their local public school and with relaxed income restrictions.
Starting in 2017-18, it would give $5,000 in state tax money to help pay tuition for students in kindergarten through eighth grade and $7,500 for high school students. That's an increase from the $4,250 or $4,650 for elementary school and the $5,700 to $6,000 the existing plans offer now.
The full vouchers would be available to families with incomes less than double the federal poverty level - about $48,000 for a family of four - with reduced amounts up to four times of the federal poverty level - about $96,000 for a family of four.
See below for more on the income requirements.
"The purpose is to allow all people to have the best and most choices for their child to go to school," said Huffman, who had proposed a similar bill in 2011. "This is allowing more choices to more people."
Huffman's proposal comes as vouchers and school choice are about to become a national issue under President Donald Trump and his pro-voucher Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos. The two have proposed a $20 billion fund to pay for vouchers and other school choice efforts.
But Huffman's plan would not depend on any federal support. He noted that the payments are about what the state now gives school districts in state aid, so shifting the money to private schools should have little extra cost.
"It's roughly the amount of money we're sending statewide to schoolkids anyway," Huffman said.
He did not have estimates of how many students would use the vouchers. Ohio Department of Education data shows that more than 30,000 students used the existing voucher programs last year.
Huffman is anticipating opposition from school districts, who will view the new voucher plan as a threat to drain students from traditional public schools. When legislators looked to add a few suburban private schools to the Cleveland-only voucher plan a few years ago, the district objected and agreed to only limited expansion.
Huffman said, though, that he is more concerned with providing choices for families than protecting institutions.
"Let the marketplace work," he said. "Give people as much choice as possible and the goods and services will get better and the costs will get less expensive the more we do that, rather than being central planners.
All of the details of Huffman's plan are not yet available as he and legislative staff finish the bill. Since it has not been introduced or announced, districts, private schools and other education organizations in the state have not had a chance to see it.
But here are some specifics, with more coming when the bill is introduced:
Vouchers do not cover charter schools: While the school choice movement promotes both charter schools and vouchers, they are not the same.
Charter schools are public schools that are already funded with state tax dollars, but are privately-run. There's no need for vouchers, since the schools are already free to anyone.
Vouchers cover tuition at fully-private schools that do not otherwise receive tax money.
Vouchers often go to religious schools: Many private schools with high tuitions do not accept vouchers, but lots of Catholic and other religious schools do. When the Cleveland Scholarship voucher was created in 1995 as the first voucher program in Ohio, opponents challenged it all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, claiming it was an improper use of tax money to advance religion.
The court ruled in favor of the program and vouchers in Ohio have gradually expanded since.
Plan will not affect two disability voucher programs: The Jon Peterson Scholarship, a voucher program just for special education students, and the Autism Scholarship are not included in this consolidation.
What programs are affected: The Cleveland Scholarship, EdChoice and EdChoice expansion programs.
The Cleveland Scholarship is open to only Cleveland students to attend private schools only in Cleveland. Law changes in 2014 and 2015 expanded the schools at which students can use the vouchers into neighboring suburbs.
Huffman's plan would let students attend schools anywhere in the state, with no geographical restriction - an issue that could draw opposition locally.
EdChoice is open to students anywhere who attend schools considered to be failing because of low test scores.
EdChoice was expanded to include low-income families. Eligibility for new students cuts off at a family income of double the federal poverty level.
But the program created a sliding scale, much like Huffman is proposing, when families using the voucher see their income increase over time. That scale allows families to receive some voucher up to four times the poverty level, though families nearing that amount can only receive 50% of the voucher amount.
Transition to the new plan: Because the state and schools are already accepting voucher applications for next school year, the new plan would not start until the 2017-18 school year.
Huffman said all students who receive vouchers now or starting in the fall can continue to receive them if the new rules would otherwise exclude them.