Posted on 06/30/2005 6:44:22 PM PDT by Coleus
Ohio Gov. signs budget creating statewide school voucher program In the 50th year since the school voucher’s introduction, school choice shows remarkable momentum
INDIANAPOLIS – In the 50th anniversary year of when Nobel Laureate economist Milton Friedman introduced the school voucher idea, Ohio Gov. Bob Taft signed the state’s budget bill implementing one of the country’s largest statewide school voucher plans. The bill also expands the state’s two current programs providing thousands of children the chance to receive a quality education at a school of their parent’s choice.
“Ohio is moving to the forefront in giving families greater educational freedom,” said Gordon St. Angelo, president and CEO of the Milton and Rose D. Friedman Foundation. “These advancements are a testimony to Ohioans’ belief that families should be free to choose a school based their on child’s needs, not their address.”
The new Ohio Educational Choice Scholarship Pilot Program will be available to 14,000 children across the state. Children in schools under “academic emergency” will be eligible for the program, which would allow their parents to use a voucher to choose another school – public or private. The vouchers will range from $4,250 for K-8 to $5,000 for grades 9-12. Under the budget bill, the current Cleveland program will expand to include students in grades 11 and 12, and increase the maximum voucher amount to $3,450 from the current maximum of $3,000. The legislation will also remove the pilot status of the state’s school voucher program for autistic children, increase the voucher amount from $15,000 to $20,000 and eliminate the cap on participation.
The passage and expansion of Ohio’s programs come during the 50th anniversary of the school voucher idea Friedman proposed in the 1955 book “Economics and the Public Interest.” In this historic year, Ohio becomes the fourth state to either create a new school choice program or expand an existing one. A total of 33 states introduced school voucher or tuition tax credit legislation in 2005 with nearly 50 percent of the bills passing through committee or at least one legislative chambers.
“It’s fitting that in the year of its 50th anniversary, we’re seeing school vouchers achieve unprecedented levels of momentum,” said St. Angelo. “This year, more states introduced legislation and advanced it further than ever before. A breakthrough is approaching.”
The expanded school choice program, known as the Educational Choice Scholarship Program, was on its way to the state Senate for approval as this issue of School Reform News went to press. It would allow as many as 18,000 children in 30 school districts the state deems to be on “academic watch” or “academic emergency” to receive scholarships to attend the school of their parents’ choosing.
Under the new rules, the state would provide $4,000 to private elementary schools for each voucher participant, $4,500 to middle schools, and $5,000 to high schools. The scholarship amount will increase annually with the Consumer Price Index. Currently, students in 34 “academic watch” school districts and several charter schools across the state qualify for the program.
In addition, the Cleveland scholarship program would be expanded to provide vouchers for high school juniors and seniors, and its funding would increase to $20.5 million by 2007. Approximately 5,000 Cleveland students received vouchers to attend 45 private schools in the 2003-04 academic year. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled the program--one of the first of its kind in the nation--constitutional in 2002.
Paving the Way
Clint Bolick, president and general counsel of the Phoenix-based Alliance for School Choice, which lobbies for school choice programs nationwide, praised Ohio State Rep. Dixie Allen (D-Dayton) for proposing the program-expansion bill.
“The success of the Cleveland school choice program in opening doors of opportunity to disadvantaged schoolchildren has provided inspiration for a major expansion of school choice in Ohio,” he said in a statement released April 13.
The House voucher proposal dramatically increases Gov. Bob Taft’s (R) proposal to increase funding for the state’s voucher program by $9 million and offer vouchers to approximately 2,600 children. To qualify for Taft’s proposed program, children from kindergarten through eighth grade would have to attend a school that failed to meet state test standards in reading and math for three years. Under Taft’s plan, students at 70 Ohio elementary and middle schools would be eligible for scholarships based on state test scores.
The House version also differs from Taft’s plan in terms of the financial impact on public schools. Taft’s voucher proposal would have subsidized tuition out of a new $9 million state account, not out of local school district funds. The House version calls for money to be deducted from local district coffers.
In High Demand
Rep. Dixie Allen of Dayton, the only Democrat to vote for the budget with the voucher proposal, told the Beacon Journal on April 18 that there is a need for more parental choice in Dayton.
Allen said, “there is a privately funded voucher program in Dayton now. Last year, 600 children received vouchers, and there was a waiting list of more than 1,100.”
The Senate was scheduled to weigh in on the voucher proposal before May 31. A balanced budget was to be presented to Taft for signing by June 30.
Lisa Snell (lsnell@reason.org) is education director at the Reason Foundation
This is a sore spot with me. ALL parents should be able to send their kids to the school of their choice. We should all get vouchers. The city schools in Lorain, Ohio have been in academic emergency for years. The schools here are out of control.
make that 2 for 2 he also vetoed an embryonic stem cell bill.
Is this not one of or the only good thing he's done! He gives a bad name to Republicans or Conservatives!
I'm literally in shock.
Taft making school choice reality? Veto of embryonic stem cell research?
I'm not sure what got into him, but if he starts lowering taxes I'm going to question if he's had a conservative awakening.
Or perhaps he dosn't want to leave office with the legacy he's determined for himself.
actually, I made a mistake while glancing over google news.
upon further reading, he vetoed the ban and thought it was too restrictive.
Governor Tax didn't veto the embryonic stem cell research. He vetoed a provision which would have banned it! He is a truly horrible governor.
yeah, I just realized that.
So he's done one good thing his entire stint as Governor.
Thank God! I couldn't be happier. 15 years ago I began a 501c(3) that advocated vouchers, here in Massachusetts. It was an uphill struggle, to say the least. It's no longer in existence, but I still have a signed letter from Milton Friedman wishing us well. 8-)
I know a lot of conservatives fear a gov't takeover of private schools, but I don't, for several reasons. Vouchers are the only practical alternative to the status quo; private schools may refuse vouchers; and parental self-interest will resist excessive school regulations.
Of course. But it will only come incrementally. Once parents learn that their neighbors are getting $5k/child from the gov't to send their children to private schools, word (and demand) will spread fast. Even the teacher unions will be unable to stop vouchers then.
Incrementally. Figures. 3 of my kids are either out of HS or relatively close. Got two more, one in HS and one in Junior HS. All those years of working overtime and two jobs.
Oh well, I'm not the first, or last and it was worth it to get my kids a good catholic education.
Sure would have been nice to have that voucher money though. Daddy'd have his boat by now hahahahahahaha.
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