7/27/08

Cincinnati Enquirer

Denise Smith Amos

More than 10,450 public school students in Ohio, including 2,088 or so in the Cincinnati area, will attend private schools on the state’s dime in the upcoming school year.

Ohio education officials say they’re mailing letters this week to families of students eligible to receive Ohio Educational Choice scholarships, commonly called vouchers.

The EdChoice program is in its third year. Last year about 7,000 students used vouchers, though state funding was available for 14,000 students.

The scholarships are worth up to $4,375 for elementary and middle school tuition, and up to $5,150 for high schools. Only students who attend – or live near – persistently underperforming public schools qualify.

The underperforming public schools must have been rated in Academic Watch or Academic Emergency for at least two of the last three years. Kindergartners and those attending charter schools in the schools’ attendance areas also are eligible, but students already in private schools or home-schooled students do not qualify.

Public schools lose state money each time a student transfers to a private school in the program. The state sends districts about $5,400 in basic funding per student enrolled in their schools, and thousands more for poverty, disability and other special circumstances.

Cincinnati Public, like many urban districts, will be hit hard. The education department awarded vouchers to 1,970 students in the city’s attendance area, and though more than 13,600 students at 29 Cincinnati schools were eligible.

Cincinnati Public officials had not yet estimated total financial impact, said Chris Wolff, a spokeswoman.

Mount Healthy is the next hardest hit in the region, losing up to 118 students in its attendance area.

The district’s total enrollment is about 3,400 students. All its students at its middle school were eligible, as well as some incoming ninth-graders and students living near Greener Elementary, said Lori Handler, assistant superintendent.

She said district officials are appealing some of those awards. Students in Greener’s attendance area already have the right to attend the district’s four other elementary schools and many do, Handler said.

Also the program is paying for some ninth graders’ private school tuition, even though the high school was rated Effective, because last year those students attended the middle school, she said. Many of those students would have gone to private high schools anyway, she added.

“It’s awful,” Handler said. “It doesn’t make an ounce of sense to any of us. It’s a drain on taxpayers.”

Princeton and Middletown city schools each could lose up to 10 students, according to the department data.

Gov. Ted Strickland has fought unsuccessfully to end the voucher program, which is similar to a Cleveland voucher program, but legislators have blocked him.

Parents of students benefiting from vouchers and principals of the private schools serving impoverished communities have said the EdChoice program is a godsend.