Voucher loophole triggers distress

Voucher
loophole
triggers
distress

Officials say the program will cost the Liberty school district money.

By JOHN W. GOODWIN JR.

VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF

LIBERTY — E.J. Blott Elementary School has been a part of the state’s Educational Choice school voucher program for one year, and school officials say some parents have found a loophole in the program — a loophole that could cost the district thousands of dollars.

Under the voucher program, the state will provide a $4,250 tuition voucher (or the actual tuition charged, whichever is lower) to the private school for each pupil enrolled under the program in kindergarten through the eighth grade. The voucher is $5,000 (or actual tuition, if it is lower) for grades nine through 12.

The voucher is open to pupils on a state list of schools that performed poorly two out of the last three years. E.J. Blott had been in academic watch for two years, but was moved up to continuous improvement for the 2006 school year.

There are 13 schools, including E.J. Blott, in the three counties on the state’s list of poorly performing institutions. Those are schools that have been in academic watch or academic emergency for two of the preceding three years, based on the state’s local report card. Pupils in all of those schools are eligible to apply for a voucher.

School officials feel the program has flaws that will cost the district thousands of dollars. Several school administrators and board members took their concerns before the Senate Finance Committee earlier this week.

According to school board member Robert Lackey, E.J. Blott has seen an enrollment increase of 34 pupils since the time the program was announced. Virtually all of those pupils, he said, transferred from parochial schools.

“Either E.J. Blott Elementary has become a very popular elementary school or, to paraphrase William Shakespeare, ‘Something is rotten in the state of Ohio,’” he said.

School officials feel the current program will allow pupils to transfer into the district for a short period of time, then transfer to a parochial school paid for with state funds that would have otherwise gone to Liberty school district.

None of the pupils who recently enrolled in E.J. Blott have gone back to parochial schools, but several have already applied for the voucher program.

“The enrollment of and anticipated withdrawal of approximately 35 to 45 pupils, who to the child, were a late-year enrollment from a parochial, community or private school, will cost the citizens of Liberty Township over $200,000,” he said. “This is a total injustice to the residents and pupils of Liberty Township and patently unethical on the part of those manipulating the system.”

The loophole

According to Lackey, one pupil enrolling at E.J. Blott late in the school year introduced herself to the class, but said she would not be there long because she would be going to a better school the following year.

“We want the Legislature to at least close the loophole, but in a perfect world we would ask to end the program altogether,” said Lackey.

Wally Dunne, director of government programs and resource development at the Diocese of Youngstown, said the diocese is aware of the potential abuse of the program and have told parents it will not be tolerated. He said there has been discussion in the diocese about requiring parents who briefly remove kids, then attempt to reinstate them under the voucher program, to submit a letter explaining why.

“I know there is a loophole that permits this, but we have told our parents that we will not support that,” he said. “It is not fair to the school systems and our parents know how we feel about this.”

J.C. Benton, spokesman for the Ohio Department of Education, said the department can only abide by what laws have been put in place by legislators. He said the department has expressed those concerns to state lawmakers.

“We have been made aware of the situation. We have heard similar stories and expressed those concerns to lawmakers,” he said.

Making attempts

State Sen. Capri Cafaro of Liberty, D-32nd, said Senate members have been trying to implement measures that would close the loophole.

“This is something I was made aware of early in my tenure, and we have been trying to close these loopholes; so far we have been unsuccessful,” she said. “If we are going to continue with this program, we must close some of these loopholes.”

Cafaro said members of the senate attempted to include language in the 2008/2009 budget that would require pupils to attend a school for a full year before applying for a voucher to transfer to a parochial school.

Cafaro said the language also would allow pupils to receive a voucher only for the grade levels they would be in in the poorly performing school instead of through high school graduation.

The amendments to the budget, she said, failed in the first try, but Senate members are again attempting to include those measures in the budget. She said senators will know this week if the language will be included in the budget.

jgoodwin@vindy.com