Schools sign up for voucher program
Nearly 7,000 children in the tri-county area will be eligible to apply for vouchers.
By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR EDUCATION WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- More than two dozen private schools in Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties have signed up to participate in Ohio's Educational Choice school voucher program this fall.
Those are schools that have indicated a willingness to accept pupils from poorly performing public schools.
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 money covers only school tuition. Parents may be required to pay other fees, such as registration fees, to the school they choose.
13 in area on list
There are 13 schools 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.
All the pupils in those schools are eligible to apply for a voucher. If accepted into the program, they can continue using the voucher each year through high school graduation, regardless of how the overall performance in their home school might change over that period.
The voucher must be renewed annually, however.
The 13 schools are West Elementary, Hayes Middle School, P. Ross Berry Middle School, Woodrow Wilson High School, The Rayen School and Odyssey: School of Possibilities -- all in Youngstown; Horace Mann Elementary, Western Reserve Middle School, East Middle School, Turner Middle School and Washington Alternative School -- all in Warren; Blott Elementary in Liberty; and East Liverpool Middle School in East Liverpool.
The voucher program started this school year and the state set the maximum number of vouchers available at 14,000, but only about 3,600 applied across the state.
How many eligible?
In this three-county area, 3,144 children in Youngstown and Warren were eligible to apply for vouchers. This fall, the number for the three-county area jumps to 6,871, based on current enrollment numbers.
Although the private schools have joined the program, that doesn't mean they have to accept any pupils, however.
The program requires that an eligible pupil apply for admission to a private school they choose and must meet that school's admission requirements.
If accepted, the private school will then assist them in applying for the voucher.
Pupils should be applying to private schools now as April 20 is the deadline for securing a voucher for this fall.
Children in public schools that are open and on the voucher list can apply, even if their public school is to be closed at the end of this school year. Rayen and Wilson in Youngstown fall into that category.
Those enrolled under the program may be eligible for transportation services from their home district if their new school is within a 30-minute drive from the public school they attended.
gwin@vindy.com