4,200 can get school vouchers

YOUNGSTOWN — At least 4,200 children in the tri-county area are eligible to apply for state Education Choice Scholarships that would pay their tuition at private schools this fall.

That’s the number of pupils attending 11 academically troubled public schools in Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties that are on the state’s EdChoice list for the 2008-09 school year.

EdChoice is more commonly referred to as the voucher program.

The Ohio Department of Education says that public schools that have been in state-designated academic watch or academic emergency on their state report card for two of the last three years are automatically placed on the list.

That means the children attending those buildings can seek money from the voucher program to attend a private school of their choosing, provided that the private school agrees to accept them and is registered in the voucher program as a recipient school.

There are 23 schools in the tri-county area on the recipient list.

For more, see Sunday’s Vindicator and Vindy.com