3,600 Valley kids eligible for Educational Choice Scholarships

YOUNGSTOWN — Some 3,600 children in Mahoning and Columbiana counties are eligible to apply for state Educational Choice Scholarships that they can use to pay their tuition at private schools this fall.

That’s the number enrolled at nine academically troubled public schools that are on the state’s EdChoice (school voucher) list for 2009-10.

No Trumbull County schools are on the list this year. Washington Alternative School in Warren was last year, but the district has closed that school, moving some of its children back into regular education programs and others to a new middle school transitional program.

The EdChoice program was created by the state three years ago to provide children in under-performing public schools the opportunity to attend private schools willing to accept them.

The state pays the private school’s tuition charge, or $4,500 for elementary school students (kindergarten through eighth grade) and $5,300 for high school students (grades nine through 12), whichever is lower.

The program has been a boon to some private schools, providing additional outside revenue.

Read more in Tuesday’s Vindicator and Vindy.com