Applications trail available Ohio school vouchers

COLUMBUS (AP) — Ohio has received far fewer applications than the newly expanded number of vouchers available for transferring students to private schools from poor-performing public ones.

The Columbus Dispatch reports families turned in more than 17,000 requests for vouchers for the new school year by Monday’s deadline. A provision in the state budget signed at the end of June offered as many as 30,000 of the private school scholarships, up from the old limit of 14,000.

A representative of Join the Future, an advocacy group for public schools and public school teachers, says the response shows there isn’t much demand for vouchers. But the head of pro-voucher group School Choice Ohio says there was “nothing magical” about the 30,000 cap and that no one thought it would be reached this year.