Public schools in Ohio oppose new voucher bill

Associated Press

COLUMBUS

Public school officials say millions of dollars could be redirected from their schools to private ones under proposed Ohio legislation to expand tax-funded school vouchers to include scholarships based on family income, not just school performance.

The bill sponsored by Republican Rep. Matt Huffman of Lima would provide vouchers for private-school tuition for low- and middle-class parents regardless of school performance and for qualifying families of nearly 200,000 current private school students, The Columbus Dispatch reported. Vouchers currently are offered for students at schools that perform poorly.

“I think the system should be based on need, not geography,” Huffman told The Dispatch. “I’m trying to fill a gap for people who don’t have a real option for a brick-and-mortar school and equalize the inequities in the current program.”

The bill would provide scholarships worth several thousand dollars for families that make up to $95,000 annually on a sliding scale, and the scholarship amount would be subtracted from the local district’s state aid.

Some schools believe a scholarship would exceed the per-student aid they receive and they’d have to make up thousands of lost tax dollars with money generated from local levies, the newspaper reported.

Public school officials who oppose the measure say it amounts to privatization — not school choice — and would wrongly redirect money away from their schools and from public accountability. The Ohio Association of School Boards asked its members to pass resolutions opposing the bill, and at least two — the Worthington district near Columbus and Winton Woods in suburban Cincinnati — did so.