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The program that provides financial assistance to parents wanting to move their children out of public schools to private and religious schools will not more than double in size as predicted due to the passage of House Bill 197.
The Education Choice scholarship, known as EdChoice, has been a popular program among parents wanting to move their children from public schools. It was scheduled to more than double the number of public schools that would have eligible to lose students. The number of EdChoice schools would have increased from 517 to 1,227 if no legislative action had taken place.
But the Ohio Senate voted Wednesday to freeze the number of EdChoice schools at the current level.
The number of eligible EdChoice schools will not be able to increase until after the next state report cards are issued.
The state has placed a moratorium on testing due to schools being closed to prevent the spread of COVID-19. There will not be state report card grades issued next fall.
Leaders of many school districts across the state were critical of the expected expansion because they argued that some schools on the expansion list are not failing.
"The decisions by the state legislators not to allow the enlargement of the list was a wise move," said Will Schwartz, deputy director of legislative services with the Ohio School Boards Association.
"Many of the buildings were placed on the eligibility list as a result of a flawed state report card system," Schwartz said. "These districts will continue to see increases in voucher costs at a time when budgets will be stretched thin as a result of the novel coronavirus pandemic.
"This is part of a larger discussion we will continue to pursue," he said. "This is certainly not the end."
Vouchers can be obtained by parents of students in buildings that already are identified as EdChoice schools, so it's possible those buildings may lose even those buildings may lose even more students.
Michael Hanshaw, superintendent of the Trumbull County Educational Service Center, said he is pleased there has been some progress made, but he is not satisfied.
"Although freezing the eligibility list of the number of school buildings to 517 for the 2020-2021 school year is a better alternative to what some state lawmakers were looking at earlier this year, passage of HB 197 is nowhere near the place we need to be with our educational system," Hanshaw said.
The Trumbull County ESC remains concerned about the performance-based EdChoice system and the negative implications it has had and, if left as is, could continue to have on school districts, according to Hanshaw.
"Moving forward, it is our hope that our elected officials will revisit a plan that would base voucher eligibility, at least in part, on family income and not solely on building performance as determined by the state report card," Hanshaw said.
Youngstown City Schools CEO Justin Jennings has remained focused on the education of the district's students, according to district spokeswoman Denise Dick.
"He does not focus on what is happening in Columbus," she said.
Because HB 197 did not address academic distress commissions and chief executive officers in districts where they are already in place through the current school year, Dick said Jennings will continue the work he's been doing since his arrival aimed at improving the district.
NOT PLEASED
Youngstown Board of Education member Ronald Shadd expressed disappointment that the state did not address the academic distress commissions and CEO models in Youngstown, East Cleveland and Lorain school districts.
"The district has done worse academically and financially under this model," Shadd said. "This model has done more damage to public schools than the vouchers. The ADCs and CEOs were given power to do actions, but (without) having any accountability to residents or elected school boards."
Other changes made as part of HB 197 including providing flexibility to grant high school diplomas, waiving retention requirements for the third-grade reading guarantee and permitting boards of education to hold public meetings electronically.
Youngstown City School District will have its first electronic meeting today at 4 p.m., where various issues will be discussed, including future meeting schedules.
State Rep. Michael O'Brien, D-Warren, said it is unfortunate that the grades earned by students likely will be the final grades for the years.
MORE TO DO
"There is a vocational piece that has not been ironed out yet," O'Brien said. "The third-grade reading guarantee will not affect those students passing the third grade this year. Those students passing the third grade will be allowed to move forward."
He said lawmakers were very close to addressing the issue of academic distress commissions, but this pandemic will likely push this issue back.
State Sen. Sean O'Brien, D-Bazetta, said due to the pandemic and the April deadline that the legislature faced, they had to get some legislation passed addressing EdChoice, and decided to maintain what currently exist.
"We need to continue working on it," Sean O'Brien said. "We needed to make sure the schools are properly funded, because what is important is making sure our children receive quality educations."
Sean O'Brien said he hopes the state legislature will be able to address the academic distress sommissions and CEOs in East Cleveland, Lorain and Youngstown schools in HB 154, which still must be addressed in the Senate.