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Greenville City Schools
EdChoice Voucher Program unfairly threatens school districts
By Asst. Supt. Laura Bemus and Elementary Principal Jody Harter
Ohio’s ballooning EdChoice voucher program threatens to undermine the
system of public education in Ohio. The program uses a flawed school
report card to unfairly label public schools as “failing” and forces
districts to subsidize the cost of private school tuition. Due to
recent changes, hundreds of millions of public tax dollars will
subsidize private school tuition for students, many of whom have never
attended a public school.
Next school year, more than 70% of Ohio’s districts will have an
EdChoice-eligible building. The number of eligible buildings will
mushroom from approximately 230 last year to more than 1,200 next year
— a 422% increase. Nearly half of these buildings received overall
grades of A, B or C on their current state report card.
Vouchers cost $4,650 for K-8 students and $6,000 for high school
students, funneling money away from public schools to pay for private
and parochial tuition. Students can keep the voucher throughout their
academic career, costing taxpayers nearly $66,000 per pupil to fund a
private education. These costs far exceed what the state provides
school districts, so districts must rely on local tax dollars to cover
the difference.
Greenville City School’s Board of Education passed a resolution at the
Jan. 9, 2020 meeting to oppose the State of Ohio’s EdChoice scholarship
program (voucher). The estimated loss of revenue to the Greenville City
School District over the next four years is $3,250,800 which would
devastate the District’s finances.
Vouchers also threaten districts’ ability to serve their remaining
students and jeopardize the quality of those students’ educational
experiences. Public school districts are held to high standards and
accountability, unlike private schools that do not have to use the same
state tests to assess student achievement and can determine their own
enrollment and admission policies. In the end, local taxpayers who
never intended for their tax dollars to go to private and parochial
schools lose. Students are placed in educational settings where there
is little-to-no accountability, and school districts that are doing
great things for kids are inappropriately labeled as “failing.”
Legislators will act on changes to the voucher program when they return
to session the week of Jan. 27th. As they work on developing those
amendments, public school educators across the state will continue to
contact legislators to oppose the expanded voucher program and the
effects it will have on public education in Ohio. We are urging
Legislators to stop draining funds from public school budgets and also
to stop funneling taxpayer dollars to private and parochial schools. We
support Ohio’s system of public education, where every child is
accepted and educated.
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