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Bill Expands Voucher Program

Posted on: Friday, 17 March 2006, 12:00 CST

By Scott Elliott, Dayton Daily News, Ohio

Mar. 16--DAYTON -- About 25,000 more Ohio students would be eligible to pay for private school tuition using tax dollars under a proposed change in the voucher rules.

The proposal, included in a budget corrections bill that is expected to be quickly approved by the legislature, also adds new rules that will make thousands more Dayton children eligible.

Ohio this fall will offer 14,000 vouchers, which allow students in low-performing schools to spend up to $5,000 in tax money on private schools. Under the current rules, only about 19,000 kids statewide can apply for vouchers.

About 45,000 kids would be eligible if the change takes place.

"We now have a much better chance of being able to give out the vouchers we promised," said House Speaker Jon Husted, R-Kettering.

Husted and Dixie Allen, D-Jefferson Twp., pushed for the changes to be added into a budget corrections bill. Husted said he expected the bill to pass quickly and be signed by Gov. Bob Taft by April 1 so the new rules will apply when the voucher program expands statewide this fall.

Dayton school board member Clayton Luckie said a flood of vouchers here could hurt the district just when its enrollment was stabilizing after years of decline. School district funding is based on enrollment.

"I have no problem with choice if it's good choice. I just think they should fund it separately," he said.

The proposed changes include:

--Students attending schools that have been rated in the two lowest state categories -- academic watch or academic emergency -- would be eligible. This would add Jefferson Twp. High School, Dayton's Cornell Heights Elementary School and Camden Elementary School in Preble County to the list of eligible schools.

--For districts like Dayton that have no school boundaries but have been rated in academic emergency for three years, eligibility would be extended even further. All incoming kindergartners and all students attending charter schools in Dayton could seek vouchers under the new rules.

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Copyright (c) 2006, Dayton Daily News, Ohio

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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Source: Dayton Daily News

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