Lines Forming for School Choice

by Collin Hitt Ohio created a school voucher program nearly a decade ago. It gives choice to students attending failing schools, not unlike a policy proposed for Chicago by state Sen. James Meeks.  Research has shown that, while still in its infancy, the program was already causing improvement in public schools faced with newfound competition for students.  In time,...

by Collin Hitt

Ohio created a school voucher program nearly a decade ago. It gives choice to students attending failing schools, not unlike a policy proposed for Chicago by state Sen. James Meeks.  Research has shown that, while still in its infancy, the program was already causing improvement in public schools faced with newfound competition for students.  In time, the program has grown in size and popularity.

There is now a waiting list to get an Ohio EdChoice voucher, since the program is capped at 14,000. Bianca Speranza makes the sensible recommendation to eliminate that cap.

Currently the EdChoice voucher program has a 14,000 student cap, which has never been reached until this year.   In 2010 14,708 students applied for the EdChoice voucher program.  After sorting out ineligible students and those who failed to complete their paperwork correctly, there were over 300 children left on the waitlist.  The idea that hundreds of children are currently trapped in Ohio’s lowest performing schools with no way out is already a compelling enough reason to lift the cap and expand the program.