State Bill Will Provide Scholarships to Send Children to Private Schools

The bill also creates the Special Education Scholarship program, which would provide scholarships to disabled students.

The bill would replace the existing Cleveland Scholarship and Tutoring Pilot Program and the Educational Choice Scholarship Pilot Program.

With the defeat of Senate Bill 5 last November the state was left with a shortfall in the budget, and Gov. John Kasich (R) hinted at further education reform attempts.

Many other states look to vouchers as a way to put ease on taxpayers’ dollars while providing underprivileged families with the opportunity to withdraw their children from public schools and place them into private schools at little to no cost.

The Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice is the main sponsor for the efforts to get more states using vouchers as a way to give children a better education.

If parents wish to send their children to private school, they could apply for the PACT Scholarship and then send their children to a participating private school. The most a scholarship would be worth is $4,626. If a family’s total income were over $95,000 per year the student would be ineligible to receive a scholarship.

Opponents of the bill see it taking away total revenue from the local school districts and making it harder for school boards to plan their yearly budgets. If a student were to opt out of public schooling, the funds and tax dollars allocated by the state for that student would be reverted to the private school that he or she would attend.

Supporters see it as a way to further reduce the amount of money the state spends at a local level while giving students the best possible education.