HOUSE BILL 11
Summary of House Bill 11
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SPONSOR(S)
Rep. Riordan McClain (District 87) Rep. Marilyn John (District 76) TARGETS All Ohio K-12 Schools Support for Public Schools All K-12 Students and Families DESCRIPTION Creates a "scholarship program" by which students can receive funding to attend non-public schools Students must apply for the scholarship annually, and funds are directed into educational savings accounts Non-public schools must opt in to receive funding from this program |
COMMITTEE
House Primary and Secondary Education Committee INTRODUCED February 15, 2023 TESTIMONY Read Testimony | Watch Testimony BILL General Info | As-Written | Analysis |
What does House Bill 11 do?
House Bill 11 directs the state treasurer to create a universal voucher program by establishing the "Backpack Scholarship Program". The program will qualifying students with an Education Savings Account to use for enrollment at a school of their choice.
Details:
The State Treasurer will:
Nonpublic schools that will participate in the program and receive funding from it must:
Students who begin the school year by using scholarship funds at a nonpublic school, but later transfer to a different nonpublic school or a public school in their community, are obligated to notify the treasurer of the state of their transfer. The treasurer of the state will then reallocate the scholarship funds to the Department of Education, to be disbursed to the student's current school.
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Universal voucher program begins in the 2024-2025 school year and repeals the Ed Choice and Cleveland Scholarship Programs on July 1, 2024
Department of Education must provide a link to the program's website on the department's website
Creates Education Savings Account for qualifying students
Student eligibility for an ESA
ESA may be used for:
Participating Nonpublic Schools
Homeschooling
State Treasurer
Details:
- Program begins in the 2024-2025 school year
- Qualifies a student for an ESA if the student’s parent applies to participate in the program and the student is either:
- Enrolling in a participating K-12 chartered and nonchartered nonpublic schools
- Make funds available for eligible and participating students to "purchase educational goods and services, including tuition at participating chartered and nonchartered nonpublic schools"
- Eligible expenses include tuition and fees at participating schools, tuition and fees for a nonpublic online learning program, tutoring or intervention services provided by an individual or educational facility (with some exceptions), educational services (including occupational, behavioral, physical, speech-language, and audiology therapies), and fees for nationally standardized assessments, advanced placement exams, college or university admission exams, and after-school or summer educational programs
- Be advertised on a public website, which is linked to from the Department of Education website
- Disburse funds to student educational savings accounts in 2025 and after on January 15 and July 15
- Have an application period which opens in March, during the spring preceding the school year for which a student is applying for the scholarship
- Require completed, submitted applications from any family whose student wishes to use this voucher program
- Require that applicants are enrolling in grades K-12 in a participating school, or homeschooling
- Require that families apply each March if they intend to access the scholarship program for any subsequent year of education for that student
The State Treasurer will:
- Receive and process all applications into the scholarship program
- Create the educational savings account for the qualifying students
- Provide similar educational savings accounts to students who are eligible under the autism scholarship program or the Jon Peterson special needs scholarship program
- Create a voluntary list of nonpublic schools and vendors of educational goods and services who have opted-in to participating in the scholarship program
- Disburse funds to qualified educational savings account vendors, or to approved vendors of educational goods and services, or to families as a reimbursement upon the provision of appropriate documentation
- Disburse a scholarship amount of $5500 for students in grades K-8, and $7500 if the student is in grades 9-12. These amounts can increase in the future "by the same percentage that the statewide average base cost per pupil increases in future years"
Nonpublic schools that will participate in the program and receive funding from it must:
- Notify the treasurer of the state no later than February 15 each year of their decision to participate in the following school year
- Report "aggregate results of the measures and assessments" of their student body to the treasurer of the state
- Not charge any student whose family income is at or below 200% of the federal poverty guidelines beyond the amounts allocated via this scholarship program
Students who begin the school year by using scholarship funds at a nonpublic school, but later transfer to a different nonpublic school or a public school in their community, are obligated to notify the treasurer of the state of their transfer. The treasurer of the state will then reallocate the scholarship funds to the Department of Education, to be disbursed to the student's current school.
*****************************
Universal voucher program begins in the 2024-2025 school year and repeals the Ed Choice and Cleveland Scholarship Programs on July 1, 2024
Department of Education must provide a link to the program's website on the department's website
Creates Education Savings Account for qualifying students
- Funded with state operating funds
- Provides $5,500 for qualifying students in grades K-8
- Provides $7,500 for qualifying students in grades 9-12
- ESA amount must increase by the same percentage as the statutory statewide average base cost per pupil
- Application period open March 1 for following school year
Student eligibility for an ESA
- Student is enrolling in grades K-12 in a participating school
- Student is currently homeschooled
- Student receives a scholarship under the autism scholarship program or the Jon Peterson special needs program
- student who received a scholarship under the EdChoice program
- Student is re-applying for the annual program
ESA may be used for:
- Tuition and fees at participating schools, including chartered nonpublic and nonchartered nonpublic schools
- Curriculum, textbooks, instructional materials, and supplies
- Tuition and fees for a nonpublic online learning program
- Tutoring or intervention services provided by an individual or educational facility (with some exceptions)
- Educational services (including occupational, behavioral, physical, speech-language, and audiology therapies)
- Fees for nationally standardized assessments, advanced placement exams, college or university admission exams, workforce programs, and after-school or summer educational programs
- If the student does not re-apply, the state treasurer must transfer the remaining ESA balance to the Dept of Education by on June 13 of the school year to be transferred to the student's new school district, community school, STEM school.
- If the student does not enroll in a school district, community school, or STEM school in the subsequent school year, the department must transfer the funds to the student's resident district.
- If the student graduates during the year, the parent may allocate up to 50% of the balance towards a sibling's ESA for the subsequent school year; all other funds will transfer to the general revenue fund
Participating Nonpublic Schools
- Schools must notify state treasurer no later than February 15 each year of their decision to participate in the following school year
- Report "aggregate results of the measures and assessments" of their student body to the State Treasurer for publishing
- Schools will be given maximum freedom to provide for the educational needs of their students; the State Treasure will not regulate the educational or instructional program of the schools
- Program does not affects the State Board of Education's authority to adopt minimum education or operation standards
- Not charge any student whose family income is at or below 200% of the federal poverty guidelines beyond the amounts allocated via this scholarship program
- Students beginning the school year using voucher funds at a nonpublic school, but later transfer to a different nonpublic school or a public school in their community, must notify the state treasurer of their transfer; the state treasurer must reallocate the voucher funds to the Department of Education, to be disbursed to the student's current school
Homeschooling
- Program lowers standards for who must provide instruction in core subject area for a homeschooling student from a "qualified person" to the student's parent
- Requires students that enroll in a public school following any period of home education be placed in the appropriate grade level based on the policies of the student’s resident school district
State Treasurer
- Develop process for to solicit and contract with ESA vendors
- Develop student application process by March 1, 2024
- Receive and process student applications and create ESAs for students
- Disburse funds to ESA vendors and students
- Provide similar ESA to students who are eligible under the autism scholarship program or the Jon Peterson special needs scholarship program
- Create a voluntary list of nonpublic schools and vendors of educational goods and services who have opted-in to participating in the scholarship program
- Determine penalties for any fraudulent activity
- Collaborate with stakeholders and state agencies to promote the program to the parents of eligible students
- Publish and manage a website for the program and participating schools
Ohio Speaks Against Universal Vouchers
Ohio School Boards Association:
“We believe that Ohio should update and fully fund the Fair School Funding formula before engaging in any type of voucher expansion,” said Jennifer Hogue, director of legislative services for OSBA. “Granting state-funded vouchers reduces the level of funding available to support and improve the public school system to meet the needs of the students that have chosen to attend their public school.”
Read more HERE
AJ Calderone, Superintendent of LaBrae Local Schools:
"Is the achievement of students taking the voucher better than their public school counterparts? Will private schools be required to accept all students? Should Ohio taxpayers fund parent choice? If the State diverts hundreds of millions of dollars to private schools via vouchers, what might be the impact on local public schools? What might be the long-term impact on local property taxes?...
LaBrae is a participating district in the Vouchers Hurt Ohio lawsuit. We see vouchers as an existential threat to public schools, which are a foundational institution of our society that play a critical role in fostering individual opportunity and helping to sustain democracy. Moreover, the LaBrae Board of Education believes the lawsuit is integral to protecting public education and Ohio taxpayers."
Read more HERE
Cincinnati Enquirer investigation on EdChoice program results:
Public districts included in the analysis had $410 million deducted and redirected to private schools through the programs since 2018. Ohio's eight largest districts shouldered the heaviest burden, with about $325 million deducted, according to Ohio Department of Education data.
Yet five of the largest districts – Cincinnati, Toledo, Cleveland, Akron and Canton – fared better academically than their local private school rivals, by margins ranging from slight to decisive, according to The Enquirer analysis.
Dayton, Columbus and Youngstown, the remaining three of Ohio's largest districts, had lower test proficiency levels than their surrounding private schools.
In 2019, Black pupils comprised a majority of all students in Ohio's eight largest districts.
But the voucher system has been least successful in educating Black students, testing data shows. About 37% of Black voucher students in Ohio's private schools met or exceeded proficiency, about four percentage points lower than Hispanics and nearly 20 points lower than whites.
Read more HERE.
“We believe that Ohio should update and fully fund the Fair School Funding formula before engaging in any type of voucher expansion,” said Jennifer Hogue, director of legislative services for OSBA. “Granting state-funded vouchers reduces the level of funding available to support and improve the public school system to meet the needs of the students that have chosen to attend their public school.”
Read more HERE
AJ Calderone, Superintendent of LaBrae Local Schools:
"Is the achievement of students taking the voucher better than their public school counterparts? Will private schools be required to accept all students? Should Ohio taxpayers fund parent choice? If the State diverts hundreds of millions of dollars to private schools via vouchers, what might be the impact on local public schools? What might be the long-term impact on local property taxes?...
LaBrae is a participating district in the Vouchers Hurt Ohio lawsuit. We see vouchers as an existential threat to public schools, which are a foundational institution of our society that play a critical role in fostering individual opportunity and helping to sustain democracy. Moreover, the LaBrae Board of Education believes the lawsuit is integral to protecting public education and Ohio taxpayers."
Read more HERE
Cincinnati Enquirer investigation on EdChoice program results:
Public districts included in the analysis had $410 million deducted and redirected to private schools through the programs since 2018. Ohio's eight largest districts shouldered the heaviest burden, with about $325 million deducted, according to Ohio Department of Education data.
Yet five of the largest districts – Cincinnati, Toledo, Cleveland, Akron and Canton – fared better academically than their local private school rivals, by margins ranging from slight to decisive, according to The Enquirer analysis.
Dayton, Columbus and Youngstown, the remaining three of Ohio's largest districts, had lower test proficiency levels than their surrounding private schools.
In 2019, Black pupils comprised a majority of all students in Ohio's eight largest districts.
But the voucher system has been least successful in educating Black students, testing data shows. About 37% of Black voucher students in Ohio's private schools met or exceeded proficiency, about four percentage points lower than Hispanics and nearly 20 points lower than whites.
Read more HERE.