SENATE BILL 11
Summary of Senate Bill 11
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SPONSOR
Senator Sandra O'Brien, District 32 TARGETS Funding for Local Schools K-12 Public Schools K-12 Students DESCRIPTION Expands the availability and amount of EdChoice scholarships, removing money from Ohio's public schools. Also increases the income tax credit for homeschooling families without proposing any additional regulations. |
COMMITTEE
Senate Education Committee INTRODUCED January 11, 2023 WATCH HEARINGS Sponsor Hearing - Feb 7, 2023 BILL General Info | Bill As-Written | Analysis Sponsor Testimony |
What does Senate Bill 11 do?
Senate Bill 11 is a universal voucher bill that divests state funding from public education to fund nonchartered nonpublic education.
SB 11 would:
SB 11 would:
- Expand eligibility for Educational Choice (EdChoice) vouchers to all students beginning with vouchers sought for the 2023-2024 school year, and removes all existing eligibility requirements, including income and performance requirements
- Provides $5,500 for students in grades K-8
- Provides $7,500 for students in grades 9-12
- The money may be used at any public, community, or chartered nonpublic school
- Students who receive a performance-based scholarship in the 2022-2023 school year can renew that scholarship through grade 12 “without meeting the current law renewal requirement to remain in the same resident school district”
- Ends Cleveland’s pilot project “Scholarship Program” on July 1, 2023 (the Scholarship Program was created to exempt Cleveland schools from the EdChoice program and the removal of resources from local schools that it creates)
- Increases the annual tax credit for homeschooling students from $250 to $2,000 without making any requirements about the education provided for that student
- The $2,000 homeschool tax credit may be used for educational expenses such as books, supplies, software, subscriptions, and other materials that are used directly for home instruction.
- Vouchers are not applicable for noncharter, nonpublic schools
- Vouchers do not replace the current Autism Scholarship or the Jon Peterson Special Needs programs
Ohio Speaks Out on 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.