The Ohio House and Senate have not yet agreed on all of these points. The Ohio budget just passed the Senate and will have to pass the House again before being signed by Gov. Mike DeWine.
School voucher expansion
The Ohio Senate expanded private school vouchers to all families in the state. School vouchers allow families to send students to private schools. Charter schools do not take vouchers.
Anyone who makes up to 450% of the poverty line - $150,000 for a family of four – is eligible for a full EdChoice Scholarship ($7,500 for high school and $5,500 for K-8) under the Senate’s proposal, and anyone making above that will be means-tested based on family data.
“The upper chamber expanded private school choice to all Buckeye families but did so in a manner that ensures the bulk of state funding for scholarships continues to support those most in need of the assistance,” said Aaron Churchill, the Ohio Policy director for the Fordham Institute, which is in favor of both charter schools and vouchers.
But recently, the Ohio School Board Association, which represents public schools in the state, released new research from the Ohio Education Policy Institute that found school vouchers disproportionately benefit students who would have attended private schools no matter what.
Additionally, the percentage of low-income students participating in the program declined from 32% in 2014 to 15% in 2023.
Third graders still held back for reading
The Ohio Senate’s latest proposal keeps the state’s third grade reading guarantee, which holds back third-grade students who do not earn a passing grade on the state tests. Students need to earn a proficient score on the test to move on. There are two scores higher than proficient and two scores lower than proficient.
In general, teachers and administrators don’t like the policy, saying the law doesn’t allow for the school to decide what’s best for the student.
But a recent study from the Ohio Education Research Center, part of Ohio State University, found third-grade students from the 2013-2014 and 2014-2015 school years who were held back due to low scores scored higher in both math and English language tests in fourth through seventh grades.
Ohio Excels, an education nonprofit who worked with the Ohio Education Research Center on the project, says the data shows the third-grade reading guarantee works.
“Our goal here is to ensure that Ohio’s kids are getting the resources, the supports the interventions that they need to become proficient readers,” said Lisa Gray, founding president of Ohio Excels.
The Senate also is funding $174 million in the next two years for literacy improvement.
Transportation changes
The state provides some funding for local public schools to bus students in their district to the district’s schools and to private and charter schools. However, local public schools have struggled to bus students in the past few years, causing public and private schools to ask the state for help.
The changes included in this budget likely will not fix the busing crisis. The changes include a pilot program in Montgomery County and Franklin County that allows the Education Service Center to provide transportation, increasing the amount of money that families can get from their home public school if they live too far away to be transported under state law and requiring public schools to provide transportation to disabled students educated elsewhere if it’s part of the students’ intervention plan.
What’s not in the budget
The state is currently undergoing a change in the way schools are funded, with most public schools in the area now receiving more state funds under the updated school funding formula. The new budget removed some state funding guarantees for local schools.
The Senate budget also cut $366 million that DeWine had proposed to support increased access to quality childcare for low-income, working families and parents working in critical care occupations.
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