Ohio Governor Ted Strickland surprised most observers (including us) when he left the state's education voucher program intact in his biennial budget proposal. The Educational Choice Scholarship is available to up to 14,000 students assigned to chronically underperforming public schools. Two years ago he sought to eliminate the program altogether; this time he attached some strings to the voucher dollars. Under his proposal, any school that enrolls a voucher student would be required to administer state achievement tests to all of its students, including those children whose parents pay out-of-pocket for their education. 279 private schools enrolled voucher students this school year. It remains to be seen how many of these schools would comply with the testing requirement and how many would abandon the program instead--a fate especially likely for the 94 schools that enroll fewer than ten voucher students apiece. The Buckeye State's teacher unions, some of Strickland's strongest supporters, have voiced support for extending testing mandates to private schools. They're sure to be singing a different tune, however, if the private schools start trouncing districts on the state's tests and use those test scores to lure more students away from public schools.
