Senate’s budget plan moves the ball downfield on educational choice

To use football parlance, education reform often feels like three yards and a cloud of dust. Yet sometimes the gains are bigger—a long forward pass—and that’s what the Ohio Senate’s final budget bill, which passed the chamber yesterday, would amount to. These are the key proposals in their game plan. (The next step is a huddle with House leaders likely in conference committee.)

Private school choice

The headliner of the Senate plan is universal eligibility for EdChoice scholarships, a move that would make private schools more accessible to all Ohio families. As a refresher, Ohio has long offered state-funded scholarships that cover some or all of the costs of attending private schools via the EdChoice program. Under current policy, families with incomes below 250 percent of the federal poverty level are eligible for income-based EdChoice.[1] In this year’s budget process, Governor DeWine proposed raising the income threshold to 400 percent. The House took it a step further and upped the limit to 450 percent, which would make approximately 70 to 80 percent of Ohio students eligible for income-based EdChoice (currently, about half of students are eligible).

The Senate took the final step by removing income restrictions entirely. If approved, all Ohio families would have access to financial assistance, but on a sliding scale. Instead of receiving the full scholarship amount, parents with incomes above 450 percent ($135,000 for a family of four) would receive gradually reduced amounts as their incomes rise. This approach is both more equitable—it ensures more dollars are directed to needier families—and more fiscally sensible, as it reduces some of the expense of universal eligibility (including the cost of allowing current private school students to participate). In sum, the Senate plan would empower all families to make decisions about what’s best for their kids. This move should also bring school choice’s helpful competitive effects to the most affluent school districts in Ohio.

Public charter schools

Over the past two decades, charter schools have become an integral part of Ohio’s K–12 education system. They provide parents with public, tuition-free alternatives to traditional district options. Some charters specialize in the arts or career-technical education, others focus on serving students with disabilities, others implement a classical education model, and still others have a laser-focused academic mission and are dedicated to preparing low-income students for college. In recent years, Ohio’s brick-and-mortar charters have significantly outperformed nearby district schools, especially when it comes to boosting the achievement of Black and Hispanic students.

But charters have also been severely underfunded, receiving approximately 30 percent fewer dollars than the districts in which they are located. This gap makes it harder for charters to provide supplemental supports and enrichment that can benefit students. With less funding, charters struggle to hire and retain talented teachers. It also leaves quality charters with diminished capacity to expand and reach more students.

Under the leadership of Governor DeWine, Ohio launched a program in 2019 that narrows the funding gap faced by high-quality charters. This year, 114 charters—about one-third statewide—received $1,416 per economically disadvantaged pupil and $809 per non-disadvantaged pupil in extra support through the program.[2] Recognizing the importance of these funds, the governor proposed in his budget recommendations a significant increase in high-quality charter funding. The House and Senate approved this proposal, and qualifying schools are now slated to receive $3,000 per economically disadvantaged pupil and $2,250 per non-disadvantaged pupil. In addition, the governor and both chambers of the General Assembly also increased the state’s brick-and-mortar charter facility allotment from $500 to $1,000 per pupil in this year’s budget.

The Senate added a final touch by including a new charter equity supplement that provides an additional $400 per pupil for all brick-and-mortar charters in the state, regardless of whether they receive the quality funds. Excluding the facilities dollars, the average brick-and-mortar charter statewide would be funded under the Senate plan at 83 percent of district funding—a 17 percent shortfall—while high-quality charters would be funded on average at 88 percent. It’s not quite parity, but if these moves are ratified by the conference committee, they will help ensure that charter students are funded at amounts far more comparable to their district peers. For great charter schools, it would mean approximately $2,400 more per student—one of the largest one-time increases in charter history, anywhere in the nation.

Open enrollment

Here at Fordham, we typically discuss interdistrict open enrollment, which allows students to attend schools in another school district. Barring any last-minute action, state lawmakers didn’t make any headway on requiring all districts (subject to capacity) to allow non-resident students to attend their schools. Regrettably, Ohio’s affluent suburban districts—even those with empty seats—will continue to close open enrollment options to students who might benefit from transferring to their schools.

But another important form of choice, especially in larger districts, is intradistrict open enrollment. This allows students to attend a district-run school—such as a magnet school—that is not the one assigned based on their home address. Such options appear widespread, but there is no hard data about how many students attend non-assigned district schools. A Senate provision aims to shed light on the question by requiring districts to report how many students use intradistrict open enrollment. This data should allow for a more comprehensive picture school choice in the Buckeye State.

Non-chartered private schools and homeschooling

Parents can exercise choice through two additional avenues: by enrolling their child in non-chartered, non-tax supported private schools or by homeschooling. In the last budget cycle, the legislature created a modest tax credit for families enrolling their children in non-chartered schools, which are very lightly regulated schools and cannot accept state-funded scholarships (only chartered private schools may do so). The Senate budget plan raises the current nonrefundable tax credit from $500 to $1,000 for higher-income families choosing this option and from $1,000 to $1,500 for lower-income families. These credits are intended to help offset tuition. As for homeschooling, parents will continue to be eligible for a $250 tax credit, which remains unchanged relative to current policy.

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Under the Senate’s budget plan, more Ohio families will be empowered to choose the educational option that they believe best meets their child’s needs. The upper chamber proposed these reforms while also significantly increasing funding for traditional public schools by more than half a billion over the next biennium, a solid 7 percent increase compared to FY23 funding. The work to create great school options for all students isn’t yet finished. But for now, three cheers to the Senate for continuing to strengthen educational choice in Ohio.