Ohio kindergarten students now eligible for income-based scholarship for private school

Special guest blog by Matt Cox, School Choice Ohio

 

The application for Ohio’s new income-based scholarship opens today, July 1. Ohio’s is the newest income-based scholarship, joining Indiana, Louisiana, Washington DC, and Wisconsin.

Last week, Ohio Governor John Kasich signed the nation’s newest school choice program into law: a state-sponsored private school scholarship for students starting kindergarten this fall whose family income falls at or below 200% of federal poverty guidelines.

The income-based scholarship joins the EdChoice (failing school), Jon Peterson (special needs), Cleveland, and Autism scholarship programs in serving families in every corner of the state.

Jon Peterson Special Needs Scholarship Program One Step Closer to Helping Families in the Buckeye State

The Jon Peterson Special Needs Scholarship Program is one step closer to helping thousands of families across the Buckeye State this week thanks to the State Board of Education, which just approved rules for the program.

The fourth voucher program in the state and Ohio’s second program specifically tailored to students with special needs, the Jon Peterson Special Needs Scholarship Program was created in 2011 has a part of the Ohio budget that also expanded the highly popular Educational Choice Scholarship Program and the Cleveland Scholarship and Tutoring Program.

The program, named after former state legislator Jon Peterson, a champion of education reform and special education services, is slated to begin in the 2012-13 school year.

But first, parents, advocates, and the state have to know how the program will work.  And that information is becoming clearer with this week’s actions from the State Board of Education.

The Joint Committee on Agency Rule Review (JCARR) must approve the program rules before the scholarship program can begin.

But rules and regulations don’t show why special needs school choice programs are important.  The stories of families whose lives have changed because of the program do.