Vilified By the Left-EdChoice Scholarships Deliver Results and Options for Families

EdChoice Scholarships are a hit with parents, and a new study says the scholarships make a meaningful difference for minority and lower income students.

Researchers from the Urban Instittute studied the results of 6,000 students over six years and found that students were more likely to graduate and enroll in college.

In fact, the results were so impressive, the Wall Street Journal published an editorial titled, "Ohio's School Choice Success Story."

The study found that "estimated enrollment impacts are strong for male students, Black students, students with below median test scores before leaving public school, and students who spent the most time in poverty during their childhood."

As the Wall Street Journal put it: "Groups that benefited the most were blacks, boys, students who experienced long-term childhood poverty, and students with below-median test scores before leaving public school. The rate of college enrollment among black scholarship recipients increased 18 percentage points, compared with 13 points for white students. Students who spent more than three-quarters of their life in poverty saw their rate of college attendance increase 17 percentage points, up to seven points higher than students from less impoverished backgrounds."

This is a big reason why parents were quick to embrace results tested options for their sons and daughters. In fact, the study found that "taken together, these findings indicate that Ohio's school vouhcer program had the largest benefits for the primarly low-income students who used the program to attend private school and that students who remained in public schools also saw improvement in their chances of getting to an through college."

Translation. Options produce results and drive competition, which also raises the bar for public schools.

The study focused on the period of time before the General Assembly expanded the program to every Ohio family, providing scholarships on a sliding scale based on income. Today, a full scholarship funded at 450% of the federal poverty line provides $6,166 for a K-8 scholarship and $8,408 for a 9-12 scholarship. Funding is reduced based on family income. Compare that to per pupil spending for public schools which averages more than $16,000, EdChoice actually saves the state money. 

Not a penny comes from the budget of a public school. These scholarships are funded separately, and it's important to point out, as we consistently do here On The Record, that the General Assembly invested an additional billion dollars into public education in the current budget.

Fordham just released an interesting report as well on Ohio schools, including per pupil spending from the metro areas to rural schools with data from Ohio's Department of Education and Workforce.

As is the case during budget season, which is now, school unions and far left special interests that mainly represent administrators and not so much the teachers, insist on getting all the money. Yet, they don't seem concerned with getting all the results.

This weeek on The President's Podcast, Senate President Rob McColley is joined by Rabbi Yitz Frank, who is the President of School Choice Ohio. They talk more about what the study found, and why Ohio families continue to overwhelmingly respond to the most recent expansion of the program.