(The Center Square) – After school choice students more than doubled in Ohio in the last four years, a policy group is pushing lawmakers to keep the momentum moving forward.
The Buckeye Institute wants the state’s new General Assembly to resist falling backward, expand options, ease access to used buildings and reform transportation requirements as the new legislative session begins.
Greg Lawson, research fellow at The Buckeye Institute, said in a policy memo released Wednesday that “students should come first, whether they learn at their local district school, a charter school, or one of Ohio’s many alternative education providers,” and lawmakers should “take commonsense steps to secure universal school choice and resist any efforts to undermine its success.”
In 2021, Ohio’s EdChoice program served a little more than 50,000 students. That rose to 57,400 in 20222, 62,300 in 2023 and to nearly 130,000 last year after lawmakers passed and Gov. Mike DeWine signed a bill creating universal school choice.
Now, Lawson recommends the General Assembly should include disadvantaged pupil impact aid to EdChoice scholarships to help economically stressed students taking advantage of the scholarship. Currently, both public and charter schools receive extra funds to help those students, but the additional money is not available in EdChoice.
Lawson also says public schools often demolish outdated or unused buildings rather than sell them, which makes it harder for private schools to find buildings for their students.
Ohio law gives charter schools the right of first refusal to buy unused buildings, and the institute recommends lawmakers tighten the law to stop public districts from finding ways to get around it.
Also, following a legal fight between Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost and Columbus City Schools over transportation for private school students, Lawson said lawmakers to amend state law to tighten options for public districts to stop transportation and eventually eliminate a district-based transportation system in favor of a regional system.
“Ohio lawmakers should keep the state’s promise to enhance and expand school choice for families. Students should come first, whether they learn at their local district school, a charter school, or one of Ohio’s many alternative education providers. State leaders should take commonsense steps to secure universal school choice and resist any efforts to undermine its success,” Lawson wrote in the policy memo.
