Article published March 08, 2007
Students in Toledo area changing schools for voucher access
TPS union chief blasts ‘cash cow’
Drew Popejoy, left, and Jim Ellinger direct traffic at the private school.
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THE BLADE/ALLAN DETRICH
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By IGNAZIO MESSINA
BLADE STAFF WRITER
Some Toledo parents hope temporarily enrolling their children in lower-performing schools will mean a better education later on.
The president of the Toledo Public Schools teachers’ union said yesterday that a handful of parents have pulled their children out of their current schools and enrolled them at one of 19 academically struggling schools for a chance to get a voucher — worth $4,250 through eighth grade and $5,000 for high school — toward tuition at the private school of their choice.
“Kids are moving schools for the specific purpose of becoming eligible to secure a voucher,” said Francine Lawrence, president of the Toledo Federation of Teachers. “The state legislature has set up a cash cow for church schools and private schools.”
The voucher program, which this school year will cost Toledo Public Schools more than $1 million in lost funding, has further pitted public schools against private schools in the competition for students.
The “EdChoice Scholarship Program” was expanded by Ohio lawmakers at the end of 2006.
Teachers' union president Francine Lawrence sees voucher faults.
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Students are eligible to apply if they attend a public school that has been rated on academic watch or academic emergency status — the equivalent of a D or F grade — for two of the last three years.
The deadline to apply for a 2007-2008 school year voucher is April 20.
Urban school leaders have criticized the program.
Interim TPS Superintendent John Foley said the district is monitoring and curtailing transfers to voucher-eligible schools.
“[Vouchers] are just another way for the state to harm urban schools and to not give us the resources to get better, but to just give up on us and move the students out,” Mr. Foley said.
Cincinnati Public Schools refused recently to provide the state with addresses of students who are eligible for vouchers but eventually turned the information over after the Ohio Department of Education revealed the district’s action to the media.
Interim Toledo Public Schools chief John Foley sees voucher faults.
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Only five Toledo Public Schools were affected for the current year. But with the expansion, students at 19 schools will be eligible for 2007-2008.
The eligible Toledo schools are Cherry, Chase, Fulton, Garfield, Nathan Hale, Lagrange, Lincoln Academy for Boys, Newbury, Pickett, Raymer, Reynolds, and Sherman elementary schools; Jones, Leverette, McTigue, and Robinson junior high schools, and Scott, Woodward, and Libbey high schools.
Elsewhere in northwest Ohio, there are six eligible schools in Lima — Freedom, Liberty, and Unity elementary schools; Lima North Middle School, Lima South Middle School, and Lima High School — and two in Sandusky — Hancock Elementary and Mills Elementary.
Cerssandra McPherson, a special education paraprofessional at Toledo Public’s McKinley Elementary, said one of the school’s best students transferred to Nathan Hale with the intent of applying for a voucher to attend Toledo Christian School in the fall.
“We are all kind of disjointed about this,” Ms. McPherson said. “It’s affecting our classrooms and our goals for our individual numbers, which affects our teachers because when our numbers go down that means teachers get laid off.”
| WHAT ARE VOUCHERS? |
• Ohio can provide up to 14,000 eligible students with scholarships to attend the participating private school of their choice. Students from schools that have been on academic watch or academic emergency status — the lowest categories on the state’s school-rating system — for two of the last three school years are eligible to apply.
• You can find a list of EdChoice-designated public school buildings on the EdChoice Web site, www.EdChoice.ohio.gov.
• The first step is to apply for admission to a participating private school.
• Vouchers are worth $4,250 for grades kindergarten through eight and $5,000 for high school students. The vouchers cover only school tuition, not fees. |
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The teachers’ union reported two Bowsher High School students transferred recently to Woodward High School because they want free public cash toward tuition at St. Francis de Sales High School in the fall.
Students who currently are attending private schools and home-schooled students are not eligible for vouchers. That has prompted parents of some of those students to temporarily put their children into one of the 19 schools.
A switch for money
Drew Popejoy, principal of Toledo Christian, said two families are considering leaving the school for one of the struggling TPS schools to hopefully return in the fall with voucher money.
J.C. Benton, spokesman for the state education department, said the tactic comes with a caveat because the public school district and the state will determine if a child has attended a school long enough to receive a voucher.
“Transferring into a failing school doesn’t necessarily mean you’re going to get [a voucher],” Mr. Benton said.
Last year, parents in Mansfield, Ohio, tried unsuccessfully to get vouchers by enrolling their children in voucher-eligible schools just two days before the end of the academic year, Mr. Benton said.
Officials said they anticipated low enrollment in the first year of one of the only statewide private-school voucher programs in the country. They now expect interest to increase, but Mr. Benton could not provide a number of how many students have applied so far.
There were 333 Toledo district children who applied for vouchers for use this school year, according to TPS data. Statewide, there are about 3,000 students attending a private school this school year with public money through the voucher program.
Mr. Benton pointed out that represents more than 5 percent of all eligible students.
“That is impressive when you compare the percent of eligible students who participated in the first year of other voucher programs,” he said.
According to data collected by the Ohio Department of Education:
• Milwaukee had 341 participants in its first year, which was 0.7 percent of all eligible students. Now, there are 15,035 participants, 20.5 percent of all eligible students.
• In Florida, a voucher program for special education students, which currently is the largest voucher program in the country, had 977 participants its first year, 0.3 percent of all eligible students. The program now has 15,910 students, 4.3 percent of all eligible students.
Many private schools, such as Toledo Christian, St. John’s Jesuit, and some Catholic elementaries, have aggressively advertised the voucher program.
Although the $4,250 is sufficient to cover most private kindergarten through eighth grade schools, many private high schools charge more than $5,000 a year.
Rosary Cathedral leads
Rosary Cathedral school in the Old West End led the Toledo Catholic Diocese schools with 55 voucher students.
Tuition at Toledo Christian, which now has 32 children using vouchers, is $6,500 for high school, $5,800 for junior high school, and $5,000 for elementary school.
Michael Kaucher, principal of the $6,300-a-year Central Catholic High School, said interest in vouchers increased this year over last.
He said he has not encouraged parents to transfer into an eligible school to get a voucher.
“Certainly, I’m a firm believer in quality education. But I have been in Catholic education all my life, and we have lobbied for years and years for a voucher program,” Mr. Kaucher said.
“I’d like a voucher program where tax dollars are following those students no matter where they go,” he said.
Contact Ignazio Messina at:imessina@theblade.comor 419-724-6171.
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