EdChoice Voucher Freeze Hurts Heights Schools, District Says

CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, OH — Last week, the Ohio General Assembly passed a sweeping coronavirus relief bill. Among other key tenets, House Bill 197 (HB 197) features a legislative package which provides a temporary freeze on the controversial EdChoice voucher program — a decision which will negatively impact the Heights Schools, the Board of Education said.

"We respect the legislature’s need to act quickly in light of the COVID-19 crisis, and we are thankful that our lawmakers are working to provide relief for Ohioans. However, the voucher-related legislation in HB 197 continues the devastating expansion of EdChoice that occurred this summer in the biennial budget,” said CH-UH Board of Education President Jodi Sourini.

While the bill freezes EdChoice expansion for the 2020-2021 school year, eligible schools will be based on the 2019-2020 list. That means schools like Heights High will remain on the EdChoice list because of data that is nearly a decade old, the Board of Education said.

“We have been working with our legislators and lobbyists for months to push for changes that would not only help our district, but others in a similar situation, and this outcome falls far short of what we’d hoped for,” said Superintendent Liz Kirby.

The Heights Schools said the voucher program will continue to hamstring the district's budget. School district officials said 94 percent of area students who are using vouchers have never attended a Heights School.

House Bill 197 also extends Ohio's primary voting deadline to April 28, meaning the levy the district had on the ballot won't be resolved for another month.

“All of these factors will force us to make major decisions under a tremendous amount of uncertainty,” said Kirby. “Staffing decisions need to be made before we know exactly how many families are going to use a voucher or if our levy has passed.”