Proposal: Parents could keep extra voucher money
This is a glimpse at what’s happening in Greater Cincinnati schools.
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Note: This story has been updated to correct federal poverty estimates.
Proposal: Parents could keep extra school voucher money
Imagine if:
- Parents could get a state-funded scholarship to send their child to private school;
- And, if they choose a school where tuition is less than the scholarship amount, they could pocket the difference and use it later?
That’s the idea behind Sen. Matt Huffman’s new proposal. Huffman, R-Lima, wants to create a new scholarship program for Ohio students to pay for private school. It would eliminate a trio of scholarships currently in place – based on a combination of income, geography and school-performance factors – and place them under one common umbrella: income.
Huffman plans to introduce his idea as a bill later this week. Under his proposal, a family making up to 400 percent of the federal poverty line could get some sort of scholarship. Those making up to 200 percent of that line would get a full scholarship: $5,000 a year for students in grades k-eight, and $7,500 a year for students grades nine-12. After that, it would be a sliding scale.
For context, a family of four could make up to about $48,500 a year and get the full voucher amount. They could make about $97,000 a year and still get a partial scholarship.
Here's how it would work: If a family chooses an elementary school where tuition is $3,000 and that family is eligible for the full $5,000 scholarship, every year, the remaining $2,000 would go into that family’s Education Savings Account. Later, that family could draw on that account for education expenses. That could be, for example, tutoring, textbooks or in-state college tuition. Any money not spent on education would revert back to the state.
Huffman said his bill will be easier to administer and easier for parents to understand than the current system.
And, he stresses that it deals with private schools only and has nothing to do with charter schools, which are public.
“It makes it, in my mind, more fair,” he said. “Let’s have a voucher system that makes sense. There’s no game-playing. Either you’re within the income limits or you’re not. And you go from there.”
Charter school employee owes for check cashed twice
An Over-the-Rhine charter school employee has to pay back $1,331 for a paycheck that, essentially, was cashed twice.
According to a report from Ohio Auditor Dave Yost, Cincinnati’s King Academy issued a second check in January 2015 to employee Ronaldo Mesina after the first check was reported lost in the mail. However, both checks were ultimately cashed.
“I don’t know if this was accidental or intentional, but I do know it could have been avoided,” Yost said in a news release announcing the finding. “The academy’s fiscal personnel should have placed a hold or stop payment on the first check before issuing a second.”
Mesina has to repay the $1,331. If he fails to do so, school officials are on the hook.
Cincinnati schools
need more subs
A coalition of 30 area school districts is hosting job fairs to find new substitute teachers, secretaries, custodians and other school workers.
The first fair is from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on March 7 at the Clermont County ESC, 2400 Clermont Center Drive, Batavia.
The second is from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on March 8 at the Princeton Administration Center, 3900 Cottingham Drive, Cincinnati.
Teaching substitutes need a bachelor’s degree in any field.
Non-teaching substitutes need only a high school diploma or a GED.
For more information, go online to www.subsolutions.org.