Pathbreaking School Choice Enacted in Two States
•••Media Alert•••
(6/29/95) Ohio and Wisconsin will be the sites of school choice programs this fall, providing opportunities to low-income children to attend the public, private or religious school of their choosing. In Ohio, Governor George Voinovich is expected to sign into law legislation that authorizes the creation of a full school choice program for a limited number of low-income children in Cleveland. Cleveland has been the subject of several major educational disputes recently, sparking a takeover by the state.
The plan, passed by both the House and Senate and included in the final budget bill, would permit 2,000 low-income children to attend a school of their choice including private, parochial or public schools. The actual scholarship amount is $2500 and each parent would have to pay 10% of the costs of the scholarship towards the private school education.
Cleveland joins Milwaukee in being among the only two cities in the country that permit private school choice at this time. In Wisconsin, the legislature has voted to expand the demonstration project there to include religious schools and to increase the programs’s participation to 15,000 children by 1996. With five years of successful experience, Milwaukee registers its satisfaction once again. The issue has been in full gear this year with 6 states having made serious inroads into the eventual inclusion of school choice in their states.
Currently the District of Columbia is also considering school choice for its low-income children that are attending failing schools. The concept has attracted the support of District Mayor Marion Barry, Superintendent of Schools, Franklin Smith and an unlikely partner, The Washington Post.
“With the Fourth of July upon us, this is a fitting reward of independence for many of the children trapped in failing schools,” says Jeanne Allen, President of The Center for Education Reform. “It is high time we help these children get a chance at the education they deserve.”
For more information, contact The Center: (202) 822-9000; in OH, Andy Little, The Buckeye Center, (513)224-8352; in Milwaukee, Susan Mitchell, (414) 765-0443.
