Eighty thousand Ohio students are eligible this year for the tuition aid, but only a fraction apply for the vouchers, says Chad Aldis, executive director of the nonprofit group, School Choice Ohio.
ALDIS: "Parents need to be convinced that the private school will meet their needs. Some parents are finding that out, and are slowly coming over and investigating the program."
Locally students from 48 schools in East Cleveland, Euclid, Maple Heights, Warrensville Heights, Elyria, Youngstown, Lorain and Akron are eligible to receive the money for tuition at a private school under the program.
The vouchers are issued to Ohio children in kindergarten through twelfth grade whose public schools received poor evaluations by the state for two of the past three years. Ohio makes 14,000 scholarships available. So far, 10,000 are taken. Students must be accepted and enrolled in an approved private school by the April 17 deadline to qualify.
The four-year-old law that funds the statewide system doesn't include Cleveland Schools. Student vouchers in that district are funded by separate program. The deadline for the Cleveland vouchers is May 29.
Kymberli Hagelberg, 90.3