The Impact of School Choice on Funding Ohio's Public Schools

The Impact of School Choice on Funding Ohio's Public Schools PDF Author: Donald J. Mook
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 368

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Book Description
Ohio's school funding system is complex. The average taxpayer has at best a limited understanding about how their public schools' revenues and expenditures are collected, distributed, and expended. Overlay on the already complicated funding model with a myriad of school choice options with various funding mechanisms and amounts results in increased complexity. Even educational professionals and policy makers lack a clear appreciation of all the mechanics and implications of school choice and fiscal strain it can place on local school district budgets. This study focuses on the economic impact that Ohio school choice programs have on local public school districts and its potentially deequalizing effects. A literature review traces the evolution of choice programs and their prevalence nationally, before describing Ohio's school choice options and their financing. A quantitative review of the impact of school choice programs on 11 school districts in one of Ohio's 88 counties reveals the flow of public tax dollars among public districts and between public school districts, community academies, private schools, and other educational providers. Findings illuminate the widely unrecognized interaction between school choice and the state school finance system. It furthermore reveals the potentially de-equalizing effects when local revenues, as contrasted to the state formula aid, are sent to other districts or providers, while other districts retain state aid for students they do not educate. Additionally, findings clarify the consequences for traditional public school budgets bearing pressure over local programs, decision-making, and the delivery of a "thorough and efficient" education that students are guaranteed by the Ohio Constitution.

The Impact of School Choice on Funding Ohio's Public Schools

The Impact of School Choice on Funding Ohio's Public Schools PDF Author: Donald J. Mook
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 368

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Book Description
Ohio's school funding system is complex. The average taxpayer has at best a limited understanding about how their public schools' revenues and expenditures are collected, distributed, and expended. Overlay on the already complicated funding model with a myriad of school choice options with various funding mechanisms and amounts results in increased complexity. Even educational professionals and policy makers lack a clear appreciation of all the mechanics and implications of school choice and fiscal strain it can place on local school district budgets. This study focuses on the economic impact that Ohio school choice programs have on local public school districts and its potentially deequalizing effects. A literature review traces the evolution of choice programs and their prevalence nationally, before describing Ohio's school choice options and their financing. A quantitative review of the impact of school choice programs on 11 school districts in one of Ohio's 88 counties reveals the flow of public tax dollars among public districts and between public school districts, community academies, private schools, and other educational providers. Findings illuminate the widely unrecognized interaction between school choice and the state school finance system. It furthermore reveals the potentially de-equalizing effects when local revenues, as contrasted to the state formula aid, are sent to other districts or providers, while other districts retain state aid for students they do not educate. Additionally, findings clarify the consequences for traditional public school budgets bearing pressure over local programs, decision-making, and the delivery of a "thorough and efficient" education that students are guaranteed by the Ohio Constitution.

Promising Start

Promising Start PDF Author: Greg Forster
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 20

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Book Description
This is the first empirical study to examine the effects of Ohio's EdChoice voucher program. Using publicly available data, it measures the program's effect on academic outcomes in public schools where students are eligible for vouchers. The EdChoice program offers vouchers to students who are assigned to chronically underperforming public schools. Students can use these vouchers to attend private schools of their choice. One of the purposes of voucher programs such as EdChoice is to improve academic outcomes at public schools by allowing students to ind the schools that are best suited to them and by introducing competitive incentives. However, opponents often claim that voucher programs harm public schools. This study finds that the EdChoice program produced academic improvements in voucher-eligible public schools. It tracks the year-to-year change in test scores within each school from one grade level to the next grade level (e.g. the difference between third-grade scores in 2005-06 and fourth-grade scores in 2006-07). It uses regression analysis to compare the academic growth of voucher-eligible schools with that of other Ohio schools, controlling for demographic variables and for the presence of charter schools. The analyses were then repeated using only schools in districts designated by the state as "major urban--very high poverty"; this second round of analysis compares voucher-eligible schools in very poor urban districts to other schools in very poor urban districts, helping reduce the possibility that results may be tainted by a statistical phenomenon known as "regression to the mean." Due to the restrictions of available data, the study is unable to include high schools. (Contains 3 tables and 13 endnotes.) [This study was released jointly by the Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice, Agudath Israel of America, Alliance for School Choice, Black Alliance for Educational Options, Buckeye Institute for Public Policy Solutions, Children's Scholarship Fund Cincinnati, Hispanic Council for Reform and Educational Options, Northwest Ohio Scholarship Fund, Inc., School Choice Ohio, and Thomas B. Fordham Institute.].

Ohio's Opinion on K-12 Education and School Choice. School Choice Survey in the State

Ohio's Opinion on K-12 Education and School Choice. School Choice Survey in the State PDF Author: Paul DiPerna
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 44

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Book Description
This statistically representative survey of 1,200 likely Ohio voters illustrates public opinion on a wide range of K-12 education issues. Ohioans have shared their views about "school choice," which includes school vouchers, tax-credit scholarships, charter schools, homeschooling and virtual schools. Survey responses are at odds with how Ohioans enroll their children in schools. There is a very large divide between parental schooling preferences and actual school enrollments. Forty-five percent of K-12 parents said they would like to send their child to a private school. In reality, however, approximately 10 percent of Ohio's K-12 students attend private schools. Twenty-seven percent of Ohio parents said they would like to send their child to a charter school. It is estimated nearly 4 percent of the state's K-12 student population enroll in charter schools. Sixteen percent of Ohio parents said they would choose a regular public school for their child. Approximately 86 percent of Ohio's K-12 students attend regular public schools. Ohio appears to lack a sufficient school choice system to satisfy parents' schooling preferences. Findings reinforce some conclusions drawn in an Ohio survey report released recently by the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, Catalyst Ohio, and the FDR Group. The two surveys differ in question design and ordering, as well as sampling protocols and methodology--these are important considerations for any cross-survey comparisons. However, it is generally observed in both surveys that Ohioans are not satisfied with the status quo public school system; they support the Educational Choice Scholarship Program and are open to school vouchers; they favor charter schools rather than oppose them; and they are skeptical about new public school spending. (Contains 3 footnotes.) [This poll was released jointly by the Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice, School Choice Ohio, Alliance for School Choice, Agudath Israel of America, Association of Christian Schools International - Ohio River Valley Region, Center for Education Reform, Children's Scholarship Fund of Greater Cincinnati, Democrats for Education Reform, and Ohio BAEO - Black Alliance for Educational Options. The poll was conducted by Strategic Vision.].

Vouch for This!

Vouch for This! PDF Author: Thomas S. Poetter
Publisher: IAP
ISBN:
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 179

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Book Description
Vouch for This! Defunding Private Interests, Defending Public Schools (A Call to Action) is an effort by doctoral students in Educational Leadership and their professor to understand and challenge the voucher and charter school movements in Ohio and beyond. Using a curriculum studies approach focusing on autobiographical analysis and a policy advocacy framework, students in a course on the topic shared a common reading list, storied their connections to the current movements in the field, and developed treatments of key aspects of current policy and practice in the areas of voucher and other privatizing efforts in education today as they are embodied in charter schools, homeschooling, and private school settings. Using the tools of currere and policy advocacy as a scholarly community, the authors tackle the multi-faceted challenges and dangers posed by the neoliberal, privatizing movements taking rapid shape across our public school system, as private schools, charters, and homeschooling continue to receive significantly more and more public taxpayer funds to operate and build. The authors share what they learned about the continued demise of public education at the hands of politicians and privateers in Ohio and beyond, and what they think citizens can do to resist. Together in teams, the authors engage topics related to education and public schooling as key aspects of democratic life; the actions taken by capital interests that seize on tragedy and perceived community weakness to privatize education and villainize public schools; the greed that creates fervor and interest in “choice”; and suggest ways to take action to stem the tide. The book’s foreword is written by well-known education activist William L. Phillis, Executive Director of The Coalition for Equity and Adequacy of School Funding (Ohio E&A), whose coalition of public school districts in Ohio is challenging the constitutionality of the voucher movements with their public case, “Vouchers Hurt Ohio.”

Ohio's Education Reform Challenges

Ohio's Education Reform Challenges PDF Author: C. Finn
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 0230109721
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 183

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Book Description
Charter schools have emerged as one of the central policy debates in U.S. education - and the Thomas B. Fordham Institute team has been a key participant in this debate since day one, both nationally and in Ohio. Despite President Obama's call for states to strengthen the charter sector and widen the options it provides to needy youngsters, established interests in education and politics oppose this disruption of the status quo. Ohio has struggled with these issues for more than a decade, struggles in which the authors of this book have played influential - and controversial - roles, including that of an actual authorizer of charter schools. They write from wide experience on the ground as well as extensive research and nationally-respected policy expertise.

Exploring the School Choice Universe

Exploring the School Choice Universe PDF Author: Kevin G. Welner
Publisher: IAP
ISBN: 1623960452
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 366

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Book Description
Exploring the School Choice Universe: Evidence and Recommendations gives readers a comprehensive, complete picture of choice policies and issues. In doing so, it offers cross-cutting insights that are obscured when one looks only at single issue or a single approach to choice. The book examines choice in its various forms: charter schools, home schooling, online schooling, voucher plans that allow students to use taxpayer funds to attend private schools, tuition tax credit plans that provide a public subsidy for private school tuition, and magnet schools and other forms of public school intra- and interdistrict choice. It brings together some of the top researchers in the field, presenting a comprehensive overview of the best current knowledge of these important policies. The questions addressed in Exploring the School Choice Universe are of most importance to researchers and policy makers. What do choice programs actually do? What forms do they take? Who participates, and why? What are the funding implications? What are the results of different forms of school choice on outcomes that matter, like student performance, segregation, and competition effects? Do they affect teachers’ working conditions? Do they drive innovation? The contents of this book offer reason to believe that choice policies can further some educational goals. But they also suggest many reasons for caution. If choice policies are to be evidence-based, a re-examination is in order. The information, insights and recommendations facilitate a more nuanced understanding of school choice and provide the basis for designing sensible school choice reforms that can pursue a range of desirable outcomes.

School Choice at the Crossroads

School Choice at the Crossroads PDF Author: Mark Berends
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 135121330X
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 260

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Book Description
School Choice at the Crossroads compiles exemplary, policy-relevant research on school choice options—voucher, private, charter, and traditional public schools—as they have been implemented across the nation. Renowned contributors highlight the latest rigorous research findings and implications on school vouchers, tuition tax credits, and charter schools in states and local areas at the forefront of school choice policy. Examining national and state-level perspectives, each chapter discusses the effects of choice and vouchers on student outcomes, the processes of choice, supportive conditions of school choice programs, comparative features of school choice, and future research. This timely volume addresses whether school choice works, under what conditions, and for whom—further informing educational research, policy, and practice.

A Study of the Impact of Ohio's System of Open Enrollment Funding on School Productivity

A Study of the Impact of Ohio's System of Open Enrollment Funding on School Productivity PDF Author: Benjamin Hall Moore
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Academic achievement
Languages : en
Pages : 104

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Book Description
School choice has become increasingly popular as a mechanism to increase student achievement and to induce systematic school improvement. This study analyzed the relative school productivity of sending and receiving interdistrict open enrollment districts in Ohio to determine the impact of Ohio's system of open enrollment funding on school productivity. It was found that receiving districts achieved higher student performance while spending less on per pupil instructional expenditures, resulting in higher productivity factors, than sending districts. Ohio's open enrolllment system transfers public funds from the district of residence to the district of enrollment, rewarding the receiving districts, but the potential threat of competition for studnets has not resulted in systematic improvements or the contraction of less productive schools as theorized by proponents of the market theory's application to school choice. The introduction of the use of school productivity factors as a measure of school effectiveness and the return on investment of public funds has implications for both current practice and future research.

The Economics of School Choice

The Economics of School Choice PDF Author: Caroline M. Hoxby
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226355349
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 367

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Book Description
Now that the U.S. Supreme Court has declared school voucher programs constitutional, the many unanswered questions concerning the potential effects of school choice will become especially pressing. Contributors to this volume draw on state-of-the-art economic methods to answer some of these questions, investigating the ways in which school choice affects a wide range of issues. Combining the results of empirical research with analyses of the basic economic forces underlying local education markets, The Economics of School Choice presents evidence concerning the impact of school choice on student achievement, school productivity, teachers, and special education. It also tackles difficult questions such as whether school choice affects where people decide to live and how choice can be integrated into a system of school financing that gives children from different backgrounds equal access to resources. Contributors discuss the latest findings on Florida's school choice program as well as voucher programs and charter schools in several other states. The resulting volume not only reveals the promise of school choice, but examines its pitfalls as well, showing how programs can be designed that exploit the idea's potential but avoid its worst effects. With school choice programs gradually becoming both more possible and more popular, this book stands out as an essential exploration of the effects such programs will have, and a necessary resource for anyone interested in the idea of school choice.

Review of "Promising Start

Review of Author: Christopher Lubienski
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 16

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Book Description
A Friedman Foundation report attempts to find empirical support for the contention that competition from private schools, through voucher programs, improves the effectiveness of public schools. In the first year of Ohio's new EdChoice voucher program, the report claims to have found substantial academic gains at public schools exposed to the possibility of losing students to vouchers. Despite being presented as scientifically rigorous, the report suffers from serious methodological shortcomings. The analysis uses weak variables and an incorrect approach to measuring academic gains and tries to make claims based on cherry-picking uneven results. Moreover, even accepting the study's analysis, it produces a finding very much at odds with the author's intent: that vouchers are not likely to close the achievement gap between high- and low-performing schools. (Contains 39 notes.) [This paper reviews the following document: "Promising Start: An Empirical Analysis of How EdChoice Vouchers Affect Ohio Public Schools. School Choice Issues in the State" (ED508477).].