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Ohio House Approves Extension Of Voucher Deadline

Ohio Public Radio

The Ohio House has voted on a plan to move the start of the EdChoice voucher program application process to April 1, hours before it was supposed to start accepting applications on Saturday. 

The plan goes to the Ohio Senate this morning. Ohio Public Radio's Karen Kasler reports.

Talk of a 60 day extension came after a day of negotiations over a plan that would replace performance-based EdChoice vouchers going forward with income-based vouchers. But when it was attached to a different bill and amended on the floor, Republican Rep. Bill Seitz said a deal they’d been trying to work out with the Senate wasn’t happening.

“But it’s vitally important that we avoid the fiscal cliff to which we will be subjecting our public school districts if we do not, in effect, buy us some more time.”

 

The extension passed the House overwhelmingly. If the Senate doesn’t agree, 70 percent of Ohio’s school districts would have a failing building where students qualify for EdChoice vouchers – more than double the buildings that qualified for EdChoice this school year.

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