Taken from www.acsi.org. Select the Programs tab, then Legal Legislative Services, and then School Choice Issues.
School Choice Programs
Autism Scholarship Program
Ohio students who have autism (including autismspectrum disorders) may use a voucher to receive education services from a private provider. The vouchers can apply toward tuition at a private school. After participating students receive education services, they apply to the state for reimbursement of expenses. Ohio will reimburse education services up to $20,000 per year.
Cleveland Scholarship Program
Families who live within the boundaries of the Cleveland Metropolitan School District are eligible to use a voucher to send their children to private school. The voucher also may be used at public schools bordering the school district, but no public schools have chosen to participate. No more than half of new recipients may be students previously enrolled in private schools. The maximum voucher value is $3,450.
Educational Choice Scholarship Pilot Program
Ohio students attending chronically failing public schools are eligible for vouchers to attend private schools. In grades K–8 the voucher is worth up to $4,250; in grades 9–12 it is worth up to $5,000. The voucher may not exceed the private school’s actual tuition and fees.
Testimonials 
Mansfield Christian School
Mansfield Christian School (MCS) in Mansfield, Ohio, has participated in the EdChoice voucher program since its inception in 2006. MCS now enrolls 265 students in this program, and they account for 32 percent of the student population in pre-K through grade 12. The incredible family response to the program has led the school to build a new addition to the facility and to purchase a vacant school in the neighborhood.
The voucher program has opened new doors for Christians in this community who perhaps otherwise did not have access to quality Christian education. The administration and school board at MCS have reached out to Christian parents in urban centers and have communicated a value for these students regarding the voucher program. The process has not been without challenges; communicating expectations across cultural lines has often been difficult. State testing regulations and academic benchmarks have also emerged and have caused concern for teachers and parents. MCS has made modest but urgent efforts to assimilate these students and parents into its school family.
—Dr. Cy J. Smith, Superintendent
Although my family enjoyed our public elementary school, we were excited when God answered our prayers to receive state vouchers. Our kids are pleased to have their own desk and their own supplies instead of communal ones. Not only are Bible study and memorization built into the curriculum, but also our fifth grader is learning a wider field of knowledge…. We are grateful that God has provided this Christian education for our family at this time.
—MCS Elementary Parent
I define this voucher program as the state’s way of saying, “We really do care about education!” I truly believed that God opened the door of opportunity so that our child could be educated, informed, and influenced from within our faith and beliefs. My son has never been happier. He has made a lot of good friends in a very short period of time, and he is involved in the sports programs offered. He loves chapel, and he has expressed on several occasions that the teachers and staff have been genuinely nice to him. He told me thanks for taking the time to enroll him in the program and for allowing him to attend MCS. When a child says this, no more needs to be said.
—MCS Secondary Parent
Toledo Christian Schools
Toledo Christian Schools (PK–12) was very excited to join the EdChoice program when the program was introduced in Ohio. Although we have budgeted funds for financial aid, we are never able to fully meet the needs of all the families who want to educate their children in a Christ-centered atmosphere. EdChoice has met that need for these families.
Our EdChoice families are required to meet the criteria for admission to our school. These criteria include a testimony of salvation and of a personal relationship with Jesus Christ; involvement in a local, Bible-based church; and testing for all children. We have encountered children who test exceptionally well, but for the most part many of our students have tested poorly at their grade level. In these cases, we have approached parents and given them an option for their children to repeat the current grade. We have also worked with these students by offering remedial reading and remedial language arts. I am happy to report a high level of success in bringing the lower-performing children up to acceptable and even advanced levels of performance.
We have learned over the past three years that children who come to us in the early grades have the most chance of succeeding academically and culturally. Unfortunately, students accepted in the middle to high school level seem to be a greater challenge academically and in matters of discipline.
We believe that God has blessed our school with the opportunity to reach families for Him— families who otherwise would not have an opportunity to join our community of parents who are as dedicated to Christian education.
—Patrice L. Dick, Administrative Assistant/EdChoice Coordinator
Our family has participated in the Ohio EdChoice program for the past two years. We live in the historic old west end section of Toledo with our three daughters, ages 16, 13, and 8. We made the decision to send our children to Toledo Christian because we wanted them to obtain a high-quality education, which was something Toledo Public Schools could not and, unfortunately, still cannot offer our children.
Our decision to apply for the Ohio EdChoice program was motivated by our desire to put and keep our children in a school that would challenge them academically and an educational system that would require a high commitment from parents and children. The cost of undereducating our state’s children is represented in the dollars spent on many of our social programs. As an African American living in an urban area, I see firsthand the outcomes associated with poor educational achievement. My husband and I decided long ago that there was no sacrifice too great for us to make for our children’s future.
Each quarter, I see the benefits of a highquality academic institution that has parents and children who are dedicated to academic success. Last week, our children received their report cards. Our sophomore, who takes three honors classes, received a 4.21 GPA; our middle school student worked very diligently and received a 3.5 GPA; and our third grader received all As except one B+ (she struggles with math). Usually, we refrain from bragging about our children’s grades; however, we are excited because these grades represent the potential for lifelong success.
I believe that the Ohio EdChoice law is a wonderful combination of freedom of choice with personal responsibility. While the law gives us the option of transferring our tax dollars to an educational institution of our choice (although this may not be technically correct, this is my interpretation), we also have the responsibility to maximize the potential benefits of that institution— our ultimate success lies directly in our lap.
We are thankful to Ohio EdChoice for the opportunity to send our children to Toledo Christian. Knowing that our children’s educational future is secure is perhaps one of the greatest blessings we’ve received as their parents.
—Mrs. Barbara L. Roose, Parent
Tree of Life Christian Schools
For years, we desired for Tree of Life to be a reflection of the kingdom of God. We cultivated an ethnically diverse student body and served children from 125 churches in the greater Columbus area. But we wrestled with the reality that tuition-driven Christian schools were by and large inaccessible to lowerincome families. How could we open our doors to under-resourced children, serving “the least of these” in the name of Christ?
The Ohio EdChoice Scholarship program provided such a means. We were encouraged to learn that we could participate in this program without any infringement on our admissions guidelines, curricular content, or hiring practices.
Tree of Life has been blessed by our EdChoice families! Many of the children have flourished academically, spiritually, and socially. Parents have experienced joy in knowing that their children are growing in “wisdom and in stature, and in favor with God and man” (Luke 2:52). In the first year of the program, the mother of one of our EdChoice students faced very serious surgery. As several of us stood by her hospital bed to pray for her, we thanked God for His kindness in sending her family to Tree of Life. So did she.
Marveling at God’s provisions, we look back with absolutely no regrets for participating in this statewide opportunity for school choice. Currently we are watching closely to be sure that this program is not diminished by our current governor or Congress. And we look ahead with hope for all the children yet to be served as we educate them for eternity.
—Lezlee Knowles, Superintendent
My children started their educational experience at the local neighborhood school, three blocks away from our home. I thought it was a good school, the kids were bringing home good grades, and the teachers were really good teachers. However, this school was in academic emergency. Test scores revealed the flaw year after year. These children were not even meeting the state standards, which in my eyes were relatively low to begin with—just 75 percent in such subjects as reading, writing, and math. Wait a minute— this is what my grandmother called the three Rs. Isn’t this the foundation of a basic-skills-oriented education program? Houston, we have a problem. How can my elementary-age children be awarded a scholarship upon completion of high school when they can’t even meet a standard of 75 percent? How can my children even graduate from high school when only 70 percent of the students are graduating? Do you know how many young black students I know personally whose dreams of walking across the stage in their cap and gown with diploma in hand, and classmates they shared the past twelve years with were shattered because they couldn’t pass the Ohio Graduation Tests? Well, for me one was too many, and a consolation prize of a GED is just not good enough for my children or anybody else’s.
In 2006 my husband and I made one of the greatest decisions in the lives of our children by applying for the EdChoice scholarship. Finally, finances would not be an issue in attaining the education that our children so richly deserved. We were blessed to have them accepted to Tree of Life Christian Schools. The faculty and staff embraced our family immediately as if we were part of their own family. The children are getting a quality education where a 100 percent standard is goal. I am at ease every morning when we drop our children off at school, because I know that they are in a safe and loving environment. I have seen how they are challenged in every aspect of their educational experience. What my husband and I instill at home is being reinforced at school, and I am most grateful for that. Our children are thriving mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually.
—Kimberly A. Peeks, Parent
The Meantime 8.2