The House placed several amendments into Senate Bill 89, which passed by an 88-7 vote. The Senate has not yet addressed the new House language, and the voucher provisions could be affected by a pending Ohio Supreme Court challenge.
The bill would change the existing income-based EdChoice voucher system to the Buckeye Opportunity Scholarship. Existing recipients would also be grandfathered in for that system, and the income threshold for family eligibility would rise from 200% of the federal poverty level to 250% (about $65,000 for a family of four).
Priority for the tuition assistance vouchers would be given to the lowest income families, but the bill analysis says families between 250% and 300% of the poverty level could be available for pro-rated vouchers.
“I’m very happy about what happened on Wednesday,” Koehler said. “We do not want to base vouchers on hoping that the schools fail. We want to move away that failing gives you a voucher.”
RELATED: Ohio lawmakers move to change private-school voucher system
This past school year, 517 schools qualified for the voucher program, but that number was going to jump to 1,200 this coming school year, Koehler said.
Tecumseh, Greenon schools eligible for private school voucher program
The students that are currently in a private school using the performance-based voucher would be grandfathered in, allowing them to continue to use it, Koehler said.
The old program will be phased out, according to Koehler.
“We’re not going to yank people out of school that are using those vouchers, we’re going to let them finish. If they’re using the performance voucher today, they can continue to use it.”
The bill will now move on to the Ohio Senate.
Staff writer Jeremy P. Kelley contributed to this report.
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