Part 3 of a 4-part series "Making the Grade: The Public Cost of Private Education"
PARMA, Ohio —Parma Senior High students lace up for basketball practice after school, shooting a few hoops as a part of their warm-up.
While they're hoping for some wins this season, so are district administrators who are trying to get out of a budget crunch.
- With vouchers costing $6,000 per high school student, it’s costing the district $2.1 million
- The money will be taken away from their five-year forecast and given to private schools
- Old data and reinterpretation of requirements are reasons they’re losing money
That's because Parma Senior High and neighboring Valley Forge High School were added to the EdChoice list of underperforming schools last year, as a result of low graduation rates dating back five years ago.
Parma City Schools Superintendent Charlie Smialek says the old data is one reason they're losing money, as their graduation rates have improved since then.
But the other major reason is because the Ohio Department of Education reinterpreted EdChoice eligibility requirements.
Up until last summer, students in grades 1-11 had to attend one of the schools deemed failing in their district to get a voucher.
But when state legislators agreed to the reinterpretation of the requirements last summer, it opened the door for anyone in grades 8-11 residing in areas where there are underperforming schools, to get an EdChoice voucher too.
"We went from 15 students to 358 students qualifying. So, of the 358 students, four percent were actually in our schools last year and 96 percent of the students were already out of our school," said Smiaklek.
Smiaklek acknowledges that Parma has exceptional private schools in the area and doesn't blame parents for wanting to take advantage of the incentives. But now, with the changes, he says the district is struggling with the impact.
"The reality is most of the students were never here and had no intent on attending here. So, when you call it EdChoice, we're not sure there was ever really a choice involved here," Smiaklek said.
Smialek believes that now the district is picking up the tab for families who have always sent their children to private schools.
For Parma City Schools, that means they can't support schools as they'd like or provide an accurate forecast of a budget, which is normally around $148 million.
That's because they don't know how many kids will end up receiving vouchers for the following school year.
The number of applications is already rising.
With vouchers costing $6,000 per high school student, it's costing them $2.1 million —money that will be taken away from their five-year forecast and given to private schools.
"The other piece that is very frustrating is for us is that they take the entire $6,000. Now we are a capped district. So, we don't actually receive $6,000 per student who attends here. We receive $2,000, $2,300, somewhere in there," Smialek said.
That means when they lose a student to EdChoice, they give up the entire $6,000 slated to educate a student versus the $2,000 plus that the district would actually receive from the state. That leaves the district in the red. They're hoping legislators will reconsider the requirements to help districts like Parma get out of the pinch they're in.
On Wednesday, the House shot down a Senate amendment that would allow districts to be reimbursed for the cost incurred already this year from EdChoice vouchers. Although it would not have been a full reimbursement, it would have eliminated some of the burden.
We'll have to see what the conference committee can work out to address that issue. The school choice application process opens up February 1 and runs through April.
