Yes! You heard that right…EVERY child!

Now, EVERY student is eligible for a Universal School Choice scholarship to attend the (participating) private school of their choice.  Students in grades K-12 whose family’s household income is at 450% of the Federal Poverty Level or less qualify for the full scholarship award of $6166 (K-8) and $8408 (9-12).  Students whose family’s household income is higher than 450% FPL qualify for a scholarship award based on a corresponding income level. 

Yes.  Every child deserves an outstanding education that best fits their individual needs.  Because that right path may look different for each student, families can choose from Ohio’s wide variety of educational options to find the path that best fits the needs of their children.

For years, families (and taxpayers) who chose to send their student to a private school saw no educational benefits from their tax dollars.  Instead, parents were solely responsible to finance the ability to choose where their children were educated.

Universal School Choice was passed in July 2023 as a part of HB33, Ohio’s biennial budget.  While the funding parameters are part of the two-year budget, universal school choice was passed into law for students in Ohio just as the Cleveland Scholarship (1995), Autism Scholarship (2003), EdChoice (2005), Jon Peterson Special Needs Scholarship (2011), and EdChoice Expansion Scholarship (2013).  Ohio continues to be a national leader in educational choice through a wide variety of options and the resources to access a quality education for students.

Educational options in Ohio

• Public Education
• Joint Vocational Schools
• Charter (Community) & STEM Schools
• Private Education
• Home Education

All of Ohio’s educational options benefited from HB33.  First and most importantly, all educational options are funded separately in Ohio.  Traditional public-school funding was transformed in 2021 with the Fair Funding Act.  Ohio legislators continued that initiative in 2023 with further implementation of those changes, which included minimum thresholds to ensure that public schools are supported.  HB33 increased overall funding to an estimated $8.06 billion for the 2024-25 school year and $8.28 billion in the 2025-26 school year, which represents annual increases of $660.5 million (8.9%) and $221.1 million (2.7%) respectively.  To make sure that our public schools are not going backwards in funding, the state included two guarantee provisions that prevent a districts funding from falling below certain historical amounts through transitional aid and a formula transition supplement.  HB33 also included an increase to minimum base salaries for new public-school teachers by 16.6%. 

The funding formulas incorporate numerous factors including funding for students who are attending those public schools.  Public school district will still retain all locally generated revenues, (including approximately 2/3 of property taxes) regardless of the number of pupils who attend.  It is only the state’s share, which was just over 40% of the $17,113.86 average revenue per public school student in FY2023 that fund students where they are educated rather than where they live.  As a result, if a family uses the Universal School Choice scholarship for their student, in most cases the state is actually saving money and families are seeing a benefit from their tax dollars designated to education in Ohio.

Have questions? Need assistance? School Choice Ohio is here to help. Call 614-223-1555 or email info@scohio.org.