School Choice in the States -- Cleveland, Ohio

SCHOOL CHOICE IN THE STATES

FOCUS ON:
CLEVELAND, OHIO

In June, 1995 the Ohio Legislature enacted a program that provides choice scholarships to 3,800 at-risk children in Cleveland to attend private schools of their parent's choosing, secular or religious. The Cleveland School Choice Program provides a meaningful alternative for underprivileged families who would otherwise be left with no choice for an education besides failing schools.

EXPANSION: Governor Bob Taft signed an expansion of the Cleveland Scholarship and Tutoring Program, which was created in 1995 for grade-school, and was ruled constitutional last summer by the U.S. Supreme Court. The program will now allow children in high school to make choices among private and public schools with scholarships will be worth up to $2,700. The new budget also for the first time increases the amount available for K-8 to $3,000, up from its $2,250 limit set in 1995. Currently 5,281 Cleveland children participate in the program across 48 schools. CER Newswire July 1, 2003.

RESEARCH UPDATE: Indiana University researchers released a study on the effectiveness of the Ohio program by comparing achievement of scholarship students with that of various other groups between 1998 and 2001, finding no statistically significant differences among the groups, although "there is some evidence...of slightly greater annual achievement growth among students who have used a scholarship continuously. If this pattern continues, the achievement of this group of students may become noticeably, and meaningfully, higher than that of public school students." Get more details in CER Newswire April 22, 2003.

HISTORIC VICTORY FOR SCHOOL CHOICE AND CHILDREN: There is no longer any Constitutional cloud over whether or not policymakers can establish educational programs that allow parents to choose the school that best fits their child's needs, be it public or private. Today the U. S. Supreme Court ruled that the state of Ohio was within its constitutional power to enact a program to help Cleveland's children gain access to schools that parents believe will serve them better than the schools that for more than twenty-five years have failed by every measure. This major decision will shore up the reform efforts of thousands nationwide who are working to transform U.S. education to a system of schools that responds first and foremost to families and children.

Statement by CER President Jeanne Allen on Court Decision.
CER Newswire Special Edition, June 28, 2002, offering more analysis, a brief legal summary, and a look at what the BLOB and other opposition are saying.
Legal Summary of U.S. Supreme Court decision in Zelman v. Simmons-Harris, 436 U.S. --- (2002)
Full text of U.S. Supreme Court Decision (.pdf format).
News coverage of the Supreme Court Decision at CER and Education Reform in the News.
Commentary by individuals and organizations responding to the ruling

CONSIDERING CHOICE: On Wednesday, February 20, the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments on the Cleveland, Ohio, School Choice Program, which offers 3,800 of that city's poorest students a better alternative to 25 years of failed efforts to improve district schools. Their line of questioning suggests, as CER's Amicus Brief urged, that the educational landscape of Cleveland will be the central issue that guides the Court as to whether the state acted constitutionally. CER will report on the decision, expected at the end of June. See above...

Link to CER's analysis of opening arguments.
Link to analysis of opening arguments by the Council for American Private Education (CAPE).
Link to CER Amicus Brief.
For more information, also check out the Institute for Justice's website, which outlines in detail the scope of their involvement, their school choice arguments, and will include commentary following today's oral arguments.

COMMENTARY:

PARENTS' CONCERNS, INVOLVEMENT ROUTINELY DISMISSED BY TRADITIONAL PUBLIC SCHOOLS By Onnie Shekerjian: "With increased choices for parents, even the traditional district public schools will eventually be forced to see that the children they teach are not wards of the state and that parents should be seen and treated as fulfilling much more than a 'ritualistic' role in their children's education." TownHall.com Reader Comment, February 24, 2002
VOUCHERS: THINK BOLDER TO BREAK THE GRIDLOCK By Matthew Miller: "Teachers unions and other voucher foes need to realize that support for bigger voucher trials is not inconsistent with wanting to improve urban public schools. My own reporting convinces me we need many of the reforms (and cash) teachers seek, along with a way -- like choice -- to put pressure on calcified bureaucracies to change. Asking parents to sit tight for 10-year reform plans is immoral." Tribune Media Services, February 20, 2002
GIVE CHOICE A CHANCE By Gregory S. Walden and Matthew F. Stowe: "Some of the staunchest objectors to school choice are financially comfortable families who exercise choice when they buy a home in an upscale neighborhood, and in the attendance area of an excellent public school, or can afford to pay the tuition to send their children to a private school. Only the poorest families are expected to forfeit their right to educational options." The Washington Times, February 20, 2002
SCHOOL CHOICE OFFERS NEEDY STUDENTS BETTER EDUCATION By Robert Destro and Marshall Breger: "Follow the money. In education, as in many other walks of life, money is power; those who control it make the rules. Cleveland's low-income parents know this all too well. They and their children have been guinea pigs in a vast, failed, social experiment. It's time to stop. Ohio has decided to open the gates and let its low-income people go. The Supreme Court should do the same." USA Today, February 20, 2002
VOUCHERS NOT ABOUT CHOICE BUT WHO HAS IT By Robert B. Aguirre: "If we are totally truthful about it, the current system of public education is the most effective, the most successful and the most enduring racial segregation mechanism in our history." Houston Chronicle, February 9, 2002
CLEVELAND'S KIDS CAN VOUCH FOR VOUCHERS by Cornelius Chapman, president of the Coalition for Parental Choice in Education: "Connoisseurs of hypocrisy will appreciate the fact that over half of Cleveland's public school teachers don't send their own kids to public schools. In other words, a good portion of the salaries of public school teachers go to private schools as soon as the paychecks clear. When you do it, it's unconstitutional. When they do it, it's for the children." Boston Herald, January 28, 2002.
CLEVELAND'S VOUCHER PROGRAM WORTH MAINTAINING by David Owsiany, president of the Ohio-based Buckeye Institute for Public Policy Solutions: "Without the assistance these vouchers provide, almost all of the students in the program would attend Cleveland Public Schools, which are among the worst in the state. In 2000-2001, the schools met only four of 27 minimum-performance standards set by the Ohio Department of Education and the district was deemed in 'academic emergency.'" Columbus Dispatch On-Line, January 28, 2002.

DEVELOPMENTS:

US Supreme Court heard arguments on the constitutionality of Cleveland Scholarship program on February 20, 2002. CER will report on the decision, coming at the end of June. Link to CER's analysis of opening arguments.
In December 2000, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit has struck down the Cleveland Scholarship Program. The Institute for Justice, and the State of Ohio appealed to the US Supreme Court, and the Court agreed to consider the constitutionality of the Cleveland program. Meanwhile, the US Court of Appeals has decided the program can continue until the matter is resolved by the High Court.
CER, joined by 27 individuals and organizations, files second friend of the court brief urging the High Court to support parental choices for quality education for children enrolled in Cleveland program. November 9, 2001
CER applauds High Court's decision to consider constitutionality of Cleveland scholarship program.
CER files first amicus brief with US Supreme Court urging them to take up case. June 26, 2001.
Cleveland choice program appeal filed with U.S. Supreme Court. May 2001.
Cleveland choice program allowed to continue until U.S. Supreme Court resolves the case. March 2001.
Key legislative provisions of program.
CER CONDEMNS COURT RULING DENYING QUALITY EDUCATION OPPORTUNITIES, Statement by CER President Jeanne Allen, December 11, 2000
CENTER FOR EDUCATION REFORM LEADS GROUP IN SUPPORTING CLEVELAND SCHOOL CHOICE PROGRAM, Files Amicus Brief Supporting Parents' Choices, April 25, 2000
BAH HUMBUG! Judge Oliver Sends a Christmas Message to Cleveland's Children Rules Against the Cleveland Program, December 20, 1999
CER STATEMENT ON THE SIXTH CIRCUIT COURT'S DECISION ON THE CLEVELAND SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM, November 18, 1999
CER STATEMENT ON U.S. SUPREME COURT'S DECISION ON CLEVELAND SCHOOL CHOICE SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM, November 5, 1999
OHIO SCHOOL CHOICE PROGRAM STALLED, August 24, 1999

ANALYSIS:

Test-Score Effects of School Vouchers in Dayton, Ohio, New York City, and Washington D.C.: Evidence from Randomized Field Trials by William G. Howell, Patrick J. Wolf, Paul E. Peterson and David E. Campbell, August 2000
CER Amicus Brief Filed in the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, In Support of Appellants and the Ohio Pilot Scholarship Program, April 10, 2000
“School Choice in Dayton, Ohio.: An Evaluation After One Year,” February 2000, Peterson, William Howell (Stanford University), Patrick Wolf (Georgetown University). Website: http://data.fas.harvard.edu/pepg/
The Racial, Economic, and Religious Context of Parental Choice in Cleveland, by Jay P. Greene, October 8, 1999
An Evaluation of the Cleveland Voucher Program After Two Years, by Paul E. Peterson, William G. Howell and Jay P. Greene, June 1999
Initial Findings from an Evaluation of School Choice Programs in Washington, D.C. and Dayton, Ohio, by Paul E. Peterson, Jay P. Greene, William G. Howell and William McCready, October 24, 1998
New Findings from the Cleveland Scholarship Program: A Reanalysis of Data from the Indiana University School of Education Evaluation, by Paul E. Peterson, Jay P. Greene, and William G. Howell, May 6, 1998
CER Amicus Brief Filed in the Supreme Court of Ohio In Support of Hope for Cleveland's Children, December 8, 1997, Case No. 97-1117
Lessons from the Cleveland Scholarship Program, by Jay P. Greene, William G. Howell, Paul E. Peterson, October 15, 1997

SUPPORT ORGANIZATIONS:

The School Choice Committee
Phone: 1-877-696-8722
Website: http://www.schoolchoicecommittee.com/
Email: info@schoolchoicecommittee.com
The School Choice Committee is dedicated to expanding educational opportunities for all Ohio children through parental choice. The all-volunteer Committee consists of business and community leaders, educators, ministers, elected officials and policy organizations.

New Century Project
2021 E. Dublin-Granville Rd., Suite 161
Columbus, OH 43229
Contact: John Kasich
Phone: 614-785-1600
Fax: 614-785-1611
Website: http://www.newcenturyproject.org/

Search the Reform Update and Monthly Letter Libraries to get the latest developments on school choice state-by-state.

See School Choice Facts for an overview of how school choice programs are not only improving the education opportunity for participating children, but also having a dramatic impact on how non-choice public schools operate.

See Key Legislative Provisions for a point-by-point breakdown and comparison of the Florida, Cleveland and Milwaukee school choice programs.

See School Choice Research for the latest findings on the impact of school choice for students, schools and communities.

See Private Scholarship Programs for state-by-state listings of and links to privately funded school choice programs.

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