Charters and Vouchers Starving Ohio Public Schools

From Vindy.com:

YOUNGSTOWN — The city schools lost nearly 500 pupils this school year, but that’s not as large a drop as school officials had anticipated.

The district had expected a loss of about 600, said Dr. Wendy Webb, superintendent.

Youngstown lost 660 pupils last year.

The latest official count shows the city schools have 7,716 children enrolled this school year. That’s down 499 from last year and more than 1,700 from the 9,442 enrolled in fiscal year 2005.

The advent of charter schools, the state’s open-enrollment program and, more recently, the educational choice school voucher plan have taken a heavy toll on the city school district.

Combined, those programs have some 3,500 city school children enrolled this year, a number that has continued to grow annually, creating a severe revenue drop in the process. State subsidies follow the pupils, and those 3,500 are taking approximately $26.4 million with them. Charter schools account for $21.6 million of that amount, open enrollment takes another $3.8 million, and school vouchers account for about $1 million more. . . .