Section 3313.978 | Scholarship use and implementation; tutorial assistance grants.

• Effective: October 3, 2023
• Latest Legislation: House Bill 33 - 135th General Assembly

(A) Annually by the first day of November, the director of education and workforce shall notify the pilot project school district of the number of initial scholarships that the director will be awarding in each of grades kindergarten through twelve.

The director shall provide information about the scholarship program to all students residing in the district and shall accept applications from any such students during the application period established under division (H) of this section.

(1) A student receiving a pilot project scholarship may utilize it at an alternative public school by notifying the district superintendent, of the name of the public school in an adjacent school district to which the student has been accepted pursuant to section 3327.06 of the Revised Code.

(2) A student may decide to utilize a pilot project scholarship at a registered private school in the district if all of the following conditions are met:

(a) The parent makes an application on behalf of the student to a registered private school.

(b) The registered private school notifies the parent and the director as follows that the student has been admitted:

(i) By the school pursuant to division (A) of section 3313.977 of the Revised Code;

(ii) By the school pursuant to division (C) of section 3313.977 of the Revised Code.

(c) The student actually enrolls in the registered private school to which the student was first admitted or in another registered private school or in a public school in an adjacent school district.

(B) The director of education and workforce shall also award in any school year tutorial assistance grants to a number of students equal to the number of students who receive scholarships under division (A) of this section. Tutorial assistance grants shall be awarded solely to students who are enrolled in the public schools of the district in a grade level covered by the pilot project. Tutorial assistance grants may be used solely to obtain tutorial assistance from a provider approved pursuant to division (D) of section 3313.976 of the Revised Code.

All students wishing to obtain tutorial assistance grants shall make application to the director by the first day of the school year in which the assistance will be used. The director shall award assistance grants in accordance with criteria the director shall establish.

(C) In the case of tutorial assistance grants, the grant amount shall not exceed the lesser of the provider's actual charges for such assistance or:

(1) Before fiscal year 2007, a percentage established by the director, not to exceed twenty per cent, of the amount of the pilot project school district's average basic scholarship amount;

(2) In fiscal year 2007 and thereafter, four hundred dollars.

(D)(1) Annually by the first day of November, the director shall estimate the maximum per-pupil scholarship amounts for the ensuing school year. The director shall make this estimate available to the general public at the offices of the district board of education together with the forms required by division (D)(2) of this section.

(2) Annually by the fifteenth day of January, the chief administrator of each registered private school, and the principal of each public school in the pilot project district, shall complete a parental information form and forward it to the president of the board of education. The parental information form shall be prescribed by the department of education and workforce and shall provide information about the grade levels offered, the numbers of students, tuition amounts, achievement test results, and any sectarian or other organizational affiliations.

(E)(1) Only for the purpose of administering the pilot project scholarship program, the department may request from any of the following entities the data verification code assigned under division (D)(2) of section 3301.0714 of the Revised Code to any student who is seeking a scholarship under the program:

(a) The school district in which the student is entitled to attend school under section 3313.64 or 3313.65 of the Revised Code;

(b) If applicable, the community school in which the student is enrolled;

(c) The independent contractor engaged to create and maintain data verification codes.

(2) Upon a request by the department under division (E)(1) of this section for the data verification code of a student seeking a scholarship or a request by the student's parent for that code, the school district or community school shall submit that code to the department or parent in the manner specified by the department. If the student has not been assigned a code, because the student will be entering kindergarten during the school year for which the scholarship is sought, the district shall assign a code to that student and submit the code to the department or parent by a date specified by the department. If the district does not assign a code to the student by the specified date, the department shall assign a code to the student.

The department annually shall submit to each school district the name and data verification code of each student residing in the district who is entering kindergarten, who has been awarded a scholarship under the program, and for whom the department has assigned a code under this division.

(3) The department shall not release any data verification code that it receives under division (E) of this section to any person except as provided by law.

(F) Any document relative to the pilot project scholarship program that the department holds in its files that contains both a student's name or other personally identifiable information and the student's data verification code shall not be a public record under section 149.43 of the Revised Code.

(G)(1) The department annually shall compile the scores attained by scholarship students enrolled in registered private schools on the assessments administered to the students pursuant to division (A)(10) of section 3313.976 of the Revised Code. The scores shall be aggregated as follows:

(a) By school district, which shall include all scholarship students residing in the pilot project school district who are enrolled in a registered private school and were required to take an assessment pursuant to division (A)(10) of section 3313.976 of the Revised Code;

(b) By registered private school, which shall include all scholarship students enrolled in that school who were required to take an assessment pursuant to division (A)(10) of section 3313.976 of the Revised Code.

(2) The department shall disaggregate the student performance data described in division (G)(1) of this section according to the following categories:

(a) Grade level;

(b) Race and ethnicity;

(c) Gender;

(d) Students who have participated in the scholarship program for three or more years;

(e) Students who have participated in the scholarship program for more than one year and less than three years;

(f) Students who have participated in the scholarship program for one year or less;

(g) Economically disadvantaged students.

(3) The department shall post the student performance data required under divisions (G)(1) and (2) of this section on its web site and shall include that data in the information about the scholarship program provided to students under division (A) of this section. In reporting student performance data under this division, the department shall not include any data that is statistically unreliable or that could result in the identification of individual students. For this purpose, the department shall not report performance data for any group that contains less than ten students.

(4) The department shall provide the parent of each scholarship student enrolled in a registered private school with information comparing the student's performance on the assessments administered pursuant to division (A)(10) of section 3313.976 of the Revised Code with the average performance of similar students enrolled in the building operated by the pilot project school district that the scholarship student would otherwise attend. In calculating the performance of similar students, the department shall consider age, grade, race and ethnicity, gender, and socioeconomic status.

(H) The department shall open the application period on the first day of February prior to the first day of July of the school year for which a scholarship is sought. Not later than forty-five days after an applicant submits to the department of education and workforce a completed application, the department shall determine whether that applicant is eligible for a scholarship and notify the applicant whether or not the applicant is eligible. The department shall award a scholarship to each student with an approved application. However, for any application submitted on or after the fifteenth day of October of the school year for which the scholarship is sought, the department shall prorate the amount of the awarded scholarship based on how much of the school year remains after the date of the student's enrollment in the private school.

Last updated August 1, 2023 at 11:29 AM

Available Versions of this Section

• September 29, 2013 – House Bill 59 - 130th General Assembly
• September 29, 2017 – Amended by House Bill 49 - 132nd General Assembly
• October 17, 2019 – Amended by House Bill 166 - 133rd General Assembly
• September 30, 2021 – Amended by House Bill 110 - 134th General Assembly
• October 3, 2023 – Amended by House Bill 33 - 135th General Assembly