Although schools are closed due to the coronavirus pandemic and almost every student nationwide is being enriched through some form of distance learning, plans for tuition funding at the state and local levels for the 2020-2021 academic year have been established.
For the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland, three application windows for parents and families seeking tuition assistance and scholarship funding are open. Due to the COVID-19 crisis, the application deadlines were extended to May 30.
The three programs are the Cleveland Scholarship Program and the EdChoice Scholarship Program, and the EdChoice Expansion Scholarship. Each has different criteria, but all provide scholarships (sometimes called "vouchers") to parents to pay tuition of qualifying schools, providing opportunity for students to attend the private school of their family’s choice.
“Our diocese wants to help as many families as possible across Northeast Ohio find a learning environment that supports student growth and formation, and tuition scholarships offered by the state of Ohio help make that a reality,” said Frank O’Linn, diocesan superintendent of Catholic schools.
The Cleveland Scholarship Program is for students in grades K-12 who live within the Cleveland Metropolitan School District’s boundaries.
The EdChoice Scholarship Program provides a list of private schools across the state that accept EdChoice funding. However, public schools to which students would be assigned must be deemed EdChoice eligible.
The EdChoice Expansion Scholarship is available for families whoe household income qualifies as low according to federal guidelines.
Before beginning the EdChoice application, students must enroll and be accepted into the desired Catholic school for the upcoming year.
Deadlines for all three scholarships have been extended to May 30, 2020.
The brief video describes how funding works within the parameters of Ohio's parental school choice scholarship programs. It can be viewed below.
Those interested in speaking with a representative from the diocesan education office can fill out an online inquiry here. There will be follow-up correspondence.