BUCYRUS — A new educational option is available for Crawford County residents whose students attend two of the local elementary schools, but it has not come without controversy.

The Ohio Department of Education has designated Bucyrus Elementary School and Galion Intermediate School as low-performing schools, allowing students in kindergarten through fifth grade at those schools to apply for a scholarship to attend the two private schools in Crawford County that accept the ODE EdChoice scholarship.

The private school options for the scholarship in Crawford County are Galion St. Joseph and Crestline St. Joseph Catholic schools.

According to the ODE website, the EdChoice Scholarship program provides as many as 60,000 state-funded scholarships to students who attend low-performing public-school buildings. The scholarship must be used to attend private schools that meet the requirements for program participation.

Two local superintendents, however, question how their schools were labeled as low-performing.

Bucyrus City Schools Superintendent Kevin Kimmel and Galion City Schools Superintendent Jim Grubbs both cited the years used to designate the schools as low performing, as the main concern.

The Ohio Department of Education Department of Nonpublic Education Options used three school years to collect data for the designations. The years were 2017-18, 2013-14 and 2012-13.

The 2014-15 through 2016-17 report cards were not released publicly other than for optional use if requested by the district.

Both superintendents said the criteria used is misleading to the actual performances of the buildings.

“I don’t know how it can be credible when you’re using data from students who are now in 11th grade for students in a building for grades third through fifth,” Grubbs said. “I don’t know how the state can designate a school from data in 2013. It doesn’t make sense.”

Kimmel echoed similar sentiments.

“They are putting years into a formula based on the performance from almost eight years ago,” Kimmel said. “Bucyrus Elementary was rated as a ‘5’ (the highest ranking possible) in ‘value added’ for two straight years.”

Kimmel also said Bucyrus Elementary was listed by ODE as an independent school, meaning it does not require any direct oversight from ODE.

“My question to the state is how can we be an independent school, but also as underperforming?” Kimmel said.

ODE Associate Director for Media Relations Carolyn Cypret said the independent and EdChoice designations do not correlate and are two separate areas of focus.

“Identification for level of support (priority, focus, watch, warning, independent) is based on Ohio’s state plan under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA),” Cypret said. “ESSA requires states to implement a plan that identifies schools for different levels of improvement support.  It is not a determination of school quality.”

She said Ohio’s ESSA plan says, “Ohio has developed a continuum of supports based on federal and state laws and regulations. This continuum ranges from “Independent” support districts that have no specific, state-mandated improvement requirements to districts under the oversight of an ‘Academic Distress Commission,’ which is the most intensive school improvement strategy.”

Cypret said the EdChoice plan does offer a “safety net” for schools based on the most recent year. She said schools that receive an overall grade of an “A” or “B” on their state report cards and a value-added grade of an “A” for the 2017-18 school year were excluded from the EdChoice eligibility list.

Bucyrus Elementary received an overall grade of a “C” and received an “A” grade in the value-added category. Galion Intermediate received a “D” grade overall and an “F” grade in overall value added.

In the state, 826 school buildings received an “A” or “B” overall grade out of 3,344 registered schools, approximately 24 percent, according to the ODE Performance Index Rankings.

Kimmel and Grubbs both said in separate interviews, they acknowledge there is always room for improvement with every school district.

“All school districts should continue to strive to improve for the students, and we don’t shy away from that,” Kimmel said. “We simply don’t believe the underperforming distinction is accurate.”

Grubbs added his concerns are not a negative outlook on the private school options in Crawford County.

“It may be a good option for (some students), but we just ask parents to look at the big picture and understand all pieces of the situation,” Grubbs said. “There is more that we do than is shown in one snapshot. It may be considered comparing apples to oranges. Not every educational setting is graded on the same standards.”

“At the end of the day, I believe everyone wants what is best for the kids,” Grubbs added.

The scholarship is not available for all students.

According to the ODE website, the following students are eligible to apply for an EdChoice scholarship:

  • Students attending a public school in their resident district who will be assigned to one of the designated public schools for the upcoming school year.
  • Students currently attending a charter/community school whose assigned home school is a designated public school building.
  • Students eligible to enter kindergarten for fall 2019 (and who will be age 5 by 1/1/2020) who would be assigned to one of the designated public schools.
  • Students enrolling in an Ohio school for the first time who would be assigned to one of the designated public schools for the upcoming school year.

The first round of applications ends April 30 and then the second round, known as the expansion scholarship, begins with some different requirements. The expansion scholarship only will have scholarships as available after the first round.

According to ODE, students who do not meet any of the preceding eligibility criteria may still be eligible for the EdChoice expansion scholarship if they meet the following criteria:

  • Student is eligible to enter kindergarten, first, second, third, fourth, fifth or sixth grade for fall 2019.
  • Student does not live in the Cleveland Municipal School District.
  • Family household income is at or below 200 percent of the Federal Poverty Guidelines.

Families must verify their income to receive the expansion scholarship.

The second application period is June 1 through July 31.

More information on eligibility and a list of designated low-performing schools and participating private schools may be found on the Ohio Department of Education website.