TOLEDO, Ohio — The Ohio Senate is looking to expand the school voucher program through the state's education budget.
If it's approved, the Educational Choice Scholarship Program would allow all families in the state to be eligible.
But the House and Senate have not found common ground, and they're not the only ones. School voucher programs are heavily debated between public and private schools as well.
Many public school systems claim the funding models aren't benefiting both sides, while private schools argue more families should be able to choose where their kids get an education.
For years, leaders and board members at public schools in northwest Ohio have called out the inequalities of the EdChoice program.
"It feels like education is a football and there's a game being played," Perrysburg Schools Superintendent Tom Hosler said. "We're being fumbled and punted and dropped and that's frustrating."
But the schools with students enrolled through the scholarship program don't see it that way.
"It helps relieve the financial burden for one," St. John's Jesuit Registrar Julie Fuzinski said. "It gives the parents the opportunity to choose other schools that they feel would be a better academic fit that they could probably not afford otherwise."
The Ohio Senate is proposing an expansion of who's eligible, allowing families who make more money to qualify for scholarships.
Hosler said if this gets approved, funding for public school districts will decrease.
"That means there's just less opportunity for money to flow to Perrysburg," he said. "That is a significant impact and it will be a hardship that our taxpayers will have to bare."
For private schools, an expanded program means more options and opportunities for current and potential students.
"That creates diversity for our families to be present here," St. John's Jesuit Director of Admissions Philip Anthony said. "Diversity of income, diversity of choice. It opens the door and shuts down barriers for education."
Hosler said appropriately funding public schools while also allowing families to have a choice in their kid's education is a delicate balance. And he believes it comes at a higher cost for public schools.
"Being a Perrysburg resident means something and I'm worried that the state, through these kinds of things, is going to continue to erode that community identity," he said.
More information will be released Wednesday after the Senate unveils its budget bill. School leaders say the final decision on the EdChoice voucher program needs to be made by July 1.