How school voucher plans work

The Milwaukee and Cleveland voucher programs mentioned in this series are similar. They both provide state funds to parents with low incomes to help them pay for sending their children to any private school in their city.

Here are requirements and procedures for obtaining vouchers in Cleveland. The number of vouchers granted in Cleveland depends on the funds appropriated by the Ohio General Assembly.

• Students must reside within the Cleveland City School District.

• Vouchers are available to families whose income hovers near the federally established poverty level.

• Parents obtain an application from the state school superintendent and fill in the name of the private school to which their children have been admitted. The private school must be in Cleveland and meet a raft of state educational standards.

• The state superintendent issues a check, made payable to the student's parents, to the chosen school.

• The parents then must go to the school and endorse the check over to the school.