Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

This paper examines the phase-in effect for the case of the Ohio Educational Choice Scholarship (EdChoice) on school proficiency and Free Reduced-Price Lunch (FRPL) enrollment. Employing a comparative, interrupted time-series with school-census tract panel data for the years 2011 through 2017 from the Ohio Department of Education and the Census America Community Survey, this study finds two important results. First, the difference between regular and under-performing schools grew significantly and remained higher after the expansion in both outcomes. Considerable growth in the gap between regular and under-performing schools was found, because school proficiency was decreased and FRPL enrollment increased for the under-performing schools after the expansion. Second, the results present strong evidence that the change in school proficiency and FRPL following the EdChoice expansion can be explained by the delayed grade span coverage. The impacts are, however, negative for school proficiency and positive for FRPL enrollment.