Ohio students grades kindergarten through 12th grade now qualify for $1,000 to help pay for educational extracurricular school activities.
The Afterschool Child Enrichment educational savings account program doubled last week from $500 to $1,000. The funds are available to students whose families earn 400% of the Federal Poverty Level, which is up to $111,000 for a family of four.
Qualifying students can attend public, private, or charter schools, or be homeschooled. The Ohio Department of Education has a list of qualifying school districts and a table of eligible household incomes. The money can be used to pay for a variety of activities, including language and music lessons, tutoring, and even day camps.
“The changes to the Ohio ACE program provide more students access to educational activities outside of the traditional classroom,” Interim Superintendent of Public Instruction Dr. Stephanie Siddens said. “The ACE Marketplace helps parents extend and enrich learning opportunities and broaden experiences for their children.”
So far, 25,000 Ohio students have been signed up for ACE accounts. The program has only existed for one year, so there’s not a lot of data to show off the success of this particular program yet.
A total of $125 million has been budgeted for the program and the state is using federal funds to pay for it. The program has been expanded through 2024.
If you’d like to get a feel for the program and check out the list of education service providers, please visit aceohio.org.
Featured image by Ashton Bingham on Unsplash.