There’s a growing body of research confirming the positive impact of extracurricular and enrichment activities for kids. Field trips help students improve critical thinking and boost factual knowledge. Consistent participation in extracurricular activities between eighth and twelfth grade predicts academic achievement and prosocial behaviors. The academic eligibility requirements high school athletes must meet have decreased dropout rates among at-risk students, and increased participation in high school sports has been especially good for girls.
Unfortunately, participation in extracurricular and enrichment activities is less common among students from lower-income families, largely due to the cost of participating and a dearth of opportunities. A 2014 analysis of four national longitudinal surveys of American high schoolers found growing income-based differences in extracurricular participation, which could be attributed to rising income inequality. The pandemic has made things worse: Providers have closed, low-income families have less to spend, and the enrichment gap is widening.
To its credit, Ohio has taken a direct approach in attempting to diminish this gap. During the last budget cycle, state lawmakers used federal Covid relief funds to create the Afterschool Child Enrichment (ACE) educational savings account. ACE provides families whose income is at or below 300 percent of the federal poverty line with $500 per student that can be used to pay for a variety of enrichment activities for children between the ages of six and eighteen. Activities include (but are not limited to) before- or after-school educational programs, day camps, field trips, language or music classes, and tutoring. ACE accounts can be opened for any student who attends a public or private school, as well as for those who are homeschooled.
ACE has the potential to help a lot of families. Considering the benefits outlined above—not to mention the equity implications of ensuring that all Ohio children have access to extracurricular and enrichment opportunities—getting ACE up and running in an effective and efficient way is extremely important. Unfortunately, three implementation challenges have so far limited the initiative’s impact.
1. The program’s launch was delayed
According to the Ohio Revised Code, the program was supposed to be up and running by the end of January so that families could create their accounts and have plenty of time before summer—prime time for enrichment and extracurricular activities—to choose a provider and services for their child. But that deadline wasn’t met. According to the user manual for applicants, the Ohio Department of Education (ODE) didn’t start accepting requests from families to determine their ACE eligibility until April 11. That’s more than two months after the deadline set by lawmakers. This delay left families who wanted these funds to access summer programs just a few weeks to fill out all the necessary paperwork, get approved, and identify a provider. The recently passed House Bill 583 took some of the timing pressures off families by allowing unspent ACE funds to remain in accounts until students graduate from high school. But that adjustment doesn’t change the fact that families who wanted to use ACE funds this summer were severely limited in their ability to do so.
2. The application process is burdensome
Once the program was finally up and running, families had to deal with a lengthy and confusing application process. Although the instructions for parents and guardians posted on ODE’s website seem simple enough, the user manual for applicants outlines several steps. First, families must create an OH|ID account, a system that allows Ohioans to securely access several state agencies. Next, they must create an Ohio Department of Education profile within the OH|ID system. After that, they need to round up their income verification documents—the previous year’s W2 or federal tax return, four current pay stubs, and official documentation showing unemployment are among the acceptable documents—and then electronically submit them. Once all these steps have been completed, families can apply for an ACE account. ODE notes that it can take up to two weeks for income verification to be complete, and that even once families are approved for an ACE account, they must also sign up with Merit International, the vendor chosen by ODE to manage ACE. It’s also worth noting that this entire process is online—bad news for families that don’t have reliable internet access or internet-enabled devices—and that all ODE offers as ongoing support for families is an email address where they can send their questions.
3. Many families seem unaware that the program exists
One of the defining features of the enrichment gap is that low-income students don’t have the same access to extracurricular opportunities as their more affluent peers. That’s why it’s so unfortunate that even though lawmakers created a program to address the access gap, the state hasn’t done a good job of notifying families of the opportunity. Recent coverage in Gongwer notes that although $50 million was allocated to support the program during its first year, only $106,749 in claims have been approved so far for just over 6,000 families. Sue Cosmo, the director of ODE’s Office of Nonpublic Educational Options, acknowledged that the program is “well below capacity” both in terms of participating families and providers, and that the department is “working on developing a package of marketing materials and social media content” to increase awareness and participation. Hopefully those efforts come to fruition sooner rather than later.
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It’s worth noting that the issues outlined above aren’t the only problems currently plaguing the ACE program. Anecdotal reports also indicate that the reimbursement process is slow and cumbersome for both families and providers, and that there are several geographic regions that lack services, making it difficult for some approved families to actually use their ACE dollars. It’s understandable that some challenges would surface in a first-year program. But given the potential of ACE accounts and how important these opportunities are for kids, fixing these issues is critical. As the program enters its second school year, the state needs to streamline the application and reimbursement processes as much as possible, offer better support to families who have questions and need help, and do a much better job of spreading the word that the program exists. Getting these details ironed out will ensure that more Ohio families can take advantage of this worthwhile program.
