Ohio Homeschool Funding (2026): The ACE Account, EdChoice, and Where Homeschoolers Stand

The Short Answer

Right now, Ohio does not have an active education savings account that independent homeschoolers can use. The program that fit that description, the ACE account, has wound down, with its final reimbursement window closing in late 2025. EdChoice, the state's large scholarship, pays private school tuition and does not reach home education. The one active state benefit is a nonrefundable Ohio income tax credit for home education expenses, covered below. Beyond that credit, plan a self-funded year while watching for what comes next.

That is a change worth knowing. If you heard that Ohio had an ESA for families and assumed it was still running, the program you were thinking of is the ACE account, and it has ended. The legal framework for home schooling in Ohio, which we cover fully in the Ohio homeschooling guide, is still light and inexpensive to run after the 2023 changes, but the state is not currently subsidizing it directly for general home-educating families.

What follows explains the two programs, what each one was and is, and how to think about your year given the current gap.

What the ACE Account Was

The Afterschool Child Enrichment account was Ohio's education savings account aimed at enrichment and educational expenses. It provided eligible families around $1,000 for approved costs, and home-educating families who met the eligibility conditions could use it. Eligible expenses included textbooks, tutoring, online courses, and certain approved activities. Eligibility was tied to factors such as residing in certain school districts, household income at or below a set threshold, or participation in specific assistance programs.

For a while, ACE was the practical answer to the question of whether Ohio funded home education. It was a small benefit, not a transformative one, but $1,000 per year covered a good share of a curriculum budget for families who qualified. Home-educating families could use the funds without altering their legal status under Ohio's home education law, and the approved expense list covered the kinds of purchases families were making anyway.

The wind-down, with final reimbursement claims due in late 2025, removed that option from the picture. If you used ACE in the past, the program you remember is no longer accepting new activity. If you are new to Ohio home schooling and came looking for the ACE account, you are past the window. Before you map out your education budget for the year, a reading assessment can show you where your child stands academically so you know where to put your curriculum spending first.

Why EdChoice Does Not Help Home Educators

Ohio's better-known program is the EdChoice Scholarship, which has expanded over the years to serve families across income levels under a universal eligibility model. But EdChoice is a private school voucher. It pays tuition at participating private schools, and a child must be enrolled at such a school to use it. There is no EdChoice pathway that funds curriculum, tutoring, or other home education expenses for a family teaching at home.

The distinction matters because EdChoice is well publicized and Ohio families researching school choice often encounter it first. If you read that Ohio has a large, expanding school choice program and assumed it could support your home school, EdChoice is not the answer. It is help for families choosing a private school, not a benefit that extends to independent home education.

This is a pattern seen across a number of states where a high-profile voucher program does not reach home education. The voucher and the home school are treated as separate legal categories: the voucher attaches to enrollment at a recognized institution, while home education runs under a different statute with different rules. Ohio falls squarely in that pattern. EdChoice and Ohio's home education law operate in parallel, and families using one are not using the other. For planning your curriculum without state funding, the full guide walks through building a solid, well-structured school year on a private budget.

The Ohio Home School Expense Tax Credit

Ohio offers a nonrefundable state income tax credit for home education expenses. For tax year 2025 and later, the credit is the lesser of $250 per qualifying student or the amount you paid; for tax year 2024 and earlier, it was the lesser of $250 per return or the amount paid. Only expenses for students who are exempt from compulsory attendance for the purpose of home education qualify.

Qualifying expenses are books and subscriptions, school supplies and supplementary materials, and computer software and applications. The Ohio Department of Taxation lists what does not qualify, including computers, tablets, printers, and other electronic devices; college course materials; furniture; tuition, lesson, or instructional fees for someone else to teach your child, including sports fees, music lessons, and driver's education; homeschool co-op fees; field trips; and items not used directly in home instruction. Because the credit is nonrefundable, it can lower your Ohio income tax but will not produce a refund on its own. Keep receipts for what you claim.

A separate federal rule can help some families. IRS Publication 502 lets you count as a medical expense fees you pay, on a doctor's recommendation, for a child's tutoring by a teacher who is specially trained and qualified to work with children who have learning disabilities caused by mental or physical impairments. Medical expenses are deductible only if you itemize on Schedule A, and only the amount above 7.5% of your adjusted gross income counts.

Where Homeschoolers Stand and What to Watch

Putting it together, Ohio home educators currently have no active education savings account to draw on. ACE has wound down, and EdChoice is private school only. Apart from the state tax credit, that makes a self-funded year the realistic plan right now. The upside is that Ohio home schooling itself is light and inexpensive to run. As the Ohio homeschooling guide explains, the 2023 changes made the state notification-only, with no hours requirement, no annual assessment, and no parent credential. The legal and administrative cost of running a home school in Ohio is low, which offsets some of the financial gap left by the ACE wind-down.

What to watch is whether Ohio creates a successor to ACE or opens a new education savings account that includes home educators. School choice has been expanding nationally at a fast pace, and Ohio has shown that it is willing to fund education outside the public school system when it chooses to. A successor program that reaches home-educating families is possible, and if one launches, catching it early matters since some programs have enrollment caps or early-filer advantages.

The best way to stay current is to check education.ohio.gov periodically and to pay attention to education policy news out of Columbus around the state budget cycle. Do not assume the old ACE rules still apply to anything new that launches; program eligibility and expense lists often change when a new program replaces an old one. For building your year's curriculum now, the guide helps you put together a complete plan before the school year starts.

A Note from Homeschool Teacher Guide: What This Really Means for You

We would rather give you the straight story than a stale promise. The Ohio program homeschoolers relied on, the ACE account, has wound down, and the big one everyone hears about, EdChoice, is private school tuition that does nothing for home education. So claim the state tax credit for home education expenses and plan the rest of an Ohio homeschool year as self-funded. That is easier than it sounds, because Ohio home schooling is now cheap to run after the 2023 changes simplified it to an annual notification with no testing, no hours requirement, and no parent credential.

Keep an eye on education.ohio.gov, since a successor to ACE or a new education savings account could appear, and Ohio has shown interest in this space before. If something launches that includes home educators, we want you to catch it early rather than hear about it a year late. In the meantime, run a free reading assessment so you know where your child stands before you spend on curriculum, and use the guide to map out a complete year before the school year opens.