Ohio's Autism Scholarship Program is a program of the Ohio Department of Education (ODE). The program allows ODE to pay a scholarship to the parents of a qualified child with autism. Through the scholarship, parents have a choice of seeking services for their child with a registered private provider, rather than the child's resident school district to receive the services outlined in the child's individualized education program (IEP).   Passed as a pilot as part of the 2003 Budget bill, the program became permanent law as part of HB699, the Capital Bill, passed in late 2006.  The amount of the Autism Scholarship is capped at $20,000 and to be eligible a student must be identified with autism, enrolled in their public district of residence, have a current and agreed upon IEP, and have no administrative or judicial mediations or proceedings pending regarding the IEP.  For complete information about Ohio's Autism Scholarship Program click HERE . The Autism Scholarship Program (ASP) has helped many families that choose to leave their public school system to obtain very specialized services through a registered private provider in accordance with their wishes.   Many children have benefited by that decision and overwhelmingly parents are satisfied with the services obtained through the Autism Scholarship program.  The numbers of those enrolled in the ASP continue to grow.  Clearly, the program has impressed an important segment of ASO’s constituent base.