Five Monroe County private schools received over $5.1 million in state voucher money in the 2024-25 school year, according to a state report.
That includes over $3.6 million of that would’ve otherwise gone to the public Monroe County Community School Corporation.
Overall, the state spent about $497 million on the program for the 2024-25 school year, an increase of over $58 million from the previous school year.
Indiana’s Choice Scholarship program, or voucher program, gives scholarships to eligible students to help pay for tuition costs at private schools. The program uses state money that would’ve followed the child to public school to instead pay for a private, parochial or nonreligious school.
Schools in Monroe County that received money were Adventist Christian Academy, Clear Creek Christian School, Covenant Christian School, Lighthouse Christian Academy and St. Charles Borromeo School.
A total of 829 students from those schools participated in the voucher program in 2024-25. In the 2023-24 school year, 614 students participated.
Here’s how much money choice schools were awarded in the area in 2024-25 and how many students participated:
- Adventist Christian Academy: $77,419, 12 students
- Clear Creek Christian School: $1,060,400, 176 students
- Covenant Christian School: $949,905, 145 students
- Lighthouse Christian Academy: $1,586,112, 242 students
- St Charles: $1,496,080, 254 students
According to the report, MCCSC would have received $3,615,235 in the 2024-25 school year from 580 students within corporation limits that are in the program.
Those 580 students chose private schools over MCCSC schools within corporation limits. In the 2023-24 school year, 520 students from the MCCSC district participated. A total of $2,973,731 in voucher money didn’t go to the corporation.
The Richland Bean Blossom School Corporation in Ellettsville would have received $619,034 in voucher money if the 103 student participants within corporation limits had chosen Richland Bean Blossom schools over private schools.
Across the state, over 76,000 students, most with a household income between $50,000 and $100,000, used vouchers to attend a private school in the 2024-25 school year.
That’s about an 8.5 percent increase in student participation from the previous year. On average, each student was rewarded $6,536, with an average tuition of $8,368 at private schools.
