Indiana’s school voucher system was born out of legislation passed in 2011.
Its intent was to provide low-income families with opportunities to send their children to private, often religious-affiliated schools.
In the program’s first year, almost four thousand of the state’s more than one million students received a total of just over $16 million in vouchers.
Last school year, more than 80,000 students claimed $548 million in vouchers to attend 385 private schools, nearly all of them religious schools. And for the first time ever, more than half the families that received vouchers made over $100,000 a year.
Critics of the program say the state is subsidizing education for the wealthiest families, all while re-allocating money that originally went to the public school system.
Read more: Public School Supporters Sound Alarm as Voucher Program Grows
“I think the biggest thing is, it’s siphoning off money that’s desperately needed to run the public schools,” Rep. Matt Pierce, D-Bloomington, told journalist Steve Hinnefeld for a story on vouchers published in the Limestone Post and on WFHB. “The fact is, the legislature has to fund three school systems: the public schools, charter schools, and private schools with vouchers.”
But the system has been a boon for some schools.
Covenant Christian School on Bloomington’s south side had about a dozen students in 2014. But thanks to more than $5 million in vouchers over the past eight years, it now has 135 students and moved into a new facility this year.
Head of School Rob Akers said the money has been “transformational.”
On this week’s Noon Edition, we’ll be talking about the history of school vouchers, the ongoing impacts of the voucher system on the Indiana school system, and what expansion of the program means for a public school system already struggling from funding cut.
This episode will be pre-recorded.
Guests
Rev. Rob Akers, Head of School, Covenant Christian School.
Cathy Fuentes-Rohwer, President, Indiana Coalition for Public Education
Steve Hinnefeld, Education journalist, author of the “School Matters” blog
Chris Lubienski, Director, IU Center for Evaluation and Education Policy
