At a glance
The Journal Gazette teamed up with HuffPost for an in-depth look at the School Choice Program, commonly referred to as vouchers.
Stories by Journal Gazette reporters Niki Kelly, Ashley Sloboda and Rosa Salter Rodriguez and HuffPost reporter Rebecca Klein examine how the initial concept in Indiana expanded, the faith-based curriculum some schools use, whether vouchers are affecting the demographics of schools and where students with special educational needs attend, and the effect on home school enrollment.
Schools in Indiana that use a textbook or piece of curriculum created by either Abeka and/or Bob Jones University Press:
• Central Christian School
• Good Shepherd Christian Academy
• Heritage Hall Christian School
• Christian Academy of Indiana
• Covington Christian School
• The King's Academy
• Lakeview Christian School
• Fishers Christian Academy
• Bethesda Christian School
• Kingsway Christian School
• DeMotte Christian School
• Ambassador Christian Academy
• Calumet Christian School
• Mosaic School Inc
• Indiana Christian Academy
• Liberty Christian School (7-12)
• Liberty Christian School (K-6)
• Heritage Christian School
• Cornerstone Baptist Academy
• Horizon Christian School
• Suburban Christian School
• Burge Terrace Christian School
• Crosspointe Christian Academy
• Horizon at Shepherd
• Central Christian Academy
• TP Schools
• Calvary Christian School
• Lighthouse Christian Academy
• Clear Creek Christian School
• Tabernacle Christian School
• Mooresville Christian Academy
• Greenwood Christian Academy
• Victory Christian Academy
• Grace Christian Academy
• Faith Christian School
• Richmond Academy
Rebecca Klein, HuffPost
Taxpayers in Indiana are footing the bill for student scholarships to schools that push ultraconservative and sometimes bigoted viewpoints.
More than 30 private schools participating in Indiana's school voucher program use textbooks from companies that teach homosexuality as immoral, environmentalism as spiritually bankrupt and evolution as an evil idea.
Of the 318 private schools participating in Indiana's Choice Scholarship Program – a voucher program that uses public funding to help students afford private schools – 36 use at least one textbook or piece of curriculum created by either Abeka or Bob Jones University Press. That's part of the findings of a HuffPost analysis, in conjunction with an in-depth look at vouchers with The Journal Gazette.
Central Christian School in Fort Wayne, for example, uses a mixture of Abeka and Bob Jones materials in its prekindergarten through eighth-grade classrooms, according to the school's website.
Abeka, a textbook company, is affiliated with Pensacola Christian College, a far-right religious university in Florida that bans “dancing” and “satanic practices” in its code of conduct. Bob Jones University Press is affiliated with its eponymous university, which outlawed interracial dating until the year 2000.
Indiana schools that use textbooks from these companies are non-Catholic, Christian schools of varying denominations. For this analysis, HuffPost checked the websites of the 131 Christian schools participating in the Choice Scholarship Program for details on their curriculum.
If a school did not advertise its curriculum, HuffPost reached out to the school for clarity. Our count reflects the schools that advertised their curriculum or responded to requests for information.
Dozens of schools did not respond to our requests, meaning that our count only reflects a minimum.
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