When the Indiana Supreme Court upheld the voucher program in a legal challenge two years ago, it ruled that the program did not violate the state constitution because “a general and uniform system of Common schools” remained in place.
Today, with voucher enrollment growing dramatically, it’s worth considering how long the public school system can remain in place. At the same time lawmakers are preparing to shift dollars from public schools serving students from poverty to wealthier school districts, they also are preparing to steer millions more to private schools.
An Indiana Department of Education report released this week shows a nearly 50 percent increase in voucher participation this year. The total cost increased from $78.9 million in 2013-14 to $116 million this year. Increased participation wiped out the so-called savings voucher supporters promised would come from educating students at voucher rates less than the per-pupil tuition payments at some public schools.
The argument that voucher schools would serve children from poverty trapped in “failing” schools isn’t holding up, either. In Allen County, millions are flowing to struggling private schools. The former Imagine charter schools, converted to Horizon Christian schools after Ball State University declined to renew their charters, combined with the original Horizon school, received more than $2.1 million in voucher payments this year. They earned grades of C, D and F last year. Cornerstone College Prep School increased enrollment this year in spite of its F performance. It has collected nearly $2â million in state funds since the voucher program began in 2011.
Although some Fort Wayne voucher schools are almost entirely minority enrollment, voucher recipients overall are increasingly white and middle-class. Sixty-one percent of voucher students are non-Hispanic white. African-American and Hispanic students now make up just 31 percent of voucher recipients; down from 44 percent the first year. Nearly a third of the families collecting vouchers were at the highest level of income eligibility, up from a quarter a year ago.
Vouchers are used overwhelmingly at religious schools. A separate study by the Center for Evaluation and Education Policy at Indiana University-Bloomington found that 55 percent went to Catholic schools and 11 percent to Lutheran schools, although one of the largest distributions this year – $1.03 million – is to MTI School of Knowledge, the Islamic School of Indianapolis.