Part of the reason for declining enrollment in some local public school corporations could be attributed to increasing numbers of students receiving vouchers for private schools, according to statistics released this week by the Indiana Department of Education.
The IDOE released its annual Choice Scholarship Report Monday, which highlights the number of students statewide who received school vouchers for the 2014-15 school year. The report showed that, across the state, the numbers of students receiving vouchers increased by roughly 47 percent over the 2013-14 school year.
Some of those increases took place in school corporations in Fayette and Franklin counties, with the Fayette County School Corporation seeing the biggest increase of all area public school corporations.
The FCSC saw its percentage of students receiving vouchers grow more than 100 percent between 2013-14 and 2014-15, as the numbers of students receiving vouchers jumped from 29 to 63 — a 117 percent increase.
Efforts by the News-Examiner seeking comment from Russell Hodges, FCSC superintendent, were unsuccessful as of the newspaper’s deadline Tuesday.
Of the 63 students in the FCSC receiving vouchers for the 2014-15 school year, approximately 98 percent of them — 62 students — ended up at Connersville’s St. Gabriel School, which saw its number of student receiving vouchers grow from only 28 for the 2013-14 school year.
Sue Barth, principal at St. Gabriel’s School, said the increase the school experienced could be contributed to a couple of areas.
“Some of it was our own present students taking advantage of the vouchers, plus students from other schools also coming to our school,” Barth said.
The state expanded its eligibility requirements for students to receive vouchers in 2013, which allows students who have siblings receiving vouchers, special education students and students who would have to attend a public school which is failing state standards, among others, to receive the vouchers. Those are in addition to the income requirements the state has in place for the voucher program.
With the increase in students, St. Gabriel’s also saw the financial amount the school received through student vouchers increase more than $100,000, as it went from $91,289.67 in 2013-14 to $198,326.44 for 2014-15.
Barth certainly did not expect to see such an increase in students receiving the vouchers and using them for St. Gabriel’s, however.
“I wasn’t,” Barth said. “Our enrollment went from 131 to 156, and no, I was not expecting that (voucher increase). It’s a good thing, but I sure wasn’t expecting it to grow like that.”
That growth could also be attributed to the school’s educational standing in the area, she added.
“Oh, it’s definitely the school,” Barth concluded. “People calling to ask about it, and they want their children to be here because of our reputation.”
In Franklin County, the Franklin County Community School Corporation also witnessed an increase in the number of students receiving vouchers, but nowhere near the level Fayette County did.
The FCCSC had 29 students receiving vouchers for the 2014-15 school year, up from 18 for the 2013-14 school year.
St. Michael’s School in Brookville, meanwhile, experienced a slight increase in the number of students receiving vouchers there, as it went from 18 to 20 for 2014-15.
Also noteworthy was the increase at Oldenburg Academy in Oldenburg, which experienced the biggest increase in the area, going from 13 students receiving vouchers in 2013-14 to 52 in 2014-15 — roughly a 300 percent jump.
That increase also led to Oldenburg Academy receiving $210,325.52 in funds from vouchers for 2014-15, almost quadruple the $59,221.92 the private school received in 2013-14.
Numbers for the amount of students in the Western Wayne and Union County/College Corner school systems, meanwhile, were not reported, due to those schools have less than 10 students receiving vouchers in both 2013-14 and 2014-15, according to the report.
Overall, roughly 2.6 percent of the state’s student population receive vouchers, with those voucher amounts increasing from $81 million to $116 million between 2013-14 and 2014-15.
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