INDIANAPOLIS — State lawmakers are set to take up one of the most polarizing portions of this year's education reform debate: directing public school dollars into private schools.
An Indiana House committee has scheduled a hearing this morning on a bill that would create a voucher system. House Speaker Brian Bosma, R-Indianapolis, said the committee will amend the bill to place a heavy emphasis on directing those dollars to low-income families.
Vouchers make up a key plank of Gov. Mitch Daniels' far-reaching education reform agenda. But they are also what opponents of the governor's agenda have identified as the worst portion of it.
And of all the education changes Daniels is pitching — including an expansion of charter schools, new limits on collective bargaining rights for teachers and teacher merit pay — the amount of support the vouchers portion has is the least clear.
"I think there are more questions about this bill among lawmakers than some of the other proposals," Bosma said.
The state funds schools through a formula directing dollars to each corporation on a per-pupil basis. Most school corporations get about $6,000 per student.
More than that goes to schools with what the state considers a complex student population such as student populations more likely to come from poverty or less likely to speak English.
Right now, House Bill 1003 would allow families that qualify for the federal free- and reduced-lunch program to take 90 percent of the dollars that would have ordinarily gone to their student's public school and use that money to pay for private school tuition.
So, those free and reduced lunch families would get vouchers of about $5,400. The amount families are eligible to receive decreases as income increases.
Private schools that accept vouchers would then face the same accountability standards as public schools, which means their students would have to take the ISTEP exam and they'd be rated on an A-F scale each year.
Bosma said that's one reason all private schools are unlikely to accept vouchers if the state offers them.
Vouchers were a central theme of Daniels' State of the State address, and he also highlighted the voucher system during a speech last week at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, D.C.
"Before our current Legislature adjourns, we intend to become the first state of full and true choice by saying to every low- and middle-income Hoosier family, 'If you think a nongovernment school is the right one for your child, you're as entitled to that option as any wealthy family; here's a voucher, go sign up,'" he said at CPAC.
They were also one of the top targets for criticism at a Statehouse rally hundreds of teachers attended last week, and a nonprofit organization called the Indiana Coalition for Public Education took aim at vouchers Monday.
Joel Hand, the group's executive director, said part of the problem is that while public schools are open to all students, private schools are able to choose theirs.
"This is not taxpayer-friendly to our Hoosier citizens and it is not good policy," he said.