INDIANAPOLIS —Indiana lawmakers took another step toward launching the largest private school voucher program in the United States on Thursday.
The state Senate approved House Bill 1003 on a 28-22 vote. The program would allow families to take the tax dollars that would have gone to the public schools their children attend and spend that money instead on private school tuition.
Now, either the House can simply concur with the Senate's version of the program and send it on to Gov. Mitch Daniels' desk, or the two sides can hash out their minor differences in the eight remaining days of this year's legislative session.
All four of Southwestern Indiana's senators Republicans Vaneta Becker of Evansville and Jim Tomes of Wadesville, as well as Democrats Lindel Hume of Princeton and Richard Young of Milltown were among the "no" votes.
And Becker was the only opponent of vouchers to speak on the Senate floor. She took a shot at Daniels, who includes vouchers as a key portion of his education reform agenda.
"All of this education legislation is just based on someone's ambition, and I think that's unfortunate," she said.
She lamented that Indiana spends $6 million per year on remediation too little, she said, in a state with 1 million children.
"The timing for this legislation is very poor, especially in light of the fact that schools were cut $300 million last year, and we did not restore those cuts this year," she said.
Students who qualify for free and reduced lunch will be eligible for vouchers of about $4,500. Those whose families earn a bit more than that up to $61,000 for a family of four can take an amount that in many cases will be close to $3,000 per year as a voucher.
The program would be capped at 7,500 students in its first year and 15,000 in its second year. No cap exists after that, which means the families of as many of Indiana's 1 million school children who qualify could choose to use the vouchers.
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Bennett, a Republican who has also advocated vouchers, praised the vote.
"A great education should not be an option available only to a privileged few but rather a fundamental right for all Americans," he said. "In Indiana, we are removing barriers to success and opportunity for students who have been denied equitable access for far too long."
Budget passes
The Senate endorsed a two-year, $28 billion spending plan Thursday that includes slight education funding increases and in most ways resembles the version that passed the House earlier this year.
Democrats objected to changes in the funding formula that divides up about $6.2 billion in annual K-12 education dollars.
Republicans want to make changes to that formula that would favor schools with growing enrollment, mostly in suburban areas, and cost schools where enrollment is declining, in urban and rural areas. Right now shrinking schools are better-funded than growing ones.
Democrats also complained about an amendment that was tacked onto the budget Wednesday night. Inspired by this year's five-week House Democratic boycott, the measure would allow private citizens to sue lawmakers who are absent for more than three days at a time for $1,000 per day.
"There was a poison pill in the budget bill," said Sen. John Broden, D-South Bend, his party's top-ranking member on the Senate Appropriations Committee.
Becker, the Evansville Republican senator who has complained about a provision that allows the state to shift money from "CHOICE" home health care program, which is open to most aging Hoosiers, to a Medicaid aging and disabled waiver program, which has much tighter eligibility restrictions, was the only member of her party to vote against the budget.
Charlie White
Indiana Secretary of State Charlie White will appeal the ruling of a judge who ordered the Indiana Recount Commission to consider a lawsuit that would invalidate his November election.
White faces seven felony charges, including voter fraud, for allegedly voting in a precinct in which he did not live last year. The Indiana Democratic Party has sued, saying he was not a legally registered voter and should not have been eligible to run for office.
Under current law, if the Democratic lawsuit is successful, the office would go to the No. 2 finisher in last fall's election Democrat Vop Osili.
However, the state Senate approved a measure Thursday that would change the rules and allow the Republican governor to appoint White's replacement.
House Bill 1242 passed on a 33-17 vote. Four Republicans including Becker voted no.