Catholic schools in the Diocese of Gary are reporting a 5% increase in enrollment for the 2022-23 school year over 2021-22, and some school officials attribute that to the recently expanded Indiana Choice Scholarship Program.
Created in 2011, Indiana Choice allows families to opt out of the public school system and receive a voucher for a majority of the state funding that would've gone toward their children's education in a public school to spend on private school tuition.
The program has been expanded several times since its inception, most recently in April 2021, when the state legislature expanded the income eligibility for the program to include approximately 80% of Indiana students and increased the voucher received by each family to up to 90% of what would've been spent on their education in public schools by the state.
The Big Shoulders Fund is a nonprofit organization that provides scholarships to students wanting to attend Catholic schools and operational support to Catholic schools throughout the Chicago metropolitan area. Since 2019, it has partnered with the Diocese of Gary. An awareness campaign launched in January includes an online tool at nwichoicescholar.org that can help families determine if they qualify for a voucher.
"We wanted to make sure that we did everything we could to really market and promote that program as much as possible so that we were taking the financial barriers of attending a Catholic school off the table," Kozlowski said. "We really attribute a large part of the growth of our Catholic schools here in Northwest Indiana to that marketing program."
He said the voucher can cover full tuition in most of the diocese's elementary schools and around 75% of tuition for its high schools.
Bishop Noll Institute in Hammond has seen a particularly pronounced jump in enrollment. The school's student population jumped from 468 to 548, Principal Lorenza Jara Pastrick said. Pastrick said this is the highest the school's enrollment has been in over 20 years.
"Thanks to the school choice program, families are able to receive a private Catholic education for free at the elementary level and for a fraction of the cost at the high school level," she said. "Parents are doing their homework, and they're finding out that we're a better option and we're an option that they can afford."
Pastrick anticipates this growth continuing and said the school is working to hire more teachers to accommodate it.
"I think that parents are using their power of choice through the school choice program," she said. "And I think we're a great option in Northwest Indiana to provide a high-quality education with a faith-based component. And I think we will continue to see a jump here in our private school sector."
At Bishop Noll, 357 students used the program to pay for tuition during the 2021-22 school year, according to the most recent data available from the Indiana Department of Education.
That data also shows how many students took advantage of the program, thereby reducing funding in their public school district during the 2021-22 school year. According to that data, 1,002 students living within the School City of Hammond used a voucher, as did 995 from Gary Community School Corp., 252 from Crown Point Community School Corp., 130 from Valparaiso Community Schools and 73 from Duneland School Corp.
In March 2021, while expansion of the program was being debated, a group of 15 Lake County public school districts signed onto a joint statement opposing expansion of the Indiana Choice program.
"While some say HB1005 promotes school choice, the real choice is in the hands of private schools who choose which students they enroll," the statement read, in reference to House Bill 1005, which was an earlier iteration of the legislation that ultimately passed. "Public schools enroll and serve all students regardless of income, religion, race, academic standing, or any other potentially discriminating factor. Public funds should only be used for education that is open and inclusive to all Hoosiers."
The districts also argued the program simply diverts funding away from public schools, which are held to more stringent reporting and transparency mandates, and would help families that already send their children to private schools more than those that don't.
Kozlowski declined to comment on criticisms of the voucher program.