Nearly 4,000 Hoosier students are using state-funded vouchers to attend private schools, according to the latest data from
the Indiana Department of Education.
The program, which gives students an average of $4,500 from the state to apply toward private-school tuition, was created
this year by the Indiana General Assembly. The Legislature placed an enrollment cap this year of 7,500 and will raise the
cap next year to 15,000.
After that, there will be no cap on the program, which gives it the potential to be the largest voucher program in the United
States. The program is limited, however, to students from low- to moderate-income households who have previously attended
public schools.
There are more than 1 million students in K-12 public schools in Indiana, with nearly 100,000 in private schools, according
to data from the Department of Education.
A total of 3,919 students received vouchers for the 2011-12 school year, up from the 3,200 who had received them as of late
August—the last time the Department of Education reported the statistics. More than 250 private schools were approved
to accept vouchers, and the biggest beneficiaries so far have been Catholic schools.
The students using vouchers came from 185 different school districts, out of about 350 total statewide. Eighty-five percent
of the students come from families whose household incomes qualify them for free or reduced lunch, according to the Department
of Education. Just over 30 percent of students are from rural and suburban Indiana, and more than half of the students represent
minority households.
“Demographics do not determine a child’s ability to grow academically and should not determine the educational
opportunities offered to any student,” said Tony Bennett, Indiana’s secretary of public instruction, in a prepared
statement.
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With that out of the way, let's consider that as of 2007 the US Census data indicated 18% of those under the age of 18 were living below the poverty level. If you were to assume an equal distribution over the next highest income level, you would have at least 35-40% of the children in the US priced out of having any primary level education. If you thought things were bad now, imagine 40% of our population being illiterate since their parents couldn't afford to send them to school under your proposal. That would put us at a literacy rate on par with that of Haiti; how forward thinking! Parents couldn't home school either because they would be working their minimum wage job just to keep a roof over their children's heads.
Since you don't want to pay for education, let's make sure you don't pay for fire protection, police protection, libraries, roads, sidewalks or any other of the myriad of items your property tax covers. I am sure all the fire, police and public health personnel would gladly come to your aid even though you didn't ask for a road to be built by your house, or a library, or a fire station, or a police station. They would be even more inclined to help since most of them were likely educated within a public school system like the vast majority of us were; unlike you who paid their own way for their K-12 education.
Remember the constitution starts with 'We the people', not 'Me the people'. We don't all have to have doctorate degrees and you certainly have a right to disagree with the voucher program. However, suggesting we shouldn't put forth the effort to ensure every child has the opportunity to have a full primary education is incredibly short-sighted.