Private Indiana schools that accepted students from low- to middle-income families using state-funded vouchers last year experienced a small drop in their passing rates on the state's ISTEP test this year, a newspaper's analysis of test scores shows.
Indiana's school voucher program has finished its first year with enrollment on the rise and supporters trumpeting the program's successes.
Striking down Indiana's school voucher program because some schools are affiliated with churches would amount to unnecessary government interference into religion, the law's supporters argue in court documents.
For all the arguments in favor of school vouchers, there are opponents who say vouchers erode public schools by taking away money, violate the separation of church and state by giving public dollars to religious-based private schools, and aren't a proven way to improve test scores.
Indiana's public schools would be required to teach cursive writing and be largely prohibited from starting their school years until late August under bill approved by a legislative committee.
A proposal that would make thousands of current private school students eligible for Indiana's school voucher program has been endorsed by a state legislative committee, although cost concerns might block its chances of advancing this year.
A Marion Superior Court judge affirmed Indiana’s school voucher law on Friday, rejecting opponents’ arguments that the largest such program in the nation unconstitutionally uses public money to support religion.
Dayana Vazquez-Buquer is among 3,919 students from low- to moderate-income Indiana families who qualified for an Indiana Choice Scholarship this year. She praises the General Assembly for creating the voucher program.
Private schools that saw enrollment swell this year because of Indiana's sweeping school voucher program fear they could see some of those gains erased next year as parents paying their own way instead enroll their children in public school so they can qualify for a voucher the following year.
An Indianapolis judge says he'll decide within 30 days whether Indiana's sweeping new school voucher law violates the state's constitution.
Nearly 4,000 students who formerly attended public schools are receiving tax money to help pay the cost of private school under Indiana's school voucher program, which is believed to be the nation's largest, officials say.
A memo that sparked concern among Indiana's school districts by saying they would begin losing funding this month under the state's new private school voucher law was sent "prematurely" a state education official says.
Indiana's new school voucher law has prompted some parents to pull their children out of private schools and put them in public schools for a year so that they can become eligible for the state-funded program.
The program, which gives Hoosier students an average of $4,500 from the state to apply toward private-school tuition, was created this year by the Indiana General Assembly. More than 250 private schools have been approved to accept the vouchers.
Indiana Schools Superintendent Tony Bennett used his second annual assessment of the state's education system to promote a sweeping overhaul approved this year.
Superintendent Tony Bennett says most of the students receiving vouchers come from households whose incomes qualify the students for free or reduced lunches and breakfasts.
The real purpose of vouchers was to add incentives for public schools to improve.
A judge Monday declined to halt Indiana's broad new school voucher program, saying the law was "religion-neutral" and likely to be upheld.
Marion Superior Court Judge Michael Keele said he would rule early next week on a request from a group of teachers and religious leaders backed by the Indiana State Teachers Association to issue a preliminary injunction keeping the law from taking effect.
The Department of Education began accepting applications to its broad-sweeping new school voucher program a month ago. Since then, 2,230 students have been accepted into the program
