For the past eight years, students in low and median-income households have had the option to get scholarships to private schools via the Indiana School Choice Scholarship Program.
The program, which Indiana lawmakers passed in 2011 under House Enrolled Act 1003, has been the subject of debate amongst school administrators and legislators. Opponents of school choice say the program is taking money away from public school districts where students reside, as state dollars follow individual students. Others, who support school choice, say parents should not have any limitations in where their children go to school.
During the 2018-19 school year, 216 students in Johnson County got school choice scholarships to attend Greenwood Christian Academy and Roncalli High School, a Catholic school on the south side. Along with those students, the state of Indiana paid $161.4 million in scholarships for 36,290 students to attend private schools, up from almost $154 million the year before, according to a report from the Indiana Department of Education.
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During the 2011-12 school year, the first year of the program, students had to either attend the public school they were assigned to for at least two semesters before going to a private school or have received an award from a scholarship granting organization. That year, the state awarded $15.5 million in school choice scholarships to 3,911 students, according to the report.
Since then, Indiana lawmakers have added more pathways for students for students to get school choice scholarships, such as attending a pre-kindergarten program attached to a private school, having a sibling in a private school, being a special education student or living in the geographic area of a public school that got an “F” grade from the department of education, according to the report.
Depending on a family’s income, they can qualify for either a 50 or 90 percent voucher, covering that percentage of what the state would have paid a public school had the student chosen to stay in their district. If a student from a family with the most financial need gets a choice scholarship and they live within the boundaries of a school district that gets $5,000 a year per student, they would get a voucher of $4,500, or 90 percent, to go to a private school, said Adam Baker, spokesperson for the Indiana Department of Education.
At Roncalli, which has a tuition of $9,830 for a single student, that would cover less than half of what a family would have to pay. Roncalli requires families apply for financial aid, and the school covers the difference between the voucher and the family’s financial need. If a family’s need is determined at $7,000 per year and the voucher covers $4,500, the school would pay the remaining $2,500, for example, Principal Chuck Weisenbach said.
The family would be responsible for paying whatever is left, he said.
During the 2018-19 school year, Roncalli High School had 385 students on choice scholarships of its student body of 1,182. In the first year of choice scholarships, it had 22 students on choice scholarships. School choice is important for families to explore which educational path is best for their children, Weisenbach said.
“We’re philosophically in line with agencies like the National Catholic Educational Association and the Indiana Non-Public Education Association; they both believe strongly that parents have the right to choose where their children are educated. The state should not say it’s by address or zip code where the student should be educated,” Weisenbach said.
“We support a parent’s right to make that decision.”
While Greenwood Community Schools benefits from state dollars following 600 out-of-district students who transfer to the district, the expansion of the number of pathways students can take to avoid going to public school at all is troubling, Superintendent Kent DeKoninck said.
“I believe parents have the right to choose where they feel their children can best be served. My concern with the program is how it’s expanded over the last number of years. It started for those people who had income levels that didn’t provide opportunities to go elsewhere,” DeKoninck said.
“Over the years, the income levels and amount of scholarships available increased dramatically and it no longer serves the initial purpose of the scholarship. That impacts public schools. That money goes towards voucher scholarships and gets taken off the top of the state tuition amount.”
Indiana lawmakers are also split on the issue. Rep. Ed Delaney, D-Indianapolis, is against school choice because it blurs the line between church and state, he said.
“I am opposed to vouchers on principal; I don’t believe it’s good for the state or religious institutions,” DeLaney said. “Some people are more interested in getting money than preserving independence. Now there’s terrible confrontations about Catholic schools firing gay teachers. Not only do people want to discriminate but they want to use public funds to discriminate.”
DeLaney is also opposed to students getting school choice scholarships without going to a public school first, he said.
“For the majority of kids there is no requirement that they step foot in a public school before rejecting the school; it’s no longer required in most cases,” DeLaney said. “The most extreme example, they passed a law to the effect that if you are quote-unquote lucky enough to live in the area of a low-rated school you don’t have to go to that or any other public school and you go right to the voucher program. It’s pretty outrageous. Instead of improving public schools they encourage people to go elsewhere.”
Expanding school choice, however, can be a way of putting the power in the hands of the parent, who should ultimately make the decision about where their children should be educated said Rep. Bob Behning, R-Indianapolis.
“This is really providing parents with the best opportunity to provide what’s best for their child,” Behning said. “Parents are the best individuals to make the decision on which school is best, not the government. I would ask you ‘what would life be like if the only place you could eat was McDonald’s?’ You should have a choice in everything else in life.”
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During the 2018-19 school year, 216 students in Johnson County got school choice scholarships to attend Greenwood Christian Academy and Roncalli High School
Roncalli High School (84 Johnson County students)
- Clark-Pleasant;19
- Center Grove;35
- Franklin Community Schools;11
- Greenwood;18
- Nineveh-Hensley-Jackson;1
Greenwood Christian Academy (132 Johnson County students)
- Clark-Pleasant;38
- Center Grove;36
- Franklin Community Schools;17
- Greenwood;39
- Indian Creek;2
Source: Indiana Department of Education
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