In The Beginning — or at least early on in the school voucher program discussion, the talking points were often along the lines that vouchers would help poor students escape failing public schools. Steve Hinnefeld, writing for School Matters, has a post with numbers showing that if that was ever the real intent (it wasn’t) the structure of Indiana’s voucher program is such that it’s serving a wealthier, whiter population that never went to public schools in the first place and probably wouldn’t have even in the absence of vouchers. Over 1,300 households participating in the voucher program make more than $100,000 per year. Overall:
The state is paying $161.4 million to fund the program, which provides vouchers to pay for private-school tuition for students who qualify by family income and other criteria. Some 36,290 students, about 3 percent of Indiana’s school-age population, participate. Nearly all the 329 participating schools are religious schools. Most are Catholic, Lutheran or Evangelical Christian schools.
Fifty-eight percent of voucher students are white, 21 percent are Hispanic and 12 percent are African-American. Given that three of five voucher students come from what the state classifies as “metropolitan” areas, that suggests white students are disproportionately represented.
This reinforces my view that the real intention of voucher supporters was and is: 1) hurt teacher’s unions; 2) subsidize religious education; and 3) redirect public education money to friends and well-wishers of voucher supporters. Also, a reminder: vouchers do not improve educational outcomes. I get so worked up about this because the traditional public school is an important part of what ties a community together — part of what turns a collection of individuals into a community. And community feels a little tough to come by these days. We shouldn’t be actively eroding it.
(Updated to include a link provided to me by Up North Progressive with notes from an early strategy session with regard to the Michigan “school choice” movement showing that the damage to traditional public schools was premeditated.)
Bravo. A short and sweet truth-telling post. The more research is conducted on outcomes, the stronger the case that vouchers do not improve student performance. And some 90% plus of participating schools are religious. When the Indiana Supreme Court accepted the clearly bogus argument that tax dollars were going to parents, not religious institutions, they were either looking for a way around Indiana’s Constitution or intellectually deaf and blind.
Honest question – do parents who home school get that amount of money back in cash?
No they do not, but it was always the wet dream of Pence to make that happen.
Well either they have to follow the child the entire way or the Supreme Court’s argument is bunk.
I have a much larger concern with the lack of accountability with the dollars … and personally think that’s the best avenue to stem the tide of charter schools.
I am beginning to believe that a fourth reason is that a populace educated in private religious schools is needed to help ensure the continued existence of their religious denominations and/or the Republican Party.
I was extremely disappointed by the Indiana Supreme Court Case. It elevated created a fiction in the place of a clear function to draw state funds to subsidize religious education. When I watch Bishop Dwenger High School in Fort Wayne install an artificial turf practice field, and when I watch BD build a football stadium around that field, I know exactly where the voucher funds are going.
If my math is right from the 2018-2019 voucher report, in Tippecanoe County, about $4 million is attributable to students living in the Tippecanoe School Corporation and Lafayette School Corporation districts but going to religious schools, mostly Faith Christian ($1.3 million), Central Catholic ($900k), and Lafayette Christian ($590k). It doesn’t appear that households living in the West Lafayette school district are using vouchers to go elsewhere.
The link from Up North Progressive is fascinating. I’ve been following the school “reform” movement for nearly 20 years. This is an actual smoking gun.
I know. Not necessarily surprising, but kind of eye popping all the same.
My question how do you get vouchers with a house hold income of over 100 thousand a year, sheer lunacy
Carlito we should all be holding our heads, considering all the money that is spent on sports by both religious and public schools. Throw in the items and services school systems spend money on (school boards are supposed to be the watch dogs, but that happens rarely) that has nothing to do with education. It is a normal occurrence for superintendents to retire from their job and walk into a cushy job that they their school systems had a long financial relationship with.
As much as I love sports and extracurriculars such as band, drama, vocal, the mission is first to educate. If that mission is failing, then the funds must be directed toward the core task of educating kids.
The fine arts are not extra-curricular activities, they are curriculum components with co-curricular activities. One cannot graduate from an Indiana HS without Fine Arts credits.
Now, we could have a discussion about how much is invested in the co-curricular activities, but one would fine, especially with the arts, that much of that bill is paid by the parents and kids in the activity. Also, more times than not, the kids involved in the fine arts are some of the highest achieving students in a school.
Actually guys how sports becomes extra-curricular activities is a shell game, The high school goes out and buys 50 tennis racquets and they let the phys-ed classes go hit balls for a week. This certifies tennis as a curricular activity. Then the school systems can spend millions ( 3 to 5 in my school district right now) for new courts. Hmmm how many kids actually play tennis? Then they claim the public can play, like I want my school tax money going to a very small number of non students that want to play tennis!
The whole way we pay for school needs to be rethought (I know it will never happen) and restructured.
https://gateway.ifionline.org/report_builder/Default2.aspx?rptType=employComp&rptVer=a
Checkout the employee compensation link and there are so many teachers making in the 30 to 35 grand range.You went to College to come out and make what someone interning on a fork lift makes!
I always hear the phrase ‘well they get the summer off’, yeah so they can find another job to make ends meet. Truly sad considering how many kids and young adults they teach compared to a college professor.
Some rambling thoughts: The education field has long been primarily female teachers but the trend is rapidly increasing to be so. In one teaching field 30 years ago there were only a very few female teachers but now in the last few years the percent that are females has gone to about 70 percent and the university enrollment for entering this area is now about 80% female and 20% male. Reason is much as is in all secondary education fields is that salaries are so low compared to other options for the primary “bread winner” of the family teaching is simply not competitive. In this particular field of teaching some extra days in the contract is very common but schools have been cutting back on the number to the point it does not make the field competitive. Many elementary schools are almost exclusively female (teachers and administration) and middle schools and high schools are having fewer and fewer male applicants. Interesting development in that a conference on the subject of gender equity Is to be held on one area of college enrollment and where just a few years ago this would have been about how to get more females involved–this time it is about seeking to get more males involved. Another side to this is the person calling for the meeting is a female administrator in a university.
Admittedly there seems to be no real effort to address the issues and so the future may only see matters get worse for all teaching areas as many school report low applications and have unfilled positions.