The expansion of Indiana’s voucher program is primarily benefiting families that already sent their children to private schools. That’s the obvious conclusion from data released by the Indiana Department of Education.
The department reported in November that the number of students receiving vouchers to pay private school tuition increased by over 30% last fall. Yet enrollment in Indiana private schools grew by only 5.3%, according to figures released last week.
To put it another way, the number of students receiving vouchers increased by 16,657 this school year. But enrollment in Indiana private schools rose by just 4,641. It’s reasonable to assume that about 12,000 of those new voucher recipients were already attending private schools, without state funding.
This was predictable, of course. Indiana legislators voted last year to open the door wide to voucher eligibility, making the taxpayer-funded perk available to families that make up to four times the cutoff for reduced-price school meals. That’s $220,000 a year for a four-person household.
Even under the old income threshold – three times the cutoff for reduced-price meals – most parents who wanted to send their kids to private school were receiving vouchers or could pay tuition on their own. With the expansion, it’s estimated that 97% of students qualify for the program.
Remember that the voucher program was initially sold as a way for children from poor families to find alternatives to “failing” public schools. In the past 12 years, however, vouchers have grown to be an entitlement for affluent families and a government subsidy for religious education.
And they haven’t worked as promised. Independent studies of state voucher programs, including Indiana’s, have shown that students who received vouchers and transferred to private schools, on average, fell behind their peers who stayed in public schools.
The new enrollment data counters the notion, promoted by voucher advocates, that many families are eager to send their children to private schools, if only they could afford it. In fact, most parents are happy with their local public schools. Fewer than 10% of Hoosier parents choose private schools.
Of course, there may be some parents who would send their kids to private schools if the schools would have them. Indiana private schools, nearly all of which are religious schools, can and often do discriminate against students, families and staff on the basis of religion, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity or native language. Or just because they think the student isn’t a “good fit.”
In a not atypical example, the admissions policy for Lighthouse Christian Academy in Bloomington includes a “statement of faith” making it clear that parents and students are expected to embrace a fundamentalist form of Christianity, a literal interpretation of the Bible and a rejection of “homosexual or bisexual activity or any form of sexual immorality.”
There’s nothing illegal, of course, with parents sending their kids to schools that promote their own religious views and exclude those of us who don’t agree. What’s wrong is that the Hoosier public is subsidizing these exclusionary schools – to the tune of about $500 million a year.
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