Students who receive tuition vouchers to attend private religious schools will get nearly 10 percent of the K-12 education funding increase that Indiana lawmakers included in the 2017-19 state budget.
That’s an outsized share given that voucher students make up only about 3.5 percent of the students who receive funding from the state.
Per-pupil funding is less for voucher students than for public school students – voucher students get either 90 percent or 50 percent of the money that would otherwise go to the public schools where they live, depending on family income. But total funding for vouchers will increase because the number of voucher students is expected to continue to grow while public school enrollment is flat.
Projections in school funding data provided by the House Republican caucus show the number of voucher students increasing by over 10 percent in the next two years.
Indiana’s voucher program started small in 2011 but has grown rapidly as new pathways were added. It is now possible for nearly any child from a low-to-middle-income family to qualify by first being awarded a tuition scholarship from a state-approved scholarship granting organization.
The state is spending $146 million on vouchers this school year. The cost is projected to increase to $156.6 million next year and $167.4 million the following year. Continue reading
