Friday, November 04, 2011

Scott Elliott

Indianapolis Star

Indiana created one of the nation's most aggressive private school voucher programs -- and Hoosier parents took advantage in record numbers.

The Indiana Department of Education announced Thursday that 3,919 students signed up and received more than $16 million in state-funded vouchers to attend private schools statewide. That is more vouchers than any state has ever provided in its first year.

"I'm very proud of the fact that we've grown so quickly," State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Bennett said. "I hope we scale to whatever size we need to meet the needs of kids and their parents who are making these choices."

Indiana's numbers are due in large part to the design of the program, which is less limited than those in other states. Ohio is the only other state that has a statewide program, but it restricts vouchers to communities with failing schools. Wisconsin and Louisiana each limit them to one city -- Milwaukee and New Orleans, respectively.

Indiana's program is open to any student meeting the income guidelines -- anywhere in the state.

Robert Enlow, president and CEO of the Indianapolis-based Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice, said the numbers prove there is demand for private schools.

"It's a situation," he said, "where the time was right for parents to make choices."

Not everyone, however, was celebrating what was essentially a shift of $16 million from public schools to private -- and almost entirely religious-affiliated -- schools.

The Indiana State Teachers Association, which is arguing in court that the program is an unconstitutional mingling of state money and religious institutions, said that the program deserves more scrutiny and that the large numbers will make it harder to educate public school students.

"It's disappointing," said Teresa Meredith, vice president of ISTA, "at a time when legislators are diverting funds away from public schools."

Indianapolis Public Schools had by far the most students within its boundaries using vouchers -- 644, including 356 who transferred from IPS. The rest already were attending private schools using a state program that also made them eligible for vouchers. Statewide, about 13 percent of voucher students already attended private schools.

"That wasn't supposed to happen," IPS Superintendent Eugene White said. "What's happening is they simply got the kids they would have had anyway, who were going to those schools anyway, and now they are getting subsidized by public education."

Six Indianapolis townships followed IPS on the list of districts losing the most students to vouchers statewide -- Warren, Washington, Pike, Perry, Lawrence and Wayne townships all lost at least 15 students to the program.

White said the district's losses were less than many expected and that, overall, it had a better year retaining students than in recent years. The district had braced for a loss of up to 1,200 students this year but saw an overall enrollment drop of 490.

"Even with vouchers, schools on probation and all the negative information out there, we only lost 490 kids," he said. "Maybe parents are more satisfied with IPS than some people think."

White said he views the voucher program as nothing more than a subsidy for religious schools.

State education officials said Thursday they could not provide a breakdown of how many schools were religious-affiliated, but it was clear from the names of the schools that the vast majority are. It appeared, in fact, that fewer than 10 of the 241 schools were not religiously affiliated. Two-thirds of the schools appeared to be Catholic.

That was particularly true in Marion County, where it appeared that just one student received a voucher for a nonreligious school, University High School.

Bennett said the program was not designed to support religious schools.

"Our job is not to subsidize public school districts or religiously based schools," he said. "It's to subsidize the education of children, regardless of where they go to school."

Enlow said the numbers simply reflect the heavily religious nature of the pool of Indiana private schools. As vouchers grow, he predicted the program will create incentives for new private schools to open.

"More families will want wider options, not just religious options," Enlow said. "As more private schools are started, you will see the numbers (of religious schools) go down."

Eligibility for vouchers depends on family income and size. A family of four that earns less than $42,000 annually can receive up to 90 percent of the state aid for a child's public school education. Families of four making $42,000 to $62,000 can receive 50 percent of the state aid amount.

Most private schools also help low-income families with either financial aid or scholarships. For some church-affiliated schools, there is an additional discount for families that attend those churches.

The big beneficiaries of the program statewide were Catholic schools. In Indianapolis, Holy Spirit Catholic School has the most students using vouchers with 80, which also was third-most in the state.

Gary's Ambassador Christian Academy had the most voucher students of any school in the state with 110, followed by Cornerstone College Prep, a Christian school in Fort Wayne, with 94.

Voucher programs usually start small, but Indiana has eclipsed Ohio, which had 2,713 students the first year.

The fast growth in Indiana surprised many because the bill creating it passed in April. Forms for private schools to apply weren't available until July, and the Department of Education had little opportunity to publicize the program. By contrast, Ohio had seven months of public meetings and publicity leading up to the program's inaugural year in 2006.

Ohio now has 13,213 students enrolled. Milwaukee, the nation's first major voucher program, had 337 students its first year in 1990 before growing to more than 19,000 last year.

Indianapolis parent Amanda Collins said vouchers gave her the chance to move her four children to private school -- an option her parents always wanted for her but could not afford.

Collins, who lives in Franklin Township, attended Lutheran High School for one year before her parents could no longer meet the tuition costs.

"It was always our desire to have our kids in private school," she said, "but we couldn't financially afford it with four kids."

With vouchers, her two oldest children were able to enroll at Lutheran High School. The two youngest are attending Calvary Lutheran School, including one on a third voucher.

The children are thriving, Collins said.

"My opinion of public schools is that they have just gotten away from what's important," she said. "They're so focused on big football stadiums, big-screen TVs and referendums.

"There's a lot of politics. It's not about the kids."

Call Star reporter Scott Elliott at (317) 444-6494.