Vouchers are Not Helping Kids – Are Costing Taxpayers Millions
07/19/2016

The updated Indiana Department of Education report on the state’s entitlement program for publicly funded religious education, or the Indiana Choice Scholarship Program, is costing Hoosier taxpayers millions and short changing the more than one million kids who attend our public schools. 

Report Highlights:

• Program cost this year: $131 million (compared to $15 million when it started in 2011-2012; $18 million more than last year)
• The program ran a $53 million deficit last year, up from $40 million in 2014 – 2015
• 52 percent of voucher recipients never attended a public school prior to getting a voucher, compared to 10 percent during the first year
• The change in ethnicity from first year to this year: Black [24 percent to 13 percent], Hispanic [20 percent to 18 percent], White [46 percent to 61 percent]
• Religion-based schools are receiving more than 99 percent of the vouchers issued

A recent study and a parent survey bear out what Hoosiers already know – funneling money away from our kids in public schools to private institutions isn’t improving learning or helping the most disadvantage kids in our communities. 

It’s past time for our elected officials to refocus on properly funding our public schools rather than setting them up for failure by creating programs that drain money away from the kids they are supposed to serve.