A school choice bill that would provide parents with voucher payments for a variety of educational services is on hold until next year. If passed, Senate Bill 255 would move education across the state. This is because it is designed to allow parents to customize their child's education by choosing from a variety of school programs.
SB 255 would provide students with an unspecified grant, likely ranging from $3,000 to $7,000, that they could spend toward choosing a private school, tutoring, or other eligible expenses.
School choice bills like SB 255 are introduced in non-budget years when they cannot move forward to start conversations about the issue or raise awareness about potential changes. SB 255 was put on hold until next year, when lawmakers can address budget-related issues. A similar bill, Senate Bill 143, was referred to the Senate Education and Career Development Committee but was not considered. There are no further meetings scheduled for this session on this bill.
Indiana's bill would eliminate the state's existing Education Scholarship Account program, which provides students with disabilities and their parents with scholarships that can be used in a variety of approved programs. It also replaces the Career Scholarship Account program, which provides scholarships to students pursuing apprenticeships, work-based learning, and similar programs.
The Indiana State Legislature is a busy legislative session with more than 70 education-related bills being debated. Indiana's short legislative session begins on January 8, and education has been a major priority this session. Both Republicans and Democrats are eyeing education-based issues like reading comprehension as priorities for the 2024 Congress.
Indiana has an existing program called the Selective Scholarship Program that provides students with scholarships to cover tuition at non-public “selective” schools. The program was expanded last year to make students with household incomes less than 400 percent eligible for free or reduced lunch (with a cap of $222,000 for a family of four). State-approved applications increased by 30% in the 2023-24 school year.
Charter schools are public schools that operate under contract or charter and are designed to add more choice and flexibility to the school selection process. They receive ample support from the Indiana state government. The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, which ranks state charter school laws by the support they provide, ranked Indiana No. 1 in 2022. The state has held that position for seven years.
In recent years, multiple Indiana laws have helped empower and fund charter schools. The 2023 law changed referendum funding rules so that top charter school districts, including Marion, Lake and Vanderburgh, would share in public school referendum funding.
Bills that would allow states to help parents enroll their children in charter or private schools have met with mixed success and failure across the country.
A bill in Kentucky's current legislative session would overturn a state court ruling that determined taxpayers should go to public schools rather than private or charter schools. The Texas Legislature deadlocked last year over voucher provisions in a funding bill that prevented funding for public schools from passing. The voucher language was eventually removed from the bill.
Meanwhile, Florida signed on to an expanded voucher program last year. The program prioritized, rather than limited, applicants based on household income, making all state-resident students eligible to receive approximately $8,000 in annual vouchers.
But SB 255 has raised concerns from Indiana educators and parents alike. Paul Farmer, president of the Monroe County Education Association and an MCCSC teacher, said he is concerned about the division of funds between public and non-public schools and other entities.
“Public schools, and schools and education as a whole, can't be done like Walmart or Sam's Club. It's just an old-fashioned capitalist force,” Farmer said. “That's not how you educate.”
As Chalkbeat Indiana reports, funding for public schools in Indiana has been moving away from local property taxes to a more state-level approach for decades. As of 2009, apart from local referendums that provide property tax funding, the state funded his 100% of the cost of schooling funding.
Mr Farmer said he was concerned about the lack of regulation. He believes parents could take that money and use it for things other than education, potentially sending students to public schools, which could impact class sizes and school resources.
Concerns about third-grade reading and writing skills have led to the introduction of Indiana Senate Bill 1, which would block the admission of third-graders who do not pass a literacy assessment or meet a “good cause” exception.
Meanwhile, homeschool parent Kylene Varner doesn't want the regulations that come with accepting state funds. The bill currently requires participating students to take a statewide assessment, but she worries there will be many more in the coming years.
She said she likes the sense of exploration that homeschooling provides her children and doesn't want to be limited by the curriculum she teaches.
“Right now, as a homeschooler, I'm free to do what I want because there's no state funding,” Varner said. “The moment I receive state funding, it will come with 100% regulation. And it is taxpayer-funded, so it should be. We have to hold ourselves accountable, and that's the good and right thing to do.”
A spokesperson for MCCSC sent a statement to IDS regarding the School Choice Act.
“MCCSC generally opposes any voucher or school choice expansion without appropriate guardrails to ensure transparency, oversight, and uniform application of all other state education codes,” the statement reads. .
Ashley Pilani, legislative liaison for the MCCSC Board of Directors, said the bill would impact MCCSC schools in addition to the effects of last year's voucher expansion. Pilani said 97% of Indiana households with annual incomes of $440,000 or less are currently eligible for vouchers, and most are expected to use them to continue attending private schools.
“If these trends continue, we will become even more dependent on referendum funding,” Pirani said in an email. “And when we have to hold another referendum in the future, we will ask residents to support us through increased taxes. There's a long tradition of doing that, but at what point do communities stop saying no more?”
