Indiana's school voucher bill , HB 1003 was submitted by Rep. Bob Behning of Indianapolis, head of the House Committee on Education. The bill would allow any student who has attended a public school for at least two semesters to apply for a taxpayer funded voucher to an accredited private school, including faith based schools. The amount of the voucher is determined by family income. Transportation is not provided. Private schools would not be required to alter their admission policies or curriculum but would be required to administer the state test to all students and receive letter grades as do government schools. There is no limit on the number of vouchers that can be given, although it's estimated that existing private schools, could accommodate about 20,000 students.
Naturally urban districts would be most affected by vouchers. Suburban parents are not the ones clamoring for alternatives through vouchers and charter schools. The country's biggest voucher program has been in existence in Milwaukee (the Viagra district) since 1989 affecting about 20,000 students. A study published in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel claims that there is no appreciable difference in student achievement between those accepting the vouchers and those staying in the public system. Graduation rates were higher by 18% and overall cost to Wisconsin (but not Milwaukee) taxpayers is lower. Private schools accepting state funds were not subject to to the same accountability as government school, but that would be changed as part of the effort to expand the program, which is currently limited by law. Parents were said to be happy to have the choice.
Rep. Behner says his aim is to increase competition. Milwaukee public schools are said to have improved slightly with the challenge but there was no information on whether any poorly performing public schools were closed after losing students to private schools, which would be the other goal of providing competion. All in all it doesn't appear that the effect is as dramatic as predicted by both proponents and opponents. Contrary to the claims of the Indiana Teachers Union, this (Daniels) bill is not going to kill the existing public school system.
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I agree but the voucher must be the exact amount that the Parent/taxpayerpays in local school district tax.
When you give private schools public money don't they then become public schools/
When I attended IPFW State House Speaker Bosma referred to charter school as public schools. Is this bill expected to pass?
Charter schools are public schools run by someone other than a government school corporation. All students costs are totally financed by taxpayers but "local" taxes now pay only a small repcentage of the cost in Indiana. Sales tax pays for most of it.
Private schools that accept vouchers (scholarships as the bill calls them) are going to get some kind of mix of public and private financing, which is hard to predict beforehand. Also hard to predict is how much the character of private schools will change if they accept voucher students.
All the education bills now in the legislature were backed by Daniels and Bennett and with Republicans in control of both houses there's a good chance all will pass.
So as I read it someone who intends to send their child to private school can do one year in Kindergarten, then have a voucher for the remaining twelve years in private education (which they would have gone to anyway). Seems to me this will shift funding of private educations to the state.
Jon- That's how I read it. But they can't just start getting vouchers if their kids have been going to private school all along. As you pointed out to me before, unless money is shifted from government schools, vouchers would increase the overall cost of "public" education. I personally wwouldn't mind paying more for that but not everyone else will feel that way.
It's the great shift that Obama is wishing for in America. He wants control of all students - public, private and homeschooled. It's a scary day in America.
I am not an expert on the school vouchers programs, but I did read where the actual participation rate in the voucher programs in Milwaukee and Cleveland was only about five percent. As for signing on in K and attending private schools thereafter has not turned out to be a pattern either. Students who do not cut the muster academically are usually pulled from the voucher program by parents before grade 4.
I also read where there is considerable disagreement from the experts as to what the raw data in the Milwaukee program shows. It seems that the UW-Madison prof who assembled the data was was super-critical of the program's performance, while other experts reading and analyzing the same data lauded the successes of the program.
Whoda thunk it?
Here is my concern. Currently I have 2 children in a private school. Because I am considered "wealthy" and already have children attending a private school, I will not qualify for the voucher program. By NO MEANS am I or my friends that have children enrolled in private schools considered wealthy. We save, we go without, we SACRIFICE and we PRAY that we will make ends meet. We are willing to do this for our children because we want our children to attend a faith based school. If this voucher program is approved and my children's school participates...guess what....supply and demand. Increased tuition...My family would no longer be able to afford our school and we would have to send our children back into public schools while kids who were previously in public schools would be attending a private school with discounted tuition non the less. My tax dollars will be paying for a program that I am told I do not qualify for. My tax dollars currently pay for my local public schools that my children do not attend. Where is that money? Why is the public school system failing? If the concern is that every child deserves the right to what the government deems "a wealthy child's education", then how about we fix the public schools so ALL kids have a chance at a wealthy education. Then the decision to send to public or private would be a faith based choice and not a discount voucher with punch holes.
Anon- I don't see why tuition would increase at private schools that accept voucher students. Are you assuming vouchers won't cover the full cost and you will have to subsidize the rest? If that's really a concern, then parents at private schools need to take that up with with their adminstrations when they consider accepting voucher students.
If you have kids in school now,the public schools won't be fixed before yours are done. They won't be an acceptable option for you. My private school knowledge is limited to the Catholic schools and their boards would be responsive to your concerns. You're not dealing with FWCS here.
Anon,
I agree with CB, I doubt private school tuition will go up because of vouchers. Of course, I guess your kids would only have to leave for one year, then they can come back with a voucher! Public schools are failing because there are not enough students with parents like you - involved in their child's education. I firmly believe students with good parent support can get a good education at private or public (yes, even FWCS) schools.
And I agree with you - let's fix all public schools - and vouchers will do nothing to fix public schools.
CB - how many anonymous's are there?
“I firmly believe students with good parent support can get a good education at private or public (yes, even FWCS) schools. And I agree with you - let's fix all public schools - and vouchers will do nothing to fix public schools.”
And good parents want to be the decision-makers on which school program is best capable of educating their student. Just as you firmly believe it takes good parents, good parents firmly believe it takes both good parents and good teachers.
Kate
For what school year will this bill go into effect? My daughter will be in kindergarten this fall...will she be covered by this? I think that it is so unfortunate that parents who are making massive sacrifices to have their children in a faith based school will not qualify for this, even if they are below the free school lunch income level.
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I believe everything published was very reasonable.
However, what about this? what if you typed a catchier title?
I am not suggesting your information isn't good, however what if you added a headline to maybe grab people's attention?
I mean "HB 1003 spells out school voucher proposal" is a little boring.
You ought to look at Yahoo's home page and see how they write article headlines to get people to click. You might add a video or a related pic or two to grab people excited about everything've written.
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