Help, don't hurt public schools

The Indiana Republican Party announced plans last week to expand the school voucher program instituted by former Gov. Mitch Daniels in 2011. That program was part of a broad education agenda that included vast budget cuts to public school funds as well as legislation limiting the collective bargaining ability of teachers.

The proposed expansion calls for even more public money to be diverted from Indiana public schools to fund tuition credits for lower- and middle-class students who want to attend private schools.

We do not doubt for a moment that the students enrolled in the program are benefiting from it. These are typically students who excel academically and have the most to gain from a private school education, especially when the public alternatives often under perform and are underfunded.

Therein lies the problem. By taking money out of public schools whose budgets were slashed by the same legislative package and using it to support for-profit private institutions, the state is betting against itself and its children.

This board believes that the public education system can not and will not improve if the government provides incentives for students to escape from it.

The more money that is funneled into private school tuition, the more public school districts suffer. The money lost means fewer teachers, larger classes and inferior resources. These are among the issues that plague public schools in the first place.

Increasing the voucher program is the equivalent of decking out the lifeboats on the Titanic. There will never be enough for everyone, and meanwhile the ship is still sinking. Vouchers are a short-term, ineffective solution for a large scale problem that affects a huge number of citizens, and we do not believe it is appropriate for the state to favor a select group at the expense of the masses.

Nor do we believe it is appropriate for the state to use taxpayer money to send students to religious private schools. According to StateImpact, an education-focused National Public Radio affiliate, out of the 80 private schools approved by the state when the voucher system was implemented, there were zero secular options. This has been one of the primary concerns of the program’s opponents.

It’s virtually impossible to find someone who doesn’t believe education is the key to a successful and thriving society. Without effective and accessible education now, there can be no innovation in the future. The stakes are high, and we cannot advocate a “solution” that gives up on a system on which millions of Hoosiers rely.