Tax dollars fund creationism teaching in private schools

For some Indiana voucher students, a taxpayer-supported education includes a lesson in creationism.

Recently, taxpayers across America have expressed opposition to the fact that private schools that teach creationism are receiving tax dollars through voucher programs.

These programs give Indiana students who otherwise wouldn’t be able to afford private schooling scholarships funded by taxpayer dollars to attend private schools.

According to a 2013 Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice Guide, more than half of the students in the state of Indiana are eligible to participate in the program, more than any other state. There are 9,324 students signed up for the voucher program for the 2012-13 school year to attend 289 participating private schools.

A number of these schools are currently teaching creationism, including Kingsway Christian School in Avon, Ind.

Kingsway Christian Administrator Alan Hughes said the students are issued both a Christian and a science textbook. While creationism is being taught at Kingsway, Hughes said evolution is also being presented in science classes.

“Creationism is not something that is dealt with for an inordinate amount of time,” he said.

He said although human origins are taught from a theological perspective, Kingsway students don’t suffer on tests. On the ISTEP and other national standardized tests, he said students usually finish in the 90th percentile in the science category.

Studies performed by the Association of Christian Schools International show that students in Christian schools usually score very well, Hughes said.

The fact that taxpayer money goes to these schools shouldn’t be a major issue, he said, because public money also goes to public schools that teach evolution and don’t allow any religious study.

“I think that’s a very small issue to deal with when it comes to vouchers,” he said.

Hughes said about 30 students at Kingsway are enrolled in the voucher program, and 540 students attend the school.

Indiana students in the voucher program receive an average of $4,091 in scholarships, and the vouchers are capped at $4,500.

The schools participating in the program must administer state assessment and follow the state’s school grading formula. The Indiana Congress is currently debating the expansion of the voucher program.

Jeremy Eltz, science curriculum specialist for the Indiana Department of Education, said all schools, regardless of whether they teach creationism, have to adhere to the Indiana academic standards for science.

He said schools can teach the students any way they prefer, as long as they meet the minimum requirements, such as requiring high school students to take “Biology 1” to graduate and take an assessment of that class at the end of the school year.

Eltz said he doesn’t mind creationism being taught in schools but believes it should be included in possibly a social studies class instead of a science class.

“The evolution we want taught in schools is based in research and experimentation,” he said.

Eltz said the debate of the constitutionality of the voucher program is still being debated in Indiana and will be brought before the Indiana Supreme Court soon.