Indiana’s Senate has passed a school voucher bill that includes tuition aid for middle-income families. The bill has passed the House in similar form. Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels is a strong supporter.
Under the plan, a family of four earning less than $41,000 a year would be eligible for a tuition voucher of up to $4,500 for grades 1-8, and up to $4,964 for high school.
A family of four with an income between $41,000 and $61,000 would be eligible for a voucher of up to $2,758 for all grades.
Some 7,500 vouchers will be available in the fall, with 15,000 vouchers available for 2012-13.
The Senate changed the legislation to require private schools participating in the voucher program teach American history and government, maintain a selection of patriotic readings and not advocate the violent overthrow of the government.
With so many Indiana families eligible for tuition aid, it will be fascinating to see how this plays out. Will kids from $60,000-a-year families crowd out lower-income students?
Gov. Daniels has signed a bill limiting teachers’ collective-bargaining ability.
-->Filed Under: Education Tagged With: Indiana, middle-income families, vouchers
About JoanneComments
Malcolm Kirkpatrick says: April 21, 2011 at 12:06 pmGood news. Cross your fingers. Arizona Governor Jan Brewer screwed school choice advocates, so it’s always possible that a “friend” will sell poor kids down the river, but this looks like sunrise to me.
Cal says: April 21, 2011 at 12:41 pmI suspect that a lot of taxpayer dollars will be spent funding religious schools–both Islamic and Christian.
Deirdre Mundy says: April 21, 2011 at 2:43 pmCal- given our population, probably a lot to Catholic, Lutheran and Evangelical schools, not so much to Islamic. Our local Catholic and Lutheran schools were lobbying hard for this— we’ll have to see how it works out.
Also, Indiana already has some of the laxest homeschooling laws in the nation.
Stacy in NJ says: April 21, 2011 at 4:33 pmBoy, I sure do like President Daniels, urr, I mean Governor Daniels. Good for Indiana.
allen says: April 22, 2011 at 6:04 amCal, a lot of money’s already been spent funding religious education. You have heard of Pell Grants and the G.I. Bill, right?
Deirdre Mundy says: April 22, 2011 at 6:30 amI guess the crux of the issue is: Why do we provide schools?
If we want an educated, civically active citizenry, does it really matter which schools we fund? If the local Jewish school is doing a great job educating kids and the local public school is a dump, doesn’t it make sense to provide the money to the families directly, so that everyone who wants to can go to Jewish Day school?
Voucher opponents often claim that there’s not enough oversight, and that we can’t tell what’s being taught in these schools, but are we really that on top of the PUBLIC schools?
Also, and this may be an Indiana specific ‘problem.’ — There was a big dustup in our diocese recently about the 5-star school ratings. You see, only ONE Catholic school got rated an Indiana 5-star school, and the principals of the other schools looked at the reports to figure out why they’d missed out.
Well, it turns out that the state sets the bar much higher for Catholic schools than public ones. Because if they held the Catholic schools accountable to the same standards, ALL the Catholic schools would be 5 star, and it would make the public schools look bad. That’s right, ALL of them. The mostly poor, minority Catholic schools in Gary came out ahead of the wealthy and middle class suburban and rural schools. And so the state decided to measure them by a different rule, so that only one would come out 5 stars.
SO… the religious schools are, across the board, doing better with less money. And there are plenty of parents who would like to send their kids to religious or private school and don;’t because the public schools are free, and they don’t want to take charity.
I think these vouchers are going to make a huge difference for a lot of families who need options for their kids.
Michael E. Lopez says: April 22, 2011 at 8:12 amMost of the Western world’s best universities were or still are religious schools.
I’m not going to weep if some parent with a voucher thinks that maybe a religious school might have something to offer.
Stacy in NJ says: April 22, 2011 at 8:55 am“I’m not going to weep if some parent with a voucher thinks that maybe a religious school might have something to offer.”
Further to this, I’d bet a lot of money that there are few or no schools with extreme and/or non-mainstream religious views in Indiana. These vouchers will go to standard issue Catholic, Christian, and secular private schools. A handful might go to Jewish and/or Islamic schools. I also assume that along with the vouchers a fair amount of public scrutiny will follow.
Deirdre Mundy says: April 22, 2011 at 9:57 amStacy– don’t forget the Lutherans! There are a LOT of Lutheran schools around here!
Stacy in NJ says: April 22, 2011 at 12:32 pmDeirdre – How could I forget those extremist Lutherans with their irrational demands for polite manners and good hygiene? They will surely destroy the Indiana public school system as we know it.
Deirdre Mundy says: April 22, 2011 at 3:58 pmHey, Stacy, no need for sarcasm! Sure, they seem all nice and mainstream at first, but on Sundays, after they’re all hopped up on coffee, donuts and jello molds? I mean, sheesh… And then, even worse, are the radicalized congregations with lots of wisconsin or minnesota transplants— When the vikings play the packers…. man…..
Do we really want public money going to these anti-american ideas? It’s a crisis, I tell you. It makes me scared to be a hoosier!
Stacy in NJ says: April 22, 2011 at 6:41 pmDeirdre – LOL, I’m originally from Minnesota; I have vivid memories of jello molds. Oh, those jello molds, somehow they managing to look harmless while subverting the very foundation of our democracy.
anon says: April 24, 2011 at 5:25 pmWhen vouchers are offered for ALL students, including my own children, then I’ll be a supporter.
Speak Your Mind Cancel replyName *Email *WebsitePlease leave these two fields as-is:Protected by Invisible Defender. Showed 403 to 56,393 bad guys.
The Book
Subscribe
(a) EdBlogsAnswer SheetBrainstormBridging DifferencesChange the EquationCharter InsightsCharterBlogClass StruggleCollege PuzzleCommon CoreCommunity College SpotlightConcord ReviewCore KnowledgeCritical MassCurriculum MattersDaily RiffDana GoldsteinDiscriminationsDropout NationEarly Ed WatchEarly StoriesEd BeatEd ReformerEdMoneyEdspressoEducated GuessEducation GadflyEducation InnovatingEducation NextEducation OptimistsEducation Policy BlogEduFlackEdutopia BlogEduwonkEdWizeEIA InterceptsFIRE’s TorchFlypaperFutures of School ReformGotham SchoolsGradebookHechingerEdHome EducationInside School ResearchJay P. GreeneKitchen Table MathLarry CubanMedia BullpenMinding the CampusNAS BlogNational JournalOut in Left FieldPolitics K-12Public School InsightsQuick and the EdredefinEdRick Hess Straight UpRock the SchoolhouseSchool Law and ReformShanker BlogSherman DornStuart BuckTeacher BeatThe Educated ReporterThis Week in EducationTurnaround ChallengeUniversity DiariesWhitney TilsonWhy Boys Fail(b) TeacherBlogsA Teacher’s EducationA Teacher’s ViewAssorted StuffBiology and BlueberriesCoach BrownCoach G's Teaching TipsCurmudgeonDaily GrindDeTocqueville's DaughterDy/DanExponential CurveGently Hew StoneHistory is ElementaryHuffEnglishLightly SeasonedMathNotationsMildly MelancholyMiss BraveNot All Flowers and SausagesNYC EducatorOrganized ChaosPractical TheoryRight on the Left CoastShrewdness of ApesSiobhan CuriousStories from SchoolTeach for America BlogsTeacher in a Strange LandTeacher VoicesTeacher, I Don't Get ItTeacherLingoTeaching NowThe LineWhat It's Like on the Inside(c) Blogroll11DAnn AlthouseBetsy’s PageBuzzMachineHit & RunI Speak of DreamsInkwellInstapunditIowahawkJames Lileks’ BleatJim MillerJust One MinuteKausfilesMegan McArdleRoger SimonThe CornerThe PlankTim BlairVirginia PostrelVolokh Conspiracy(d) News/InfoBest of the WebCalifornia WatchCity JournalCommentary MagazinePajamas MediaReasonSlateTCS DailyThe OnionWeekly Standard(e) CollegesCalifornia business schoolLinksApidexinArtificial Christmas TreesAsbestos Lung CancerChicago CollegeChristmas DecorationsColleges in IllinoisColorado Nursing SchoolsEducatorFacebook EmoticonsMesotheliomaPhlebotomy TrainingScentOnline EducationAccredited Online CollegesBachelor Degrees OnlineBachelor of AccountingCNA Duties and ResponsibilitiesCollege OnlineDay TradingElementary & Secondary EducationEngineering Programs OntarioHealthcare Management DegreeMassage Therapy ProgramsMedical Billing and CodingMedical Billing and Coding TrainingOnline College EducationOnline Courses AustraliaOnline Courses in AustraliaOnline Criminal Justice DegreesOnline MBAOnline Psychology DegreesOnline Trading EducationOnline UniversityPhlebotomy CertificationPhlebotomy TrainingReal Online Degrees BlogUMATX-Ray TechnicianSiteMeter
Return to top of page
Copyright © 2011 · Genesis Framework by StudioPress · WordPress · Log in
0 comments:
Post a Comment