The link below will take you to a google sheet with the latest voucher/financial data
School Funding and Indiana’s Choice Program Talking Points
All comparisons run from Jan of 2010 to Oct of 2019 unless noted
Executive Summary
Growth in Indiana’s budget for public school personnel has not kept up with growth in its general fund or even inflation. Specifically, the current budget for public school personnel is almost $250M behind the 2009-10 budget when inflation is taken into account.
Vouchers are also funded from the budget for public school personnel. In 2019-2020, about $168M of this budget was utilized to fund Vouchers — with very little accountability.
The girls and boys attending Indiana’s public schools are currently educated utilizing a budget that is lagging by $422M.
Indiana’s General Fund (i.e., monies legislators control)
The Consumer Price Index (inflation rate) has grown by 18.76%
The Indiana General Fund has grown by 26.00%
K-12 Tuition Support Budget has grown by only 14.81%
Tuition Support funds nearly all personnel working in public schools
Considering inflation, but momentarily ignoring the impact of Vouchers, the Tuition Support Budget is $253,470,035 behind 2010 funding for the current school year
How Vouchers Work
Depending on family income and number in the household, a qualifying child can receive a Voucher worth up to 90% of their local public school’s per student funding
The qualifying income range can run from 90% for a household of 1 making $15,418 per year to 50% for a household of 10 making $188,774 per year
Nearly 60% of voucher recipients have never attended a public school, but are now an additional cost taken from the Tuition Support Budget
Of the remaining 40%, the majority attended public schools for only one year before the Voucher program, but not the same year
There are 326 schools that are receiving vouchers, down from 329 last year
The average public school student receives a little less than $6300, the average Voucher student receives about $4670
The Voucher money is not taken from the local school, it is taken out of the Tuition Support Budget, (there is not a simple transfer of funds between the two schools) thereby decreasing the dollars for all public schools
Number of students’ educations funded by the tuition support budget
Public school enrollment during 2009-2020 is volatile, ranging from an increase of 3523 students in 2017-18 to a decrease of 4877 students in 2011-12
From 2010 to 2018, the US Census Bureau projects Indiana has lost 23,453 school-aged children. In that same period of time Indiana’s public and charter schools’ enrollment has only dropped by 12,074 from 1,036,839 students to 1,024,765 students.
There were 36,274 voucher requests in 2019-20, down 54 from 2018-19
The 36,274 vouchers in 2019-20 result in a 2.32% increase in students to be funded this year
Impact on the amount of money allocated per student by Indiana
The Voucher Program decreases funding for all public school students
In 2009-10, the Tuition Support Budget allocation divided by enrolled public school students was $6,192
In 2019-20, the Tuition Support Budget allocation divided by only the enrolled public school students would be $7,194, which is a 16.2% increase from 2009-10. However, the addition of Voucher students cut the average to $7,010 – only a 13.22% increase while the rate of inflation was 18.76%
This results in approximately $168 million taxpayer dollars spent to fund vouchers that could have been utilized for the benefit of girls and boys attending public school
Fiduciary Oversight
There is no fiduciary oversight by the state of the Voucher money
There are no requirements that keep Voucher taxpayer dollars from being used to enable the receiving organization to redirect its existing money for non-education purposes
Sources
IDOE – Students Mobility After ADM Count Date request
IDOE – Historic Voucher v Traditional Enrollment numbers request
IDOE – Number of teachers request
Budget Numbers from https://www.in.gov/sba/2364.htm
IDOE Public Corporation Transfer Report
https://www.bls.gov/data/inflationcalculator.htm
Bureau of Labor Statistics