All comparisons run from Jan of 2010 to Oct of 2024 unless noted.
Since 2009-10, the Indiana General Fund (i.e., monies legislators control) has grown by 66.17%. The Consumer Price Index (inflation rate) has grown by 45.68%. The state has a lot more money ($2.8B) to spend than it did in 2009-10 relative to inflation.
Unfortunately, the K-12 Tuition Support Budget has grown by only 41.46%, well behind inflation. As of October of 2024, the current budget for public, charter, and voucher-receiving schools is $271.3M behind the 2009-10 budget when inflation is taken into account.
Money Following the Child
This $271.3M deficit is even worse when the Tuition Support budget is examined on a per student allocation. Here are the enrollment numbers for 2009-10 to 2023-24.
| School Year | Public and Charter Enrollment | Voucher Students | Total Students |
| 2009-10 | 1,037,008 | – | |
| 2010-11 | 1,036,839 | – | |
| 2011-12 | 1,031,962 | 3,911 | 1,035,873 |
| 2012-13 | 1,033,823 | 9,139 | 1,042,962 |
| 2013-14 | 1,030,176 | 19,809 | 1,049,985 |
| 2014-15 | 1,027,797 | 29,148 | 1,056,945 |
| 2015-16 | 1,024,872 | 32,686 | 1,057,558 |
| 2016-17 | 1,027,158 | 34,299 | 1,061,457 |
| 2017-18 | 1,030,681 | 35,500 | 1,066,181 |
| 2018-19 | 1,028,744 | 36,328 | 1,065,072 |
| 2019-20 | 1,024,765 | 36,274 | 1,061,039 |
| 2020-21 | 1,006,380 | 35,093 | 1,041,473 |
| 2021-22 | 1,010,806 | 43,496 | 1,054,302 |
| 2022-23 | 1,007,875 | 52,672 | 1,060,547 |
| 2023-24 | 1,005,880 | 68,735 | 1,074,615 |
| 2024-25 | 1,006,537 | 74,741 | 1,081,278 |
In 2024-25, Indiana is funding over 44,270 more students than it did in 2009-10.
In the 2009-10 school year the General Assembly took over the responsibility of paying Indiana’s educators. That year, the General Assembly allocated $6,192 per student to the Tuition Support Budget for that purpose. Prior to this, the funding was a combination of state funds and local property taxes. Currently Property Taxes basically fund the infrastructure of public schools or referendums.
In the 2024-25 school year the Tuition Support Budget allocates $8,458.26 per student. That allocation is calculated by adding the number of Public and Charter students to 90% of the Voucher students (Vouchers are worth 90% of the tuition support) divided by the total Tuition Support Budget.
If the per student allocation had kept pace with inflation, the Tuition Support Budget would allocate $9,019.96 per student (Public, Charter, and .9 of Voucher), and would produce a total budget of $9,7B. The 2024-25 budget is $603.1M less on a per student basis.
How Indiana’s Choice Scholarships (Vouchers) Work
To qualify, the student must be a member of a household with an annual income of not more than 400% of the amount required for the individual to qualify for the Free/Reduced Lunch program. There are a few exceptions.
All qualifying children can receive a Voucher worth 90% of their local public school’s per student funding. Approximately 90% of private school students are now eligible for a voucher. This has significantly increased the number of vouchers and the cost of the program.
Voucher money is not deducted from individual public schools, (public schools do not send money to private schools) the money is taken out of the Tuition Support Budget discussed above, and thereby impacts the funding of all school districts.
Essentially the Voucher Program has increased the number of students being funded in the Tuition Support Budget without a corresponding increase in funding, relative to inflation or number of students, by the General Assembly. This impacts the amount of money allocated per student for the whole state and directly impacts all teachers’ pay in public schools, charter schools, and private schools.
Metaphorically, if the Tuition Support Line was a pie, this year’s pie is smaller than it used to be and there are over 44,270 more students wanting a piece. Smaller pieces for all from a smaller pie.
Demographics
From 2010 to 2020, Indiana’s population under the age of 18 has dropped by 15,349 children from 1,608,298 in 2010 to 1,592,949 in 2020. We have fewer children in the state.
Private School Enrollment
In 2010–11 the last year before the Voucher Program began, the Indiana Department of Education (IDOE) reports there were 75,193 students in 291 state accredited private schools. In 2024-25 that number rose to 99,069 students. 23,231 students is a sizable increase. Surely these schools’ enrollments must be growing!
Yet, in 2010-11, the year before the Voucher Program started, the big four private high schools in my hometown of Fort Wayne; Bishop Dwenger, Concordia, Bishop Luers, and Blackhawk Christian, had enrollments of 1013, 645, 544, and 310 respectively. In 2024-25, their enrollments were 912, 688, 553, and 428 respectively, an increase of only 69 students over fifteen years.
The reality is many private schools individually are not growing in enrollment. Of the 291 original state accredited private schools in 2010-11, those schools have only gained 1,957 students in the 15 years of the Voucher Program.
It is the number of schools that accept Vouchers, as well as the percentage of students in those schools using vouchers that is growing.
Since 2010–11, 94 additional schools now accept Vouchers—an increase from 291 to 385 schools. This is easy money for them because the schools do not have to report how they are spending the Voucher funds. An added attraction is the Voucher windfall can free up existing funds in the private schools for other purposes which tax payers may not want to fund.
Fiduciary Oversight
You read that correctly. In fact, the Voucher Program, if it were listed as a separate line item in the budget, would be Indiana’s fifth largest expense. The Voucher Program has more students than the three largest school districts combined. It is a huge tax dollar give-away. You and I have no idea how our tax dollars are being used by the 373 schools in the Voucher Program, and those 373 schools legally don’t have to tell us. The Voucher Program is costly, inefficient, and a recipe for corruption.
Impact on Property Taxes
At a time when Indiana has 15,349 fewer children in the state, we are funding the education of 44,270 more of them. How this leads to “more funds” for public and charter schools as a prominent legislator wrote in the December 13, 2024 Indianapolis Business Journal is a miracle that compares to the biblical loaves and fishes. To say funding Vouchers at 90% saves Indiana money is like buying a new putter at 10% off when you already have one, and telling your spouse you saved money.
In fact, if the Voucher Program did not exist and Indiana funded its public and charter students at an inflation adjusted rate from 2009-10, the 1,006,537 students, each at the adjusted rate of $9,023, would result in a budget of $9,081,983,351. This is a savings of $529,149 compared to the current budget, and yet would be an increase of around $565 budgeted per public and charter school student.
It also probably would mean many schools would not have needed referendums, or the referendums could have been for much less money. That was the case in MSD Southwest Allen where I was superintendent. So yes, it’s likely some readers would be paying less in property taxes to help make ends meet in their local pubic schools if the Voucher Program did not exist.
The link below will take you to a Google sheet with the latest funding data: