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Indiana spent roughly $439 million on its voucher program for the 2023-24 college 12 months as enrollment in non-public colleges hit a file excessive, a surge pushed largely by college students from rich households.
The determine represents a $127 million enhance from the $311 million the state spent on its voucher program final 12 months, in response to the Selection Scholarship Program annual report launched Friday. The variety of collaborating college students in 2023-24 elevated by roughly 32% from 2022-23.
Moreover, the variety of voucher college students from households making greater than $150,000 soared after lawmakers final 12 months abolished most necessities for participation and raised earnings eligibility to 400% of the brink to qualify for the federal free and reduced-price lunch program.
Almost 8,000 college students in 2023-24 got here from households making between $150,000 to $200,000 yearly, up from round 2,800 in 2022-23 — a rise of 183%.
And the variety of voucher college students from households making greater than $200,000 elevated roughly tenfold, from 354 college students in 2022-23 to about 3,700 in 2023-24.
The variety of college students from these two earnings brackets mixed who used vouchers in 2023-24 elevated by 8,495, representing simply over half the overall progress of about 16,720 college students.
Among the many different earnings brackets, round 2,000 extra college students got here from households making as much as $50,000; a further 2,000 got here from households making between $50,000-$100,000; and the variety of college students from households making between $100,000 to $150,000 grew by somewhat greater than 4,000.
Critics of the voucher program warned final 12 months that enjoyable the earnings eligibility requirement would successfully subsidize college students from wealthier households to attend non-public colleges. Supporters, in the meantime, stated enjoyable eligibility would give dad and mom extra decisions of their college students’ training.
Earlier information confirmed that personal college enrollment in Indiana was growing, however not as shortly as the speed of voucher use, indicating that many college students utilizing vouchers this 12 months had already been enrolled in non-public colleges.
In a press release Friday on the voucher report, the Indiana State Academics Affiliation stated the growth funnels public funds “to those that can already afford non-public colleges.”
“Public colleges, which serve 90% of Hoosiers’ youngsters, are open and nondiscriminatory, offering important providers and a typical basis for our numerous communities,” the ISTA stated. “Vouchers undermine this public good by siphoning restricted funds to personal colleges that lack accountability and don’t serve all college students equitably.”
The report notes that had all 70,000 voucher college students attended their public colleges, the state would have paid round $516 million in public college funding. Nonetheless, nearly all of Selection Scholarship college students have by no means attended a public college.
Voucher college students made up round 6.1% of enrollment statewide in 2023-24, in response to the report, up from round 4.7% the 12 months earlier than.
The common voucher pupil in Indiana is a white, elementary-aged lady who lives in a metropolitan space and comes from a family of round 4.7 folks making round $100,000, in response to the report.
An extra 14 colleges participated in this system in 2023-24, essentially the most of any 12 months of this system.
Aleksandra Appleton covers Indiana training coverage and writes about Ok-12 colleges throughout the state. Contact her at [email protected].
