Indiana Vouchers Spike Enrollment In Catholic Schools

Indiana vouchers prompt thousands to change schools

By TOM COYNE
Associated Press

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) -- Weeks after Indiana began the nation's broadest school voucher program, thousands of students have transferred from public to private schools, causing a spike in enrollment at some Catholic institutions that were only recently on the brink of closing for lack of pupils.

It's a scenario public school advocates have long feared: Students fleeing local districts in large numbers, taking with them vital tax dollars that often end up at parochial schools. Opponents say the practice violates the separation of church and state.

In at least one district, public school principals have been pleading with parents not to move their children.

"The bottom line from our perspective is, when you cut through all the chaff, nobody can deny that public money is going to be taken from public schools, and they're going to end up in private, mostly religious schools," said Nate Schnellenberger, president of the Indiana State Teachers Association.

Case Study: Vouchers in Edgewood (a Suburb of San Antonio Texas)

Education Vouchers Benefit Edgewood Students

Brief Analyses | Education

No. 699
Thursday, March 25, 2010

by John D. Merrifield

Tuition voucher programs attempt to improve academic performance through school choice. Vouchers pay a set amount to schools chosen by the students' families. Some programs are federally funded (like the D.C. Opportunities Scholarship Program), funded by local government (such as the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program) or privately funded.

Government-funded programs generally have strict eligibility requirements for students and often restrict the type of school a student can choose. For example, many government programs will not allow voucher students to attend a school with a religious affiliation.

From 1998 to 2008, the Children's Educational Opportunity (CEO) Foundation funded a $52.4 million voucher program for residents of the low-performing Edgewood Independent School District in San Antonio, Texas. The vouchers were available to any student in Edgewood whose family chose to participate, regardless of academic ability or income.
The evidence shows that the voucher students weren't the only ones who benefited. The students who remained in the Edgewood public schools benefited from increased funding resources due to increasing property values, and improvements in the public schools in response to increased competition.
Edgewood Voucher Program. The CEO vouchers ranged from $2,000 to $4,700 per year, depending on the student's grade level and whether the selected school was in the Edgewood district. If a student chose to attend a private school with tuition higher than the voucher amount, the student's family made up the difference.   

Catholic Schools: They Only Do Better Because They are Selective?

Really?  Although old, here is  a study he Heritage Foundation did in 1997 comparing public school performance to Catholic school performance amongst the poorest minority environments.  Wonder who did better...

Why Catholic Schools Spell Success For America's Inner-CityChildren

June 30, 1997

Introduction It is said that economic empowerment today is linked inextricably to education. This means that Congress has the opportunity, over the next year, to give tens of thousands of America's most disadvantaged children a much brighter future. Attention from across the political and social spectrum is shifting to the astonishing success of inner-city Catholic schools in working with the very children the public schools have abandoned as uneducable. An abundance of recent research comparing public, private, and religious schools shows that Catholic schools improve not only test scores and graduation rates for these children, but also their future economic prospects-and at a substantially lower cost.

Illinois School Choice Defeated by 22 Republicans!!

Disgrace!

By DOUG IBENDAHL • May 5, 2010

The Illinois House failed to pass a groundbreaking Illinois school choice bill Wednesday evening designed to give parents in underperforming Chicago school districts a voucher to cover educational expenses at nonpublic schools.

The measure had already cleared the Senate, but received only 48 votes out of the 60 required for passage in the House.

Why Illinois Republicans Voted Against School Choice For Our Children?

I'll defer the answer to this question to someone else better informed:

A million reasons for House Republicans to oppose school vouchers

By DOUG IBENDAHL • May 11, 2010

Actually there were more than a million reasons, as I’ll explain below.

There are 48 Republicans in the Illinois House, and incredibly 22 of them voted “nay” last week on SB2494 – a bill that would have brought historic school reform to Illinois. (The names of all 22 can be found here.)

SB2494 would provide school vouchers for up to 30,000 children currently trapped in Chicago’s worst performing schools. Each voucher would represent a ticket to a better school and a brighter future.

SB2494 only needed 12 more votes to pass last week, so obviously the Republicans could have made it happen.

How could 22 Republicans possibly vote against a reform that the GOP has been cheerleading for continuously since the beginning of the Reagan Administration? It’s easy to come up with some reasons. Just follow the money and the endorsements.

School Choice In Illinois: Why We Cannot Trust Politicians

It was only a little over a year ago that school choice legislation was put to a vote in our Illinois House of Representatives.  Although the voucher program had been whittled down to provide choice to ONLY the children attending the worst 10% of Chicago schools (those children in the most deplorable schools), our legislators chose to side with the interests of their campaign coffers.

To make matters worse, the defeat came not at the hands of what many might label “liberal Democrats”.  22 Republican house members opposed the legislation that was ultimately defeated by a vote of 66 to 48, with 2 abstaining.  The reasons why these “Republicans” broke rank will be better explained in a subsequent post.  

Our state politicians are 's equal hypocrites to those in Congress in opposing parental choice.  Your interests as parents, your children's interests, have all taken a back seat to the politicians own interests.  It's no longer about you...has not been for quite some time.  It about them..staying in power, building their pensions, campaign donations and foot soldiers on day.  

It's not about you or your children...it's about THEM.

The following article by the Chicago Tribune will provide some more detail on the derailment of school choice for those that needed it most.  I think some of you will be surprised as to who actually supported the measure. 

No One Is Immune. We Will All Be Affected

Over the past 2 decades, we have witnessed an absolute eradication of Catholic schools.  Albeit, most were located in lower income African-American and Hispanic enclaves, there were also a significant number of schools closed in more affluent areas such as Addison, LaGrange Park, Lake Forest, Niles and Northfield.  My children attend an elementary school in LaGrange and my oldest (graduates this year) indicates her classmates have dwindled in number year after year.


Given the economic constraints that affect all, it is not surprising.  One parent I know is an attorney who just became employed after almost 18 months out of work.  Another dad works at a Target store after losing his professional job and not being able to find equivalent employment.  Overall, as a community, we collectively are struggling to make ends meet.  A Catholic school payment 10 months of the year could quickly be categorized as a luxury rather than a necessity.

Once that happens, your school, your community, your life can change in an instant.

The following chart shows a brief history of school closings by the Chicago Archdiocese:

Year Elementary Secondary Total Site Closures 1984 11 0 11 0 1985 3 1 4 0 1986 6 0 6 0 1987 6 1 7 0 1988 5 3 8 0 1989 1 1 2 0 1990 18 1 19 3 1991 2 0 2 0 1992 6 0 6 0 1993 6 1 7 0 1994 10 1 11 0 1995 1 0 1 0 1996 4 1 5 0 1997 2 1 3 0 1998 5 0 5 1 1999 5 2 7 0 2000 1 0 1 1 2001 6 2 8 4 2002 17 1 18 0 2003 6 1 7 1 2004 9 1 10 0 2005 23 0 23 2 153 18 171 12