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February 27, 2011

TRIBUNE-STAR EDITORIAL: Public funds for private schools flunks reform test

Valuable dollars should remain in public coffers

---- The Tribune-Star

---- — At a time when resources for public education are limited, Indiana cannot afford to divert taxpayer money to fund private school tuition.

Under House Bill 1003, state dollars would help families pay to send their kids to private schools. Vouchers would cover up to 90 percent of the tuition cost, depending on the family’s income level. A family of four that qualifies for free and reduced school lunches with an income under $40,878 could receive a voucher worth 90 percent of a private-school tuition, which averages $5,500 statewide. A family of four with an $80,000 income could get a 50-percent voucher.

The bill is one of several contained in the education reform agenda backed by Gov. Mitch Daniels and supported by Republicans in the state Legislature. HB 1003 exemplifies the core problem with the GOP’s school reform package — Indiana needs all of its available education resources to improve its weakest public schools and to prevent its healthiest school systems (a group that includes the Vigo County School Corp.) from being unnecessarily damaged.

Laws meant to “reform” public schools should not apply repairs to those that aren’t broken. Bills now moving through the General Assembly leave some troubling, unanswered questions as to the realities they would create. House Bill 1002’s expansion in the number of charter schools is a prime example.

Because these charter schools (meant to provide innovative learning to children) would receive public funds, their finances must be as transparent as those of traditional school districts. But some charters already functioning leave doubts about whether those schools’ operations would be exposed to the same level of accountability. The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette reported that a Virginia company, paid to manage a Fort Wayne charter, spent $30,000 to settle a lawsuit filed by a teacher who charged that she’d been fired in retaliation for alleging that black students and staff were disciplined more severely than whites. (The teacher is white.) The newspaper had to go to the Indiana Public Access Counselor to gain access to the settlement details.

Schools using taxpayer funds cannot, and should not, operate beyond public scrutiny.

Indiana districts are still feeling the effects of the $300-million cut in funding imposed at the peak of the Great Recession. This year, the money available for K-through-12 education is basically flat-lined. Precious resources sent to private and charter schools would benefit the traditional schools already living under 2010’s budget reductions.

The impact of some proposed reforms is not fully clear. Instituting a merit-pay structure for teachers, linked to student performance, would be complex, for example. The idea has statewide public support, with 58 percent of Hoosiers favoring it in a survey conducted by Indiana University’s Center for Evaluation and Education Policy. But in a school district that is already performing well, such an upheaval could drive out solid teachers unfairly penalized by a group of low-performing students.

The state officials pushing the current education reform initiatives have yet to show convincing evidence that the changes won’t weaken good school districts.

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