[Mike D]

Thank you for reading this post. I sent this report into The News Dispatch but have yet to get a reply (following a follow up email and call), so thought I would post it here. A few things about the author - MC resident 15 years, 2 children at springfield, life-long catholic (then Roman now Anglican), attended catholic schools 6-12 grades, supported on many faith based organizations. I try not to draw conclusions, but only to report, but I am interested to read of your conclusions. Thanks again. DOE references are linked below.

Indiana Choice: Good for Laporte County?

Back in June, The Department of Education released its annual report card on Indiana Choice, the four year old program to provide parents with the choice of taking their children to a private school and applying for state “award”. The program has grown to almost 30,000 students state-wide and 314 schools, including nearly all of the private schools in Laporte County.
The last results for participating grammar schools shows that growth of students participating in Indiana Choice are soaring in Laporte County. For K-8 schools in Laporte and Michigan City, 369 children are now enrolled in 2014-2015, up from 81 at the program’s onset. Total amount of money received by these schools has also grown to almost $1.5 million. The total (including high school) reportedly moving from MCAS to Indiana Choice is 412; Laporte School Corp at 77 and now 11 new students from New Prairie. Marquette High School is also participating in Indiana Choice. There are 99 students in the program at an award of around $500,000.
Notably absent from the program is our neighbor, Porter County – only 2 schools with under 50 students participating. St. Joseph and Elkhart County participation is fairly broad for schools, but the award money is favoring the high schools (almost 70% of the total).
Indiana Choice Basics
Total student enrollment in Indiana is around 1.1 million kids out of our population of around 6.5 million people. Indiana Choice only represents 2.6% of all students, with public charter schools at 3.4% and non-choice, private school at near 5%. Public schools have fallen under 90% of all kids, with a corresponding fall in revenue transfers.
The growth in student participation is staggering – nearly 50% up year-over-year in the 2015 report. The consequential cost (yes, cost, not savings) has ballooned to $40 million, a complete reversal from the modest savings recorded during the program’s initial years. For the 2013-2014 school year, the program cost the tax payers $15 million.
Parents can enter the program via “pathways” – original focused on poor school performance, kids not achieving personal goals in a public school over a period of time, and low income. But recent changes by the administration have allowed a much more broad allowance of participation.
The data shows that students coming from urban schools are dropping as a percentage of the total. White students are now over 60% of the total participating, with falling rates of both black and Hispanic students. The “pathways” have expanded, with students no longer required to attend public school before applying for Indiana Choice. The overwhelming amount of new participants are coming from white, middle-class homes in the suburbs who fit the income parameter. Though nearly 70% of participants receive the 90% funding level (an indication of students coming from low income homes), almost all of the growth in the last year is for the 50% funding level (students coming from more affluent homes).
In fairness, growth in participation is also coming from siblings of award winners, and many of those (85%) have never attended a public school. New students coming from “F schools” and special education programs are relatively minor.
Participation in Indiana Choice is wide and deep throughout Indiana. The most populace counties are receiving the lion’s share of the $115 million pot, most notably Marion, Lake, and Vanderburgh counties. The award is largely consummate with population and student enrollment, but there are anomalies.
For example, the amount going to private Marion high schools alone is over $10 million. Allen county, with 400,000 people and under 80,000 students, the Indiana Choice award is around $20 million. These amounts are nearly twice the average amounts, and almost 5 times the award in Laporte county.

The Future of Indiana Choice
Whether the taxpayers of Laporte county or Indiana realize it, they are now in the private school business. There is no doubt in many cases around the state (and at least one in Laporte County), Indiana Choice is directly financing private schools. It should be noted that DOE cannot inquire about the curriculum of the private schools, though maybe required to administer the ISTEP (or whatever is coming next).
Further, the courts upheld Indiana Choice program back in 2013, which makes it a constitutional reality. Given the income parameters and expanded pathways, the program could assist some two-thirds of all Indiana families to participate in Indiana Choice.
The growth projections are staggering. At just half the current growth rate, participation could be as high as 10% of all students by 2020, at a cost of around $150 million (again, not savings) and the program cost will be around $400 million. (The award amounts are declining as more affluent families participate.).
The cost to public education is dramatic as well. For every student leaving the system, there is a consequential revenue loss. Together with declining property tax revenues brought on by the cap, public school transfers are likely to decrease about 15% in year 2020.
Laporte county growth projections are equally amazing. Indiana Choice programs could account for 1000 students in the seven participating schools (if no more join), providing over $5 million. MCAS could lose $5-$10 million of their $70 million budget, forcing facilities closures, teacher reassignments, and massive extra-curriculum cuts.
The Bottom Line
The overall goal of Indiana Choice is to improve educational benefits for all students by giving parents a choice. Unfortunately, because of the nature of data generation and synthesis by the best of evaluators, Indiana taxpayers will have no idea of the outcome until they are roughly $1 billion in the red and with no real way out except via a U.S. Supreme court decision against the transfers. The separation of church and state, which was in some part was based on public school education by our Founding Fathers, is now completely blurred in Indiana, and forever more. The Indiana Choice program is set to become the largest middle class tax benefits for all time.
The true bottom line can only be fetched from macro-data provided by ISTEP scores. The early data is sketchy at best, especially for Laporte County. Again, four years of data is not much, but only 2 public schools in the county are actually producing lower ISTEP scores than when the program began. Of the 14 measured, 9 had overall scores above 80%, and 3 above 70%. In aggregate, public school scores in Laporte county are up more than 8% percentage points, while budgets have been cut an equivalent amount. (This is elementary school date only.)
Conversely, only one of the private schools is reporting higher ISTEP scores – the rest are lower. (This is for the participating schools except Marquette.)
DOE could publish its own findings state-wide but not for several years if ever, given the war between the elected DOE representative and the elected administration. Given Laporte county’s socio-economic make up, even though a small sample of schools and population, it will be interesting to compare measurements with high populations like Marion and program-rich counties like Allen.
A cynic might say that the public schools are improving by moving their underperforming kids to private schools at a reasonable cost. Further, the private schools see a revenue stream which they cannot turn-down given declining enrollments (indeed children) in Laporte county and their own churches. A libertarian might conclude that this is, once again, government run-amok.
Whatever your personal opinion or political voting record, Indiana is now a financier of private schools without accountability. In Laporte county, there are private schools funding expansion programs based on revenue projections coming from Indiana Choice, advertising their participation, and likely will grow in enrollment without a single new devotee contributing. Test scores are largely irrelevant which ever direction they head in, as curriculum requirements are non-existent in terms of review by state or county authorities.
For Laporte county public schools, developments within Indiana Choice might be just a minor annoyance. The tax increase for schools in the county will likely make up short term shortfalls from Indiana Choice enrollment defections for the next 2-3 years. Given the capacity of the private schools in Laporte county, critical mass maybe approaching, so enrollments are likely to ebb. Test scores, which are improving despite the funding drops, are holding steady because the real educational system changes like new teacher trainings, better administrators, and data usage (feedback) are all kicking in. The county system may also benefit from smaller size schools and increased hours – ironically, directly related to Indiana Choice’s growth. The other competitor, charter schools, are getting squeezed from both sides, and a new charter school in Laporte county is now unlikely.
Laporte county’s engagement in Indiana Choice is probably commiserate with its participation, that is, it is getting as much benefit as it is costing. Growth may shoot up again, but it will level off. It’s legality is not likely to be challenged, so it is here to stay.

references:
Indiana Choice
Indiana DOE ISTEP scores

[Mike D]

Thank you for reading this post. I sent this report into The News Dispatch but have yet to get a reply (following a follow up email and call), so thought I would post it here. A few things about the author - MC resident 15 years, 2 children at springfield, life-long catholic (then Roman now Anglican), attended catholic schools 6-12 grades, supported on many faith based organizations. I try not to draw conclusions, but only to report, but I am interested to read of your conclusions. Thanks again. DOE references are linked below.

Indiana Choice: Good for Laporte County?

Back in June, The Department of Education released its annual report card on Indiana Choice, the four year old program to provide parents with the choice of taking their children to a private school and applying for state “award”. The program has grown to almost 30,000 students state-wide and 314 schools, including nearly all of the private schools in Laporte County.
The last results for participating grammar schools shows that growth of students participating in Indiana Choice are soaring in Laporte County. For K-8 schools in Laporte and Michigan City, 369 children are now enrolled in 2014-2015, up from 81 at the program’s onset. Total amount of money received by these schools has also grown to almost $1.5 million. The total (including high school) reportedly moving from MCAS to Indiana Choice is 412; Laporte School Corp at 77 and now 11 new students from New Prairie. Marquette High School is also participating in Indiana Choice. There are 99 students in the program at an award of around $500,000.
Notably absent from the program is our neighbor, Porter County – only 2 schools with under 50 students participating. St. Joseph and Elkhart County participation is fairly broad for schools, but the award money is favoring the high schools (almost 70% of the total).
Indiana Choice Basics
Total student enrollment in Indiana is around 1.1 million kids out of our population of around 6.5 million people. Indiana Choice only represents 2.6% of all students, with public charter schools at 3.4% and non-choice, private school at near 5%. Public schools have fallen under 90% of all kids, with a corresponding fall in revenue transfers.
The growth in student participation is staggering – nearly 50% up year-over-year in the 2015 report. The consequential cost (yes, cost, not savings) has ballooned to $40 million, a complete reversal from the modest savings recorded during the program’s initial years. For the 2013-2014 school year, the program cost the tax payers $15 million.
Parents can enter the program via “pathways” – original focused on poor school performance, kids not achieving personal goals in a public school over a period of time, and low income. But recent changes by the administration have allowed a much more broad allowance of participation.
The data shows that students coming from urban schools are dropping as a percentage of the total. White students are now over 60% of the total participating, with falling rates of both black and Hispanic students. The “pathways” have expanded, with students no longer required to attend public school before applying for Indiana Choice. The overwhelming amount of new participants are coming from white, middle-class homes in the suburbs who fit the income parameter. Though nearly 70% of participants receive the 90% funding level (an indication of students coming from low income homes), almost all of the growth in the last year is for the 50% funding level (students coming from more affluent homes).
In fairness, growth in participation is also coming from siblings of award winners, and many of those (85%) have never attended a public school. New students coming from “F schools” and special education programs are relatively minor.
Participation in Indiana Choice is wide and deep throughout Indiana. The most populace counties are receiving the lion’s share of the $115 million pot, most notably Marion, Lake, and Vanderburgh counties. The award is largely consummate with population and student enrollment, but there are anomalies.
For example, the amount going to private Marion high schools alone is over $10 million. Allen county, with 400,000 people and under 80,000 students, the Indiana Choice award is around $20 million. These amounts are nearly twice the average amounts, and almost 5 times the award in Laporte county.

The Future of Indiana Choice
Whether the taxpayers of Laporte county or Indiana realize it, they are now in the private school business. There is no doubt in many cases around the state (and at least one in Laporte County), Indiana Choice is directly financing private schools. It should be noted that DOE cannot inquire about the curriculum of the private schools, though maybe required to administer the ISTEP (or whatever is coming next).
Further, the courts upheld Indiana Choice program back in 2013, which makes it a constitutional reality. Given the income parameters and expanded pathways, the program could assist some two-thirds of all Indiana families to participate in Indiana Choice.
The growth projections are staggering. At just half the current growth rate, participation could be as high as 10% of all students by 2020, at a cost of around $150 million (again, not savings) and the program cost will be around $400 million. (The award amounts are declining as more affluent families participate.).
The cost to public education is dramatic as well. For every student leaving the system, there is a consequential revenue loss. Together with declining property tax revenues brought on by the cap, public school transfers are likely to decrease about 15% in year 2020.
Laporte county growth projections are equally amazing. Indiana Choice programs could account for 1000 students in the seven participating schools (if no more join), providing over $5 million. MCAS could lose $5-$10 million of their $70 million budget, forcing facilities closures, teacher reassignments, and massive extra-curriculum cuts.
The Bottom Line
The overall goal of Indiana Choice is to improve educational benefits for all students by giving parents a choice. Unfortunately, because of the nature of data generation and synthesis by the best of evaluators, Indiana taxpayers will have no idea of the outcome until they are roughly $1 billion in the red and with no real way out except via a U.S. Supreme court decision against the transfers. The separation of church and state, which was in some part was based on public school education by our Founding Fathers, is now completely blurred in Indiana, and forever more. The Indiana Choice program is set to become the largest middle class tax benefits for all time.
The true bottom line can only be fetched from macro-data provided by ISTEP scores. The early data is sketchy at best, especially for Laporte County. Again, four years of data is not much, but only 2 public schools in the county are actually producing lower ISTEP scores than when the program began. Of the 14 measured, 9 had overall scores above 80%, and 3 above 70%. In aggregate, public school scores in Laporte county are up more than 8% percentage points, while budgets have been cut an equivalent amount. (This is elementary school date only.)
Conversely, only one of the private schools is reporting higher ISTEP scores – the rest are lower. (This is for the participating schools except Marquette.)
DOE could publish its own findings state-wide but not for several years if ever, given the war between the elected DOE representative and the elected administration. Given Laporte county’s socio-economic make up, even though a small sample of schools and population, it will be interesting to compare measurements with high populations like Marion and program-rich counties like Allen.
A cynic might say that the public schools are improving by moving their underperforming kids to private schools at a reasonable cost. Further, the private schools see a revenue stream which they cannot turn-down given declining enrollments (indeed children) in Laporte county and their own churches. A libertarian might conclude that this is, once again, government run-amok.
Whatever your personal opinion or political voting record, Indiana is now a financier of private schools without accountability. In Laporte county, there are private schools funding expansion programs based on revenue projections coming from Indiana Choice, advertising their participation, and likely will grow in enrollment without a single new devotee contributing. Test scores are largely irrelevant which ever direction they head in, as curriculum requirements are non-existent in terms of review by state or county authorities.
For Laporte county public schools, developments within Indiana Choice might be just a minor annoyance. The tax increase for schools in the county will likely make up short term shortfalls from Indiana Choice enrollment defections for the next 2-3 years. Given the capacity of the private schools in Laporte county, critical mass maybe approaching, so enrollments are likely to ebb. Test scores, which are improving despite the funding drops, are holding steady because the real educational system changes like new teacher trainings, better administrators, and data usage (feedback) are all kicking in. The county system may also benefit from smaller size schools and increased hours – ironically, directly related to Indiana Choice’s growth. The other competitor, charter schools, are getting squeezed from both sides, and a new charter school in Laporte county is now unlikely.
Laporte county’s engagement in Indiana Choice is probably commiserate with its participation, that is, it is getting as much benefit as it is costing. Growth may shoot up again, but it will level off. It’s legality is not likely to be challenged, so it is here to stay.

references:
Indiana Choice
Indiana DOE ISTEP scores

I will have follow up based on ISTEP resolution this spring

[Mike D]

I will have follow up based on ISTEP resolution this spring

Here is a recent update on the issue by Indiana Public media. The program now costs $54 Million; 32,000 students now take part (4,500 students in Pence's area of Fort Wayne); enrollment is way up in private schools and availability in those school is tightening.

Choice 5 years later

The cost calculation continues to skewed. With regard to transportation, those busses still run those routes - so I do not see a savings there; capital budget is a contribution based on numbers, so I doubt 3% makes a big difference; yes, the state pays less for instruction, but the schools have the same classrooms, teachers and infrastructure - just less money to pay for it.

[outsider]

The cost calculation continues to skewed. With regard to transportation, those busses still run those routes - so I do not see a savings there; capital budget is a contribution based on numbers, so I doubt 3% makes a big difference; yes, the state pays less for instruction, but the schools have the same classrooms, teachers and infrastructure - just less money to pay for it.

The cost savings is going to be skewed for a number of reasons. A few examples from St. Joseph County where I live - In South Bend the federal law still requires forced bussing - so there are widespread examples of three neighboring kids on the same block going to three different schools across town. Also, per federal and state laws public schools have to offer special education which almost no private school offers. Students in special education programs cost much more (these kids require more teachers) than regular students. Private schools routinely drum these kids out even with the slightest of disabilities as they do not have the resources to service these kids. Public schools are also subject to a host of other federal and state laws that requires more administrators and other personnel that private schools are not subject to.

Here in St. Joseph County the voucher program is pretty strong, but has peaked. Many of the Catholic schools have reached capacity and so are now increasing tuition. There are not a lot of voucher kids in the private high schools as tuition is over $10,000 so even a large voucher does not pay for a lot of the tuition and there are usually fees and other costs in addition to tuition.

[Mike D]

The cost savings is going to be skewed for a number of reasons. A few examples from St. Joseph County where I live - In South Bend the federal law still requires forced bussing - so there are widespread examples of three neighboring kids on the same block going to three different schools across town. Also, per federal and state laws public schools have to offer special education which almost no private school offers. Students in special education programs cost much more (these kids require more teachers) than regular students. Private schools routinely drum these kids out even with the slightest of disabilities as they do not have the resources to service these kids. Public schools are also subject to a host of other federal and state laws that requires more administrators and other personnel that private schools are not subject to.

Here in St. Joseph County the voucher program is pretty strong, but has peaked. Many of the Catholic schools have reached capacity and so are now increasing tuition. There are not a lot of voucher kids in the private high schools as tuition is over $10,000 so even a large voucher does not pay for a lot of the tuition and there are usually fees and other costs in addition to tuition.

Here is the most recent data:
Indiana Choice April 2016. They say an update is coming because they forgot the biggest number - what it actually costs the state this year but a guesstimate has been made and published ($54 million, up from $40 million in 2015). In short,

Laporte Corp + MCAS = almost $2.5 Million; total kids = almost 550 (up about 10%+).
Biggest gains were Marquette (huge), Notre Dame and St. Paul (MC). St. John Laporte also did well. Almost 30% of student population in these schools now receive choice. St. Stan's and Queen's actually went down.

South Bend is much larger, but growth still 10% y-o-y. 2400 kids and $10.5 million in payments. Looks like all the growth in high schools and non-roman catholic schools.


Total payments for the state is $113 Million - 10 fold increase from 5 years.
More than 50% of kids never went to public schools. "F" school entrants now less than 5%.
60% of growth coming from white kids; Hispanic the balance; black kids falling or flat.
Now 30% of program going to suburban schools.

Yes, the growth was 12% y-o-y, but I think we need a few more years to say "it's leveled off". Thumbnail sketching, the overall school budget and participation is getting rather close, i.e., the number of kids participating v. % of budget they use - starting to gain momentum - roughly 3% participation v 4.1% of the budget. Let's see if this trends widens. Hoosiers are not getting a benefit - we are paying for it. The question is - how much more will we pay?

[outsider]

Another side effect in my neck of the woods is public schools advertising and openly recruiting students from other school districts. Principals and administrators are also openly recruiting teachers (especially math and science) from other districts using school email. Between Northridge, Penn, Concord, Goshen it is extremely competitive. All of these schools have students that have commutes of more than an 45minute + each day as they do not live in that school district. I haven't seen any of that around MC.

While some of these schools have accepted students from out of district for man years it has been a matter of emphasis to recruit from out of district with the voucher program implemented.