Indiana Families Vote With Their Feet And Vouchers, Head Toward Parochial Schools

And, should we be surprised?

SOUTH BEND, IND. — 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.

Under a law signed in May by Gov. Mitch Daniels, more than 3,200 Indiana students are receiving vouchers to attend private schools. That number is expected to climb significantly in the next two years as awareness of the program increases and limits on the number of applicants are lifted.

Let's get our bearings here: Tax dollars are extracted from the populace at the point of a gun. They are spent, in part, on schools that harm children. So, in making those dollars available to the families from which they were extracted at the point of a gun, and granting them the freedom to allocate those tax dollars as best they see fit for their children...this is not a public subsidy of anyone's religion.

It is a family-by-family free choice, to remove their children from harms' way, and place them in safe and productive schools. The parochials have the accreditation, and they have desks to fill. Little wonder the parents seek them out.

In three to five year's time, the public systems will have made some adjustments in order to be competitive, like safe hallways and literate teachers. Other, secular, schools will achieve accreditation. And, there will be families that decide they don't like the parochial school experience, and that there is no 'magic pixie dust' after all. Children who don't work don't achieve, period. Those families will drift back to the county school systems, where they won't feel so bad about being lazy.
The parochials will thrive, and maybe, just maybe, some of those great old neighborhoods will revive.

Everyone, except the NEA, will benefit.

Kudos to Mitch Daniels and the legislature of Indiana.