Fort Wayne Board Asks Lawmakers To Stop Diverting Funds From Public Schools

Kyle Stokes / StateImpact Indiana

A picture of Pope Benedict XVI hangs in the hallway of St. Thomas Aquinas School in Indianapolis.

State lawmakers will vote Wednesday on a proposal to expand the state’s voucher program.

The Indiana House already approved broadening eligiblity requirements and increasing the per student Choice Scholarship amount from $4,500 to $5,500 over two years.

Opponents of school vouchers plan to rally at the statehouse Tuesday, but Monday night the Fort Wayne Community School Board also took a stand against expansion. From the Journal-Gazette:

Board President Mark GiaQuinta said he hopes the resolution will not only prevent the expansion of vouchers, but will also encourage lawmakers to send the bill to a study committee that would evaluate the effectiveness and impact that vouchers have on students and the Fort Wayne community.

Kathy Friend, chief financial officer for Fort Wayne schools, told the board that one of the challenging parts of the current voucher program is that there’s no restriction on which schools students with vouchers are leaving from.

For example, Friend said, about 30 students who had been attending Arlington Park Elementary School, an A-rated school based on the state’s A-F accountability system, left to attend private schools.

Indiana’s voucher law is already considered the one of most expansive in the country because students whose families are income-eligible don’t have to attend a failing to qualify.

The Fort Wayne School Board has also adopted a resolution opposing new charter schools in the area.