Education is education
October 7, 2024
School choice exists in Indiana. But it could get better or worse, depending upon the winner of the next gubernatorial race.
The two major party candidates for Governor are Mike Braun, currently a Republican United States Senator, and Democratic candidate Jennifer McCormick, a former education professional and superintendent of public instruction. Today, we are writing about their attitudes toward school choice.
On the one side:
If elected to succeed Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb, Braun and his running mate, pastor, podcaster and far-right Christian nationalist Micah Beckwith, have pledged universal school choice for every Indiana family.
McCormick, a career educator, wants to place limits on the state’s private school voucher initiative: The program grew to encompass more than 70,000 children in 2023-24, a 31% increase from the year before. The state allocated $439 million in tuition grants to private parochial or non-religious schools last year — up from nearly $312 million the year before. McCormick said the program, which might have been intended for lower-income children, is often utilized by white suburban families and is too expensive.
We know school choice is not expensive. The education budget exists to educate children. If children are being educated, the budget is being spent properly. But what we get is people saying if the education budget gets spent outside the public school system it is “expensive”. No, it’s just the education budget being spent outside the public school system, but still being spent on educating children.
It’s true the bureaucracy that feasts off the public school system gets less money out of a voucher system, but then that’s saving money, not spending it.
As we’ve also said about Idaho, about Texas, elections decide these things. If the elected politicians aren’t doing what you want then vote for the politicians that do.
School choice, and full voucher systems, they’re not expensive. They’re just – and only – the education budget being spent as it should be. The only people who lose are the education bureaucracy.
Your vote matters, you should use it to demand what you want from the government.
https://aim.org/2024/07/02/elections-in-idaho-critical-in-continued-push-for-school-choice/