School funding changes rapid and alarming, former state senator, auditor Simpson says

According to Simpson, in 2012 there were 3,911 students participating in the voucher, or choice scholarship, program in Indiana. In 2016, there are 32,954. Vouchers offer income-based tuition assistance to students who want to attend private schools.

The Indiana Department of Education reported that in Monroe County, $1,004,857 in choice scholarships was awarded during the 2014-15 school year, an increase from $82,949 in the 2011-12 schoolyear.

School corporations are mainly funded by tuition dollars provided by the state, based on the number of students who attend, and when students don’t enroll and are accepted into a private school with a voucher, public schools do not receive those funds.

Simpson pointed out that when students leave from a school corporation to attend a private school, they don’t all leave just from one grade or one school within a district. As a result, a public school cannot drop one teacher or close one school, so while tuition revenues decrease, costs for a school corporation remain about the same.

Since schools have had the ability to ask voters to approve a property tax increase to offset the loss of revenue with a referendum, about 50 percent of them have passed, Simpson said.