Red State School Choice Program Sees Largest Growth In Years

  During the 2022-2023 school year, Indiana’s school choice program recorded its largest growth since the 2014-2015 academic year, according...

 During the 2022-2023 school year, Indiana’s school choice program recorded its largest growth since the 2014-2015 academic year, according to a recent analysis by the state Department of Education.

The number of students participating in the state’s private school voucher program increased by 20%, with more than 53,000 students participating in the program during the 2022-2023 school year compared to 44,376 in the 2021-2022 school year, according to the analysis. The increase in the state’s school choice program contributes to the growing popularity and push for such initiatives across the country. 

Under the school choice program, which began in 2011, families that make an annual salary less than 400% of the amount required to qualify for the federal reduced-price lunch program are eligible to receive taxpayer-funded vouchers to spend on expenses outside the public school system, according to the program’s website. The average voucher amount awarded during the 2022-2023 school year was $5,854.34, the analysis showed. 

The state spent $311.8 million on the school choice program during the 2022-2023 school year, a 29% increase from the 2021-2022 academic year, the analysis showed. The program is expected to have about 95,000 students participating by 2025.

[YouTube | Screenshot: NBC News]

The “average” student who used the program during the 2022-2023 school year was a white female K-8 student, the analysis states. More than 340 private schools participated in the school choice program in the 2022-2023 school year, the most ever recorded.

Throughout the country, lawmakers are moving to enact school choice programs within their states; on July 4, Republican Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine signed a 2024-2025 budget that expanded on the state’s already established school voucher program. In March, Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a piece of legislation creating a universal school voucher program for the state.