McCormick: Public Money Should Stay With Public Schools

Source: WISH-TV / other

INDIANAPOLIS — With the state Department of Education releasing a revised plan for future diplomas that high schoolers can work towards to graduate in Indiana, the discussion revolving around school choice in Indiana has ramped up as well.

Indiana’s Democratic candidate for governor, Dr. Jennifer McCormick, also used to be Indiana’s top educator as State Superintendent for Public Instruction. She has been vocally against the state’s latest initiative of expanding access to school vouchers.

These vouchers give parents some help in sending their kids to private schools if they wish to do so. The expansion of eligibility for these vouchers has led to more families in the mid-to-upper middle class being able to take advantage of this assistance.

McCormick’s issue with this is that she feels this takes state funding away from public schools with more people choosing to send kids to private schools.

“There’s great private schools, great public schools. There are even some people who do home-schooling well,” McCormick said to Indy Politics. “But, it’s clear that public dollars should fund public schools.”

McCormick said she is not against school choice when i comes to parents choosing what school is best for their child, but she believes any and all funding must stay within school districts.

“When you start siphoning $1.6 billion away from that to go to about 4-percent of our kids who are most wealthy, white, and live in suburbia it lends itself some questions,” she added. “It’s not that I’m anti-school choice. It’s the funding that needs to be discussed.”

McCormick feels the state’s education leaders need to quit tinkering with education plans and stick with one that works, especially when it comes to diplomas.