Pfaff reflects on universal private school vouchers in Indiana

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Today, Gov. Mike Braun celebrated the first year of universal private school vouchers in Indiana. The program allows any Indiana family, regardless of location or income, to qualify for state-sponsored vouchers to attend private school.

State Rep. Tonya Pfaff (D-Terre Haute), who taught in Vigo County public schools for thirty years, released the following statement:

"I spent thirty years in the classroom. I know what our public schools need to succeed, and it isn't less money. Universal vouchers take funding meant for the kids in our public schools and hand it to families who were already choosing private school, and already paying for it themselves. That's not choice. That's a handout.

"And let's be honest about what this program actually is. It's not school choice. It's private schools choosing their students, while public schools are left to take in every kid who shows up, no matter what they need, with less money to do it. Private schools get to say no. Public schools never do. If anyone in this debate should be defending the schools that can't turn kids away, it's the people we elect to run them.

"Since this voucher program expanded with no income cap and barely any oversight, the Vigo County School Corporation has lost more than $36 million in taxpayer funding. That's not an abstract number to me. I know what $36 million buys in a school district: smaller class sizes, more counselors, updated resources and reading specialists for kids who are behind. All public school boards should be sounding the alarm on this every chance they get.

"Hoosiers deserve leaders who will say plainly whether $36 million walking out of Vigo County schools is an acceptable price for this program, not leaders who dodge the question because the politics are inconvenient.

"I'm not against helping a family that wants another option for their kid. But this program stopped being about that a long time ago. Right now, it's a program that drains public schools to subsidize families who never needed the help."