The Indianapolis Star recently published a two-part series about education vouchers in Indiana that was written by three students in the Gallivan Program in Journalism, Ethics, and Democracy.
In Part 1, Grace Salata, Cooper VanDriessche and Taylore Williams traced the historic growth of the Indiana School Choice program from its inception in 2011 through legislative changes that transformed it into a mammoth cost that threatens public school funding today. They titled the story “Voucher Dilemma.”
Vouchers offer families a state subsidy for students to attend the private school of their choice. Former Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels pitched vouchers to the public in 2011 as a way to help low-income students escape failing schools, and he predicted it would have limited impact.
Instead, it has grown from a $15 million program into one of the nation’s largest, estimated to cost more than $600 million this year. A family of four originally qualified if their household income was about $40,000 per year. Today, similar families making $222,000 per year qualify, which includes nearly 97 percent of Hoosiers.
Today, there are more students receiving vouchers whose families make more than $100,000 than those making less than $50,000. Republicans argue that education money should follow the student, regardless of school. Democrats contend that vouchers have become a subsidy for wealthy white families, and that voucher schools are not held to the same accountability as public schools.
In Part 2, the students examined the impact of the voucher program’s explosive growth. They found that Catholic schools made many changes to take advantage of state funding. Private schools are not required to answer for their actions and spending in the same way as public schools, leading to criticism about accountability.
The second story also looked at the impact on public school funding, which received a portion of new education money that was much smaller than the percentage of students they educate in Indiana. Critics questioned whether the current growth rate and cost was sustainable without tax increases or more harm to public schools.
The Notre Dame students had to navigate this politically-divided issue in a neutral and objective way. In the spring Investigative Journalism class taught by Brendan O’Shaughnessy, students start with data analysis to identify trends that warrant further analysis. They conduct background research on what’s already been said about the topic. They interview affected people, experts, and those with the power to control or fix whatever problem is under investigation.
The students found that many of their emails and phone calls were ignored unless they were persistent. They also worked to provide an analysis of the numbers beyond what was available from each political viewpoint.
This is the second such investigation by Notre Dame students that the Star has published this year, in partnership with investigations editor Tim Evans, who helped break the story about physician Larry Nasser abusing female gymnasts.