Indiana Public Media: Rep. Ellington Makes False Claim About School Transfers In Defense Of Voucher Expansion

Associated Press: Indiana voucher plan could take 1/3 of school funding boost

INDIANAPOLIS – The Indiana Democratic Party, the organization that advocates for the future of Indiana and its families, today criticized the Indiana Republican Party for having zero understanding of what their school choice bill — House Bill 1005 — does and what it means for the future of Indiana’s public school system. State Representative Jeff Ellington falsely claimed late last week that parents could use the state’s choice scholarship program to transfer their children between public schools, which is absolutely wrong. Indiana’s school choice system — which would be paid for by a third of the state government’s education budget — is only intended for private schools. Public schools will continue to lose out under the INGOP’s agenda. 

However, State Rep. Ellington’s stunning admission exposed a glaring problem that exists in Indiana’s education system: The Indiana Republican Party is creating an unregulated school system with close to zero oversight. Taxpayer dollars are set to be wasted in favor of a partisan pet project by the INGOP. This is why the Indiana Democratic Party remains firm in claiming Indiana Republicans have no respect for teachers or Indiana’s public schools — the receipts continue to back it up.  

Key points from this embarrassing story are below: 

Indiana Public Media: Rep. Ellington Makes False Claim About School Transfers In Defense Of Voucher Expansion

“In a letter to a constituent last week, State Rep. Jeff Ellington (R-Bloomington) made a false claim about school choice scholarships while defending their expansion in HB 1005.   

Ellington wrote, ”In our district, many students use the vouchers to transfer from one public school to another. An example of this would be if they want to play football, but their current school does not have it, they can use the voucher to transfer to another public school that does have the program.”  

Actually, school choice scholarships are intended for tuition at an accredited nonpublic school or for education-related expenses. A student transferring between two public schools would not be eligible for the voucher.” […] 

“As for public-to-public transfers, under IC 20-26-11-5 and 6, a public school outside a student’s district may elect to charge transfer tuition if the transfer takes place before September and February count dates. Lawson said a Choice Scholarship would not cover this expense. She said these decisions are made at the district level.  

When asked to clarify his statement on vouchers, Ellington removed both mentions of the word and replaced its first appearance with “public school transfers” in an email to WFIU.” […]

“While “School choice matters” is the first sentence of HB 1005, the bill specifically aims to increase voucher income eligibility and create an additional savings account program for students to attend nonpublic schools. Public school transfers are not mentioned.    

The proposed “education scholarship account” program would provide state funding to special education and foster children, as well as military families.”