Outrage has spread throughout the Indiana public school system for the upcoming vote on the new proposed state budget for education. Hundreds of educators showed their support for public schools at the state capitol this week. 

The currently proposed state budget increases spending on private school vouchers by a whopping 70% but only increases public school spending by 5%. Private school vouchers are state tax dollars given to families to offset, or even fully pay for their private school tuition. 

A new budget pushing to get approved would raise the income eligibility to $220,000, meaning that families earning up to $220,000 are eligible to receive your tax dollars for these vouchers. Ultimately, this would provide $1 billion dollars to pay for the tuition of private school families, a school that they choose to attend in place of public schools. In addition, private schools are not required to follow the same curriculum and requirements as public schools. 

This Thursday, while students are home for asynchronous learning, South teachers are standing up for the Indiana public schools and their funding. “I’ve always supported public education and this is a way for me to keep doing that,” said social studies teacher, Mathew Hoagland. 

If you wish public schools receive more funding, then you too should be questioning the proposed education budget by Indiana’s General Assembly. If this gets passed, the 90% of the students in Indiana that attend traditional public schools will be deprived of funding, while private and charter schools receive more vouchers.