Lafayette school trustee: Who benefits from school choice?

Editor's Note: The following commentary was received from Dr. Robert Stwalley, president of the Lafayette School Corporation Board of Trustees.

The Republican supermajority in the Indiana General Assembly is currently attempting to prioritize private education benefiting fewer than 10 percent of students, while underfunding its constitutional duty of providing a system of common school open and available to all.

It is public schools that educate more than 90 percent of Hoosier students and are the “schools of choice” when considering open enrollment data. Unfortunately, the legislature wants to change the rules again to expand private school choice options and benefit their profiteers. 

The absurdity of these proposals is that parents in Indiana have always had choice in schooling.  The laws clearly state that children only need to be in a school.  No one is forced to utilize any particular school.