Support for School Choices Growing, IU Report Shows
January 7, 2009

INDIANAPOLIS – Support for educational options is growing in Indiana, particularly for parents in school districts that are not improving.

Among the findings in a report presented today to the Indiana State Board of Education, 41% of
Indiana respondents would prefer a private school choice program or the ability to transfer their
child to another public school if enrolled in a public school on academic probation. 53% of
respondents would prefer additional resources for their school.

While a majority of respondents would support additional resources for their schools, support for
an alternative school choice option rose eight (8) percentage points in two years.

“That’s a dramatic increase in support for educational options,” said Jeff Brantley, Executive
Director of School Choice Indiana. “While Hoosiers think we should spend more on education,
the real shift in public opinion has been to providing parents with more choices.”

The report was produced by Indiana University’s Center for Evaluation and Education Policy
(CEEP) as part of annual statewide public opinion survey on educational issues. Similar research
and reports have been conducted by CEEP in each of the last six years.

An in-depth review of the survey data, as reported to the State Board of Education, indicated that
minorities have significantly lower levels of satisfaction with the quality of education. 59.7% of
white respondents indicated they believe Indiana schools provide an “excellent” or “good”
education, with 30.2% responding “fair” or “poor.” For minorities, the numbers reverse to 32.6%
and 64.9%.

“It’s a crisis when nearly two-thirds of minorities in this state have a negative view on the quality
of our schools,” explained Brantley. “There is no question of the crisis in our urban schools and
parents are justified in being frustrated. They are losing patience with the system.”

School Choice Indiana is a partnership of local, state and national organizations seeking to
advance the debate about increasing educational options for Indiana’s children.