McCormick calls for more private school accountability in education plan
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Democratic candidate for governor Jennifer McCormick on Thursday said private schools taking public money should be held to public school standards.
McCormick, a former teacher and principal and Indiana’s last elected superintendent of public instruction, released her education policy plan early Thursday afternoon. The plan includes more funding for child care and universal pre-K. Minimum teacher salaries would be raised to $60,000, up from $40,000 currently, and mandates on teachers and school boards will be reviewed for potential elimination. She also said she wants to hold every school in the state to the same academic and fiscal standards regardless of whether they are a traditional public school, a charter school or a private school.
“Once you take public dollars, you have become a public school and so admission policies should be very, very transparent, and they should be held accountable to take anyone who applies,” she said.
Indiana’s school choice voucher program is open to all but the wealthiest of the state’s families. The most recent report on the program found the 2023-2024 school year saw the largest growth in the program’s history, with voucher use growing by nearly one third. Choice voucher uses accounted for slightly more than 6 percent of all Indiana K-12 students that year. McCormick’s running mate, Terry Goodin, said Indiana has strong education requirements and private schools should be held to them just as much as public ones.
In addition, McCormick said she wants to give school corporations more local authority over how they design their curricula. Asked by News 8 whether this conflicts with her call for greater accountability, she replied it does not because schools still have to meet rigorous academic standards.
“For too long, Indiana has said one size fits all in a lot of things we do in education and it’s really, really difficult,” she said. “Autonomy doesn’t mean you lower standards, it just means you allow for more flexibility in how we utilize the resources that we have access to.”
Goodin said when he was superintendent of Crothersville Community Schools, the high school there partnered with other area schools to offer postsecondary education and training to high school students. He said this led to 25 percent of his high school students graduating with an associate’s degree already in hand. Goodin said that’s an example of the kind of flexibility he and McCormick want to promote.
Asked how she would pay for higher teacher salaries and universal pre-K, McCormick said the funding would come from adjusting funding priorities in the Statehouse. She said her proposed property tax relief plan would not jeopardize her education plan because the state would be on the hook for most of the lost revenue rather than local entities.
McCormicks’ opponents, Republican Mike Braun and Libertarian Donald Rainwater, both said they favor greater use of school choice vouchers.
“Over 50% of our budget is spent on K-12 education and far too many of our graduates are not prepared to enter the workforce or pursue a degree. As a former school board member, Mike Braun knows parents are the primary stakeholders in their children’s education and every family, regardless of income or zip code, should be able to enroll in a school of their choice and pursue a curriculum that prepares them for a career, college or the military.”
Mike Braun, Republican candidate for governor
“In sharp contrast to Dr. McCormick’s government-centric education policies, I am committed to expanding educational opportunities and empowering parents to make the best choices for their children. I believe that parents, not bureaucrats, know what’s best for their children.”
Donald Rainwater, Libertarian candidate for governor