Indiana’s school voucher program is neither as bad as its critics claim nor as important as its supporters believe — especially in northeast Indiana. The Center for Tax and Budget Accountability, based in Chicago, released a report that takes a highly skeptical look at vouchers for students attending private schools.
As the 2015 legislative session is about to end, this is the last and most crucial chance for the public to demand that our legislators do not continue on the wrongful path of diminishing and diverting state tax dollars away from the schools that serve our most disadvantaged students of poverty.
Students using vouchers to attend private schools have no academic edge over their public school peers, according to a report released Thursday by the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability.
“There’s a substantial amount of evidence about what does and doesn’t work to enhance student achievement,” said Ralph Martire, the executive director of CTBA, a Chicago-based think tank. “Indiana’s approach runs contrary to what those best practices indicate you should do.”
Indiana’s school choice legislation is the most comprehensive in the nation, Martire said. It includes a voucher program, tax deductions and tax credits for parents who send their children to private schools, according to the report.
The report is a meta-analysis that looks at the results from studies of voucher programs in Milwaukee, Cleveland and Washington, D.C., as well as federal research on the effectiveness of charter and private schools. None of the studies that the authors analyzed found any evidence that students who received vouchers outperformed students who went to public schools, the report said.
RESEARCH THINK TANK REPORT CONCLUDES: NO COMPELLING POLICY REASON
TO SUBSIDIZE INDIANA SCHOOL VOUCHERS WITH PUBLIC TAXPAYER DOLLARS
The Center for Tax and Budget Accountability (CTBA) released a new report, A Fiscal Review of the Chicago Housing Authority. CTBA’s analysis of the Chicago House Authority’s (CHA) own budget reports revealed that the CHA built up a large cash reserve while tens of thousands of households wait for affordable housing.
On April 7, 2014, the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability (CTBA) released a new report, Good for Business: How Illinois Can Best Support Small Business, which highlights the best practices and policy initiatives decision makers could take to support small businesses in Illinois.
The Center for Tax and Budget Accountability (CTBA) released an Issue Brief, “How Does Illinois Spending on Public Services Compare to Other States?”. The Issue Brief delineates how under objective evaluation, Illinois ranks near the bottom in spending on core services like education, healthcare, human services, and public safety. Over the last 10 years, overall spending on services in Illinois has declined in real terms after adjusting for inflation.
Chicago, IL (June 4, 2013) - The Center for Tax and Budget Accountability (CTBA) released a detailed analysis of the state's recently enacted FY2014 General Fund budget. The report places the FY2014 budget in context of the state's long-term spending patterns, budget problems and tax policy.
Today the Equity and Excellence Commission, appointed by U. S. Department of Education Secretary Arne Duncan to examine disparities in educational opportunities with a focus on systems of finance, will release the results of its 2-year investigation in a report: "For Each and Every Child." CTBA Executive Director Ralph Martire is a federal commissioner.
Chicago, IL — Both President Obama and the Republicans who control Congress want to extend the Bush tax cuts in ways that will advantage affluent taxpayers over everyone else. However, according to a new analysis from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) and Citizens for Tax Justice (CTJ), middle-income and low-income Illinois residents would pay more in taxes under the Republican approach to extending the Bush tax cuts than they would under President Obama's, while high-income Illinois residents would pay far less.