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(Indianapolis, Ind.) - Many of the slots available to students in Indiana’s new voucher program are going unused.

Indiana Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Bennett addressed the Indiana Education Roundtable Tuesday.

Bennett said parents have sought just over half of the vouchers in the first-year Indiana Choice Scholarship Program, according to WRTV in Indianapolis.  Nearly 3,700 out of 7,500 vouchers available have been applied for.

The amount of vouchers was capped at 7,500 in the voucher program’s first year. It will grow to 15,000 in 2012, but only if a lawsuit filed by a group of educators and parents backed by the Indiana State Teachers Association seeking to end the program does not succeed.

Bennett said 15 percent of the approved vouchers are going to students in small towns and rural areas. No school district has seen a disproportionate number of students enter the program.

Eighty-five percent of the children entering the program are on free and reduced lunch programs, Bennett said.

The deadline for parents or students to apply for the voucher program for the current school year is September 16.

LINKS:

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