Errington condemns Delaware Christian Academy mess

State Rep. Sue Errington (D-Muncie) today issued the following statement about the conditions that led to officials closing the Delaware Christian Academy this week:

“The mind reels at the idea that, in this day and age, children can attend a school where there is no heat, in a building that is condemned.

“Yet, this happened at a school right here in Muncie. To hear the superintendent of Delaware Christian Academy  – which only has six children enrolled – proclaim that he intends to re-open the charter school is an irresponsible use of education dollars.

“The problem is that we keep providing more and more funding to the charter and voucher programs without the General Assembly holding them accountable or stopping the funding if these programs fail. How many more Delaware Christian Academies are there in the state that are receiving taxpayer dollars that could be going to our public schools?

“The new state budget being crafted by the supermajorities in the General Assembly cuts support for Muncie Community Schools by 3.4 percent in the first year of the biennium and 2.9 percent in the second year. At the same time, there is more and more funding going to charters and vouchers. The same proposal does nothing to increase teacher pay now.

“This is a budget year in which we should be prioritizing public schools – where more than 90 percent of Hoosier children go to school – not increasing funding for a system of private and charter schools that are not held to the same standards of accountability and oversight.

“What has happened at the Delaware Christian Academy is shameful. It demands our full attention to make sure it doesn’t happen again in Muncie or anywhere else in Indiana.”