New Study Finds Some Indiana Students Lack Access To School Options

Updated Aug. 23 at 12:15 p.m.

A new study finds that a large majority of Indiana students have access to an A-rated school by attending public, private or charter school. But in rural areas, students may face a lack of these school options.

EdChoice, an Indiana based nonprofit that advocates for school vouchers and charters, published the study. 

The study found 9 out of 10 Indiana families are a 15-minute drive or less from an A-rated K-8 school. It also found nearly 3 percent of K-8 students and nearly 10 percent of high school students live in an area where their assigned public school in the only schooling option. 

The authors of the study note two different types of “school deserts.”

"So for the A-rated desert, you live 30 minutes or more from an A-rated school," Drew Catt says. "When we were talking about the choice deserts, those are areas where individuals live 30 minutes or more from any magnet, charter or voucher, private school –- regardless of the letter grade."

Catt says mostly rural areas of the state are affected by these school deserts.

Indiana law allows families to choose which school to attend. The report found 100,000 families chose a school for their children other than their neighborhood school.