ANDERSON, Ind. — Parents interested in sending their child to a private school will get some help from the state this year, and many local parents are already capitalizing on the program.

The state’s Choice scholarship program offers 7,500 private school vouchers to low-income families for the 2011-12 school year, and it expands to 15,000 vouchers next year, said Alex Damron of the Indiana Department of Education.

Jeremy Cowan, superintendent of Anderson’s Liberty Christian schools, said he’s been getting calls from interested parents since news broke that the program was approved by the Indiana Legislature earlier this year.

So far, Cowan said, Liberty has approved vouchers for 96 area students. “A lot of our families in our community always wanted to come to Liberty but never could afford to do so,” he said.

The latest numbers from the state indicate that 49 students from the Anderson Community School Corp. have been approved for vouchers, but Damron said those numbers were released last week, and more approvals have likely taken place since then.

Cowan said Liberty Christian is excited to accept 96 new students and has room for about 100 more. As the economy struggled in recent years, Liberty has lost hundreds of students because parents could no longer afford Liberty’s tuition. Cowan said enrollment once topped 600 students but declined to just over 400 in 2008. Those numbers increased to 435 in 2009 and 475 in 2010, he said. This year, the school is on track to enroll 500.

The voucher program is a blessing for low-income families interested in a Christian education, he said. “We have been able to see single parents sending their children to Liberty,” he said. “This has not been a possibility before. It is today.”

Not everyone is singing the program’s praises.

Rick Muir, president of the Indiana Federation of Teachers, said the program allows private schools to “cherry pick” the best and brightest students from public schools, rejecting students that don’t meet their standards.

Cowan acknowledged that students are screened based on academics before receiving a spot at Liberty but said special-needs students are also accepted.

Muir said the voucher program is detrimental to public schools, taking funding from schools that have already had their budgets slashed. Anderson Community Schools lost 1,100 students in 2010 and expects to lose another 900 this year.

Allowing private schools to be selective about students when public schools must accept all students is unfair, Muir said, especially when public school scores are compared to those at the private school. “If you took the starting five off of Notre Dame’s (basketball team), how well would their next season be?”

As part of the voucher program, private schools will be required to administer the same ISTEP test that public schools take.

Parents will not find a better education at a private school, he said.

“When it’s all said and done, I guarantee you that none of these schools has the curriculum, the facilities or a better staff than the urban districts have. They’re no better.”

Meghan Isbell disagrees. Isbell sends her children to Anderson schools and says she has watched as class sizes have increased due to district consolidation. She hopes her student can get a voucher.

Isbell and her sister, Stacey Hughes, attended an informational meeting at St. Ambrose School on Thursday to learn more about the program.

Hughes said she has watched test scores at ACS decline and wants better for her children. Hughes said she is especially upset with the situation at Highland Junior High School, where her children no longer feel safe at the school. “It’s like a prison in there,” she said.

The situation on the buses is worse, she said, with “cussing and yelling and screaming.”

Hughes said her child had a good teacher at ACS, but the teacher was so busy focusing on problem students that her daughter didn’t get individualized attention.

That won’t be a problem at St. Ambrose, according to Stan Warner, principal of the school. Warner said the average class size at the school is between 12 and 15. “It’s like a big family,” he said.

Just like Liberty Christian, voucher students at St. Ambrose will be screened for academics and religious affiliations, he said.

Donna Pine sends her grandson, Ellis, to St. Ambrose and worries that the voucher program will change class sizes at the school. Warner said the school has 110 students and room for 50 more.

Since parents will still need to provide transportation to the private school and may pay 10 percent to 50 percent of the tuition, even with a voucher, Muir believes the voucher program will create an unfair balance in schools. “They’re developing a school system in this state of haves and have-nots,” Muir said.

Cowan said the voucher system provides choice. “Why are they afraid to let parents choose?” he said.

Contact Brandi Watters: 640-4847, brandi.watters@heraldbulletin.com