Indiana democrat gubernatorial candidate Jennifer McCormick shared her platform with area voters in a visit to the Allen County Public Library.
It’s not surprising that former Indiana Education Secretary Jennifer McCormick’s platform heavily prioritizes education, as a former teacher, principal and superintendent. The event, organized by several local public education organizations, gave McCormick the opportunity to explain her reasons for making education a big priority in her campaign.
McCormick has been critical of the voucher program, which provides state scholarships to eligible K-12 students to offset tuition costs at private schools.
She said students who are benefiting from the program never would have gone to a public school.
“So the whole intent early on was to make sure that if there were kids in poor performing schools, that they had an opportunity to go to private schools and that’s just not what we’re seeing happening,” McCormick said.
Her opponent, Republican Mike Braun, announced plans to expand the voucher program by removing the current income cap of $220,000 per year.
McCormick also noted the amount of educators moving into politics at the local and national levels. She said teachers are naturally public servants who want to take care of people.
“For us, it’s about stepping up to say we’re here to be part of the solution,” McCormick said.
McCormick said her top three priorities as governor would be reproductive rights, affordable healthcare and education.