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Sagamore recently recruited Michael Lindell to head up Scholarships for Education Choice, a brand new initiative to provide low-income families with greater educational options for their children. The program aims to provide scholarships to these children by taking advantage of Indiana’s School Scholarship Tax Credit Program, a provision that gives tax credits to individuals who contribute to private scholarship funds.

Before coming to Sagamore, Lindell served as director of Chase Bank's Health Education Student Loan Program. As a father of two young sons with individual personalities and learning styles, Mike is committed to creating opportunities for Indiana families who are pursuing the best educational journey for their children.  Meet Mike and find out how this program ties in to the current debate about education choice.

Why should Sagamore invest in a scholarship program?

We elected to become a K-12 scholarship granting organization to effectively engage in the discovery and debate that surrounds education reform. For Sagamore, it is not just about increasing access to education alternatives by removing the financial constraints of school choice, but understanding how this innovative policy operates when implemented. We want to be involved from the beginning so we know what works well and we have a seat at the table for making it stronger.

States like Florida, Arizona, Pennsylvania and Georgia have demonstrated the effectiveness of tax credit scholarship programs and have experienced broad support from both sides of the political aisle as well as from the White House. A bipartisan study of Florida’s program concluded that their program saved the state $1.49 for every $1.00 of tax credits awarded. So it seems to make good fiscal sense for Indiana. But we also want to discover any unintended consequences of the program and better understand other circumstances Indiana households face—things like transportation costs, before and after school care, and tutoring needs.

 A common misunderstanding about school choice supporters is that they are primarily concerned with deconstructing public education to the benefit of a private education. This is not true.  School choice is about coming alongside families who believe that a public education is the only option for their children and creating the opportunity for them to choose what they believe is best for their household.

The film “Waiting for Superman”  (produced by Davis Guggenheim) has generated a lively national debate on the condition of America’s public schools. What is your opinion of the film?

[“Waiting for Superman”] was a great movie for shedding light on what is going on in education and the complexities that exist. It is a perfect example of why Sagamore wants to engage in the education reform conversation. I’ve yet to hear someone on either side of the debate say that we—as a state or nation—should just leave well enough alone and that the status quo is working just fine for us. Everyone seems to agree that education is the best gateway to improving the social climate of our cities and elevating our nation to its previous role as the leader in innovation and global competitiveness.  

As a parent, one thing that struck me while watching the movie was that every family was made up of parents who wanted what they believed was the best education for their child. When it ended, what I really wanted to know was—what is happening in households with parents who aren’t really engaged in the education of their child? For this reason, as Sagamore “gets in the game” with the tax credit scholarship program, I’m also really interested in seeking organizations and services—like Starfish Initiative and Shepherd Community Center—who work with households that may not know they have a choice. And, if they do, what is keeping them leveraging this choice for their children?

So, in your opinion, do you think it’s possible to fix the public education system or is it more important to focus on solutions like scholarships that help low-income kids go to private school?

We’re not about getting kids out of public school and into private school. What we are about is facilitating choice for families where the public school is not meeting the needs of their children.

I just got an email from a lady whose daughter is having seizures. Her public school, in her opinion, is not in a position to accommodate the unique challenges her daughter presents. She’s found a private school that she believes can manage it better, but she needs financial assistance to pursue this opportunity.   

We are not anti-public education. We are pro-child and we believe in the powerful role that parents/guardians should play in their child’s education. An Indiana child who receives positive support from their home and school has a much better chance of graduating from high school, pursuing a post-secondary degree, and securing employment. We believe this is a formula for generating sustainable solutions to generational poverty.