She attended South Bend Schools from kindergarten to 12th grade.
"I think that being in the South Bend Schools provided an outstanding education for me," Darice Austin-Phillips says THAT education made her who she is today.
"Not only did they provide excellent education, they helped to build character."
She is now the principal at Perley Elementary.
"My goal was to come back to South Bend Community schools and work with the students here."
She's not the only one who believes in South Bend public schools.
Mary Beth Digann-Herczge is an art teacher at Perley and chose the South Bend Schools for her kids.
"It's an exciting place to be. There are wonderful educators in the South Bend School corporation," says Digann-Herczge.
But for the second year now, the Indiana's voucher program is giving public schools competition.
"The voucher program has probably taken it's toll on many districts in the state of Indiana," says superintendent Carole Schmidt.
She says it's too early to determine the impact on enrollment this year but "I know last year we lost an additional say 320-25 students to vouchers so that's an impact."
The South Bend School Corporation says your kids are still better off at a school like Perley, which is why they are reminding parents of what they have to offer.
"We have commercials that are being played, print ads, some radio spots, we have some online spots. So we are aggressively promoting the district," says Schmidt.
Schmidt says the outcome of the campaigns and ultimately the voucher program, will be determined a few weeks into the school year.
