Parents in Indiana woke up to good news Friday morning. In a session that ended after 2 am, the Indiana General Assembly voted to make nearly every family in the state eligible to receive a tuition scholarship.
“Indiana has now joined the growing number of states that truly provide parents the ability to choose the school that best meets the needs of their children,” said Rabbi A. D. Motzen, Agudath Israel of America’s national director of government affairs. “This could not have happened without the leadership of House Speaker Todd Huston and Education Committee Chairman Bob Behning, and the support of their legislative colleagues. Agudath Israel commends them for their relentless pursuit of education freedom.”
Ever since enacting its first private school choice program in 2010, with the support of Agudath Israel and a strong school choice coalition, Indiana has incrementally expanded educational opportunities for families. The state currently has a school voucher program, a scholarship tax credit program, and an Education Scholarship Account (ESA) program for students with special needs. Currently, more than 50,000 Indiana students participate in these programs, including many families choosing Jewish day schools.
The budget bill increased the income thresholds for the three programs to 400% of the amount needed to qualify for reduced-priced lunch, or $220,000 for a family of four (see chart below). The other major change made by the Legislature was eliminating the complicated eligibility “pathways” which prevented many parents from accessing the voucher or required students to first receive a scholarship from the tax credit scholarship program. Going forward, the only eligibility criteria for the voucher will be family income. Lastly, a provision was included in a separate bill to allow preschool students to receive scholarships from the tax credit program.
“One of the secrets to Indiana’s success was a great coalition of advocates,” said Rabbi Motzen. “Agudath Israel is privileged to work with the Institute for Quality Education, the Indiana Non-Public Education Association, EdChoice, and national partners such as ExcelInEd and American Federation for Children.”
