Indiana
New report highlights Indiana's Choice Scholarships as vouchers increase nationwide • Indiana Capital Chronicle
As Indiana’s private school voucher system continues to grow, a new report suggests other states are taking notice and boosting public dollars for private education, too.
FutureEd, an education research nonprofit at Georgetown University, studied eight states — Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Iowa, Indiana, Ohio, Oklahoma and West Virginia — where 569,000 students are participating in “school choice” programs at a cost to taxpayers of $4 billion in 2023-24.
Researchers also looked at programs in North Carolina and Utah that started this school year, as well as programs in Alabama and Louisiana that are set to begin in 2025-26.
After widening Indiana’s Choice Scholarship Program in 2022, state lawmakers further expanded the voucher system in 2023 to be nearly universal and open to almost all Hoosier families.
Since the changes took effect, eligibility for the scholarships — which allows families to receive vouchers to attend private schools — have expanded to include households with incomes up to 400% of the amount required for a student to qualify for the federal free or reduced price lunch program, equal to about $220,000.
Never in the history of American public education has so much money been available to parents to pay for private school tuition or homeschool expenses
When state lawmakers crafted the current two-year state budget during the 2023 session, Republican budget writers additionally baked in more than $1 billion for a major private school voucher expansion, which grew Indiana’s Choice Scholarship funding by 69% the first year and 14% the second year.
The state’s latest voucher report showed private school voucher program enrollment jumped about 32% in the 2023-24 school year, marking a historic single-year jump.
“Never in the history of American public education has so much money been available to parents to pay for private school tuition or homeschool expenses,” FutureEd researchers said in the report, released earlier this month.
And there could be more to come in the Hoosier state.
During the most recent 2024 legislative session, budget leader Sen. Ryan Mishler, R-Mishawaka, previewed his own proposal to completely overhaul Indiana’s private school vouchers with a grant program that would allow all Hoosier families — regardless of income — to choose where their students get educated.
Although the bill did not advance, discussion at the Statehouse previewed likely legislative momentum in 2025. Several Republicans running for governor and the state legislature have promised to make vouchers universal.
How funding is allocated
Indiana’s state-funded program enrolled a record 70,095 students in 2023-2024, costing taxpayers $439 million — which is around 40% higher than the $311 million spent on vouchers in the year prior.
Had all Hoosier voucher users attended their traditional public schools, however, the state would have paid around $516 million in education expenses. That’s because vouchers are paid at a lower amount than public school funding.
Still, the ways private school choice programs are funded vary significantly from state to state.
Some states impose budget or enrollment caps, according to the FutureEd report. Some prioritize funding based on need, or provide more dollars to lower-income families.
That includes Utah’s new universal education scholarship (ESA) program, launching this school year, which gives preference to students from families with incomes at or below 200% of the poverty line ($62,400 for a family of four). Due to high demand and limited seats, all students awarded ESAs to date fall within that income group, according to FutureEd.
Indiana private school voucher participation sees historic boost, according to new report
Indiana does neither; household income must only stay below 400% ceiling tied to federal free or reduced price lunch program qualification.
Others, like Florida and Arizona, cover all applicants irrespective of family means, without caps on the number of students funded or the amount awarded.
In states where private school choice providers receive state education aid, they typically get the equivalent of about 90% of a state’s per-pupil funding of public schools and the funding that public schools receive from local property taxes does not follow students to private schools, FutureEd researchers continued.
Vouchers in Indiana provide 90% of the amount of state-funding a public school corporation receives for each student, or covers all tuition and fees, whichever is lesser. The average award amount during the 2023-24 academic year was $6,264 in Indiana, and the average tuition and fees at a private school was $7,749.
That’s on par with Arizona, where most vouchers are valued between $7,000 and $8,000, and Arkansas, where the average award is $6,672. Florida, Iowa and West Virginia, on the other hand, fund each pupil the same as their public school counterparts.
Oklahoma and Ohio’s programs tier amounts by a family’s income. Ohio additionally increases award amounts for high school students, up to $8,407.
The majority of funds were used for tuition. Indiana and Ohio pay tuition directly to schools. Iowa mandates that ESA dollars be spent on tuition before other approved educational expenses, such as tutoring or textbooks. Arkansas restricts funds to tuition, supplies, uniforms, or other school-required expenses, and most are spent on tuition. Though Arizona gives families the widest spending latitude, 85% of funds were spent on tuition, tutoring, curricular materials, or textbooks in 2023-24.
“This marks a major change in K12 education policy,” FutureEd Director Thomas Toch said in a statement. “It’s the first time this level of public funding has been available to parents in the U.S. to pay for private school tuition or homeschool expenses. And it looks likely to expand further. Enrollment continues to increase where programs are offered; several additional states have legislative proposals in the works; and advocacy organizations continue to push aggressively for expansion.”
Which students are using vouchers?
In Indiana — where 90% or more of students in 178 private schools are attending with public funding — the 357 schools accepting public dollars are mostly concentrated in metropolitan and suburban areas.
“Interestingly, in Indiana most students who attend private schools do so within the boundaries of their local public school system,” researchers noted. “This may be due to the state’s relatively large number of participating private schools or a preference for geographical convenience.”
The FutureEd report pointed to a 2024 survey published by EdChoice, an Indiana-based school choice advocacy group, which showed that 19% of parents ranked proximity to home as one of their top-three reasons for selecting their children’s private schools. A larger percentage of parents cited academic quality, safe environment, and morals/character instruction as their top reasons for selecting private schools.
While Ohio and Indiana currently make racial and ethnic data available on private school choice participation across years, “there has been an increase in the participation of white students in those states as eligibility has expanded,” researchers noted.
In Ohio, the share of white students receiving public funding for private schooling in the universal program increased from 66% to 82% after the program’s expansion, with almost 90% of new participants identifying as white, while the percentages of Black and Hispanic students decreased. Prior to Ohio’s expansion of the program, the racial makeup of students more closely mirrored the composition of public-school students, the FutureEd report highlighted.
In Indiana, the proportion of white students also increased but much less than in Ohio, growing from 62% to 64% after the Hoosier program expanded. There were slight declines in Hispanic and Black student participation. In 2023-24, Black students made up 9% of choice students and 13% of public-school students.
Grade-level data additionally reveals that kindergarten students have typically shown the highest rates of participation in the newly established universal programs. That could be because the availability of private school seats is also likely highest in kindergarten, researchers said.
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In Iowa and Arkansas, respectively, 21% and 31% of private school funding recipients were entering kindergarten. Indiana saw its kindergarten enrollment more than double after expansion, and Arizona experienced an eightfold increase in voucher participation among kindergartners immediately after expansion.
Private school choice programs predominantly serve lower- and middle-income households, per the FutureEd report. But researchers found that participation among higher-income families increased in 2023-24 in every state where eligibility expanded and income information was available.
In Florida, nearly half of the state’s new private school funding recipients came from families earning over 400% of the federal poverty level (about $125,000 for a family of four), while a third came from families eligible for free or reduced lunch, after the program expanded in 2023-24 to include all families in the state.
Indiana’s share of higher-income families also grew, with 6% of voucher recipients living in households earning more than $200,000, and 55% earning less than $100,000. Before the program’s expansion, those figures were 1% and 66%.
In Ohio, 67% of families in the state’s universal private school choice program were low-income before the program was expanded to include all families. After the expansion, the figure dropped to 17%, in 2023-24.
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MONROE COUNTY, Ind. – The ACLU of Indiana filed a lawsuit over what it calls “unconstitutional conditions” at the Monroe County Jail.
This comes after the advocacy group previously suggested it would take legal action to resolve a lengthy dispute over the facility’s safety.
The federal lawsuit was filed on behalf of two individuals currently incarcerated at the jail. It cites chronic overcrowding, deteriorating infrastructure, unsafe living conditions and the county’s inability to remedy the problems.
The dispute originally flared in 2008, when the ACLU of Indiana filed a lawsuit challenging conditions at the jail. That led to a 2009 settlement in which county officials promised a long-term solution. Over the years, the deadline for improvements has been extended multiple times.
While the county appeared to embrace a brand-new justice complex near I-69 and State Road 46, those plans stalled when the county council voted down the project due to cost concerns.
The ACLU said the settlement has expired and the original lawsuit has been dismissed, necessitating the filing of a new one. The lawsuit claims conditions at the jail violate the 14th Amendment rights of people awaiting trial and 8th Amendment rights of people held after conviction.
The lawsuit names the Monroe County Council, Monroe County commissioners and Monroe County sheriff as defendants.
In a news release, the ACLU cited several problems at the jail, ranging from overcrowding to “extreme temperatures, broken plumbing, mold, crumbling walls, limited disability access, and failures to safely separate people with different medical and security needs.”
Ken Falk, legal director for the ACLU of Indiana, said officials have had long enough to fix the numerous issues.
“They have had nearly two decades to find a lasting solution, yet people are still being held in unconstitutional conditions that threaten their health and safety,” Falk said in a statement. “Studies have documented that the jail is dangerous and inadequate, and the sheriff has been candid about its many problems. However, the sheriff’s role under Indiana law is limited, and the county officials who could solve this problem have not listened.”
The ACLU is asking the court to certify the case as a class action and seeks a permanent injunction “requiring defendants to take all steps necessary to ensure that the conditions of confinement at the Monroe County Jail comply with the United States Constitution,” among other relief.
FOX59/CBS4 reached out to the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office regarding this lawsuit. Officials with the office stated that they are “declining to comment on pending litigation.”
Read the full complaint here.
Coal ash pollution in the Town of Pines Part 2
Town of pines residents Cathi Murray and Retired EPA Scientist Larry Jensen take us on a tour of pollution in the Town of Pines Ind.
Indiana has more than 100 coal ash sites − more than any other state − and state officials are looking to create a permitting program for the hazardous waste just as the federal government is proposing to roll back cleanup requirements.
The program would be one of the few in the country mandating utilities apply for a permit to dispose of and manage coal combustion residuals in what are known as impoundments or ponds.
The Indiana Department of Environmental Management on June 26 applied to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, asking for approval to oversee disposal and management of the waste power plants create after they burn coal to produce electricity.
Coal ash contains pollutants such as arsenic, chromium, lead, mercury and other heavy metals linked to cancer, heart disease and reproductive failure. These hazardous substances can contaminate groundwater and blow around as dust if utilities do not properly dispose of them.
Since 2015, the EPA has set federal requirements for proper disposal and management of coal ash, adding regulations in 2024. IDEM’s application would shift oversight responsibility for coal ash dumps from the federal government to the state.
But as the request wends its way through the approval process, questions remain about how protective a program would be as the Trump administration rolls back safeguards for human health and the environment near coal ash disposal sites.
Indiana to be early adopter of coal ash permits
Gov. Mike Braun said in a news release dated June 30 that Indiana is taking early and decisive action to create the permitting program.
Only five other states (Georgia, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Texas and Wyoming) have created coal ash permit programs of their own. Two others (Virginia and Louisiana) have similar applications pending with the EPA.
Brian Wolff, the assistant commissioner for IDEM’s Office of Land Quality, said he and others at the state agency have worked with staff at EPA to help ensure the application’s success.
“We are not flying blind,” Wolff said, “we are fairly confident within three months we will at least have a notification the application is complete and accepted and put up for public comment.”
The program, if accepted, would be the largest in the country due to the sheer number of coal ash sites in Indiana, Wolff said.
“We have a lot of coal facilities but then a lot of them have multiple impoundments. And each one has to get its own permit issuance for closure,” Wolff said.
If the application proves successful, the permitting program will have nine full-time employees with support from other branches within the department. Fees for the coal ash site permits and other certifications will fund the program, according to IDEM’s application.
Federal changes concern local advocates
The process to get the application completed began with a 2021 bill requiring IDEM to make rules around coal ash permitting in the state. IDEM’s Environmental Rules Board gave the green light in December 2025 and the department sent its application at the end of June 2026.
Indra Frank, coal ash advisor with the Hoosier Environmental Council, has been following the process from the beginning and has some concerns.
Frank said she is keeping an eye on the federal changes EPA is proposing to coal ash requirements that could affect Indiana’s program.
Indiana law says IDEM cannot create rules for coal ash that are more stringent than federal rules. Federal law doesn’t allow states to create rules less stringent than federal regulations, so the potential state-run program will follow EPA’s guidance.
“Right now, the federal rule is in good shape: it has provisions in place that protect human health and environment,” Frank said. “The problem will come as EPA has proposed some really lousy provisions to the rule and if they go ahead and move forward, then Indiana will also have those provisions.”
The specifics of how federal changes might affect a state program are still unclear.
Federal change could create a weird patchwork of regulations for a while before the situation solidifies, which may frustrate residents near these coal ash sites who are eager for intervention, said Gavin Kearney, an attorney with the national advocacy group Earthjustice.
“Imagine a concerned community trying to figure out what a permit is actually trying to do and who is responsible for it,” Kearney said. “It adds up to a lot of confusion and makes it hard for folks to understand if their water is being protected and what to do to address those concerns.”
IDEM’s Wolff said if EPA approves the state program, the permits will offer some stability even if federal rules change once more in the future.
“Once we issue permits for closures (of a coal ash site), it’s kind of locked in to conform to the requirements within the permit,” Wolff said. “That kind of takes you away from the shifting winds of politics however it swings.”
IDEM would likely have to adopt a rule change if certain federal proposals do move forward, said agency spokesperson Allen Carter. That would be a routine process and would not interrupt the permitting program while changes are under review.
Public still has opportunity to provide input
The EPA has up to 180 days to review IDEM’s application. If approved, it will go through a hearing process with public comment.
Earthjustice’s Kearney said the EPA has shown an interest in expediting state-run coal ash permitting programs and the process is likely to move quickly.
IDEM’s Wolff also was optimistic EPA would turnaround the application quickly, estimating a decision could come early next year since the state agency worked closely with EPA to provide all the necessary information.
Karl Schneider is an IndyStar environment reporter. You can reach him at karl.schneider@indystar.com. Follow him on BlueSky or Twitter @karlstartswithk
IndyStar’s environmental reporting project is made possible through the generous support of the nonprofit Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust.
Twyla Jo Sprunger, 76, of Berne, Indiana, passed away Sunday morning, July 12, 2026, at Swiss Village in Berne, Indiana.
She was born on February 12, 1950, in Decatur, Indiana, to the late David W. and Verna Louise (Nussbaum) Sprunger.
Twyla was a member of the First Mennonite Church in Berne, Indiana, where she helped in the Children’s Church and in the Chancel Choir.
Twyla was a 1969 graduate of South Adams High School. She began her working career with Adams Wells Training Center in Vera Cruz, then Berco in Berne, EP Graphics for 23 years, DRG for 5 years, and the Edelweiss Flower Shop for 15 years.
In her spare time, she loved reading and completing cross-stitching. Twyla truly cherished spending time with family and friends.
Survivors include her sister, Ruth (Von) Bixler of Decatur, Indiana; sister, Judie (Terry) Fralick of Convoy, Ohio; sister, Jean Sprunger of Berne, Indiana; brother, Rick (Sue) Sprunger of Berne, Indiana; seven nieces and nephews, Bobbi (Robert) Reichhart, Kristina (Phil) Kunes, Nathan Sprunger, Amanda (Andrew) Caffee, Loree (Kyle) Sprunger, Tim (Katie) Fralick, and Jon (Amanda) Fralick; and twelve great-nieces and nephews.
She was preceded in death by an infant brother, Wayne Sprunger.
A funeral service will be held at 10:30 a.m. Thursday, July 16, 2026, in the chapel at the First Mennonite Church in Berne, Indiana, with Pastor Jim Schwartz officiating. Burial will follow in M.R.E. Cemetery in Berne.
Family and friends will be received one hour prior to service at the church.
Preferred memorials may be given to The Hope Clinic or Stillwater Hospice.
Arrangements by Zwick & Jahn Funeral Homes, Yager-Kirchhofer Chapel of Berne, Indiana
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