Indiana’s private school voucher program grew to more than 76,000 students this school year, with the state spending nearly half a billion to subsidize tuition at private, parochial, and nonreligious schools.
The Indiana Department of Education’s annual scholarship report shows the program’s growth has slowed to 8.5%, compared to a surge in recent years after eligibility was broadly expanded. The state paid $497.1 million in tuition grants — a 13.2% increase over the previous year.
While participation has climbed, growth is now leveling off, said Joe Waddington, a researcher who studies the state’s voucher system and director of Program Evaluation and Research at the University of Notre Dame.
“We’re starting to see kind of like a slowing of the growth in the program, which I think is definitely typical and correlated with ‘OK, now the same eligibility criteria have been in place for two years,” Waddington said.
In the recent legislative session, state lawmakers removed all income requirements starting in July 2026, a change that will increase the cost of the program. The expansion was delivered by Gov. Mike Braun and Republican leadership amid a tight budget year that resulted in cuts across state agencies. For the 2025-26 school year, a family's household income can not be more than 400 percent of the amount to qualify for the Federal Free or Reduced Lunch Program — that’s $237,910.
Waddington said it’s somewhat tough to tell how much a universal system could alter enrollment numbers in the choice program. But school types that families decide on could be an indication. About 24,000 students in private schools accredited by Indiana’s Department of Education still aren’t participating in the program, according to state data — a potential cap on future expansion.
“I am kind of surprised to see that there's still roughly a quarter of the private school population that's not on choice scholarships,” Waddington said. “That's kind of like the maximum ceiling for potential growth, certainly with doing away with the income thresholds.”
Vouchers were originally created to help low-income students and those in struggling public schools access private education. Today, state GOP leaders say all families should be supported in choosing the school they believe is best for their children — regardless of income.
In his first-term agenda, Braun said universal school vouchers “ensure every Hoosier family has the same freedom to choose their best-fit education.”
The report
The 2024-25 academic year was the program’s 14th year. The annual report details that the number of private schools that participated reached a record high of 373.
The “average” student in the program is a White, female elementary student from a metropolitan area household with an annual income of more than $100,000, according to the report.Families earning less than $100,000 now represent just under 53% of participants — down roughly two percentage points from the previous year.
White students account for 64% of all participants — up roughly 5 percentage points from the 2023–24 school year. The number of Hispanic, Asian and Black students increased slightly year over year.
The report shows 70% of students using a voucher have no record of prior attendance at an Indiana public school — an increase of around 2.5 percentage points from the previous year.
Vouchers provide 90% of the amount of state-funding a public school corporation receives for each student, or covers all tuition and fees — whichever is the lesser amount.
The average voucher amount is $6,536 and the average tuition and fees amount is $8,369.
The two private schools with the most students and state funds from the voucher program are same as last year: Indianapolis’ Heritage Christian School with 965 students and $6.27 million, and Roncalli High School with around 905 students and $6.09 million,
In 2013, the Indiana Supreme Court upheld the use of public funds for private-school tuition.
Rachel Fradette is the WFYI Statehouse education reporter. Contact Rachel at rfradette@wfyi.org.