Rabbi A.D. Motzen, Agudath Israel’s national director of government affairs with executive director of the Indiana Nonpublic Education Association John Elcesser and associate director Chris Bunson, outside House chambers just prior to the vote.
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In the early hours of Friday morning, the Indiana General Assembly voted in favor a budget that provides school vouchers to all students in the state regardless of their income. This victory for families comes sixteen years after Indiana passed its first school choice program in 2009.
The happy ending came after the Senate ultimately went along with the expansion supported by the House and Governor, albeit delaying the start date by a year.
Starting in the 2026-2027 school year, every student in the state will be eligible for a scholarship worth approximately $7,000 to attend the private school of their choice.
Indiana became the 17th state to offer universal school choice just a few hours after Texas passed its universal Education Savings Account.
This expansion will relieve schools and the state from the burden of collecting financial information from parents and will finally treat voucher students equal to those attending public and charter schools. Agudath Israel has consistently argued that just as the government doesn’t ask for financial information from parents before allowing a child to attend a public or charter school at taxpayer expense why should it require such information for a child to receive a voucher for half that amount?
Indiana also has a separate scholarship tax credit and education savings account programs which provide funding to eligible students and remain unchanged.
“Agudath Israel thanks Governor Mike Braun, Speaker Todd Huston and Chairman Bob Behning for their leadership,” said Rabbi A.D. Motzen, Agudath Israel’s national director of government affairs. “Indiana’s incremental approach has already helped more than 70,000 students access a tuition scholarship and will now send a clear message that all students deserve the same freedom and opportunity.”
{Matzav.com}