Every Indiana family can now use the Choice voucher. Here's what it's worth to yours.
From 2026-27 the income cap is gone. A child living in IPS territory carries $7,456 to a participating private school; one in Carmel Clay carries $6,395. 120 of the 175 private schools we track in Marion, Hamilton, Hendricks and Johnson counties take it.
2026-27 voucher range across the 29 public districts in the four counties (IDOE estimates), paid to the school and capped at tuition and fees.
metro schools on the Choice list out of 175 we track; 105 partner with an SGO.
Last day of period two. Families enrolling mid-year can be approved for a half-year award from November 1.
Marion County students used a Choice Scholarship in period one of 2025-26, per IDOE's annual report.
The voucher is capped at the bill, so the gap is what you plan for.
An illustrative fourth grader living in Warren Township, at an east-side Christian school charging $8,600 in tuition and fees:
The tuition figure is an assumption for illustration; Indiana private schools do not publish tuition to the state. The voucher figure is IDOE's 2026-27 period-one estimate for MSD Warren Township.
The programs an Indianapolis-area family can use
The universal voucher, the disability ESA, income-based SGO grants, pre-K and child care help, the career account and the federal credit that begins in 2027.
Indiana Choice Scholarship (Voucher)
Indiana's voucher, run by the Department of Education. From 2026-27 every Hoosier student aged 5 to 21 qualifies; the award is the smaller of the school's tuition and fees or 90% of the state funding for the student's home district — $6,395 to $7,456 across this metro.
Rules and amounts →Disability ESA · Up to $20,000Indiana Education Scholarship Account (ESA)
A parent-directed account for Indiana students with an IEP, service plan or CSEP, worth up to $20,000 a year, with up to $8,000 for a sibling. IDOE took over the program for 2026-27 and pays providers through ClassWallet.
Rules and amounts →Privately funded · Income-basedSGO Tax-Credit Scholarships
Scholarships from scholarship granting organizations such as the Institute for Quality Education and Sagamore Institute, funded by donors who take a 50% Indiana tax credit. They start at age four and stack with Choice.
Rules and amounts →New · January 2027Federal Education Freedom Tax Credit (2027)
Indiana opted into the new federal scholarship tax credit in January 2026. From January 1, 2027, a taxpayer can claim up to $1,700 for gifts to approved SGOs, which fund K-12 students in households within 300% of area median income.
Rules and amounts →Free pre-K · Income-basedOn My Way Pre-K
Indiana's state-funded pre-K voucher for four-year-olds in working families at or below 135% of the federal poverty level, capped at 2,500 children statewide for 2026-27 and at $6,800 per child.
Rules and amounts →Income-based · WaitlistCCDF Child Care Vouchers
Federal Child Care and Development Fund vouchers, run by FSSA's Office of Early Childhood and Out-of-School Learning, for children under 13 in families at or below 135% of poverty. New applicants go on a waitlist.
Rules and amounts →What an Indiana ESA can buy
Up to $20,000 a year, spent through ClassWallet on approved tuition, therapies, tutors, materials and exams. Each category below lists what IDOE allows and what it rejects.
Tuition and school fees
Tuition is the one cost all three Indiana programs can touch, but each pays it differently and each has its own list of…
Rules →Curriculum and learning materials
Books, software and digital content count as curricular materials for an ESA. A long list of supplies does too; the…
Rules →Therapies: speech, OT, PT, ABA and more
Educational therapies are the reason many Indianapolis families choose the ESA over the voucher: an approved, licensed…
Rules →Tutoring, teaching and classroom aides
An ESA can pay a credentialed tutor or teaching service, and a paraprofessional aide when the plan calls for one. It…
Rules →Transportation to services
Getting to an approved provider can be paid, within a firm annual cap and only through a fee-for-service transportation…
Rules →Camps, training programs and life-skills classes
Programs focused on academic, vocational, life, independence or job skills can be paid from an ESA when the person or…
Rules →Extracurriculars, field trips and public-school classes
An ESA student can buy a single class or activity from a public school that agrees, along with sports and educational…
Rules →Tests, exams and prep courses
ESA money can pay for national standardized tests, AP and CLEP exams, IB and Cambridge courses, college-admission exams…
Rules →From question to enrolled, in three moves
Answer five questions
Grade, school type, where you live, household size and timing. That is enough for a counselor to estimate your district's voucher and see which income-based programs to check.
Get your funding stack
A tuition counselor calls with the voucher figure, any ESA or SGO route that fits, and the windows that matter: period two now, period one in March.
Pick a school that takes it
We point you to schools on the Choice, SGO and ESA lists in your part of the metro, and the questions to ask each business office.
175 private schools across the four counties
Built from the federal Private School Survey and matched to IDOE's Choice, SGO and ESA lists, with grades, affiliation, enrollment and each school's 2025-26 Choice count.
Catholic Schools
Parish elementaries and high schools of the Archdiocese of Indianapolis in Marion, Hendricks and Johnson counties, plus the Hamilton County schools of the Diocese of Lafayette.
47 schools →Christian Schools
Non-denominational, Baptist, Lutheran, Adventist, Pentecostal, Nazarene, Presbyterian and Episcopal schools, from preschool-to-8 campuses to full K-12 academies.
55 schools →Church-Run Schools
Christian schools whose registered name points to a congregation, ministry or tabernacle; usually small and on the church grounds.
6 schools →Islamic, Jewish, Orthodox & Other Faith Schools
Islamic academies on the north, west and east sides, a Hebrew day school, a Greek Orthodox school and classical schools that describe themselves as religious without a denomination.
11 schools →Independent & Secular Schools
Non-religious college-prep, Montessori, gifted, international and virtual schools, plus listings whose affiliation the federal survey does not report.
62 schools →Schools on the ESA Provider List
Schools that IDOE lists as approved ESA providers for 2026-27, plus the federal survey's special-education schools.
44 schools →Virtual & Hybrid Choice Schools
Schools on the 2026-27 Choice list whose instruction type is Virtual or Hybrid rather than in person.
9 schools →Preschools & Early Learning
Programs that stop at pre-K or kindergarten, including Montessori children's houses and church preschools.
19 schools →By community: Downtown, Fountain Square & the Near Eastside · Midtown, Butler-Tarkington & Meridian-Kessler · Broad Ripple, Nora & the Far Northside · East Side: Irvington, Lawrence & Warren Township · South Side: Beech Grove, Perry & Franklin Townships · West Side: Haughville, Speedway, Wayne & Decatur · Carmel & Westfield · Fishers, Noblesville & Cicero · Hendricks County: Avon, Brownsburg & Plainfield · Johnson County: Greenwood, Franklin & Edinburgh
Work with Indy Edu Funding
Families who find you here already know their district's voucher amount. Churches thinking about a school can start with our Indiana accreditation and Choice checklist.
From the blog
Indiana's SGO credit vs the federal Education Freedom Tax Credit: what changes for Indy families in 2027
Two tax credits, two income tests, one set of scholarship organizations. December 31 is the date to watch.
Read →Oct 26, 2026The Indy metro in IDOE's 2025-26 Choice report: counties, schools and who uses vouchers
Marion keeps growing, Hamilton rebounded, and for the first time more vouchers went to families over $100,000.
Read →Oct 23, 2026Period two opens November 1: getting a 2026-27 Choice Scholarship mid-year in Indianapolis
A half-year voucher for families who switch schools or decide late. The window closes January 15.
Read →Indiana voucher questions from Indianapolis parents
Who can get an Indiana Choice Scholarship in the Indianapolis area for 2026-27?
Any student with legal settlement in Indiana who is at least five and under 22 on October 1, enrolling at a participating Choice school. The income cap was removed for 2026-27, so household income no longer matters for the voucher.
How much is the Choice voucher in Indianapolis?
It depends on your home public school district. IDOE's 2026-27 estimates run from $6,395 for a Carmel Clay student to $7,456 for a student living in Indianapolis Public Schools territory, and the school receives the lesser of that amount and its tuition and fees.
How many Indianapolis-area private schools take the voucher?
120 of the 175 private schools in our file for Marion, Hamilton, Hendricks and Johnson counties are on IDOE's 2026-27 Choice list, downloaded October 28, 2026. 105 are SGO partner schools and 44 are approved ESA providers.
Is it too late to apply for a Choice Scholarship this year?
No. Period two runs from November 1, 2026 to January 15, 2027 and pays a half-year award. The school submits the application after your child enrolls.
What help is there for a child with an IEP?
The Indiana Education Scholarship Account pays up to $20,000 a year for a student with an Indiana IEP, service plan or CSEP, and up to $8,000 for a sibling, spent through ClassWallet on tuition, therapies, tutoring and materials. A student cannot hold an ESA and a Choice Scholarship at once.
See which Indiana programs fit your child
Five questions, about two minutes. Then a tuition counselor phones with your district's voucher figure and the layers that stack on it.