By TOM DAVIES
Associated Press
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Indiana’s new state budget will expand eligibility for its private school voucher program to higher earners and speed up planned income tax rate cuts under a deal announced Wednesday by Republican legislative leaders.
Senate Republicans initially resisted both House-backed moves. But they were included in the budget agreement after an updated tax revenue report released last week showed the state is projected to collect about $1.5 billion, or 2.5% more than previously expected, through July 2025.
Republican leaders said the budget deal increases general K-12 school funding by nearly $1.2 billion, or 8%, over two years. The voucher expansion, however, could take up more than $500 million of that amount by raising the family income limit and lifting other restrictions on qualifying for state money toward private school tuition.
Supporters of the voucher expansion argue it empowers parents to decide which school is best for their children.
Democratic Rep. Greg Porter criticized the voucher expansion as a “despicable” step that will hurt traditional public schools.
The budget agreement comes as the Republican-dominated Legislature faces a deadline this week to conclude this year’s session. House and Senate members could vote Thursday on final passage.
The voucher expansion includes raising the income limit for a family of four from the current $154,000 to $220,000, and removing a requirement for most families that at least one child had previously attended a public school.
The broader eligibility provisions have been projected to grow the voucher program from the current 53,500 students to some 95,000 students in two years — and nearly double the state money spent on the program to almost $600 million in 2024-25.
Republican Senate President Pro Tem Rodric Bray said many senators were concerned about the voucher expansion’s cost but that projected growth in state tax collections “provided some flexibility.”
Porter, the top Democrat on the budget-writing House Ways and Means Committee, said the additional voucher spending will leave less money for traditional school districts and boosting the state’s lagging teacher pay, while benefiting wealthy families.
“I don’t think the traditional public schools are going to benefit,” Porter said. “At this rate, they’re not even getting an inflationary rate, inflationary dollars, going into their school corporations.”
Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb did not join GOP leaders in announcing the budget deal, nor did any officials from his administration. The governor’s office declined to comment on the agreement.