School Vouchers On the Move

One of the shake-ups taking place on the state level across the country to to establish or expland not only charter schools, but the availability of vouchers to parents who wish to send their children to private schools.  In Indiana, a new law takes effect that creates vouchers on income. A family of four earning less than $41,000 a year is entitled to a $4,500 voucher for a student in grades one through eight and $4,964 for a high school student. Families of four that earn between $41,000 and $61,000 can receive up to $2,758 per student in any grade. The voucher bill law also includes a tax deduction of $1,000 for each child currently enrolled in a private school or home school.  However, the number of students eligible will be limited for the first two years.  For more information on the new tax credit and voucher program, see here.


Wisconsin is moving to expand its voucher programs outside of Milwaukee, and Ohio is edging towards expanding public financial support for attendance of private schools beyond the current program, which allows vouchers for kids in academically failing schools.

But the latter two states have not had everything hashed out just yet.  For the most up-to-date information on your state, see the map here and click your state on school privatization support.  It's biased in a pro-voucher way, so you can interpret the analyis of pro/con at your own discretion, but it is well updated, and if you want to see what your options are to support your kid attending private school, this might  be a good place to start.  Another place is at the website of your state's Education Department. 

Some more ideas: scholarship providers for private schools, the MSU website for individual education grants,  and more state, regional, and local scholarship and voucher programs.