No. Indiana ESA cannot be used if a student is enrolled at a traditional public or public charter school.  However, an eligible student with an Education Scholarship Account may use funds to purchase services from a traditional public or public charter school, such as courses, if the school has applied to participate with the program. The Indiana ESA can be used to cover any tuition or fees associated with these courses.

Yes, current non-public school students can apply to participate in the Indiana ESA program as long as they meet the eligibility and income requirements. The non-public school that will be accepting payments through the Indiana ESA account must apply and be approved as a participating provider.

No. While both options provide families with greater control over their student’s education, they are classified differently under Indiana code and subject to different regulations. In Indiana, homeschools are classified as nonpublic, non-accredited, with less than one employee and students are exempt from statewide assessments. Students who are approved for an ESA must take the statewide assessment or an alternative test as outlined in the student’s IEP/ISP, and must meet any program regulations approved by the state. For more information on home education, you may visit the Indiana Association of Home Educators at iahe.net.

Students may not be awarded the Choice Scholarship and the Education Scholarship Account for the same school year. However, if your child is a current recipient of the Choice Scholarship Award, you may apply for the Educational Scholarship Account.  If approved, your child will forfeit the Choice Scholarship and be able to use funds through an Indiana ESA account to purchase educational services and fees.  You may continue to use these funds for tuition and fees at a qualified school.

Students who participate in the program will receive 90% of their basic tuition support (ADM) already allotted to the student by the state as well as 100% of special education dollars (APC) allotted to their student, if the student chooses not to receive special education services from their local public school.  This amount will vary by district and is based on your local public school district.

Scholarship funds will be deposited directly into each student’s Indiana ESA account in quarterly payments.  This account will be available to parents via a secure online portal, which they will use to make payments directly to providers from the student’s account. Debit cards are not used and funds are not deposited directly into personal bank accounts. Parents of ESA students will not be reimbursed for purchases made with personal funds.

Funds must be used for qualified expenses through pre-approved Indiana ESA providers. Please see the Resources Page for a full list of providers and schools available.

If a parent would like to use Indiana ESA funds to make payments to a provider that is not currently on the Approved Providers List, the provider must first apply and be approved to participate. We are always looking for new providers to add to our program. Please send us their information via the Provider Contact Form for us to reach out to them.

While Indiana's Choice Scholarship can be used to cover tuition and fees at non-public, voucher-accepting schools, tuition and fees are just one type of qualified expense for an Indiana ESA student.  Any remaining funds after the cost of tuition and fees can be used on any pre-approved educational expenses, such as therapies and services.

Furthermore, instead of using the Indiana ESA funds at a non-public school, parents can instead opt to completely customize their child’s education through the use of tutors, therapies, services, and other pre-approved educational expenses, as long as the parent of the eligible student uses part of the money in the account in the following areas of study: reading, grammar, mathematics, social studies or science, or other area as determined in the student’s IEP, service plan or choice special education plan.

Students may not be awarded the Choice Scholarship and the Education Scholarship Account for the same school year. However, if your child is a current recipient of the Choice Scholarship Award, you may apply for the Educational Scholarship Account.  If approved, your child will not be able to use the Choice Scholarship and will be able to use funds through an Indiana ESA account to purchase educational services and fees.  You may continue to use these funds for tuition and fees at a qualified school.

The team at Indiana's Education Scholarship Account Program knows that your child's education is important to you. We also know that choosing a new school can be difficult. That's why we've created a list of questions you can ask the leadership team at the non-public school you are interviewing. Click the link below to access the pdf document. Please note that this is not a comprehensive list and you may add or take away any questions that you feel relevant.

Parent Questionnaire - English

Cuestionario para padres - Español

Yes! However, Medicaid waivers and Indiana ESA have some overlap in qualified expenses so you will want to speak with both your ESA Account Specialist and your Medicaid Case Manager in order to ensure that you are using both programs to the fullest extent. Please note that the same expense cannot be billed to both your ESA account and your Medicaid waiver. A flyer with more information regarding both programs can be found below.

Indiana ESA & Medicaid Waivers

The public school corporation that you reside in is the party responsible for creating your student's IEP. The public school corporation where your student’s private school is located is the public school responsible for offering a service plan (SP). Please contact the Special Education Director from your school corporation for more information.

The Indiana Council of Administrators of Special Education (ICASE) has made an Indiana Special Education Directory available for download here.

IN*SOURCE can also assist with this process. IN*SOURCE provides high quality information, training, and support to families of children and young adults with disabilities and the individuals and organizations who serve them. Upon contacting IN*SOURCE, a ticket will be created for the family's local SEL (Special Education Liaison) or they will be added to a call sheet to reach out to within 24 hours for general assistance. If the family needs ongoing assistance, they will be connected with their local SEL. Additionally, they created a live chat feature which is answered from 9-6 each day including for families who need a bi-lingual SEL. For assistance in navigating this process, email insource@insource.org.

Timelines for evaluating: The timelines for responding to a parent’s referral for an educational evaluation, conducting the evaluation, and convening the case conference committee (CCC) meeting do not change, and do not become expedited, just because a parent has applied for an ESA.  When a parent makes a referral for an educational evaluation to determine eligibility for special education and related services, it is expected that the public agency reviews existing student records to determine whether it will evaluate, or refuse to evaluate, and provide written notice, consistent with 511 IAC 7-40-4(e), of the proposal or refusal to evaluate within 10 instructional days of receiving parent’s request to evaluate. If the public agency refuses to evaluate, the parent may challenge the refusal by requesting mediation or a due process hearing.  If the public agency proposes to evaluate, the parent must provide written consent to licensed personnel to conduct the initial educational evaluation.  Once consent is received, the public agency must conduct the educational evaluation and convene the CCC to determine eligibility within 50 instructional days of receipt of the parent’s written consent to evaluate. There is no requirement that evaluations be conducted over the summer, or meet a September 1 deadline. Timelines for conducting educational evaluations are governed by Article 7.

Which public agency should evaluate. When students attend nonpublic schools, parents could ask either the school corporation of legal settlement (SCOLS) or the public school where the nonpublic school is located to conduct the educational evaluation if not the SCOLS.  Some factors to consider:

1. SCOLS.

   a. If a student’s CCC determines the student is eligible for special education and related services, the SCOLS is required to make an offer of a free appropriate public education (FAPE) to the student. 511 IAC 7-34-3(e). This offer of a FAPE would include the development of an IEP that the SCOLS would implement if the parent chose to enroll the student in the SCOLS.

   b. If the parent declines the offer of a FAPE and chooses to continue enrollment in the nonpublic school, then the parent determines who will provide special education services.

   c. If the parent wants special education and related services to be provided by a public school, the parent would ask the school corporation where the nonpublic school is located to develop a service plan.  This may be the SCOLS, but it might be a different school corporation.  A student may have an ESA and still opt to have special education services provided by a public school under a service plan.  If a service plan is implemented, the APC funds will not be added to the ESA.

   d. If application for an ESA has been made or is being considered, and the parent wants the APC funds added to the ESA so the parent can purchase the special education and related services, then an ESA service plan would be developed.  This plan would include the special education and related services included in the IEP developed by the SCOLS, with clarifying language added that the parent is responsible for arranging for, and paying for, any of the special education and related services provided to the student.

   f. If the student is a choice scholarship student, and the choice school provides special education services, the parent may choose to have the choice school develop a choice special education plan (CSEP) and provide special education and related services.  NOTE: A student cannot have both a choice scholarship and an ESA

2. School corporation where nonpublic school is located – not SCOLS.

   a. If the CCC determines the student is eligible for special education and related services, the CCC will develop a service plan.

   b. If the parent declines the service plan, whether because the student has an ESA and is requesting the APC funds be added to the ESA, has a CSEP, or just declines special education services, the school corporation is not required to develop services plans in the future unless/until the parent requests a service plan.

   c. If the student has an ESA and the parent has requested the APC funds be added to the ESA, the parent will need to work with the SCOLS to develop the ESA service plan.  The ESA service plan is based upon an IEP, not a service plan.  See 1.d., above.

Generally, if a parentally-placed nonpublic school student seeks to establish initial eligibility for an ESA with the intention of the parent using the APC funds to purchase the special education services, it would be recommended that this be done through the SCOLS, as no other public school is responsible to develop an IEP or the ESA service plan.

An SGO is an organization that awards school scholarships to eligible students. Qualified SGOs receive funding for school scholarships from private, charitable donations. Those who have donated to an SGO that has been certified by the Indiana Department of Education (IDOE) will then be eligible to take advantage of a 50 percent credit against their individual or entity’s state tax liability.

For more information on SGOs, please view the Department of Education's SGO FAQ sheet.

Indiana classifies homeschooling as nonaccredited, nonpublic schools with less than one employee. Other homeschooling requirements are as follows:

1. Children ages 7-18 must be educated for the number of days their local school system is in session. This is typically 180 days. (IC 20-33-2-5; IC 20-33-2-6)
2. Parents must begin keeping attendance records the date the child turns 7. The local superintendent and the State Secretary of Education may legally ask to see a parent’s attendance sheet. (IC 20-33-2-8; IC 20-33-2-20) Please note: Indiana law defines a school year as July 1 through June 30 of the following year. (IC 20-18-2-17)
3. Parents must provide an equivalent education. Please note: home educators are not required to teach on the same subjects as are listed in the IDOE state standards. (IC 20-33-2-28; IC 20-33-2-12)
4. The education must be taught in English. (IC 20-33-2-4)

Please note, Indiana ESA students are NOT considered homeschool students, as participation in ESA requires government oversight, the use of government funds, and completion of state testing requirements.

For more information on home education in Indiana, please visit iahe.net

ClassWallet is the financial management platform for the Education Scholarship Account program. Parents will utilize ClassWallet to pay providers for services received. Providers will register their bank account information to receive payment from ESA students.

Enter ClassWallet through https://app.classwallet.com/login

If you have multiple children receiving ESA funds, you can log in once and switch between your children's accounts when issuing payment. Step-by-step instructions for this can be found here.

You can access FAQs, view on-demand videos and chat with a live support member here.

ClassWallet can be reached at 1-877-969-5536 or via email at help@classwallet.com.

Customer service hours are Monday through Friday from 8am to 8pm EST and Saturday from 10am to 4pm EST.

If your child's provider is registered on ClassWallet, you can find them by clicking "Pay Vendor" on the ClassWallet portal homepage.  All you need is a PDF, JPEG, or PNG file of the invoice, statement, or other supporting documents.

You can view the step-by-step instructions and watch a short 2-minute video here.

Learn more about the basics of ClassWallet at http://classwallet.com/schoolchoice/ or watch a 3-minute overview video.

Please note, this video represents a broad overview and is not indicative of all the services that will be available through ClassWallet for Indiana's ESA.

Yes, they do, provided your organization exceeded the transaction and volume thresholds prescribed by the IRS.

According to the IRS, a Third Party Settlement Organization (TPSO) must file Form 1099-K for payments made in settlement of reportable payment transactions for each calendar year. ClassWallet is a TPSO.

A TPSO is required to report any information concerning third-party network transactions of any participating payee only if for the calendar year:

• The gross amount of total reportable payment transactions exceeds $20,000, and
• The total number of such transactions exceeds 200.

If your company exceeds both thresholds in the calendar year, ClassWallet will send you a 1099-K form by January 31st.

For more information, you can visit the IRS website at  About Form 1099-K, Payment Card and Third Party Network Transactions | Internal Revenue Service (irs.gov)

How do you shop in the ClassWallet marketplace?

Click here for more information.

How do you have funds refunded to your ClassWallet account?

Upon receipt of a refund notice or an order cancellation email, please copy or forward it and send it to orders@classwallet.com.

In the email, please be sure to include:

• Your name
• Email
• Purchase order # / Order #
• Order date
• Specific items returned/canceled

This will help us to process your return as quickly as possible.

Upon our ability to process your refund to your secure ClassWallet account, you will receive an email notification of the refund to your account. We will do our best to respond to these requests as quickly as possible.

How to return a ClassWallet Marketplace Order

If you have received an order damaged or not matching the description of your purchase, we apologize for this rare occurrence. In this instance, please reach out to orders@classwallet.com, and we will be happy to assist with the return process.

Please be sure to include the following:

• Your name
• Email
• Purchase order # / Order #
• Order date
• Specific items returned/canceled
• The reason for the return

The more details, the better, so we can work to process your return as quickly as possible for you. Please note there may be an instance where the items to return will need to be picked up. We will help to provide instructions on the pick-up process for you.

Once the return is completed, please inform us of any refund notifications you receive so we can apply that refund to your secure ClassWallet account.

Yes.

Tests are approved by the Indiana Department of Education and are dependent on grade level & IEP/ISP accommodations. Some of the approved tests include the ILEARN, SAT, PSAT/NMSQT, IREAD-3, I AM, and WIDA ACCESS.

More information can be found at https://www.in.gov/doe/students/assessment/.

For general assistance regarding statewide assessments, please contact IDOE’s Office of Student Assessment via email at INassessments@doe.in.gov or via phone at (317) 232-9050.

Private, state accredited schools as well as 3rd party ESA-approved testing providers.