Indiana School Choice Programs Compared: INESA vs Choice Scholarship vs CSA

Indiana runs three separate school choice programs, and the naming alone trips people up. The Choice Scholarship is a voucher. INESA is an education savings account. The CSA is a career-specific grant. They serve different students, cover different expenses, and impose different rules — and only two of them work for homeschool families.

The Three Programs at a Glance

Indiana Education Scholarship Account (INESA) — IC 20-51.4. Available to K–12 students with a documented disability (IEP, Service Plan, or CSEP) and their eligible siblings. Awards range from $6,000 to $20,000 per year depending on disability category, with sibling accounts capped at $8,000. Funds go into ClassWallet for curriculum, therapy, tutoring, and approved services. Homeschoolers can use it.

Career Scholarship Account (CSA) — IC 20-51.7. Available to students in grades 10–12 pursuing approved career pathways, apprenticeships, and credential programs. Annual allocation of up to $5,000 per student via ClassWallet. Covers CTE coursework, certification exams, trade equipment, and transportation to work-based learning sites. Homeschoolers can use it.

Choice Scholarship (Voucher) — IC 20-51-4. Pays tuition at participating accredited private schools only. Now universally available under HB 1001 (income caps eliminated). Covers roughly 90% of the state tuition formula, typically $6,100 to $7,400 per year. Homeschoolers cannot use it while remaining in home education — the student must formally enroll in a participating private school.

The Critical Distinction for Homeschool Families

The Choice Scholarship is the program that gets the most media attention, especially after Indiana expanded it to near-universal eligibility. But it is a private-school-only voucher. A child educated at home under IC 20-33-2-28 cannot receive Choice Scholarship funds unless they leave homeschooling and enroll in an accredited participating private school.

INESA and CSA are the two programs designed for flexible, non-institutional education. INESA covers the broadest range of expenses — therapies, specialized curriculum, tutoring, assessments, educational technology — while the CSA targets career-focused training specifically for high schoolers.

Can You Stack Them?

For multi-child families, different children can be on different programs. One child on INESA, a sibling on an INESA sibling account, and a third child on a Choice Scholarship at a private school — all in the same household.

Funding Mechanics

Both INESA and CSA run through ClassWallet. The Choice Scholarship pays the private school directly — parents never handle the money. For INESA and CSA, parents manage spending through the ClassWallet platform: ordering from the marketplace, reviewing provider invoices, and approving payments. Direct reimbursement to parents is not allowed under either program.

INESA allows up to $1,000 per year to roll over. CSA funds do not roll over — unused money reverts to the state treasury at year's end.

Which Program Fits Your Family?

If your child has a documented disability and you want flexible funding for homeschool curriculum, therapies, and tutoring: INESA.

If your teen is in grades 10–12 and pursuing trade certification, apprenticeships, or CTE coursework: CSA (and potentially INESA + CSA together if they also have an IEP).

If you want to move your child into a participating private school and need tuition help: Choice Scholarship.

The Indiana INESA & CSA Parent Guide includes a decision tree that walks through this selection based on your child's age, disability status, income, and educational goals — plus the full stacking rules and application process for each program.

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