Indiana ESA: A Guide to the Indiana Education Scholarship Account (INESA)

Building a homeschool around your child’s IEP usually means paying for the services and materials a school would otherwise provide. The Indiana Education Scholarship Account (INESA) helps families cover those costs, with up to $20,000 a year for a student with a disability and up to $8,000 for each sibling. Here’s how Indiana’s ESA works and how homeschool families can use it.

What Is the Indiana ESA?

The Indiana ESA is a state-funded scholarship for K-12 students with disabilities and their siblings. Its official name is the Indiana Education Scholarship Account, or INESA, and it works like the education savings accounts other states offer.

Parents use the account to pay for approved education costs, such as private school tuition and homeschool curriculum, along with services like tutoring and occupational therapy. The Indiana Department of Education runs the Indiana ESA program, which it took over from the Indiana Treasurer of State in July 2026.

Indiana ESA Eligibility

To qualify for the Indiana ESA, your child needs to meet these requirements:

• Live in Indiana
• Be at least 5 and younger than 22 on October 1 of the school year
• Have an active special education plan, such as an IEP or a Service Plan (SP)
• Live in a household that earns no more than 400% of the federal free or reduced-price lunch income limit
• Not be enrolled in a public or charter school

IDOE also accepts a Choice Special Education Plan (CSEP) or an ESA Service Plan. Because IDOE updates the income limits every year, check the current figures on the ESA page before you apply.

If you’re still waiting on your child’s evaluation, you can start the ESA application now. Upload the notice from the school doing the evaluation, and finish the application once you have the IEP.

How Much Does the Indiana ESA Pay?

The Indiana ESA pays up to $20,000 a year for a student with a disability and up to $8,000 for a sibling. Your child’s award depends on two things: the school district where you live and the level of your child’s disability.

IDOE gives each ESA student 90% of the state funding their school district would have received for them. A student with a disability also receives 100% of the special education funding tied to their service plan. Most families receive less than the maximum, and IDOE publishes estimated award amounts by school and special education amounts by disability each year.

IDOE deposits the money into your child’s ClassWallet account four times a year. If you don’t spend all of it, you can roll up to $1,000 into the next year, and you can keep adding to that balance each year you renew.

Using the Indiana ESA to Homeschool

Yes, homeschool families can use the Indiana ESA, and IDOE lists home-based education as one of the learning settings the program supports. If you’re looking into Indiana homeschool funding, the ESA is the state program that gives families money to spend directly on their child’s education.

You have two options for your child’s special education services. You can keep receiving them through your public school district, in which case IDOE pays the district from your child’s account. If you go this route, the district receives your child’s entire special education award.

If you’d rather choose your child’s therapists and providers yourself, you’ll need an ESA Service Plan. You request it from your school district of legal settlement, and the district adds an ESA Service Plan activation form to your child’s IEP. Signing the form means you’re declining the special education services the district would otherwise provide, but your child keeps their testing accommodations. The plan is valid for up to three years or until your child’s next reevaluation.

How Indiana ESA Funds Are Spent

Families spend Indiana ESA funds through ClassWallet, an online account IDOE sets up for your child after you sign the ESA agreement. You can pay for things in two ways:

• ClassWallet Marketplace: You buy all curriculum and school supplies from the Marketplace, which works like an online store of IDOE-approved vendors. IDOE reviews each order before the vendor ships it to the address on your account.
• Pay Vendor: For services like tutoring and therapy, your provider sends you an invoice and you pay it from your ClassWallet balance. IDOE keeps a list of approved Indiana ESA providers on its website.

IDOE pays approved providers and vendors directly through ClassWallet, so plan to make every purchase there instead of paying out of pocket. You’ll also need to spend part of your child’s funds on core subjects like reading and math, or on the services in your child’s service plan. Beyond that, IDOE approves a wide range of learning materials, including education-based art kits and STEAM kits. The ESA Handbook lists every approved and excluded expense.

Indiana ESA vs. the Choice Scholarship

Indiana opened its Choice Scholarship to every family starting with the 2026-27 school year, so you may have heard that Indiana school choice is now universal. The Choice Scholarship is a voucher for tuition at participating private schools. The school applies on the student’s behalf and receives the money directly, so it doesn’t cover homeschool costs.

Here’s how the two programs compare:

Your child can qualify for both programs but can only receive funding from one of them. For a homeschool family with a child who has a disability, the ESA is the right program.

How to Apply for the Indiana ESA

You apply for the Indiana ESA online through the Access Indiana ESA portal. IDOE opens applications each spring and gives returning students a priority window, then accepts new students and siblings in the order their families apply. Once IDOE has given out the year’s funding, it adds new applicants to a waitlist, so apply as early as you can. You’ll find this year’s dates on IDOE’s program calendar.

You’ll upload these documents with your application:

• Your child’s birth certificate
• Your child’s current special education plan
• Proof of Indiana residency, like a recent utility bill or your lease
• Proof of household income, such as your 1040 tax return

After you’ve uploaded everything, IDOE reviews your application within five to seven business days and emails you once your child is approved. You’ll reapply each year to keep the account open.

Using Your Indiana ESA for Guide Dots

Your child might love to draw but get frustrated when the picture on the paper doesn’t match the one in their head, and a blank page with no clear first step can make them want to give up before they start. Guide Dots gives your child a clear place to begin and a step-by-step path through every project. 

Ms. Cindra McCoy, a credentialed art teacher, breaks each lesson into small steps on video so your child can focus on one part of the drawing at a time. Your child can pause and replay any step as often as they need, and with no class moving ahead without them, they can learn at a pace that feels calm and manageable.

The Bright Board and the dots guide your child’s hand while they learn to see shapes and spacing correctly. Your child draws every line themselves, because the dots show where each line goes without turning the project into tracing. Ms. Cindra designs each new level with fewer dots, so your child does more of the drawing on their own as their skills grow.

Many Guide Dots families have kids with autism or ADHD, and parents also tell us the lessons have helped their kids with fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination. Each finished project gives your child a small win, and those wins build confidence over time.

Guide Dots is completely hands-off for you. Your child works through each lesson with Ms. Cindra on their own, so you can spend that time with a sibling or catch up on your own to-do list.

Guide Dots is an approved vendor in Indiana’s ClassWallet Marketplace, so you can buy it with your child’s ESA funds:

1. Log in to your ClassWallet account.
2. Open the Marketplace and search for “Guide Dots.”
3. Choose the starter kit that fits your child’s experience level.
4. Check out with your ESA balance.

After IDOE approves your order, your kit will arrive within 7 to 10 business days. Starter kits begin at $93, and each one comes in a single box with the Bright Board and artist-grade supplies, so your child can start the first lesson as soon as it arrives. 

Add Art to Your Child’s Learning Plan

Your child’s Indiana ESA can cover an art curriculum taught by a trained art teacher, so art becomes one subject you don’t have to plan or teach yourself.

Use your Indiana ESA for Guide Dots and add art to your child’s learning plan this year.

Waiting on your ESA approval? Your child can try a free 30-minute art lesson while IDOE reviews your application!