Indiana Senate Panel Approves Diluted Voucher Expansion

The Indiana Senate Education Committee is signing off on a limited expansion of school vouchers one day after the state's highest court deemed vouchers constitutional.

The Senate panel rewrote House voucher expansion legislation to allow siblingsof voucher school students to qualify for the program. It also would qualifystudents who would otherwise attend a failing public school for a voucherwithout having to spend the one-year period in public schools currently required  by law.

The panel also voted Wednesday to study preschool vouchers rather than spend $7 million annually on a pilot preschool program sought by House Republicans.

The changes set up a battle between House and Senate negotiators.

The Indiana Supreme Court unanimously upheld Indiana's sweeping charter school law on Tuesday.