Chalkbeat

Guide: What to know about the public schools tax referendum in Indianapolis

2026-09-02T11:00:00+00:00

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This November, Indianapolis voters will decide a question that’s make-or-break for the city’s public school district.

If the property tax referendum fails, it will likely mean deep cuts and state intervention at Indianapolis Public Schools. If it passes, $95 million annual revenue will be shared between IPS and many of the city’s charter schools.

This change is a result of new state laws that created the Indianapolis Public Education Corporation — which assumed IPS’ taxing powers — and require districts to share more property tax funding with charter schools. The referendum comes as more districts than ever are asking voters to approve tax increases to offset other changes in state law.

Leaders of both types of public schools say the referendum revenue is a critical source of funding for staff, programs, and transportation. The election holds particularly high stakes for IPS, which expects to make budget cuts in the next year even if the referendum passes, and could face state takeover if the referendum doesn’t pass.

But the laws that created IPEC and mandated sharing have been controversial. Critics of the referendum say it raises taxes without protecting district schools from cuts.

What does it mean for voters? Below is your guide of what to know before heading to the polls:

What is the referendum?

Generally, a referendum is a property tax increase that local voters approve to support schools.

The Indianapolis Public Education Corporation is asking for an operating referendum expected to generate around $95 million in annual revenue for staff and programming.

Why is IPEC asking for a referendum?

First, the district’s 2018 referendum expires this year. For IPS, this is a critical source of revenue that pays for staff and programs.

Other key state laws also affect the district’s financial picture.

In 2025, the state made sweeping changes to property taxes, limiting the future property tax revenue that districts could expect to raise.

Lawmakers also limited referendums to the general elections, when turnout is higher and referendums are less likely to pass. The time constraint is one reason there are more referendums this year than in years past, as districts whose referendums are set to expire in 2027 seek renewals.

One of the biggest sources of financial strain at the district is the cost of special education services, which the district is required by federal law to provide. Officials have estimated that the district has incurred a $24 million deficit from special education costs.

What will the money be used for?

Around $63 million of the funds will be used for programming, including programming for students with disabilities and those learning English, according to the spending plan submitted by IPEC.

The remaining $32 million will be used for staff retention and professional development.

IPEC is planning to launch a spending tracker for the money.

How much will it cost homeowners?

The referendum will cost homeowners 37 cents per $100 of the home’s assessed value. The ballot language approved by IPEC estimates that voters would pay around $221 more on their annual tax bill for a $150,000 home.

The referendum will last four years rather than the typical eight. The IPEC board decided that was enough time to stabilize the district’s finances and allow IPEC to begin operating a transportation system for the city, as well as a buildings plan.

Officials have also pointed out out that the language on the ballot — which is prescribed by state law — does not clearly articulate to taxpayers that their annual increase is likely to be less than $221. The statutory language does not take into account the rate that taxpayers are already paying that was imposed by IPS’ 2018 referendum.

According to a calculator on the district’s website, taking into account the 2018 referendum means an increase of around $100 for a typical homeowner in 2027.

What does the ballot language look like?

“Shall the Indianapolis Public Education Corporation increase property taxes paid to the Indianapolis Public Schools (“IPS”) and participating charter schools for no more than four (4) years for the purpose of funding teacher and staff retention, professional development, and advancing academic programs and opportunities by imposing a property tax rate that does not exceed $0.372 per $100 of assessed value and results in a maximum annual amount that does not exceed $95,000,000? If this operating referendum public question is approved by the voters, for a median residence of $150,000, the property’s annual property tax bill would increase by $221 per year.”

Is there a referendum right now?

IPS voters approved a referendum in 2018 and have been paying that rate of 19.6 cents per $100 of assessed property value ever since. That’s about $116 per year on an average $150,000 house.

The 2018 referendum expires this year and would be replaced by the 2026 referendum, if approved. The 2018 referendum was expected to raise $27.5 million annually for IPS, but raised around $40 million annually due to rising property values. The district shared a portion of this revenue with charter schools.

Who is asking for a referendum?

IPEC is an appointed board created this year by a new state law. It was given taxing powers, as well as oversight of buildings, buses, and accountability for IPS and Indianapolis charter schools.

The Yes for Indianapolis Public Education Campaign is campaigning for the referendum’s success. The campaign is funded privately and will be co-chaired by:

Diane Arnold, former IPS board president
Marianne Glick, chair of the Glick Foundation’s Board of Directors
Bart Peterson, former mayor of Indianapolis
William Shrewsberry, former deputy mayor of Indianapolis
Morgan Snyder, an IPS parent

The campaign also includes 10 advisory committee members who represent community groups around the city or have a connection to Indianapolis schools.

The Indianapolis Education Association voted against supporting the referendum because it would still require IPS to make cuts. The group has appealed to Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett for a reallocation of the referendum revenue to keep IPS whole.

Which schools will get the referendum money?

The referendum revenue will be split between IPS and around 60 charter schools that enroll IPS students and have opted to participate.

IPS voluntarily shared referendum revenue with some charter schools before a 2023 law that mandated that districts in certain counties — including Marion — share operating referendum revenue.

Around half the revenue will go to IPS. The other half will be split among the charter schools based on the number of students that they enroll whose residence is within IPS boundaries, a formula specified in state law.

What happens if it passes?

IPS still expects to make around $20 million in cuts even if the referendum passes, which is on top of $24 million in cuts already made.

But Superintendent Aleesia Johnson said the referendum revenue would protect the district from drastic cuts and state intervention.

“It is absolutely necessary for our district’s financial survival,” Johnson said at a kickoff event for the referendum campaign.

The revenue will be spent largely on staff salaries and retention. A portion will also be spent on programming, especially for students with disabilities and those who are learning English.

At some charter schools, the funding will also support transportation — something charter advocates have long advocated for. But in other charter schools, it’s not publicly clear how the money will be spent.

What happens if it fails?

Without referendum revenue, IPS expects to need to make drastic cuts of around $40 to $45 million, leading to staffing freezes and program closures, and the possibility of state takeover, in which appointed managers would handle the district’s finances.

The failure of the referendum would have less of an impact on charter schools, which currently receive only a limited amount of property tax funds, and rely primarily on state tuition support and other grants earmarked for charter schools.

Where do I find out more?

Chalkbeat’s previous coverage includes stories about the IPEC meeting where the referendum was approved, support and opposition to the referendum, and how charter schools plan to spend their share of referendum revenue.

Community forums, such as this one from the African American Coalition of Indianapolis, have also featured IPS, IPEC, and charter school leaders discussing the referendum.

Both IPS and the Yes for Indianapolis Public Education campaign have information on their websites about the referendum.

Who can vote for the referendum and when?

Voters in Indianapolis Public Schools boundaries can vote on the referendum. Find your polling place here.

Election Day is Nov. 3, and early voting is available at the Indianapolis City-County building from Oct. 6 to Nov. 2.

Voter registration information can be found at the Secretary of State’s website. Voters must register by Oct. 5, to vote in November.

Correction: This story has been updated to include the revised revenue amount for IPS’ 2018 referendum.

Aleksandra Appleton covers Indiana education policy and writes about K-12 schools across the state. Contact her at aappleton@chalkbeat.org.

Why the Indianapolis teachers union opposes a proposed tax increase for city public schools

2026-08-28T19:18:09+00:00

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A who’s who of Indianapolis community and education leaders gathered Tuesday at the Shepherd Community Center for a campaign kickoff event in support of a tax referendum to raise money for the city’s public schools.

But the absence of Indianapolis Public Schools on the campaign signs at the event served as a reminder that this referendum is like no other.

For the first time, IPS is not in control of the push to ask voters for a tax increase to support schools. And unlike with past ballot measures, the district would receive just half of the expected $95 million in annual revenue.

The Indiana General Assembly gave taxing powers this year to the Indianapolis Public Education Corporation, or IPEC, a new school oversight body. If voters approve the tax increase proposed by IPEC in November, the revenue will be split between IPS and roughly 60 participating charters.

Should it pass, the referendum revenue would be enough to keep IPS from reaching a level of financial insolvency that could lead to state takeover, said Superintendent Aleesia Johnson. But even if it passes, IPS expects to make around $20 million in further cuts — a step that has spurred opposition to the measure, including from the Indianapolis Education Association. That unusual stance taken by the local teachers union could make it harder for the measure to pass.

Opponents like IEA say it’s unfair to ask voters for a tax increase while their neighborhood schools face cuts anyway.

“We’ve already seen one round of cuts that have hit classrooms and programs and it’s scary to know that we could be going through another set that could be even worse than the last,” said IEA Co-Vice President Monica Shellhamer. “It’s hard to support something and say you’re OK with being cut.”

According to the tax measure’s ballot language, the owner of an average Indy home worth $150,000 could expect to pay around $221 more per year in property taxes. The referendum would last for four years.

Opponents seek a reallocation of revenue

Opponents of the referendum hope to persuade IPEC to allocate more referendum funding for IPS in order to reduce the need for further budget cuts.

Shellhamer said one of the key arguments in favor of creating IPEC was that it would stabilize district finances.

“IEA wants to support a referendum that would positively affect the schools, I don’t think this one does,” said Shellhamer, whose union supported the 2018 referendum.

IEA has appealed to Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett’s office for help in convincing IPEC to change the allocation of the referendum. Hogsett appointed the members of IPEC.

Newly appointed IPEC Executive Director Karega Rausch said IPEC has not received a proposal to reallocate the funding. He said such a change wouldn’t be possible because the distribution formula is specified in state law and based on the number of students who live within IPS boundaries and attend each participating charter school.

“All we can do is follow what’s in state law,” he said.

But Rep. Ed DeLaney, a Democrat who represents Indianapolis, said a standard per-pupil allocation doesn’t make sense when the cost of educating every student isn’t equal.

To solve this, DeLaney said, IPEC could allot additional referendum revenue for every student who receives special education or transportation services, for example. That could benefit IPS, which educates a greater share of students with disabilities, and has a large deficit related to those services.

If the IPEC board believes its hands are tied, it could agree to “go back to the legislature for a more rational allocation,” DeLaney said.

“If every kid in every school is the same, then maybe this idea that you put your tuition in your backpack and walk into the school of your choice makes sense,” DeLaney said. “But not every kid is the same, and not every building is the same.”

Supporters: Tax measure would prevent deeper IPS cuts

Rausch said the actual average increase paid by homeowners would be less than what the ballot language says. That’s because the language doesn’t take into account that taxpayers are already paying for the tax increase for IPS voters approved in 2018.

The IPEC board approved the proposed referendum unanimously in June. The measure has the support of a number of community groups such as the Indy Chamber, and IPS leadership, even though district leaders had hoped for a higher tax increase to address budget woes.

The 2026 operating referendum “isn’t a luxury” but a necessity for the district’s financial survival, Johnson said Tuesday.

“If it were not to pass, I would expect there would be some additional state intervention or oversight of our district,” Johnson said. “We will have to continue to do further reductions even with the successful passage of this referendum, but ultimately we want the future of our district to be in the hands of our community.”

Speaking at the Vote Yes for Indianapolis Public Education kickoff event, former Indianapolis Mayor Bart Peterson praised the growing cooperation between school types that had led to more options for Indianapolis students than ever before. The referendum is a key next step in that process, he said, supporting transportation, buildings, and teachers at all schools.

“If we do all of those things, we will give real high-quality options to every single family,” Peterson said. “We’ve made great progress but we’re not there yet, and we’re going to go backwards if we don’t pass this referendum.”

Asked how $20 million in cuts would affect the quality of IPS-run schools, Peterson said he believed the district would determine how to make the reductions, and that every organization must manage its budget.

“This referendum will give them the opportunity to make the budget changes they need to make and also deliver the highest quality education,” he said.

The election is Nov. 3. Check your voter status and register to vote here.

Correction: This story has been updated to accurately reflect the full name of the Indianapolis Education Association, as well as Monica Shellhamer’s title with the IEA.

Aleksandra Appleton covers Indiana education policy and writes about K-12 schools across the state. Contact her at aappleton@chalkbeat.org.

Work first, college degree later: Indiana wants students to consider a new postsecondary model

2026-08-20T11:00:00+00:00

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Driving a school bus allowed Carly Kendall to see her daughter off to school every day, while balancing her service in the National Guard.

But once her daughter was older, Kendall wanted to start a career. She found one via an apprenticeship program for veterans at First Merchants Bank that allowed her to leverage her military experience in HR. This month, Kendall was promoted to a role overseeing the bank’s apprenticeship programs, including a new one led by the Financial Services Academy that’s rolling out in 20 Indiana high schools this fall.

Kendall said banks are well-suited to guide students through apprenticeship pathways because they offer a variety of roles and departments, as well as room for growth.

“You expect that you’re going in there to deposit your checks and get money out,” said Kendall, who’s also pursuing associate and bachelor’s degrees. “With the apprenticeships, the goal is that they’ll see there are so many different opportunities.”

Training on the job is also the foundation of Indiana’s new vision for postsecondary education. The state’s goal is to help more students land high-paying jobs without debt in fields that are projecting workforce shortages, such as manufacturing and healthcare.

Instead of going directly to college, the state wants more students to immediately enter the workforce through apprenticeship and internship programs that they begin in high school. Their employers would not only pay to train those students for entry-level jobs, but also possibly for continuing education, like credentials or training that could lead to promotions. Degrees would come later — as a means of advancement, rather than a prerequisite for employment.

Indiana is considered a national leader in this approach, as more employers seek workers with specific skills and training, said Taylor White, director of postsecondary pathways for youth at New America’s Center on Education and Labor.

But the state’s vision requires buy-in from students, families, and employers. While there’s bipartisan support for apprenticeship, in practice, these models have struggled to attract the thousands of students they promise. And not every industry is prepared to hire students who don’t have college degrees.

Indiana officials think the state can do better. This school year, schools and employer associations will launch the first Indiana Career Apprenticeship Programs, or INCAP, to train high schoolers and adults for jobs in fields like banking, construction, and advanced manufacturing.

This launch dovetails with a new mission for Ivy Tech Community College that will focus on workforce development and growing more programs that are paid for by employers.

To support these initiatives, the state is also pursuing a new framework to ensure that students who get workforce training can go to college later — akin to passing a baton in a relay race, said Secretary of Education Katie Jenner.

“How can we ensure we’re not dropping as many batons as we’re dropping today?” Jenner said. “What does that handoff look like so that students can … be on a path that makes sense for them?”

First, help students graduate directly into the workforce

Since the state approved new graduation requirements in 2024, Indiana high schools have been ramping up programs that allow students to earn work experience.

INCAP adds to those offerings through paid two- and three-year apprenticeships in which students spend several days every week training on the job with an employer. The curriculum is developed by one of INCAP’s Industry Talent Associations, which are made up of businesses in fields like construction, advanced manufacturing, and healthcare.

“The big differentiator for these INCAP programs is that they are developed by industry, and so they are reflecting what Indiana employers say that they need today and think they’re going to need down the road,” said Claire Fiddian-Green, president and CEO of the Richard M. Fairbanks Foundation, which is funding and leading the development of INCAP.

Students who complete the INCAP high school pathway will earn the state’s new Employment Honors Plus seal on their diplomas, as well as the INCAP Apprenticeship Program credential

— which INCAP envisions as being transferable not just to other employers, but to state universities, much like advanced coursework.

In the banking pathway, high school apprentices will earn a retail banking certificate, allowing them to immediately compete for the same jobs that a recent college graduate is applying for, said Chris Fisher, CEO of the Financial Services Academy. (Kendall oversees INCAP at First Merchants Bank.)

After graduating high school, students can also stay in the INCAP pathway and earn a degree that’s equivalent to a four-year college degree, said Fiddian-Green.

These new degrees will derive their equivalency from the Indiana Qualifications Framework, a forthcoming system that will categorize every degree and credential program in the state into levels that show what skills students have.

The framework is Indiana’s answer to questions about how students who enter apprenticeships and career-training programs will get recognition for their skills from other employers, or transfer them to colleges and universities later.

“We want to make sure that we’re not creating a pathway where there are dead ends,” Fiddian-Green said.

Nationally, more employers are touting this kind of skills-based hiring, said White of New America.

In some industries like healthcare or advanced manufacturing, that’s relatively straightforward, White said. But in industries where skills are less technical, the transition has been less smooth.

“Companies say that’s a great idea, and we’re on board, but the data says they’re hiring people with bachelor’s degrees anyway,” White said.

Later, help workers get a degree without debt

Starting work first likely doesn’t mean skipping college entirely.

Under Indiana’s plan, students could earn a degree later — and their employers might pay for them to do so.

A good degree pathway for older students would give them credit for work experience, said Beth Doyle of the Council for Adult and Experiential Learning. Without that, returning students can find themselves in classes for skills they already have, potentially adding years to their education and making it more difficult to earn the credential.

Tuition paid upfront by an employer also helps with costs — the biggest barrier to higher education for many students, Doyle said.

“As things accelerate technologically and in other ways, people are going to need ongoing training, and we can’t assume that they’re going to leave high school knowing what they want to do for the rest of their life,” Doyle said.

White, of New America, said research suggests that young people are increasingly skeptical of a four-year degree, but more open to shorter courses of postsecondary education.

“None of us think you don’t need any college at all — that’s naive,” White said of researchers studying the future of work. “Apprenticeship, when linked well, can be a sort of different route into postsecondary education that allows young people to get different skills before they’re asked to make very expensive and consequential decision.”

A new mission for Ivy Tech Community College could play a role alongside INCAP’s apprenticeship credentials.

Earlier this year, lawmakers codified Ivy Tech’s role as the “workforce engine” of the state.

College leaders say that means aligning existing programs to employer needs, as well as expanding Achieve Your Degree programs, in which companies pay upfront for their employees to take approved courses that can lead to a degree from Ivy Tech.

The program is not new — Cook Medical, a manufacturing company, has sponsored more than 500 Ivy Tech students through its AYD partnership since 2016, with around 127 earning credentials. But college leaders see more students taking this path as a way to make postsecondary education more affordable and meaningful.

“I don’t think the future of college is necessarily this linear pathway of two years, then four years. I think it can be students wanting to get those stackable credentials, get into the workforce, make some good wages, possibly continue on at Ivy Tech with an associate’s degree, and then somewhere down the road, a bachelor’s degree,” said Martin Pollio, Ivy Tech’s president.

At least some schools with a college preparatory focus are trying to balance both.

Herron-Riverside High School, a college preparatory charter school in Indianapolis that focuses on classical education, is launching a workforce training partnership with Vincennes University in fields like aviation, welding, cybersecurity, and advanced manufacturing. The school is also part of the Riverside Education District, which is in the midst of a $137 million investment in career training and literacy.

Head of school Emanuel Harper doesn’t see career training as contrary to the school’s classical education philosophy of helping students to understand culture and history in order to become productive members of society, Harper said.

“One of the ways to do that is to go to college to continue to deepen one’s understanding of self and society,” said Emanuel Harper, Herron-Riverside’s head of school. “Another even more immediate way to be a productive member of society is to go to the workforce to apply those skills … in the career field.”

Aleksandra Appleton covers Indiana education policy and writes about K-12 schools across the state. Contact her at aappleton@chalkbeat.org.

How did Indiana students do on a revised ILEARN this year?

2026-08-11T17:05:25+00:00

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Around 42% of Indiana students were proficient in English language arts and 43% were proficient in math in 2026, according to state testing data released Tuesday.

While pass rates on the state test, the ILEARN, were similar to scores from past years, education officials cautioned against making comparisons, because there have been significant changes to state standards and to the test itself in recent years. The 2025-26 school year was the first in which all students took three ILEARN checkpoints throughout the year, followed by a shorter, end-of-year test.

The change marks another chapter for the ILEARN, which replaced the ISTEP in 2019, and which was canceled in 2020 during the pandemic.

From 2021 to 2025, Indiana students’ proficiency in English language arts on the ILEARN remained essentially flat, while math proficiency increased around five percentage points.

Beginning this year, the new ILEARN scores — along with SAT and IREAD scores — will be a factor in the A-F grades that schools receive. Officials also presented IREAD and SAT scores at the Tuesday meeting of the State Board of Education.

The ILEARN is administered in grades 3-8. The state counts proficiency rates as students who scored proficient or above proficient on the test.

In 2026, just over half of Indiana third and fourth graders were proficient on the math section of the ILEARN. That rate declined in middle school grades, with around 34% of eighth graders passing the math section.

Around 41% of third graders were proficient in English this year. That share remained consistent throughout grades 4-7, increasing slightly to 44% for eighth grade.

“The difference is in math, that if you have cracks in your foundation early, the ripple effect that that has on all other skills is harder and harder to recover from,” said Ana Shults, the Indiana Department Of Education’s chief academic officer, about the difference in the subject score trends.

A breakdown of the scores by student groups also revealed persistent gaps in proficiency.

For example, just 29% of students who received subsidized meals — a federal measure of poverty — scored proficient in English, compared with 53% of students who didn’t.

The state did not make school-level ILEARN data available on Tuesday, but officials did not say why. The state board approved new passing scores for the ILEARN at the meeting.

Secretary of Education Katie Jenner said the test aligns well with the National Assessment of Educational Progress, a test administered by the federal government.

“We have a very tough assessment, tough standards,” Jenner said.

Officials: ILEARN scores not only measure of knowledge

Education officials framed both the ILEARN and the SAT as measures of a student’s progress toward college readiness. But that might not be the only measure of success for all students, they said.

“We’ve talked to many employers, we’ve talked to the military. The SAT is not a score that they necessarily have interest in,” said Paul Ketcham, assistant secretary of education.

Both tests will inform the state’s new A-F grades for schools, with elementary and middle school students assigned points for both growth and proficiency rates in ILEARN English/language arts and math.

SAT proficiency is a standalone indicator worth 10% of a school’s grade, but more weight is given to the share of students earning the state’s new diploma seals.

All Indiana juniors take the SAT, which serves as the state’s high school assessment to meet federal requirements.

This year, 52% of students met the college-ready benchmark in reading and writing on the SAT, and 26% of students did so in math. Another 9% were approaching the benchmark in reading and writing, and 22% were approaching the benchmark in math.

52% of students scored below the college-ready benchmark in math, and 39% scored below the benchmark in reading and writing.

Aleksandra Appleton covers Indiana education policy and writes about K-12 schools across the state. Contact her at aappleton@chalkbeat.org.

Voting records show IPS board candidate Lindsey Cornett did not meet requirement to run as a Democrat

2026-08-07T20:47:22+00:00

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Indianapolis Public Schools board candidate Lindsey Cornett has listed herself as a Democrat on the ballot, but has not met the state voting requirements to do so, Marion County voting records show.

The voting record for Cornett, who is running as one of two candidates in IPS District 4, shows she has voted once in a Democratic primary in Indiana, in the May 2026 primary. Under changes to state law that go into effect this year, candidates for school board elections can list a party affiliation. But in order to do so, they must have voted in two of that party’s primaries in the state, or get permission from the county party leader to identify with a party on the ballot.

Cornett’s voting record, which Chalkbeat obtained from the Marion County Board of Voters Registration, indicates she has voted only once in an Indiana Democratic primary in Indiana, in May of this year. She also voted in general elections.

In a statement Friday, Cornett said that at the time she filed to run, she believed that she had voted in the last two primary elections in Indiana, but added that, “I have since learned that while I had voted in the Democratic party primary in 2026, I had not voted in the 2024 primary. Because I believed I qualified as a Democrat, I did not seek certification from the county chair.”

Cornett added that she was a proud Democrat, but would run as an unaffiliated candidate if necessary.

Both Cornett and the other District 4 candidate, Chris Bultman, have had their listings as Democrats on the ballot challenged this summer.

Bultman, who currently represents District 4 on the IPS board as an appointed member, has voted in multiple Democratic primaries as well as general elections, according to county records. But the challenge to his candidacy hinges on an interpretation that his voting history still does not entitle him to list himself as a Democrat.

What happens next is likely up to the Marion County Elections Board. At the end of last month, the board opted to postpone hearing the challenge to Cornett’s candidacy after subsequently receiving a challenge to Bultman’s candidacy.

The outcome could be one of the earliest decisions by an Indiana elections board regarding partisan school board candidates. This is the first election cycle in which the law about partisan school board races will be in effect.

Bultman’s voting record shows that the two most recent Democratic primaries he voted in were in 2026 and 2020. The challenge to his candidacy from Isaiah Tworek hinges on whether that is sufficient.

According to the new law that allows partisan school board elections, the candidate must have voted in the two most recent primary elections held by that party, in order to affiliate with that party on the ballot. Tworek’s challenge to Bultman’s affiliation is based on this language.

But the Indiana Election Division interprets the new law to mean that candidates must have voted for the party with which they seek affiliation in the most recent primary elections they voted in — not the most recent overall. That same language is on a form that candidates must fill out to run for school board.

If the elections board strips a candidate of their party affiliation, it’s not yet clear if they could stay on the ballot without a party affiliation. Candidates without that affiliation are placed at the bottom of the list of candidates for their race on the ballot.

In a previous statement to Chalkbeat, Bultman said his record “meets the standard detailed by state election leaders who are charged with implementing the law and creating the form we all used to file for office.”

IPS District 4 includes the southwestern part of the school district. Bultman and Cornett listed themselves as Democrats and indicated they met the voting requirements to do so on their filing paperwork.

The challenge to Cornett, filed by Bryan Regules, also disputed the number of signatures she received and the timing of her filing.

Once the county election board makes a decision, anyone who disagrees has 30 days to seek judicial review of the outcome, attorney Brad Boswell — who’s advising the elections board — told the board last month. However, the timeline is tight: The county’s first ballots are printed in mid-September.

Cornett and Bultman were both finalists to fill the District 4 vacancy on the IPS school board following the resignation of board member Allissa Impink. The school board voted in June to appoint Bultman, who will serve until the newly elected school board member is sworn in.

The winner of the District 4 race in November will serve the remainder of Impink’s term until 2028.

Corrections and clarifications: A previous version of this article misspelled Cornett’s name in one reference.

Aleksandra Appleton covers Indiana education policy and writes about K-12 schools across the state. Contact her ataappleton@chalkbeat.org.

MJ Slaby oversees Chalkbeat Indiana’s coverage as bureau chief. Contact MJ at mslaby@chalkbeat.org.

IPEC board member Edward Rangel joins The Mind Trust as chief program officer

2026-07-23T15:00:49+00:00

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Edward Rangel, a charter school founder and board member of the Indianapolis Public Education Corporation, will join The Mind Trust, an Indianapolis-based charter incubator, the organization announced Thursday morning.

Rangel will be chief program officer, overseeing several programs such as the tutoring initiatives Indiana Learns and the Indy Summer Learning Labs, according to a Mind Trust news release.

The hire solidifies IPEC’s ties to the charter school sector in Indianapolis. The founder of The Mind Trust, David Harris, chairs IPEC’s board. Rangel serves as one of three community members on the board, along with three district and three charter school representatives. IPEC members were appointed by Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett.

Rangel will serve out his term on IPEC’s board, according to Kateri Whitley, vice president of communications at The Mind Trust. Board members have staggered term lengths from two to four years, and Rangel’s is two years.

Rangel, the founder and CEO of the charter operator Adelante Schools, also leads the IPEC working group tasked with creating a school accountability system. IPEC will use that system to determine whether to reassign school buildings when they’re underenrolled, as part of its work overseeing buildings, transportation, some finances, and accountability for Indianapolis Public Schools and charters.

On Wednesday night, IPEC voted unanimously to confirm a new executive director, Karega Rausch, who currently serves as president and CEO of the National Association of Charter School Authorizers. The Mind Trust applauded the move.

The Mind Trust also announced the hire of Cold Spring School CEO Cody Stipes as chief administrative officer on Thursday.

Aleksandra Appleton covers Indiana education policy and writes about K-12 schools across the state. Contact her at aappleton@chalkbeat.org.

IPEC chooses charter school policy leader to guide its work

2026-07-22T22:22:10+00:00

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The Indianapolis Public Education Corporation has chosen a new leader with an extensive background in charter schools both in Indianapolis and nationwide as the board’s work ramps up on creating a new accountability system for schools.

The board on Wednesday unanimously approved Karega Rausch as executive director following a recommendation from Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett.

Rausch has spent the last decade as president and CEO of the National Association of Charter School Authorizers. He will lead IPEC’s work as the board drafts an accountability system for Indianapolis Public Schools and city charter schools and works to pass a property tax referendum that will be shared between IPS and charters this year. IPEC also has key powers over transportation and buildings for schools.

Rausch was chosen from a pool of 36 candidates and a list of six finalists that included school district leaders, charter school policymakers, and elected officials. His hiring further tips the balance of experience of IPEC members — which includes charter school and district leaders — toward charter schools.

He served as the education and charter schools director under Indianapolis Mayors Bart Peterson and Greg Ballard, chaired the Indiana Charter Schools Board and led Stand for Children, a nonprofit education advocacy group, in Indiana. Rausch also led a push for IPS to offer preschool, IPEC chairman David Harris said.

In comments at the meeting, Rausch characterized himself as a bridge builder.

“I’ve sought to listen carefully, communicate clearly, and build consensus around meaningful outcomes for kids and families,” Rausch said.

The board also extended its contract with acting executive director Michael O’Connor to Sept. 1.

Neither a start date nor a salary have yet been determined for Rausch, according to O’Connor, because the board first needed to approve the hire. Those details will be negotiated by board chair Harris — and posted — in the coming weeks, O’Connor said.

The salary range for the executive director position was listed as $235,000 to $325,000.

How a new accountability system informs school closures

During Wednesday’s meeting, the board also heard an update from the group developing a draft of the new accountability framework for schools.

The framework will apply to both types of schools under IPEC’s purview — IPS and charter — and will be based on factors such as academic results, student growth, enrollment, and finance and governance.

The system will enable IPS and charter authorizers to address chronic low performance, according to the group’s presentation.

IPEC board member Edward Rangel, who led the group, emphasized that only those entities — not IPEC — will decide if a school can continue to operate. But the accountability framework will allow IPEC to reassign underenrolled school buildings.

“A school’s existence is not our discretion,” Rangel said. “Resource allocation does lie with IPEC.”

Rangel said the board expects to lean on external experts as it considers which buildings are underenrolled.

The law that created IPEC — HEA 1423 — allows it to appeal to the State Board of Education if a school operator chooses not to close an underperforming school.

There will be no summative score on the framework, in part because that could be confused with the state’s new school accountability system, Rangel said.

An update on this system is due to lawmakers on Aug. 1, with a final draft due in November 2027. The board expects to host stakeholder engagement meetings throughout August. The system is expected to take effect in the 2028-29 school year.

IPEC meets again on Aug. 12.

Correction: A previous version of this story misstated the date that IPEC must submit a final performance framework to lawmakers.

Aleksandra Appleton covers Indiana education policy and writes about K-12 schools across the state. Contact her at aappleton@chalkbeat.org.

IPEC is about to pick its executive director. See the list of finalists.

2026-07-17T17:29:22+00:00

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Two current Indianapolis Public Schools leaders, and two former architects of the city’s charter school policy are among the candidates for a top job overseeing key aspects of both systems.

Along with a current IPS school board member and a former state legislator, they are in contention to lead the work of the Indianapolis Public Education Corporation, a newly appointed board responsible for decisions about IPS and charter schools’ finances, buildings, and accountability.

On Thursday, the board announced six finalists for the job, which is expected to pay between $235,000 and $325,000, according to the job listing. The board’s working group chose the finalists, but Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett will make the final recommendation for an executive director, which the board will then vote on.

The executive director will oversee the work of the board during its pivotal first year, which includes passing a tax increase that would be shared between the district and charter schools this November. The board is also due to submit an update on its development of a school accountability system for city schools to state lawmakers by Aug. 1. A final version is due Nov. 1.

The finalists are:

Karega Rausch, the current president and CEO of the National Association of Charter School Authorizers, who previously led charter school policy in the Indianapolis mayor’s office.
Andrew Strope, currently the deputy superintendent at IPS and board member at Teach for America Indianapolis and Enroll Indy.
Zach Mulholland, who currently serves as the executive director of operations at IPS.
Deandra Thompson, a current member of both the IPEC board and the Indianapolis Public Schools board, and the founder of a STEM-based pre-K program.
Carolene Mays, a former state legislator, former executive director of the White River State Park Development Commission, and co-host of Community Link on WISH-TV.
Patrick McAlister, the former director of the Indianapolis Mayor’s Office of Education Innovation, whose projects since his tenure in the office include the Preschool Choice Alliance.

IPEC will meet again July 22 at 4 p.m. in room 260 of the Indianapolis-Marion County City-County Building.

Aleksandra Appleton covers Indiana education policy and writes about K-12 schools across the state. Contact her at aappleton@chalkbeat.org.

5 takeaways from Chalkbeat’s panel on Indiana’s changes to school board elections and referendums

2026-07-10T17:42:59+00:00

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The upcoming election season will ask Indiana voters to make critical decisions about how schools are funded and who sits on local school boards.

Shaping these decisions are new laws taking effect this year that allow school board candidates to run under partisan labels, and change how districts seek property tax referendums.

To explain how these changes may affect the makeup of school boards and future funding for schools, Chalkbeat hosted a panel at the Eugene and Marilyn Glick Indiana History Center in Indianapolis on Wednesday featuring three experts:

Terry Spradlin, executive director of the Indiana School Boards Association.
Ashley Thomas, District 1 IPS commissioner, and member of the IPEC board.
David Roof, associate professor in the Department of Educational Studies at Ball State University’s Teachers College and Director of the Center for Economic and Civic Learning.

Here are five takeaways from the discussion.

Half of school board candidates choose party affiliation

Beginning this year, under a new state law, school board races in Indiana will shed their nonpartisan label and allow candidates to declare a party affiliation. There are no primary races for school board, meaning more than one candidate in a race may be a Democrat or Republican. For this reason, straight-ticket voting won’t include school board races.

Candidates can also choose to remain nonpartisan, or label themselves independent.

Of 1,044 school board candidates who have filed for office statewide, 524 have chosen a party affiliation, according to data from the school boards association shared by Spradlin. Around 72% of that number are running as Republicans, 6% are running as Democrats, and 7% are running as independents.

There are a number of reasons candidates may have chosen a partisan label, the panelists said. For example, listing a party puts a candidate higher on the ballot, Spradlin said. Not listing a party might make voters think a candidate has something to hide, Roof said.

Another 516 candidates chose to remain nonpartisan, according to ISBA data. Approximately

60% of school board races have just one candidate, in line with previous years.

Effect of partisan labels remains to be seen

Supporters of the law previously said partisan labels give voters key information to make a decision. But panelists said that might not be the case in school board elections.

For one thing, there can be considerable differences between members of the same political party, Thomas said.

“Someone could be a Democrat and they could have completely different views on some really strong points compared to someone who sits in that same party,” Thomas said.

Plus, it’s not clear how much party affiliation matters for the responsibilities of school boards, which primarily focus on governance decisions, rather than legislative ones, Roof said. School boards are primarily responsible for hiring superintendents, approving budgets, and adopting policies. No school board member can make these decisions alone, Spradlin noted.

“One of the worries I have is that people will begin to see those decisions through a partisan lens and interpret the decisions that are made — the governing decisions — through a kind of partisan framework,” Roof said.

The years of heightened political tensions at school board meetings during COVID seem to be simmering down, panelists agreed.

At the same time, the 2025 Civic Health Index indicates Hoosiers appear less willing to discuss potentially divisive political issues or attend public meetings. That affects young people’s first experiences with civic engagement, Roof said.

“Our students are paying attention to adults and whether or not we can disagree respectfully,” Roof said.

Three dozen school districts — and counting — seek referendums

Indiana districts can ask voters to raise their own property taxes to help fund schools. Districts typically seek referendum funding for either capital or operating expenses. While capital referendums fund construction or renovations, operating referendums fund expenses like teacher pay, programming, and transportation.

So far, around three dozen districts plan to seek property tax referendums in the fall, and ISBA expects the final number to be around 55. Spradlin said that while the number seems higher than in the past, it reflects the changes lawmakers made to limit when school districts can seek referendums.

This year, districts are asking voters to consider these tax increases in a time of increasing household costs, creating some uncertainty about whether the referendums will pass.

But districts are grappling with rising costs, too, Spradlin said. The majority of a school district’s operating fund goes to insurance, transportation, and utilities, he said, and energy rate hikes are outpacing inflation.

“What districts are pursuing are not really expansive revenue requests to add new programs or build new buildings,” Spradlin said. “These requests are simply to maintain the status quo, to continue to have enough funding for the momentum that we are seeing in our classrooms across Indiana.”

Thomas said districts should be transparent about how they’re spending referendum dollars. In Indianapolis, she said she has recommended an accountability ticker for all schools — including charter schools — that benefit from a referendum to explain how they’re spending the money.

Could sharing tax revenue with charters displease voters?

This year, Indiana lawmakers passed sweeping legislation requiring public school districts to share more property tax revenue with charter schools. Members of the audience wanted to know why they should support referendums if they fundamentally oppose this change.

Thomas said she heard from a constituent with this concern. She said she believes the economic climate will be more of an issue to voters than which schools would benefit from referendums.

“Any disruption that may happen for a referendum that doesn’t pass could be to the detriment of kids, no matter the school type,” she said.

Sharing the revenue means districts have to seek a higher rate, Spradlin said, which could make passing a referendum more challenging.

The next statewide budget could end referendums

Our audience also wanted to know: Is there a piece of legislation that could put an end to districts’ consistent need for referendums?

Spradlin said the next state budget could provide enough state funding to reduce the reliance on referendums.

“That’s the vehicle that we hitch our wagon to every two years and ask for adequate funding for public education in Indiana,” Spradlin said.

With talk of ending property taxes altogether, ensuring an adequate stream of funding is critical, he added. Over the next couple of years, the state will free up another $1 billion after paying off the teacher retirement fund liability — money Spradlin said should be reinvested in public education.

Thomas suggested that lawmakers reverse a 2025 law that made school vouchers open to all in order to ensure more funding is available for public schools.

In addition, providing special education services for Indianapolis students in both district and charter schools has left IPS in a multi-million dollar deficit, Thomas said.

Roof added that lawmakers could tackle specific initiatives, like the recommendations from the Next Level Teacher Compensation Commission, or proposals to implement universal preschool.

Aleksandra Appleton covers Indiana education policy and writes about K-12 schools across the state. Contact her at aappleton@chalkbeat.org.

Indianapolis voters will consider a tax increase for the city’s schools this fall

2026-06-22T23:36:03+00:00

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Indianapolis voters will decide whether to approve a tax increase this fall to support the city’s district and charter schools following a Monday vote by the Indianapolis Public Education Corporation.

The newly-created board that oversees key aspects such as finances of local schools voted unanimously to place an operating referendum of 37 cents per $100 of assessed value that is projected to generate around $90 million in annual revenue on the ballot. It will mean asking voters to cover around $221 more on their annual tax bills on a typical $150,000 home at a time of increasing living costs.

But it could be a lifeline for Indianapolis Public Schools to avoid significant cuts to staff and programs or even a state takeover. The revenue will also benefit charter schools that enroll students living within the IPS district and choose to participate in the referendum.

Half the referendum revenue, or $43.9 million, will go to IPS and $43.9 million will go to around 60 charter schools that have signed up to participate in the referendum.

IPEC acting Executive Director Michael O’Connor acknowledged that the referendum won’t be enough to cover the district’s budget deficit, and will likely require Indianapolis Public Schools to make $20 million in cuts by 2027-28, in addition to the $24 million in cuts already announced this year. The board is also counting on more cost-sharing with the district’s innovation schools, as well as an increase in the state funding IPS receives for special education and English language learner education, to shore up the district’s budget.

In a statement, IPS Superintendent Aleesia Johnson said that though the board’s referendum rate was less than the district sought, she urged voters to support it.

Referencing the further cuts, Johnson said, “We will approach these difficult decisions with thoughtfulness, intentionality, and open communication with our community. Those considerations will begin immediately because we know our students, staff, and families are counting on us.”

The body had multiple referendum options to choose from, including renewing the current referendum at 19 cents per $100 of assessed value or a much higher rate of 55 cents, but ultimately chose a middle ground, said O’Connor.

“We heard from people who are on fixed incomes and who worry very much about what any tax increases would mean to them. We heard from owners of property who worried that their renters couldn’t afford an increase in taxes,” said David Harris, chair of the board in opening comments. “At the same time, we heard from a lot of people who were very worried that we make sure our kids have the resources that they both deserve and are entitled to.”

Board member and IPS board president Hope Duke Star publicly proposed a higher 42 cent referendum to save IPS from more drastic cuts, but the proposal was voted down.

“The amount will be too high for many, too low for many others, but will allow the education system we are tasked with overseeing the ability to operate, make decisions about right-rizing and streamlining in an orderly fashion,” O’Connor said.

Indiana lawmakers this year created the mayor-appointed IPEC to manage referendums, transportation, and accountability for these schools, shifting power away from the elected IPS board.

The fall referendum is the body’s first significant act. It will last four years, rather than the typical eight years. O’Connor said this move would be “best for all,” allowing IPEC to implement a transportation system in year two and a facilities plan in year three. The IPEC board will also set an operating levy in October to fund operating expenses, like transportation, O’Connor said. The sharing of this funding between IPS and charter schools will be rolled out incrementally per state law.

Comments from the public — and especially from charter leaders and advocates — were largely supportive of passing a referendum.

“The outcome goal is all children,” said Felicia Glinsey-Butler, assistant principal at Vision Academy at Riverside, a charter school.

But speakers also expressed frustration that the power to levy a referendum was taken away from the elected IPS board. They asked the IPEC board to ensure transparency for the tax revenue.

“We need a place we can go to see where every single penny of this referendum is going,” said Monica Shellhammer, an IPS third grade teacher.

The referendum will likely be one of several dozen proposed to voters across the state this year, as school districts grapple with caps on property tax revenue and changes to the referendum process.

The next step is for IPEC to send its ballot question to the state Department of Local Government Finance. The department then has until noon Aug. 1 to decide if it’s approved.

IPEC is scheduled to meet again on July 22.

Aleksandra Appleton covers Indiana education policy and writes about K-12 schools across the state. Contact her at aappleton@chalkbeat.org.

A network of public microschools wants to expand across Indiana. Is it collaborating or competing?

2026-06-22T11:00:00+00:00

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Jen Shipley would have never considered public school for her rising third grader, whom she had homeschooled since kindergarten.

In public schools, she said she saw cuts to recess and enrichment, an overreliance on screens, and not enough time to give each student individual attention, she said.

But a 2025 meeting with Indiana Microschool Collaborative CEO George Philhower and Nature’s Gift microschool leader Erin Wolski changed her mind. They painted a picture of a public school located in the woods in Hancock County that would emphasize parental involvement and a flexible schedule, while drawing from Montessori and classical education to allow students to move at their own pace.

Over the next school year, Shipley’s daughter excelled in math where she had been struggling at home. It was hard to leave their full-time homeschooling community, but Shipley said it was worth it.

“I love that she can learn from teachers who love teaching reading and math,” Shipley said. “Sure I could teach my child a science experiment, but not with the same passion behind it.”

Nature’s Gift’s, which just wrapped up its first year, is the Indiana Microschool Collaborative’s first microschool. But the collective plans to open five more sites with spots for hundreds more students across eastern central Indiana. Planned sites in Richmond and New Palestine already have waitlists for admission, a sign that parents’ interest in microschools continues to grow.

The collaborative’s approach is distinctive — and not just for its education model. In fact, the Indiana Microschool Collaborative, or IMC, could be a harbinger of how emerging models for schooling in the state will increasingly blur traditional lines.

It’s a network of microschools, which operate with a degree of independence, but it’s also classified as a single charter school in terms of state funding. And it doesn’t just draw on resources and services from a traditional school district — its CEO, Philhower, is also that district’s superintendent.

Eastern Hancock Schools, a rural district serving around 1,200 students across three schools, provides administrative support to Nature’s Gift through a shared services agreement. However, the charter school is an independent entity and authorized by the Indiana Charter School Board.

Philhower envisions Indiana microschools working collaboratively with their local districts to offer families an alternative to leaving the public school system altogether. For families, this opens up possibilities like learning at home some days and learning in a classroom on others, while districts still earn some revenue from providing facilities or administrative support.

“At a broader level, the goal is not to create separation between schools but to create more connected and flexible public learning opportunities for families,” Philhower said.

Not everyone is so taken with the idea. Some Indiana superintendents have spoken to the collaborative about bringing microschools to their districts, said Jeff Butts, of the Indiana Association of Public School Superintendents. But the collaborative’s Richmond site has been criticized by the superintendent of the local school district, who said losing students to IMC would lead to district funding cuts and staff reductions.

That kind of financial crunch would hit rural districts especially hard, said Cathy Fuentes-Rohwer, president at Indiana Coalition for Public Education.

Then there are broader concerns about whether such arrangements are appropriate or fair. Fuentes-Rohwer questioned how Philhower can promote both the district and the collective and serve both well.

“Charter schools are based on the idea that the public schools are failing to provide something for kids. Your job as a superintendent is to fix that, and provide what’s needed so that every student can be the best that they can be,” Fuentes-Rowher said. “If it’s about smaller class sizes or individualized attention, why is that not provided to all kids at the district?”

Philhower said he believes in school choice, and that all students should get to attend “a school that feels like it was designed for them.”

“Nothing is stopping us from providing that. One benefit to Eastern Hancock is we get to learn from these sites,” he said. “And these sites get to learn from us.”

Funding and operating microschools throughout the state

Indiana’s microschools have operated mostly as small private schools, although in 2023, Purdue Polytechnic High School opened the Lab School, a microschool within a public charter school serving around 20 students

The microschools’ approaches share an emphasis on small environments and personalized instruction. But with small staffs, there are some tradeoffs.

At Nature’s Gift, parents pick up and drop off every day. The school can incorporate some special education goals into small group instruction, but other services for students with an Individualized Education Program might be offered virtually, school leaders said. That format might not be appropriate for every student.

Each IMC site serves between 60 and 100 students, and will have “its own educators and identity that fits the local community,” Philhower said, though there is collaboration with districts “around professional learning, systems, curriculum design, and student experiences.”

Under Indiana law, IMC could be eligible to receive local property tax revenue from multiple districts. Philhower said IMC has not discussed participating in a referendum, and would only participate if its partner districts wanted the school to do so.

For state funding purposes, IMC is one big charter school, Philhower said. That also means the new locations are not subject to an Indiana law that requires charter authorizers to hold public hearings before granting charters to new schools.

That left local education leaders in one county blindsided.

Wayne County superintendents were not included in IMC’s plans to open a microschool on the campus of Indiana University East in Richmond this fall, said Mike McCoy, superintendent of the local district, Centerville-Abington Community Schools.

Philhower said the school works with its authorizer, the Indiana Charter School Board, on hearings. The board did not respond to a request for comment.

In a statement, IU spokesman Mark Bode said IU East shared initial information about the new school in late March, followed by a meeting with the superintendents in April.

If he had been asked for input, McCoy said he would have suggested a model within a district that would allow students to stay with their peers while also taking classes at the university. His district already sends some students to IU East for a teaching pathway and other college courses.

Enrollment in Centerville-Abington, which has about 1,700 students, has fallen in the last several years due in part to local demographic changes, McCoy said.

Philhower said it makes sense for districts with declining enrollments to work with IMC schools instead of merely losing those students. After dipping slightly during the pandemic, enrollment in Philhower’s Eastern Hancock district has recovered to where it stood a decade ago.

But McCoy said a loss of even 10 students to a microschool could force his district to cut a teaching position.

“Schools in Wayne County, we’re working together more than we ever have,” McCoy said. “It’s unfortunate that we’re going to lose students.”

What teaching and learning at a microschool is like

On a recent Friday, Nature’s Gift students boarded an Eastern Hancock school bus for a field trip to the Conner Prairie museum.

The school paid Eastern Hancock schools for the gas and the cost of the driver’s time for the field trip, said Wolski, the school leader. Two Nature’s Gift teachers planned the outing. (Eastern Hancock does not provide daily transportation to and from the school.)

Teachers at Nature’s Gift don’t typically spend the whole day with just one group of students; Wolski is the licensed teacher for the middle school, but might also pull aside a group of five second graders for additional reading instruction, she said.

“I don’t feel like I’m on an island, and my whole career, I felt like I was on an island,” said Wolski, who previously spent 16 years teaching in both general education and special education roles.

Wolski said IMC hopes to add a special education coordinator in the future to be able to offer more services — like identification — in-house, rather than relying on Eastern Hancock.

The group instruction at the school is based on skill level, so it’s easier for students to move at their own pace, Wolski said. A first grader recently joined her math group for third to fifth grade students.

These learning groups might include approximately a dozen students at a time, though the school comes together in larger cohorts to work on Project Lead The Way curriculum.

Some students attend in-person only part-time, and complete the rest of their instruction at home. The flexibility allowed Shipley’s daughter to attend Nature’s Gift in person three days a week, leaving time to attend a wilderness school program while completing schoolwork at home.

“We are always thinking about outside the box ideas,” Wolski said. “When you work closely with parents, you have that partnership, and you can problem solve a lot easier.”

Aleksandra Appleton covers Indiana education policy and writes about K-12 schools across the state. Contact her at aappleton@chalkbeat.org.

Indiana wins federal education funding waiver from Trump administration

2026-06-16T15:01:14+00:00

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The Trump administration is giving Indiana new flexibility in how it spends some of its federal education funding.

But the waiver from the U.S. Department of Education is not nearly as expansive as what Indiana requested last year, when it sought a waiver from some provisions of the Every Student Succeeds Act, the main federal law governing K-12 education.

The approved waiver will merge five federal funding streams to the tune of around $50 million over the next four years, according to U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon, who spoke at a news conference with Indiana Secretary of Education Katie Jenner and Indiana Gov. Mike Braun on Tuesday.

This strategy for federal education funding, often referred to as a block grant, is popular among conservatives championing fewer regulations. But others have criticized it, saying it could weaken accountability for the money and ultimately hurt certain students.

Indiana is now the third state after Iowa and Louisiana to receive a “Returning Education to the States” waiver from the Trump administration, which has also sought to close the Education Department. The flexibility the department provided to Iowa was also more modest than what the state originally sought.

McMahon and Jenner said the move will save Indiana an estimated $20 million in compliance costs over four years associated with administering the grants separately.

“As states, we have significant control over education. We set standards, choose our curriculum, and design assessments. When it comes to federal funding, our hands have always been tied, until now,” Jenner said.

The waiver will also allow the state to use its newly approved school accountability model as the sole accountability model for state and federal purposes.

At the state level, the waiver will merge the following funding streams:

Title I, Part B grants, which cover assessment.
Title II, Part A grants, which cover professional development.
Title III, Part A grants, which cover education for English learners.
Title IV, Part A grants, which cover enrichment.
Title IV, Part B grants, which cover 21st Century Learning Centers.

The federal funding for these grants will not change under the waiver.

The waiver does not grant all Indiana districts similar flexibility to spend the money they receive from the state, as the state originally requested in its waiver application. Instead, it allows the state to create a pilot program for up to 15% of local education agencies that will allow them to merge Title II, Part A and Title IV, Part A funds.

The waiver also does not address Indiana’s request to redirect School Improvement Grant funding away from schools identified as low-performing. That request would have potentially diverted $25 million in annual federal funding to other schools, like charter schools and microschools.

Education advocates had expressed concern that this move would have hurt students who have to stay at the schools identified as low-performing.

Similarly, critics have also said that merging dedicated federal funding streams for specific student needs into block grants risks losing the guardrails that ensure the funding reaches those students.

Denise Forte, president and CEO of The Education Trust, an advocacy group that tracks the status of state waiver requests, said in a Tuesday statement that the Trump administration “has abandoned” commitments to supporting students and schools and to publicly reporting important education data.

“Instead, the Department of Education will allow Indiana to rewrite its accountability system in a way that will mask student performance and move millions of dollars in dedicated funding away from students who need it most,” Forte said.

Indiana officials on Tuesday rejected such arguments.

“Our funding formulas … direct a certain number of dollars per student to every school. That money will continue to flow,” Jenner said. “Now the money will be able to be deployed exactly how they need it in a timely manner.”

Aleksandra Appleton covers Indiana education policy and writes about K-12 schools across the state. Contact her at aappleton@chalkbeat.org.

Cambridge-backed courses are expanding in Indiana. Here’s how schools are using them.

2026-05-27T11:00:00+00:00

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Before 2024, students at Whiteland High School seeking advanced curriculum could already choose between Advanced Placement and dual credit courses.

So when school officials considered adding a new curriculum backed by the University of Cambridge in 2024, they wanted to address the needs of a specific subset of students: the community’s growing population of non-English speaking students, who represent around 14% of the district and speak 64 languages.

They found that the essay-based test in Cambridge courses allowed students to demonstrate their mastery of advanced content while they were still learning English, said assistant superintendent Cassandra Shipp.

“We don’t want to limit our students who we know are bright,” Shipp said. “Regardless of whether they’re taking AP or Cambridge, our students have to be global competitors.”

Indiana wants more schools to offer Cambridge STEM courses through $500,000 in grant funding earmarked in the latest state budget. The long-term goal is to create another way for students to earn an advanced diploma that leads to automatic college admission. Schools can apply for grant funding that will help pay for teacher training and program fees.

In February, the state’s department of education awarded six schools — including Whiteland — funds to introduce courses like Thinking Skills, Computer Science, Biology, and Chemistry. Now, it has opened another round of funding to allow up to 16 more public and private schools to start offering these classes.

What are Cambridge Courses?

Cambridge courses come from the University of Cambridge in England through its nonprofit Cambridge International Education.

Though the courses are new to Indiana, and less common nationally than Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate classes, they’re offered in approximately two dozen other states and 160 countries.

The offerings from Cambridge are a little like both IB and AP programs: Like IB, Cambridge offers programs that begin in elementary school and go through high school; but like AP, it also offers standalone courses.

Passing an A-level Cambridge course in an Indiana high school is equivalent to passing one in the U.K. or Singapore and indicates that a student is ready for college-level coursework, said Mark Cavone, the North American regional director for international education at Cambridge University Press and Assessment. While not necessarily aimed at multilingual students, some features make the courses a particularly good fit for them, like the incorporation of Global English, a neutral form of English.

While most Cambridge courses are aimed at students going to college, the organization also offers some career-oriented courses, such as in marine science and travel and tourism, Cavone said.

“The thing that keeps us up at night is that we want kids to be college and career ready by the time they graduate high school,” Cavone said.

How can Indiana students use Cambridge courses?

Through the expansion, more Indiana schools will be able to allow students to earn the Cambridge Advanced International Certificate of Education, or AICE, diploma, Cavone said.

The AICE diploma is one of the ways that students can earn an Honors Enrollment Seal in the state’s new high school graduation requirements, which guarantees students admission to any of the state’s public universities. Students can also earn this seal by earning an associate degree, IB diploma, AP Scholar with Distinction, or other advanced pathway. And schools receive a $2,495 bonus for every student who earns an honors enrollment seal.

Cavone said Indiana’s diploma redesign and education choice policies made it a good fit for the organization’s expansion.

Currently, Cambridge courses are available mainly in traditional public high schools, Cavone said, along with some charter and private schools. The first round of grant funding from the Indiana Department of Education was awarded to four public high schools, one charter school, and one private school:

Whiteland Community High School at the Clark Pleasant Community School Corporation. The district also offers Cambridge English courses in middle and high school that are not backed by the grant.
North Central High School in the Metropolitan School District of Washington Township
Terre Haute South Vigo High School at the Vigo County School Corporation
East Chicago Central High School at the School City of East Chicago
GEO Next Generation Academy
Al-Haqq Foundation Academy

Schools interested in applying for the IDOE grant should fill out the application before July 17.

Corrections and clarifications: This article has been updated to include the correct name for Cambridge International Education.

Aleksandra Appleton covers Indiana education policy and writes about K-12 schools across the state. Contact her at aappleton@chalkbeat.org.

Building Corvettes and caring for cattle: Indiana’s push to reinvent high school gains steam

2026-05-14T17:50:58+00:00

Adam Harmon and Raj Jain were designing rockets.

The two juniors in Brent Schulz’s aerospace engineering class at Center Grove High School worked on computer-aided design software that Schulz’s students begin learning as freshmen. For them, this lesson during a school day last month wasn’t just academic: After school, they put their knowledge to the test at a paid internship with Speedway Composites, where they manufacture parts for the C8 Corvette.

“Racing is aerospace engineering upside down,” said Schulz, who connected the students to the company when the latter was looking for interns.

While their goal of studying engineering in college is still more than a year away, the juniors in Indiana’s Center Grove school district see the value of starting internships now.

“In engineering, it can help a lot, because every internship you have builds on itself, and that helps you get a job way easier once you get done,” Harmon said.

Harmon and Jain are not alone. More high schoolers are preparing for work, and more schools and employers are helping them find work opportunities, as Indiana shifts to a high school model that emphasizes career experience.

In a makerspace in a South Bend charter school, students operate Bend Manufacturing, taking machining and 3D printing orders from local businesses. And on a farm at Indian Creek High School, students care for a cattle herd as part of Creek Cattle Company.

The ultimate test of whether every Indiana student can access some kind of work-based learning if they want it is coming up. Thousands of students beginning with the Class of 2029 will need the hours of career experience required for the top-tier enrollment and employment diplomas. Under the diploma seals adopted by the state in late 2024, many will also need career and technical education courses, and paths toward earning technical certificates.

That means that over the next year, they’ll need programs and employers able and willing to train and hire them. In preparation, schools, businesses, and other organizations have been expanding career education capacity at a rapid pace by growing existing programs and adding new internship opportunities. They’re also offering support for student-run businesses.

They hope to provide a greater variety of opportunities that students can use to meet the new graduation requirements — not just the hours of work experience, but also skills like communication and collaboration that they can take into any field.

“It’s not about going into farming as a career,” Indian Creek High School Principal Luke Skobel said of Creek Cattle Company. “It prepares them for life, for whatever it is they’re going to do.”

The efforts so far have earned Indiana national recognition as a leader in bridging high school and the workforce — something other states are pursuing too. At a March State Board of Education meeting, Indiana received high marks from XQ Institute, a nonprofit organization advocating for high school transformation.

“High school is not the end of childhood, it is the bridge to adulthood,” XQ CEO Russlynn Ali told the board. “If we get it right, it is a launchpad. If we get it wrong, it becomes a sorting mechanism.”

Where students are finding career education opportunities

Indiana students begin making postsecondary plans in eighth grade with the help of their counselors, insight from tools like the Indiana Career Explorer Assessment, and input from their families.

Schulz, the Center Grove engineering teacher, said that in his experience, most students already have an idea by freshman year of whether they’ll be pursuing college, a career, or a mix of both after graduation.

Center Grove offers different paths to these goals. A sequence from Project Lead The Way, a national organization that provides curriculum in career and technical education, usually leads to college. A manufacturing pathway at Central 9, the career education center serving Johnson County, puts students on track to careers. And a new advanced manufacturing track allows students to earn an associate degree from Ivy Tech while interning with local businesses.

Around half of the nearly 3,000 students at the school take Project Lead The Way classes in engineering, computer science, or biomedical science. By senior year, some will have taken five engineering courses, and will spend their final year working on their own ideas for capstone projects, like AI-enabled sensors that help sort recycling, Schulz said.

Enrollment in the program is increasing as a result of the new diploma requirements, said Project Lead The Way President and CEO David Dimmett. That’s in part because the courses are developed with industry input, and help prepare students to jump into a career.

“Students build a lot of technical knowledge in those pathways,” Dimmett said. “Probably more importantly, the skills they’re building transcend those pathways. They’re learning how to solve problems and identify problems. … They understand design principles and how to work together as a team.”

Cold calling and cattle wrangling at student-led businesses

There’s growing interest in student-led businesses as a way to help students meet the new diploma requirements, said Nioka Clark, senior director of workforce strategies at Ascend Indiana, which has launched a coalition of these businesses.

Indiana already has several examples of student-led businesses embedded in schools, like Bend Manufacturing at the Career Academy Network of Public Schools, a charter school in South Bend, and Creek Cattle Company at Indian Creek High School.

At Bend Manufacturing, students use the school’s makerspace to machine and 3D print parts for the many manufacturers in northwest Indiana. The business began in 2024 as both a response to the state’s push for work experience and a natural offshoot of the school’s entrepreneurial philosophy, said Jeremy Lugbill, the network’s CEO.

One niche they’ve found: They can deliver prototype parts faster than larger labs.

“They’re learning the value and importance of living up to commitments and timeliness,” he said.

Students typically spend 60 to 90 minutes of the schools’ extended school day at Bend Manufacturing. The school is considering how what they do as part of the business could be used to satisfy some of their academic course requirements, Lugbill said.

At Indian Creek High School, juniors directly build career experience by acting as CEO, CFO, and head of grounds at Creek Cattle Company, which began in 2017 and doubles as a source of fresh beef for the school cafeteria. Agriculture is important to both the school and the community, Skobel said, and students are building agricultural science knowledge while caring for the herd of five.

But they’re also developing business and communication skills they can apply to other jobs by ordering feed, calling contractors, and selling beef to the local community, Skobel said.

The success of the student-run enterprises has both schools considering what other businesses their students could run. Clark said the first step for a student interested in starting a business of their own would be to talk to a teacher, who can help guide them to the right courses or to an employer who’s willing to sponsor them.

The Career Academy Network is considering how students could lease the school’s facilities to local organizations for events. Indian Creek students also operate the Creek Design Lab, a printing business, and are considering growing lettuce for the cafeteria.

“It has opened our eyes to the things we can do here on campus to provide students these authentic experiences that help students grow in the way that sitting in a classroom doesn’t,” Skobel said.

Career training opportunities outside of school

Some students are finding work-based learning opportunities beyond what’s offered in their schools.

Indiana in 2023 established Career Scholarship Accounts, giving students a stipend to help with the costs of career training outside of schools.

And employers and other organizations are increasingly offering alternative models of work-based learning, like projects that students can complete to solve a problem for a business, or summer programs that expose students to a variety of careers and job skills.

These options help students as well as employers who may not have the capacity to hire or train students, said Sally Saydshoev of the Indiana Chamber of Commerce.

During the Edna Martin Christian Center’s Summer Works program, Indianapolis students spend three weeks learning job skills and touring colleges, and another three weeks at an externship in a field of their choice, like early education or medical assisting.

The center also follows up with support — like gas cards — to ensure they can continue in the tracks they started over the summer, said Jamie Scott-Massie, the center’s senior director of community family initiatives.

The paid program is complementary to the career pathways that already exist at Arsenal Tech and KIPP Indy High School, where most Summer Works students attend school.

“There are more students than all of us can individually support,” Scott-Massie said.

It was Edna Martin Center staff who told Brooklyn Lawrence about the Summer Works program in 2024. Lawrence chose the Certified Nursing Assistant track, inspired by her grandmother, a nurse.

Now a psychology student at Ivy Tech, Lawrence said the support and structure in the program helped her define her path after high school.

“If I didn’t do it, I don’t know if I would have gone to college,” Lawrence said. “I wouldn’t have felt so motivated.”

How students can graduate into the workforce

One of the goals of the new diplomas is to give high school students a path directly into the workforce. Saydshoev of the Indiana Chamber said the organization helps show employers how they might invest in training high school students and graduates to meet their future employment needs.

“When you put a help wanted sign on your door, you’re expecting the right talent to show up at your door,” said Saydshoev. “It can work and it has worked, but we’re trying to help employers think about (hiring) as talent development.”

Building a talent pipeline is one of the reasons that Ardagh, a glass and metal packaging manufacturer with plants and offices in Indiana, decided to sponsor Project Lead The Way programs at Indiana high schools in 2020.

In 2024, the company also started a high school internship program, said Sean Cosgrove, global head of education programs at Ardagh, alongside its existing college internship program.

The company has also recently started to hire high school students with significant manufacturing experience into full-time production roles after graduation, he said.

For employers to do this on a larger scale, it may take a policy shift from requiring a certain degree to recognizing the skills that students have developed in high school.

“A lot of high schools have those industry certifications or skilled trade programs,” he said. “We’ve seen a lot of great students come out of there that I think are quality employees from day one.”

Aleksandra Appleton covers Indiana education policy and writes about K-12 schools across the state. Contact her at aappleton@chalkbeat.org.

Indiana wants more students to pursue cybersecurity careers after high school. Here’s how.

2026-05-13T18:35:31+00:00

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Indiana wants more students to pursue careers in cybersecurity by expanding access to a new pathway that includes advanced technology classes and military mentorship.

Launching in June, the cybersecurity pathway’s direct connection to the Indiana National Guard makes it unique both in Indiana and in the nation, allowing students who take it to potentially earn any of the state’s new diploma seals that lead to enrollment, employment, or enlistment.

While there has been some overlap in the state’s new diploma requirements for enrollment- and employment-bound Hoosier students, the enlistment pathway has stood apart with an emphasis on JROTC and the military aptitude test, the ASVAB.

By taking AP or Project Lead the Way cybersecurity classes, along with work experience opportunities in the cybersecurity sector, and mentorship from the Indiana National Guard, students can earn any one or more of the diploma seals, education officials said. They can then pursue a college degree in the field, a job in the industry, or a cybersecurity specialty in the military.

The pathway will be the nation’s first “military aligned cybersecurity pathway,” according to the state’s presentation.

The announcement of the new pathway comes in the week after a cyberattack affected a learning management system used at schools like Indiana University. Both education and military officials highlighted a growing need for cybersecurity professionals across industries.

Speaking to the state board, Lt. Col. Brent Nelson of the Indiana National Guard said cybersecurity is important not just to national security but in academia, industry, healthcare, and utilities too.

“We can have a cyber attack occur from half a world away and it can affect every member of the population in Indiana and across the nation,” Nelson said. “It’s imperative we have a pipeline of strong leaders able to take on that role.”

The state’s plan includes expanding access to AP and PLTW cybersecurity classes, which are currently offered at 69 schools to around 560 students, to 200 schools and 4,000 students, respectively, over the next three years. The AP Cybersecurity classes are part of the College Board’s new AP Career Kickstart courses, which were piloted for the 2025-26 school year, and also include AP Business with Personal Finance.

Schools that are interested in participating should contact indianacyber@collegeboard.org.

The cybersecurity pathway will officially launch with a presentation at the Reagan Institute in Washington, D.C., in June, said Secretary of Education Katie Jenner.

Aleksandra Appleton covers Indiana education policy and writes about K-12 schools across the state. Contact her at aappleton@chalkbeat.org.

How to run for school board in Indiana

2026-05-11T11:00:00+00:00

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With primary season officially over in Indiana, attention is turning to the November general election. For schools, the most important offices on the ballot may not be at the top.

School boards across the state will have seats up for election in November 2026, and for the first time they’ll be partisan races due to a new state law.

School board members vote on important issues affecting their school districts, including the hiring of a superintendent, and the district budget. The latter responsibility carries even more weight at a time when property tax caps could pressure districts into budget cuts.

Over the last few years, spending on school board campaigns has increased significantly in some communities. There have also been rising tension over policies about school choice, and curriculum. At the same time, school board races sometimes don’t have enough candidates to fill every seat that’s up for election.

“School board used to be the sleepy quiet board where you could get your toe in the waters in terms of running for office and serving,” said Patricia Russo of the Campaign School at Yale University, a nonprofit, issue-neutral organization that helps women prepare to run for office.

“Now it’s become very contentious. As a result of that, you need to be prepared and know what the issues are.”

School boards alums in Indiana include Republican Gov. Mike Braun, who served on the Greater Jasper school board.

Chalkbeat has compiled a list of common questions and answers about running for school board ahead of the filing deadline at noon on June 18. Here’s what candidates need to know before seeking a seat.

How do I run for school board in Indiana?

The first step for a would-be candidate might be one they’ve already done: figuring out whether public service is a path they want to take. One of the best ways to do that is to work for a campaign first before running, Russo said.

Once they’re sure, the next step is to determine what school district they reside in, as well as whether the open seats on that board represent a specific region within the district, or represent the district at large.

Then, they’ll need to fill out a petition of nomination for school board.

What forms do I need to fill out to be a school board candidate?

That petition is also known as a CAN-34, which can be found on the secretary of state’s website. This form has space for signatures — a school board candidate usually needs 10 signatures from voters in the district to run, though the rules can differ slightly for some districts, according to the Indiana School Boards Association. In a metropolitan school district, for example, a candidate needs 10 signatures from voters in the board district that the candidate is running to represent.

This petition of nomination must be filed with the county voter registration office and needs to be accompanied by a statement of economic interests, or a CAN-12. This form essentially asks a candidate to disclose how they make their money. It’s also available on the secretary’s website.

Candidates can start filing petitions of nomination on May 19 and must do so by noon on June 18.

Are all school board races partisan elections?

As of July 2025, all school board elections in Indiana are partisan, meaning candidates must do one of three things: declare a political party affiliation, declare an independent candidacy, or elect not to declare any affiliation. This information will appear alongside a candidate’s name on the ballot.

This controversial change was championed by conservative lawmakers and other advocates as a way to give voters more information about who they’re voting for. But critics fear it will invite partisan politics into school matters. The November 2026 election is the first time school board races will be partisan.

To declare affiliation with a major political party, the candidate must have voted in the two most recent primary elections in Indiana held by that party. If not, a candidate needs to seek approval from the county chairman of that political party before they can claim affiliation — and that certification must be filed with their candidacy.

Each county party will have their own process for candidates to seek chair approval — the Marion County Republican Party requests that candidates reach out here, for example, while Hamilton County Democrats ask that requests be emailed to chair@hamcodemsin.org.

A good starting point to find other contacts would be each party’s county directory, which can be found here for Democrats, and here for Republicans.

A candidate’s party affiliation could be challenged if they did not vote in the two recent primaries or obtain certification from the county chairman.

Multiple candidates with the same political affiliation can appear on the ballot because there’s no law establishing a primary process for school board candidates. That’s why straight-ticket voting still won’t include school boards seats.

Can I serve on the school board as a teacher, or if I don’t live in the school district?

A teacher or other school district employee can’t also be a school board member of the same school district. But they can run for a seat, as long as they leave their job before assuming office.

Candidates must also be residents of the school corporation, and if they’re running to represent a certain district on the board, they must be residents of that district for at least a year before the election.

Others may be excluded from running due to the partisan nature of the election. Federal employees typically can’t run in partisan elections under the Hatch Act.

How much money does it cost to run for a school board seat?

There is no filing fee for school board candidates. The costs of running might include campaign materials like yard signs and pamphlets, said Terry Spradlin of the Indiana School Boards Association.

But school board races have increasingly attracted large campaign contributions, especially in high-profile races where issues like school choice spur donations from political action committees.

Candidates who do raise or spend more than $500 have some additional requirements. They must file a Statement of Organization to establish a candidate’s committee that will make expenditures and take contributions for their campaign. More information about forming these committees and filing campaign finance reports can be found in this manual from the secretary of state.

What do I need to do during the campaign season?

Most candidates can rely on their county political parties for help with the traditional hallmarks of campaign season, like going door-knocking, or even finding a part-time campaign manager, Russo said.

But it’s important for the candidate themselves to knock on doors and meet voters in person, she said.

“That’s where your votes are,” she said.

In a guide for candidates, the Indiana School Boards Association suggests that a candidate use this time to share the “background and the skills you have that make you a good school board member.”

However, candidates will need to be careful about campaigning on school grounds, which most districts prohibit.

What should I do if I win? Will I be paid?

First, bask in your victory. Then, look for an orientation session for new school board members put on by the district, or by the Indiana School Boards Association.

Each school board member’s primary duty is to vote on important matters like hiring a superintendent, and requests to ask voters for a tax increase. It’s important to note that no school board member can make decisions for the district on their own.

Boards also approve policies for the school district that affect students, staff, property, and technology. The Indiana General Assembly has given school boards more direct power over what’s taught in classrooms in recent years, like through a law specifying that all sex ed textbooks and curriculum must be approved by a district’s board.

School board members are typically paid a small stipend for their service, up to 10% of the lowest starting salary of a district teacher.

How can I learn more about running for school board?

For more information, the Indiana School Boards Association holds free webinars throughout May and June ahead of the candidate filing deadline.

This story has been updated with the time of the filing deadline on June 18.

Aleksandra Appleton covers Indiana education policy and writes about K-12 schools across the state. Contact her at aappleton@chalkbeat.org.

How an Indiana counselor helps students turn ‘I want to go to college’ into a plan

2026-04-21T11:00:00+00:00

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In the quest to prepare for life after high school, students at the Metropolitan School District of Perry Township have an edge: a coach who knows the ins and outs of getting into college.

After 30 years in admissions at the University of Indianapolis, Ron Wilks now serves as the College Success Coach at Perry schools, helping students figure out a postsecondary plan sooner rather than later.

He encourages all students to pursue some form of education after high school — whether that’s a traditional bachelor or associate degree, or a short-term certificate. That’s in line with new high school graduation requirements that require students to plan ahead by earning college credits, technical certificates, or other credentials that indicate they’re ready for post-grad opportunities. These rules go into effect for the Class of 2029 in Indiana.

While not all students will choose college, programs like IU Indianapolis’ seamless admissions initiative — which offers automatic admission for central Indiana students in 31 high schools who have a 3.0 GPA or higher — help make the college conversation easier, he said.

“There are people on both the high school side and college side who will help,” Wilks said. “[Students] just need to raise their hand and say, ‘I want to go to college, can you help me figure that out?’

Here’s more about how Wilks helps students approach the college admissions process.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

What led you to become a college success coach?

I retired after 30 years in admissions from the University of Indianapolis and Perry Township had an opening for a Fairbanks Grant-funded College Success Coach position. The position fit perfectly with where I was and allowed me to continue fulfilling my calling of helping students transition from high school to college. Having the college admission experience has also been very helpful in my role.

What does a typical day in your role look like?

I typically will meet with seniors who are interested in college or unsure and may not understand the college admission process. I listen to what they tell me their goals are for after high school and then we work together on a plan for them to execute. I also lead a six-week program for sophomores in the spring that focuses on developing a plan earlier in their high school career.

The program is called SOAR, or Strengthening Opportunities and Academic Resilience. We cover topics around enrollment and employment pathways after high school and take a deeper dive into what skills are needed for careers, how to develop skills and experiences and convey them into strong resumes and applications. We also do goal setting and assess their current situation and target opportunities for improvement.

I talk to many seniors who have a goal of college but either don’t have a plan or are unsure how to make a plan. The goal with the sophomore group is to make sure they don’t come to a person like me as a senior without some type of plan for education or training beyond high school.

How do you talk to students who might be unsure about college?

I encourage them to strongly consider some type of training or education beyond high school. We talk about everything from one semester certificate programs, to associate and bachelor degree programs. We then go over the process of making it happen and I then track their progress. I even help them fill out an application if they want and follow up when they need more encouragement or nudging.

What role do programs like IU Indianapolis’ seamless admissions play in these conversations?

It’s a great hook for many of them. Especially for those who are unsure or intimidated by the process. Knowing that admission is guaranteed makes the conversation easier. Once they complete the application I can see the confidence they have gained in making college one step closer to becoming a reality.

A lot has changed in Indiana when it comes to college and career readiness. How do you help students and their families navigate new requirements and opportunities?

To me it’s about listening to what they would like to do after high school and helping them understand the different pathways and processes for getting to where they want to go. I also talk with them about the power of information and provide them with information and resources through my college connections that they can use during the process. Then I check on how well they are navigating the process and help them overcome any hurdles they encounter along the way.

What’s your best advice to students and families preparing for college?

I tell students that one of the best things they can learn is to ask for help. Especially if they want to do some education or training beyond high school but are unsure or intimidated by the process.

Can you share a success story you’re particularly proud of helping a student with the college process?

Last year I worked with a student who wasn’t sure if he wanted to go to college or not. After several conversations assessing different options he determined he wanted to go to IU Indianapolis — where we were able to get him in the Groups Scholar program at the last minute. The Groups Scholar program is an IU program that supports students the summer prior to enrollment and throughout their college career.

At the end of the year he asked me to sign his yearbook saying I was an important part of his high school journey. I then saw him on the (IU Indy) campus in the fall during a visit and he saw me and sought me out to tell me how well he was doing. That was a proud moment for sure.

Aleksandra Appleton covers Indiana education policy and writes about K-12 schools across the state. Contact her at aappleton@chalkbeat.org.

An Indiana district turned to voters to fund more preschool seats. Here’s what happened next.

2026-04-17T16:31:16+00:00

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When Pete Hinnefeld and his wife started looking for a preschool for their daughter, they hoped to send her to the same school her brother attended, which was just down the road from their house and offered Spanish-language immersion.

To do this for Lydia, then age 3, they were prepared to pay the $600 monthly cost.

But after voters approved a property tax referendum to fund early learning for children living within the Monroe County Community School Corporation, the family’s preschool bill was cut by more than half. Nearby preschool cut down time spent commuting to their parents’ house for babysitting, and helped Lydia build social skills.

The family are one of hundreds now benefitting from the 2023 referendum, which has more than doubled the number of children attending 3- and 4-year-old preschools in the district.

“For us, this is why you pay taxes,” Hinnefeld said. “It’s important for young kids to have access to school and if parents need to work, it’s an opportunity to let them work.”

The referendum put forward by the district, located in Bloomington, is a first in the state, offering all families tuition support on a sliding scale based on income, no matter whether children attend a district preschool or a partner provider.

It represents a local solution to problems with accessing and affording early learning that have left thousands of Indiana families waiting for help. Indiana in December 2024 froze its Child Care and Development Fund, or CCDF, and On My Way Pre-K dollars, which provide funding for early learning for income-eligible households.

A $200 million funding increase for CCDF approved by the State Budget Committee this week will allow Indiana to begin issuing vouchers again in May to around 14,000 more children, for a total enrollment of around 57,000. Those funds will last around one year.

Still, around 20,000 children will remain on the waitlist, and families may have fewer options for where to use their vouchers as hundreds of providers have closed since the freeze was announced, according to early learning advocates in the state. In a recent survey of early childhood educators in Indiana — which includes those working in a variety of settings — 90% of respondents said families are struggling to pay tuition.

A statewide universal preschool program is unlikely, Republican leaders have said. Instead, a legislative proposal this year would have let cities and counties — not just school districts — ask voters to fund preschool seats. It failed to get traction, but its advocates expect it to return.

The political climate isn’t especially promising for local tax increases: A new Indiana law has placed caps on property tax revenue that are already affecting local budgets. Lawmakers also recently restricted when schools can place referendums on the ballot.

Still, a new local revenue stream could be a boon in some Indiana communities, such as those with high demand for preschool, existing programs, and high social cohesion, said Sam Snideman, vice president of government relations for United Way of Central Indiana.

“There are going to be communities where this makes a ton of sense,” Snideman said. “The increasing challenge for an entity that goes before the public for a referendum is making a very clear value case. What is the common good and what is in the community interest is very important.”

School district’s pre-K enrollment doubles after referendum

Before Monroe schools brought the referendum request to voters, the district conducted a study that showed there were not enough early learning seats to serve children in the community, said Timothy Dowling, director of early learning and enrollment at Monroe schools. And families couldn’t always afford the seats that were available.

But the district also knew that research links quality early learning improved later academic outcomes, Dowling said.

“We wanted to do everything we can to help our students get the benefit of early learning, because we know it pays off in huge dividends,” Dowling said.

The referendum equated to around a $50 increase yearly for a home with an assessed value of $250,000, according to the district website, and also paid for instructional supplies for K-12 students. It passed with 55% of the vote; Dowling said the community study and transparency about how the referendum funds would be used were key to its success.

As a result of the successful referendum, all families in the district qualify for at least $4,000 in tuition assistance for preschool for 4-year-olds, whether their children attend a district school or at one of seven community providers.

Around 76% students in the district’s program attend for free based on their family’s income, Dowling said. Families in the lowest income tier who send their children to community providers receive $8,000 in tuition assistance.

The program also offers tuition assistance for 3-year-old preschool based on income and where the student attends school. For families making 225% or less of the federal poverty level, preschool is free at district programs. Often those families struggled the most to afford child care, even when state child care vouchers were available, Dowling said.

In 2024-25, the year after the referendum passed, the number of 4-year-olds attending preschool doubled from 184 to 378, with 64 of those children attending preschool at outside centers. This year, the district expanded preschool for 3-year-olds, based on the timeline laid out in the referendum. Enrollment jumped from 78 to 123, with another 33 students attending community child care centers, Dowling said.

With multiple types of providers, families have options, said Kelly Sipes, the executive director for Penny Lane Childcare Centers, which is a partner provider with the district. Those who need transportation might choose a district-run preschool, she said, but those who need year-round care during school holidays can choose a center like Penny Lane instead.

Her centers are usually at capacity, Sipes said, and child care needs in the community persist. When CCDF funding was cut, some of her families turned to the funding from the district instead.

“It’s awesome for the families,” Sipes said. “We should be all in this together as a community.”

Pitching child care: ‘We live in a society’

Replicating referendum-funded preschool might work well in communities where school-based providers already exist, and where there’s a sufficient tax base and steady demand for child care, Snideman said. It would also be an incentive to attract working families.

But it could be a harder sell in rural districts, where there are fewer families and less demand.

Generally, school referendums pass in districts that are wealthier, and in areas with less farmland, said Larry DeBoer, a Purdue University professor emeritus of agricultural economics, who has studied school referendums in depth. One of the biggest predictors of success is whether a school district has tried to pass a referendum before — even if they’ve failed, a second referendum is more likely to pass, DeBoer said.

Monroe schools had previously passed an operating referendum the year before its 2023 preschool referendum. As a county, Monroe has a slightly lower per-person income than Indiana as a whole, and has more students than the small and medium-sized districts most likely to propose successful ballot measures. It’s home to Indiana University, and tends to vote Democratic in a largely conservative state.

A legislative proposal this year, HB 1430, would have given the power to levy preschool referendums to counties and cities, potentially casting a wider net for both family demand and child care providers.

The bill did not receive a hearing, in part because Indiana legislative leaders are usually reluctant to consider bills with a fiscal impact in even-numbered years where they don’t pass a state budget. And the most recent state budget passed in 2025 was tight, with cuts to spending and programs due to a revenue shortfall.

The bill’s author, Rep. Blake Johnson, a Democrat, said that conversations about the bill have been fruitful, and that he expects the idea to return in a future session.

Given budget concerns, a locally funded solution that communities can tailor to their own needs may be more successful than a statewide one, said Patrick McAlister, who leads the Preschool Choice Alliance, a statewide group.

“This is an economic development need. Here’s the tool and the option to exercise it or not,” Johnson said.

A successful referendum would be a boon to working parents who struggle to afford the cost of early learning, said McAlister, who used to be the director of the Indianapolis Mayor’s Office of Education Innovation. But even for non-parents, a preschool referendum could have a positive impact on property values and in other ways, McAlister said.

Ultimately, it would be one part of an “all and above strategy” addressing care for children from birth to age 2.

“We live in a society,” McAlister said. “There are certain things we hold true and caring for children is a value many people share.”

Aleksandra Appleton covers Indiana education policy and writes about K-12 schools across the state. Contact her at aappleton@chalkbeat.org.

Indiana to resume child care vouchers after 15-month freeze, but thousands will remain waitlisted

2026-04-16T21:21:56+00:00

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Indiana will begin offering families help with child care costs again in May after a 15-month freeze on Child Care and Development Funds, a program that provides subsidies for income-eligible families.

The Family and Social Services Administration will be able to process around 3,000 new child care vouchers per month, its representatives told lawmakers on the State Budget Committee, who reviewed the agency’s request for $200 million more in funding for the program and approved it Thursday.

Republican Gov. Mike Braun announced the additional funding on Tuesday in order to add around 14,000 more children to the program, for a total enrollment of around 57,000.

The move seeks to address the freeze on the program and the waitlist implemented by the state after the end of pandemic aid. Early learning advocates say these moves have contributed to the closure of hundreds of child care providers in the state, exacerbating families’ challenges with accessing and paying for care.

Around 20,000 children will remain on the waitlist even with the additional funding, though not all of those children will end up being eligible for the program, FSSA officials said. But more families may apply when they hear that the program has reopened, meaning the full demand for child care subsidies is not clear.

To fund child care vouchers for all children enrolled and on the waitlist would cost the state approximately $350 million per year, said Mitch Roob, FSSA secretary.

The additional $200 million will last one year. FSSA officials told committee lawmakers Thursday that they will ask for the additional funding to continue in the next biennial state budget, for a total request of around $239 million.

But it’s not a sure thing that the budget will include this funding, creating uncertainty for providers and families.

“The parents and the providers are … prone to think of this as a long-term benefit, and so we’re going to have to decide if they’re right to expect a long-term program that’s a real benefit or not,” said Democratic Rep. Ed DeLaney of Indianapolis.

Priority for new vouchers will go to the siblings of children currently in the program, as well as infants. There are just three infants in the program because the program has been frozen for so long, Roob said. Next priority will go to toddlers and preschool-aged children, with money set aside for children with disabilities, children in foster care, and other groups.

The additional funds will not address the cuts to the rates paid to child care providers — another step FSSA took last year to cut costs.

“There are other ways we could execute this, this is the one we chose,” Adam Alson, the director of Indiana’s Office of Early Childhood and Out-of-School Learning at the FSSA, told lawmakers on the budget committee.

During Thursday’s committee meeting, Republican Sen. Chris Garten asked a philosophical question: Why fund the program at all?

Roob cited the historical context of federal aid to mothers and children, which shifted to prioritize child care for workers instead.

“We as a society concluded that work was important and we should be paying for child care to get people to work,” said Roob.

More information about applying for a CCDF voucher is available here.

Aleksandra Appleton covers Indiana education policy and writes about K-12 schools across the state. Contact her at aappleton@chalkbeat.org.

IPEC just met for the first time. Here’s what the new Indianapolis schools board discussed.

2026-04-14T22:02:18+00:00

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The new governing body for Indianapolis schools met for the first time Tuesday and discussed asking voters for a property tax increase in the fall.

Placing an operating referendum on the ballot is one of the key duties of the new Indianapolis Public Education Corporation, which has also been tasked by state lawmakers with overseeing transportation and buildings for district and charter schools. In addition to the referendum discussion, IPEC on Tuesday appointed an acting executive director, approved a funding request for its work, and discussed the process of hiring a full-time director.

While it’s not certain if IPEC will pursue a referendum, passing one could be critical to the Indianapolis Public Schools’ long-term stability. The district faces a budget deficit, and its current referendum expires this year.

But first, the corporation must undertake a series of steps, including gathering information on student enrollment and giving charter schools the opportunity to opt into the referendum. All of these steps need to happen before IPEC votes on a resolution to place a referendum on the November ballot. They did not take action on a referendum on Tuesday.

Board members largely asked logistics questions such as what their role would be.

The corporation will have to answer two critical questions: how much to ask for from voters and how many years the referendum should run,Michael O’Connor of Bose Public Affairs told the members. O’Connor also facilitated the meetings of the body that preceded IPEC, the Indianapolis Local Education Association. His contract to work with the new board was extended through May.

The corporation would also be involved in advocating for the referendum to pass.

During its first meeting, the corporation also voted to request for funding for itself from the Marion County Treasurer, as allowed by the state law that created the body. It will seek 3% of the property tax revenues used for operating expenses for IPS and participating charter schools in order to pay an executive director, staff, and consultants.

The meeting lasted approximately one hour at the City-County building, where a handful of protesters had gathered outside with signs to oppose the unelected board taking some powers from the elected IPS board. About two dozen people attended the meeting, including IPS Superintendent Aleesia Johnson, and there was no public comment period.

Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett appointed the nine members last month and swore them in at the Tuesday meeting. The board includes three IPS board members, three representatives of charter schools, and three experts in areas relevant to the corporation’s work as required by state law.

The corporation is chaired by David Harris, the charter schools director under former mayor Bart Peterson. Harris and Peterson co-founded the Mind Trust, an influential nonprofit that helps launch charter schools. One of the expert appointees, Edward Rangel, is also a charter school leader, tipping the board in favor of charter schools when it comes to decisions, including those about buildings — an ongoing point of contention in Indianapolis’ school choice ecosystem.

O’Connor was also appointed acting executive director of IPEC while the corporation waits for Hogsett to choose a full-time director. The hiring process — including creating a job description and determining a salary range — begins immediately, and the goal is to hire by mid-May, O’Connor said. IPEC will vote on the candidate the mayor selects.

Harris said he would poll the members of the corporation to appoint a vice chair and secretary.

Both a website for IPEC and email addresses for IPEC members are forthcoming, O’Connor said. On Wednesday, IPEC launched its website.

The corporation will next meet on May 28, time and location to be determined.

Member Ashley Thomas asked that some future meetings be held in the evenings to allow more people affected by the work of the board to attend.

This story has been updated with IPEC’s website link which was announced Wednesday.

Aleksandra Appleton covers Indiana education policy and writes about K-12 schools across the state. Contact her at aappleton@chalkbeat.org.

Why the Classic Learning Test, which embraces Aristotle but spurns calculators, has caught Indiana’s eye

2026-04-03T11:00:00+00:00

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A test that relies on classic Western texts and bans calculators for math will soon play a role in assessing how well Indiana students and schools are doing.

Since February, Indiana has expanded the use of the Classic Learning Test in two key ways. First, a new law requires state colleges and universities to consider CLT scores to the same extent that they would consider SAT or ACT scores for admission.

Second, under a new state accountability model that gives schools an A-F grade based on points students earn for proficiency, the Classic Learning Test is one way high school students can earn bonus points for their schools’ grades. The Indiana State Board of Education approved the use of the test at the last minute when adopting the new A-F model in March. It was not part of previous drafts of the model.

The Classic Learning Test’s expansion is part of a multi-pronged push in Indiana and nationwide by conservatives to counter what they see as an education system that leans too progressive by providing alternatives they believe are more rigorous and in line with Western tradition.

The elevation of the CLT follows state leaders’ decision in 2024 to mandate “intellectual diversity” in Indiana higher education, a move seen by many as a boon to conservatives on campuses, as well as previous years’ efforts to change history instruction that could make students feel guilt or blame for the past. This year, lawmakers also required higher education leaders to explore alternative university accrediting options — in line with other conservative states.

Supporters of the CLT say they like the test because it assesses students’ reading skills with texts that are foundational to the country’s history. That also aligns with a U.S. Department of Education campaign to foster “a shared understanding of America’s founding principles” on the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.

But there’s also practical reason to welcome the CLT, supporters say: It shakes up a long-standing testing establishment that gave students just two options for college readiness testing — the SAT or the ACT. That reflects the school choice environment that includes a growing number of classical schools.

“The CLT is the first newcomer since Eisenhower was president,” said Michael Torres, director of legislative strategy for the CLT. “We offer an opportunity for our students to prove they’re ready for college based on the curriculum they use.”

But critics counter that there is not enough evidence to say a CLT score is on par with a score on the SAT or the ACT — especially when the scores are used for high-stakes decisions about school accountability and college admissions.

“It especially matters to make sure that kind of mathematical relationship between the scores is stable and well-founded when there are any consequences in how these tests are used,” said Priscilla Rodriguez, senior vice president for College Readiness Assessments at the College Board, which administers the SAT.

Indiana could eventually decide to let students using vouchers to attend private schools take the CLT instead of the ILEARN state exam that voucher students must now take. A private school leader raised that idea during the legislative session, and CLT officials would support it, Torres said.

But that could make it harder to compare how private school students are performing compared with their peers in public schools. Indiana officials have not discussed this idea publicly.

As Indiana expands the use of the CLT, the state should want to ensure the test it’s well-suited to its academic content standards, measures for school quality, and its goals for students, said Chris Domaleski, executive director of the Center for Assessment. The state advisory committee that focuses on required assessments did not weigh in on including the CLT for school accountability because it’s an optional test, Indiana Department of Education officials said.

“The more it’s used, the more we need to seek evidence that it’s useful, that it has reliability, validity, and fairness, for all student groups, including students with disabilities and multilingual learners,” Domaleski said. “All those kinds of questions we’d ask for any assessment used in a consequential way.”

How do Classic Learning Test scores stack up?

The CLT for juniors and seniors is a two-hour, 120-question test developed in 2015 by founder Jeremy Tate, who “saw there might be interest in a third option that proved students are ready to go to college but didn’t force schools to embrace the Common Core,” Torres said, referring to the state standards that some conservatives came to distrust. Classic Learning Initiatives, the company behind the test, also offers a CLT for grades 3-8 and a 10th grade test.

The CLT uses passages by a bank of Western writers from the ancient to the late modern times — the most recent listed is author Toni Morrison — as well as contemporary nonfiction texts.

Sample questions on “The Epic of Gilgamesh,” for example, ask students to determine based on the passage the reason that caused the gods to flood the land, and determine which lines in the poem support the argument.

Critics say this focus promotes a narrow vision of culture and society — and that the test offers an advantage to students familiar with the pieces. Still, classical schools and educators say these works are fundamental to all students’ understanding of history.

“When we talk about college readiness, what are we talking about? Is it the use of AI? Is it being able to critically think, look at passages, look at historical text?” said Kylene Varner of the Indiana Association of Home Educators, who supported the bill to require colleges to consider CLT results like SAT and ACT results. “If we can’t understand the culture and history ... and the writing of our Constitution, how do we learn?”

There are also differences on the math portion of the test, where the CLT does not allow calculators; Torres said that means students must show they are “independently numerate.”

And around 15% to 20% of test-takers utilize a remote option not available on the SAT or ACT, Torres said. This option is important to home-schoolers who may not have access to other tests, Varner said.

But what makes the CLT stand out has in turn raised questions about whether comparing scores from the test to results from other exams can be misleading.

The CLT has published a table showing the equivalency between CLT scores and SAT and ACT scores. Torres said the study behind that table relied on a sample of about 4,500 students and produced reliable results. He noted that in addition to self-reported scores, the company received some scores from the colleges that accept CLT, SAT, and ACT scores.

But representatives from the ACT and SAT cast doubt on the validity of such a comparison. To establish that one score on the SAT reliably correlated to a score on the ACT, the College Board and the ACT jointly examined the scores of more than 500,000 students who had taken both exams, said Colin Dingler, ACT’s chief policy analyst.

In addition to a smaller, less-representative sample size, there are two other key issues with CLT’s score comparison, Rodriguez said: The students’ SAT scores were self-reported, and that sometimes years had passed between the two tests.

Ultimately, it would be unfair if two tests had different passing scores, and one was easier to pass than the other, but some students only had access to the harder test, Dingler said.

“It’s very important from an equity standpoint to have some scientifically established tool to go from the scores of one assessment to another assessment,” he said.

How the CLT factors into school quality, college readiness

One of the primary uses of test scores is to indicate that a student is ready for college.

A handful of private colleges in Indiana — along with around 300 nationwide — already accept the CLT scores, and the U.S. military academies soon will too.

But few K-12 schools offer the test right now, state education officials said, and most public universities in Indiana don’t require any test scores for admission, although Purdue University is a notable exception.

Supporters of the CLT, including leaders of private classical K-12 schools in Indiana who testified in support of it earlier this year, said the test is just as good as traditional standardized tests for measuring students’ college readiness — or even better.

Not everyone agrees. Iowa in 2024 recommended against the use of the CLT for admission to its public universities, citing insufficient data about the academic performance of the students who took it.

A key question for assessing college readiness is whether a test based on a prescribed curriculum is gauging students’ knowledge of that curriculum, rather than their general readiness for college-level classes. Even in subjects like science, the ACT is written so that students without a familiarity with a specific scientific concept can figure out the question, Dingler said.

“I don’t think that philosophically, there’s something wrong with assessments that are anchored in content or a specific reading list,” Dingler said. “But I do think that using the results of that test to generalize that any student is ready to succeed or to do well … that’s a really different matter.”

Torres said that while classical schools have embraced the test, familiarity with the texts is not a prerequisite for success on the CLT.

“It merely uses those texts to test reading comprehension and grammar,” Torres said. “We find that to be a rigorous measure of college readiness.”

Test scores also play a role in assessing Indiana school quality.

Students’ SAT proficiency will make up 10% of a high school’s letter grade on the state’s new A-F accountability model. But the state’s decision to let schools earn accountability bonus points through student scores on the ACT or CLT might lead schools to push students to take the CLT, “where it may be easy to get a score that looks high compared to the ACT or the SAT but maybe actually isn’t,” Rodriguez said.

In a statement, the state education department said the school accountability system approach to the CLT balances “personalized pathways” with elevating “real opportunities for students.”

The test’s supporters like that flexible approach, which could play a role if Indiana considers letting students using private school vouchers take the CLT instead of the state’s standardized test.

“Allowing schools to use nationally normed assessments like the CLT that are also rigorous … objective, and publicly reportable, this respects both accountability and also educational diversity,” said Rachel Oren, head of school at the Classic Academy in Indianapolis.

Aleksandra Appleton covers Indiana education policy and writes about K-12 schools across the state. Contact her at aappleton@chalkbeat.org.

Indiana colleges and universities eliminate or merge hundreds of degrees

2026-04-01T19:07:35+00:00

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Indiana’s public colleges and universities will eliminate or suspend 210 degree programs due to low graduation rates, higher education officials announced Wednesday, as part of a state-mandated review of degrees that don’t attract enough students.

The Commission on Higher Education and all seven public universities in Indiana reviewed more than 1,000 degree programs that failed to graduate enough students as defined by a 2025 law. Almost half of these programs will be allowed to continue while they build enrollment.

But 210 programs will be eliminated or suspended, and another 370 will be merged or consolidated into similar degree programs as part of the process prescribed by the law, HEA 1001. The goal is to align programs to student interests, officials said.

“We all know that students have been voting with their feet since the Great Recession,” said Matt Butler, senior associate commissioner and chief academic officer, who presented the degree recommendations to the commission.

The number of students affected by the changes is relatively small. In total, the 1,056 programs officials reviewed enroll only around 4% of Indiana’s college students. The nearly 600 programs targeted for suspension or elimination enroll just 0.6% of all students in Indiana.

Programs were targeted for review based on a three-year rolling average of their number of graduates. The threshold was set at 10 graduates for an associate’s degree, 15 graduates for a bachelor’s degree, seven graduates for a master’s degree, and three graduates for a doctorate.

Students who are currently enrolled in programs targeted for suspension will be allowed to complete their degrees, but the programs must stop enrolling new students. Programs are typically eliminated after these teach-outs are complete.

See the list of all degree programs affected by institution below.

The vote on Wednesday builds on a voluntary decision last summer by state universities to eliminate, suspend, merge, or consolidate around 372 programs — a process that Butler described as “clearing the cobwebs.”

In total, since June 2025, universities have taken some kind of action on 1,279 programs — most of which were under-enrolled. By the end of the 2026-27 school year, 661 programs will be streamlined, according to the presentation to the commission — around 58% are mergers or consolidations, 26% are suspensions, and 17% are eliminations.

Indiana’s public universities will still offer around 1,700 degree programs after 2026-27, officials said.

“Students and their families invest significant time, money, and trust into postsecondary education, and they deserve confidence that programs are viable, aligned with student interests and workforce needs, and positioned to deliver real outcomes,” Education Secretary Katie Jenner said in a release. “By right‐sizing degree pathways across the state, we can continue to strengthen higher education in Indiana through increased transparency and improved alignment with student interests and real career opportunities.”

The review of programs with few graduates is separate from a forthcoming review of low-earning programs in Indiana as mandated by legislation adopted this year, SEA 199.

The state expects to begin that review after finalizing the enrollment review. But the timeline depends in part on when the federal government provides a list of programs that fail to raise graduates’ earnings above those of a typical high school graduate’s. The state expects that list in 2027.

Jenner — who oversees both K-12 and higher education in the state — said she expects the commission to allow some low-earning programs to continue after that review.

Many of the low-earning programs flagged by the U.S. Department of Education will come from for-profit institutions in Indiana, which the commission does not oversee, she said.

Correction: This story has been updated to reflect that 210 degree programs were eliminated or suspended.

Aleksandra Appleton covers Indiana education policy and writes about K-12 schools across the state. Contact her at aappleton@chalkbeat.org.

How this Indiana teacher makes her AP personal finance class click for students

2026-03-25T11:00:00+00:00

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In Kristin Lidstrom’s business classes at Hamilton Southeastern High School in Fishers, the finance lessons quickly become personal.

“They begin thinking about their own spending habits, future goals, or even what they’re seeing at home,” Lidstrom said. “Concepts like interest rates or debt suddenly carry weight when they realize how long it can take to pay something off or how quickly costs can grow.”

Not every student will pursue business after Lidstrom’s class. But all of them can apply the lessons they’ve learned from business class in their future career paths, she said.

And Indiana wants all high school students to start thinking about what those paths will look like beginning in high school. The state will have new requirements for graduation in 2029 that emphasize career learning and financial literacy.

Lidstrom’s own career journey started with studying marketing at Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business. But she found the path she wanted to pursue through volunteering in schools, and combined it with her passion for business to become a teacher.

Now the business department chair at Hamilton Southeastern with 22 years of experience in the district, Lidstrom has been piloting an AP Business with Personal Finance class this year, which is open to grades 9-12. The course, which is set to roll out nationwide in the 2026-27 school year, has the backing of the Indiana Chamber of Commerce and local employers.

Read more below about Lidstrom’s class at Hamilton Southeastern High, and the projects that students complete pitching business ideas and putting together a realistic budget.

These answers have been edited for length and clarity.

What does a typical day look like in AP Business with Personal Finance? How is this class different from other AP courses?

A typical day in this class is very active and hands-on. The course is intentionally designed with a project-based learning approach, so while there are occasional moments of direct instruction, most of the time students are learning by doing, working through real-world scenarios, collaborating with peers, and applying concepts in meaningful ways.

What really sets this course apart from other AP classes is that it’s less about memorizing content and more about developing skills. Students are consistently engaging in problem-solving, critical thinking, and communication, which mirrors how business actually works outside the classroom.

One of the anchor projects in this course is an entrepreneurship business plan that students build from the ground up, centered around solving a real problem.

Students start by identifying a need — something they’ve observed in their own lives, school, or community. From there, they develop a product or service to address that need and work through the full business planning process. This includes defining their target market, analyzing competitors, creating a marketing strategy, and building out basic financials.

What makes this project especially meaningful is that it’s not hypothetical in the traditional sense. Students are expected to make realistic decisions, justify their choices with data, and adapt as they encounter challenges along the way.

The project leads to a presentation where students pitch their business as if they were seeking investment. It’s a great example of a real-world scenario because it requires them to bring together everything they’ve learned.

The culminating project in the course is a financial-adviser simulation, in which students take on the role of advising a client through real-life financial decisions.

What makes this project impactful is that students have to think holistically and justify their recommendations based on the client’s situation. It pushes them to apply what they’ve learned in a realistic context and communicate their reasoning clearly.

Have you seen any moments where the material “clicked” in a real-world way for students?

One of the biggest “click” moments is around things like compound interest or saving for the future. When students see how small, consistent decisions can significantly impact their financial situation over time, it changes how they think. They start asking better questions, making more intentional choices in simulations, and connecting it to real-life decisions they’ll be making soon.

It’s in those moments you can tell it’s no longer just a class, it’s something they see as directly relevant to their lives.

Kristin Lidstrom, business department chair at Hamilton Southeastern High School, is piloting an AP Business with Personal Finance class this year.

What do your students hope to do after high school and has taking this course changed the way they think about money, entrepreneurship, or next steps?

My students have a wide range of plans after high school. Some are heading to four-year colleges, others to community college or trade programs, and some are eager to jump straight into the workforce or start something of their own. What this course does is give all of them a stronger sense of direction and confidence in those next steps. While not all students will pursue business after high school, they all come away with an appreciation for how business acumen can support them in any career path.

How does the course support students in meeting Indiana’s new diploma requirements?

This course directly supports Indiana’s new diploma requirements by fulfilling the Personal Finance requirement, ensuring all students graduate with a strong foundation in money management, credit, and financial decision-making.

As an AP Career Kickstart course, it also helps students begin building a purposeful pathway early in high school. It encourages them to pursue additional AP coursework, putting them on track toward earning Honors and Honors Plus Seals. By starting that progression earlier, students are more prepared and confident as they move into more rigorous AP classes, while also developing practical, real-world skills that connect to both college and career opportunities.

If you could adjust one thing about how business or personal finance education is taught nationwide, what would it be?

If I could adjust one thing, it would be to make business and personal finance education more consistently rooted in real-world application rather than theory. Students don’t just need to know what a budget, credit score, or interest rate is, they need to actively use those concepts in realistic scenarios. When students are making decisions, experiencing the consequences, and reflecting on those choices, the learning sticks in a much deeper and more meaningful way.

I’d also push for this type of learning to happen earlier and more consistently across grade levels. By the time students are making real financial decisions, they should already feel confident navigating them, not encountering the concepts for the first time. Ultimately, the goal should be to move beyond exposure and toward true readiness, so students leave school not just informed, but capable.

What’s the best teaching advice you’ve ever received, and how have you put it into practice?

The best teaching advice I’ve ever received is to never do for students what they can do for themselves. In practice, that’s shaped how I structure my classroom in a big way. Rather than stepping in with answers, I focus on asking questions, creating space for productive struggle, and designing experiences where students have to think, decide, and reflect.

It can be uncomfortable at times (for both the students and me) but that’s where the real learning happens.

In a course like this, it means students aren’t just learning concepts, they’re applying them, making mistakes, adjusting, and building confidence along the way. Over time, you can see them become more independent, more thoughtful, and more willing to take ownership of their learning, which is ultimately the goal.

Aleksandra Appleton covers Indiana education policy and writes about K-12 schools across the state. Contact her at aappleton@chalkbeat.org.

New A-F grades are coming to Indiana schools. Here’s how they will be calculated.

2026-03-04T18:31:38+00:00

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Indiana has approved a new system to assign A-F letter grades to schools for the first time since 2018, giving students points for passing state tests — and additional points for passing other tests, like the Classic Learning Test, an alternative college entrance exam embraced by conservatives, according to a final draft of the grading metric presented Wednesday.

The system gives students points for state test scores in reading and math, according to the presentation to the State Board of Education, and assigns additional points for other skills, like work ethic as measured by attendance, diploma attainment, and work-based learning credentials. Schools are assigned a grade on an A-F scale based on the average of their students’ points.

The new grading system could form the basis for further monumental shifts in Indiana education. The state has proposed to use the new system as the sole measure of accountability in its request for federal flexibility, in order to create streamlined standards for schools. The work on the flexibility request was paused as the state “worked through the final touches on the accountability model,” Secretary of Education Katie Jenner said, but will be unpaused shortly.

The grades could also factor into the shared accountability system that the new Indianapolis Public Education Corporation is charged with creating, and which could lead to school closures.

The system has been in development since early last summer after new state laws required the department to create a new grading metric. The state has not issued grades to schools since 2018, due to a new testing model, the pandemic, and then a brief shift to a school dashboard model. The State Board of Education was initially expected to adopt the new grading system in December, but the timeline was delayed.

“This has been a long time coming,” said Secretary of Education Katie Jenner at the Wednesday meeting, adding that feedback on the model had come from educators, families, and business and industry leaders.

Multiple rounds of public feedback informed the process, department officials said, resulting in several changes from the second draft to the final model presented on Wednesday.

One major change from the second draft gives students more points for reaching proficiency in reading and math. Previous drafts had given equal weight to students who demonstrated academic progress — but this gave parents the impression that their students were doing better than they really were, said Ron Sandlin, chief innovation officer at the Indiana Department of Education.

High school success indicators can include the Classic Learning Test

Two other changes in the final draft were made to align Indiana with federal accountability standards as the state pursues its flexibility waiver from the federal Department of Education. First, graduation rate will now become a standalone indicator worth 10% of a school’s grade 12 rating. Schools above 95% will earn the full 100 points for the metric.

Second, proficiency on the SAT, or an alternative assessment for students with disabilities called the I AM will become a standalone indicator worth 10% of a school’s grade 12 rating, rather than an optional success indicator. Schools with 60% or more students reaching SAT proficiency will earn the full 100 points for the metric.

The bulk of a school’s grade 12 letter grade will come from the number of students who earn an Indiana diploma, honors seal, or honors plus seal, as well as the number who pass a list of other skills and tests. The state’s new diploma requirements go into effect for the class of 2029.

Because the SAT will become a standalone indicator in the model, the department has added both the ACT and the Classic Learning Test to the list of ways that students can earn additional points that indicate success in English and math.

The Classic Learning Test, or CLT, is an alternative test that assesses reading, writing, and math skills using both religious and secular texts from Western historical writers. The test, which has been linked to the conservative education movement, is gaining ground: Indiana lawmakers just passed a new law requiring state universities to consider CLT scores to the same extent they consider the SAT or ACT for admission.

Other changes to the final model include a new indicator in middle school for students who complete a graduation plan, as well as consideration for English learner students who take the WIDA, which assesses English listening, speaking, and reading and writing skills.

Schools are expected to receive their initial grades by December. The first round of grades will include some runway as schools also implement new diploma requirements and testing checkpoints: To earn an A, they must receive a minimum of 85 points, for example.

After the initial grades, the scale will more closely resemble a traditional A-F grading system, with an A beginning at 90 points.

Aleksandra Appleton covers Indiana education policy and writes about K-12 schools across the state. Contact her at aappleton@chalkbeat.org.

Social media restrictions, cellphone bans, more: what lawmakers passed in the 2026 legislative session

2026-02-28T00:04:34+00:00

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In a truncated legislative session, Indiana lawmakers still passed a number of bills that will reshape Indiana schools and affect students and their families.

Among them are a new restriction on social media for minors and a ban on cellphones during school hours, which could change how students spend their time while reducing fights and distractions that spill over into the classroom, teachers said.

The social media restriction passed nearly unanimously after lawmakers added it to HB 1408 in the final few days of session. It requires social media providers to determine a user’s age, and to get parental permission for the account of anyone under 16.

The bill also requires companies to limit algorithmic content and communication for these minor accounts, and to give parents monitoring tools.

Social media restrictions for teens received significant support from educators, counselors, and Secretary of Education Katie Jenner, who said social media use affected teens’ mental health and academic performance. If passed into law, it may face a legal challenge, as similar bans have in other states.

“We know the battle we’re up against and to be very clear, when it means standing up for something that is right and protecting our kids, I’ll battle all day,” Jenner said earlier in the session.

Other bills that Indiana lawmakers passed this year may make significant changes at the school level. A wide-ranging immigration bill, SB 76, will require local governments like school districts to cooperate with immigration enforcement.

And with HB 1423, lawmakers approved a plan to reshape Indianapolis district and charter schools with a new appointed board to oversee transportation, buildings, and a new system of accountability.

The GOP supermajority did not pass as many social-issue bills as in previous years, declining this year to move a bill permitting teachers and principals to display the Ten Commandments. But they did pass SB 88 to require schools to teach students to graduate from high school, get a job, and wait until marriage to have children — a series of steps that advocates say is linked to avoiding poverty.

Some notable bills that would have affected schools did not pass, including a ban on ultraprocessed foods as defined in HB 1137. Though that bill cleared the House, it did not receive a hearing in the Senate. Meanwhile, SB 182, which would have required public school students to use restrooms that match their sex rather than their gender identity, did not move forward after passing the Senate.

And while lawmakers passed restrictions on both phones and social media, they did not advance SB 159, which would have required that school technology policies allowed parents to set stronger filters on school-issued devices while they’re at home.

Below are the education bills that Indiana lawmakers passed in the 2026 legislative session. Unless otherwise noted, they still need a signature from Gov. Mike Braun to become law.

Senate education bills that passed

SB 4: Fiscal matters — child care vouchers

A provision in SB 4 authorizes the state budget agency to use funds from the 2025 state budget to fund the Child Care and Development Fund.

SB 15: Foster youth Bill of Rights

Requires the department of child services to create, publish, and distribute a statement called “the foster youth bill of rights” that summarizes a foster youth’s rights and responsibilities.

SB 78: Wireless communication device policy

Bans cellphones, personal laptops, smartwatches, and other devices from schools for the full school day and specifies that any learning on devices must be done on school-issued devices. Read more here.

SB 88: Identity instruction and teacher licensing exemptions

Requires public schools to teach students to: (1) obtain at least a high school diploma and acquire additional training in preparation for the workforce; (2) secure full-time employment; and (3) wait until marriage to begin having children; into student instruction.
Requires a state educational institution to accept a Classic Learning Test score for admission consideration.
Allows teacher candidates in alternative pathways to request a waiver from the state teacher licensing exam and substitute their ACT, SAT, Classical Learning Test, or GRE scores instead.

SB 200: Education matters — contracts

Requires schools to allow organizations like the Scouts to talk to students once per year. Requires public school to allow military personnel to provide information to students if they allow a postsecondary educational institution to do so. Nullifies vendor contracts for schools that include indemnity, choice of laws, or autorenewal clauses.

SB 204: Education matters

Provides that an individual who has obtained a license to teach in a charter school may be eligible to obtain an initial practitioner license under certain conditions.
Removes a requirement that an individual must hold a bachelor’s degree in science, technology, engineering, or mathematics as a component of certain pathways to receive an initial practitioner license.
Provides that a student enrolled in a health profession education program may not be required to receive an immunization as a condition of: (1) participating in; or (2) obtaining; clinical training or clinical experience required by the program if a parent of the student or student objects on religious grounds.
Provides that academic needs-based salary increases may not apply to all eligible teachers in a bargaining unit uniformly or be based on certain other factors like experience.

SB 239: Education matters

Requires the Department of Education to compile a list of businesses that provide incentives to students who have completed the honors employment plus seal. Allows a school district to convert schools into charter schools but bars the district from serving as the authorizer. Prescribes how an innovation network charter school may have an agreement with more than one school district. Requires parental notification if a school determines a student is at risk of not achieving grade level proficiency in mathematics.

SB 254: Ivy Tech

Changes and expands the duties and governance of Ivy Tech Community College.

House education bills that passed

HB 1004: Education matters

A massive deregulation bill repealing 40 provisions in education and higher education and making changes to 15 more topics, including powers of the governing bodies of school corporations and public-private agreements by charter schools for the construction or renovation of schools.

HB 1018: School age child care

Removes transportation requirements in the approval criteria for the school-age child care project fund.

Signed by the governor.

HB 1035: Permissible unsupervised activity

Specifies that a child does not need Department of Child Services intervention for engaging in independent activities like staying home or in a car alone, or playing or biking outside, unless a parent has endangered the child’s safety by allowing them to do the activity, based on the child’s “maturity, condition, or ability.”

Signed by the governor.

HB 1242: School corporation report

Requires the Department of Education to prepare a report compiling statewide data on school corporations and charter schools, including enrollment, performance, and population, as well as recommendations to increase school corporation administrative efficiencies and reduce school corporation administrative costs. Requires the Department of Local Government Finance to conduct a study of operational funding disparities.

HB 1266: Education matters

Creates a new qualification option for a transition to teaching program participant who seeks to obtain a license to teach in grades 5-12. Allows individuals to renew emergency permits up to two times if they are enrolled in an alternative teacher certification program.

Requires the Department of Education to:

Create a teaching and learning framework for the implementation of mathematics academic standards.
Develop a data science math pathway.
Develop strategies to support academic and fiscally underperforming schools, and a plan to intervene.
Participate in the new federal tax credit scholarship program
Establish processes to identify programs eligible for workplace Pell grants

HB 1325: Behavioral intervention and special education

Requires the Department of Education to make recommendations on behavioral intervention services for children and special education.

Signed by the governor.

HB 1408: Education matters and social media

Adds requirements for the governance of Ivy Tech Community College. Also includes language limiting minors’ social media access.

HB 1423: Indianapolis Public Education Corporation

Establishes the Indianapolis Public Education Corporation to oversee key aspects of district and charter schools in Indianapolis by managing school buildings, operating a transportation system, creating an accountability system that includes a procedure for closing low-performing schools, distributing property taxes, and more.

Aleksandra Appleton covers Indiana education policy and writes about K-12 schools across the state. Contact her at aappleton@chalkbeat.org.

Bell-to-bell cellphone ban passes Indiana Statehouse. What does that mean for schools and students?

2026-02-25T23:58:45+00:00

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A tighter cellphone and device ban is on its way to Indiana schools after lawmakers passed SB 78 to limit phone use during the school day.

The bill’s bell-to-bell ban builds on Indiana’s existing school cellphone ban, which currently requires students to put away phones and other personal devices during instructional time. The purpose of the added restriction is to create more uniform policies from school to school and classroom to classroom that take the onus of enforcement off of teachers, according to the bill’s author.

On Wednesday, Indiana state senators concurred with changes made by House lawmakers, sending the bill to Gov. Mike Braun for his signature.

The proposal received significant support from educators throughout the session who said cellphones led to distractions and fights.

“Inside the classroom, where attention and focus and human connection are essential, these devices have become a significant barrier to learning,” said John O’Neal of the Indiana State Teachers Association. “A wireless device ban is not about restricting technology, it’s about creating an environment where students can thrive.”

But some school leaders also expressed concern about the potential costs to implement the bill, like paying for additional lockers or storage pouches, as well as learning devices for students who previously brought their own. In response to cost concerns, House lawmakers changed the bill to remove language requiring “secure” storage, with the aim of allowing schools to use existing facilities like cubbies to store the devices.

Under the bill, public school districts and charter schools would have to adopt policies that require students to either leave their devices at home, or to put the devices away, powered off and inaccessible, for the entirety of the school day. The bill defines devices as cellphones, tablets, laptops, gaming devices, or smartwatches that are connected to phones or the internet.

The bill would allow some exceptions, such as for students who need the devices for medical reasons, translation, or as part of their special education services, or in the case of an emergency. It would also allow audio recording devices for notetaking.

And students could bring their laptops or tablets from home to use for learning at a teacher’s direction until July 1, 2028. After that date, these devices would have to be provided by the school in order to be used for learning.

The restrictions would not apply to private schools. A failed Democratic amendment would have included private schools that accept state vouchers in the requirements.

If the bill is signed into law, school districts will need to adopt bell-to-bell cellphone policies by July 1, 2026 and possibly prepare space to store students’ cellphones before the beginning of the next school year.

Under the bill, the Department of Education is also supposed to publish model policy guidance that would include how schools could use existing resources to comply with the law.

In testimony before lawmakers earlier this month, Jeff Butts of the Indiana Association of Public School Superintendents and former superintendent of Wayne schools said the district of around 16,000 students received an estimate of $275,000 for phone storage pouches.

Whiteland Community High School does not have enough lockers for its 2,100 students, Principal Duke Lines told lawmakers. Under the school’s current device policy, students can use their cellphones during lunchtime, for teacher-directed instructional use, or for work-based learning purposes.

“If students carry backpacks with them all day, is a phone inside a backpack considered inaccessible?” he said.

While lawmakers initially changed the bill to allow schools to use Secured School Safety Grant funds to purchase storage pouches, they ultimately removed this language from the legislation.

They also rejected an amendment to allow schools to charge parents a fee of no more than $25 for storage pouches was rejected — but lawmakers did clarify that schools already have the ability to charge this kind of fee if they choose to do so.

The 2026 legislative session is expected to end this week.

Aleksandra Appleton covers Indiana education policy and writes about K-12 schools across the state. Contact her at aappleton@chalkbeat.org.

Lawmakers pass Indianapolis Public Education Corporation bill, setting up big changes for schools

2026-02-25T19:56:27+00:00

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Indiana lawmakers have passed a bill that would reshape public education in Indianapolis, and reduce the power of the elected Indianapolis Public Schools board.

The sweeping changes in HB 1423 create an appointed board that would take control of transportation and buildings for Indianapolis district and charter schools, as well as certain aspects of school accountability.

On Wednesday, House lawmakers concurred with the changes that Senate lawmakers previously made to the bill, and sent the bill to Gov. Mike Braun’s desk.

HB 1423 would establish the Indianapolis Public Education Corporation, a nine-member board appointed by the mayor and charged with drawing up a new transportation plan for schools in the area, as well as a system of accountability that could be used to decide which schools are closed.

The corporation board would also manage facilities for public schools in the area, though amendments to the bill’s original version allow both charter and district schools to opt out of this provision. It would have the authority to levy and distribute property taxes used for school operations.

Senators added an amendment this week to prescribe language for an IPS operating referendum that IPEC could put on the ballot this year. Earlier in the session, they also added a provision allowing IPS schools to opt out of facilities management after the House gave charter schools permission to do so.

HB 1423 would exempt IPS from the state’s so-called $1 law, which requires school corporations to make underused or shuttered school buildings available to charter schools for $1.

Beginning April 1, the bill limits charter authorizing within IPS boundaries to the mayor’s office, the Indiana Charter School Board, and the IPS school board, which has expressed interest in becoming an authorizer.

Proponents of the bill — originally authored by Rep. Bob Behning, the GOP chair of the House Education Committee — have hailed it as a step forward in directing more resources to charter schools, including helping charter school students access transportation.

But Democratic lawmakers and advocates for traditional public schools have opposed the legislation, particularly because it would reduce the power of the elected Indianapolis Public Schools board in favor of an appointed board.

The Indianapolis mayor would be required to appoint members to the corporation board by March 31, 2026. The board would assume key powers over budgets and referendums beginning this year, and would begin managing school property and transportation in 2028.

Aleksandra Appleton covers Indiana education policy and writes about K-12 schools across the state. Contact her at aappleton@chalkbeat.org.

Education bill tracker: Indiana lawmakers advance bills on Indianapolis schools, cellphones, and more

2026-02-20T17:34:39+00:00

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Update, Feb. 27: The legislative session ended this evening. Here are the bills that passed.

While the 2026 legislative session saw an early start dominated by the redistricting debate, the rest of the session could bring big changes to Indiana schools and students.

As part of our coverage, Chalkbeat Indiana is tracking this year’s biggest education bills as they move through the statehouse.

Below are bills that would make substantial changes to policies affecting Indiana students and teachers. That means generally, we’re not including bills that make minor changes to existing grants and programs, or to the makeup of state commissions and governing bodies.

This page will be updated weekly on Fridays throughout the session. A full list of bills is available on the General Assembly website. Some of the bill descriptions below come from the General Assembly.

More information about how a bill becomes a law is available here. You can also find more information on the two education committees here.

This year is a short session, and because of the early start, lawmakers expect to complete their work by the end of February. The deadlines for bills to pass their originating chamber have passed, and the House and Senate have traded bills. Bills must clear the opposite chambers by Feb. 24. Bills are then sent to Gov. Mike Braun to sign into law.

Bills that received significant amendments in the opposite chamber may go to a conference committee, where a final version of the bill is determined by legislators from both chambers.

Education bills in the Indiana House that are moving forward

HB 1004: Education matters

Status: Passed the House. Passed the Senate Education Committee. Passed the Senate Appropriations Committee.

HB 1018: School age child care

Removes transportation requirements in the approval criteria for the school-age child care project fund

Status: Passed the House and Senate. Heading to the governor.

HB 1035: Permissible unsupervised activity

Status: Passed the House and Senate. Heading to the governor.

HB 1102: Applied behavioral analysis

Requires schools to allow applied behavioral analysis providers to give services to a student in a public school as outlined by the student’s Individualized Education Program.

Status: Passed the House. Heard in the Senate Education Committee on Feb. 4.

HB 1137: Ultraprocessed food and beverages

Bans food that includes certain food dyes and additives from schools. Requires schools to post a menu and ingredients online.

Status: Passed the House. Heard in the Senate Education Committee on Feb. 4.

HB 1176: Education matters

Gives school districts more leeway to convert schools to charter schools but prohibits them from acting as both an authorizer and an innovation network partner to a school.
Provides that money remaining in the Indiana Education Scholarship Account program fund and Career Scholarship Account program fund does not revert to the state general fund.
Requires parental notification if a school determines a student is at risk of not achieving grade level proficiency in mathematics.

Status: Passed the House. Passed the Senate.

HB 1242: School corporation report

Status: Passed the House. Passed the Senate.

HB 1266: Education matters

Creates a new qualification option for a transition to teaching program participant who seeks to obtain a license to teach in grades 5-12 and joins the interstate teacher mobility compact. Requires the Department of Education to:

Create a teaching and learning framework for the implementation of mathematics academic standards.
Develop a data science math pathway.
Develop strategies to support academic and fiscally underperforming schools, and a plan to intervene.

Status: Passed the House. Passed the Senate Education Committee and the Senate Appropriations Committee.

HB 1325: Behavioral intervention and special education

Requires the Department of Education to make recommendations on behavioral intervention services for children and special education.

Status: Passed the House and Senate. Heading to the governor.

HB 1408: Education matters — Ivy Tech

Adds requirements for the governance of Ivy Tech Community College.

Status: Passed the House. Passed the Senate. Heading to conference committee.

HB 1423: Indianapolis Public Education Corporation

Status: Passed the House. Passed the Senate Education Committee and the Appropriations Committee.

Education bills in the Indiana Senate that are moving forward

SB 15: Foster youth Bill of Rights

Requires the department of child services to create, publish, and distribute a statement called “the foster youth bill of rights” that summarizes a foster youth’s rights and responsibilities.

Status: Passed the Senate. Passed the House.

SB 78: Wireless communication device policy

Status: Passed the Senate. Passed the House Education Committee and the House Ways and Means Committee.

SB 82: Gender issues

Defines “female,” “male,” “gender,” and “sex” for all Indiana statutes. An amendment requires schools to designate changing rooms and restrooms for male and female students, and requires students to only use the restroom for their sex.

Status: Passed the Senate.

SB 88: Identity instruction and teacher licensing exemptions

Requires public schools to incorporate the importance of: (1) obtaining at least a high school diploma and acquiring additional training in preparation for the workforce; (2) securing full-time employment; and (3) waiting until marriage to begin having children; into student instruction.
Requires a state educational institution to accept a Classic Learning Test score for admission consideration.
Allows teacher candidates in alternative pathways to request a waiver from the state teacher licensing exam and substitute their ACT, SAT, Classical Learning Test, or GRE scores instead.

Status: Passed the Senate. Passed the House Committee on Education.

SB 159: School technology plans

Requires a school to include a provision in the school’s Internet use policy to enable the parent of a student to increase the strength of content filters and limit the use of devices. Requires these plans to include a provision banning students from using devices for noneducational purposes during instructional time.

Status: Passed the Senate. Heard in the House Education Committee on Feb. 5.

SB 161: Education matters — federal tax credit and higher education

Requires the Indiana Department of Education to participate in the new federal tax credit scholarship. Provides that the department of workforce development must maintain alignment with federal rules governing workforce Pell grants.

Status: Passed the Senate. Passed the House Education Committee and recommitted to the House Ways and Means Committee.

SB 199: Education matters — social media

Requires the Department of Education to compile information and make recommendations on paid parental leave for school employees. Cuts low-earning degrees unless an exemption is granted. Includes new language restricting social media accounts for minors under 17.

Status: Passed the Senate. Passed the House. Heading for conference committee.

SB 200: Education matters — contracts

Requires schools to allow organizations like the Scouts to talk to students twice per year. Prohibits schools from signing contracts that include indemnity or choice of laws clauses.

Status: Passed the Senate. Passed the House Education Committee.

SB 204: Education matters

Removes a requirement that department of education approved accreditors for teacher preparation programs be recognized by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation.
Provides that an individual who has obtained a license to teach in a charter school may be eligible to obtain an initial practitioner license under certain conditions.
Removes a requirement that an individual must hold a bachelor’s degree in science, technology, engineering, or mathematics as a component of certain pathways to receive an initial practitioner license.
Provides that academic needs-based salary increases may not apply to all eligible teachers in a bargaining unit uniformly or be based on certain other factors like experience.

Status: Passed the Senate. Passed the House Education Committee and the House Ways and Means Committee.

SB 239: Education matters

Allows a school district to convert schools into charter schools but bars the district from serving as the authorizer. Allows districts to operate two or more conversion charters on a single charter.

Status: Passed the Senate. Passed the House Education Committee.

SB 254: Ivy Tech

Changes and expands the duties and governance of Ivy Tech Community College.

Status: Passed the Senate. Passed the House Education Committee.

House and Senate bills that are not moving forward

HB 1017: University notification of emergency contact

Requires universities to establish a procedure where a student may designate an emergency contact for medical emergencies and to notify the contact in the event of an emergency.

HB 1026: Child care funding

Requires the state to use a $300 million Financial Growth and Opportunity fund from the 2025 budget to fund the Childcare Development Fund and the On My Way Pre-K programs, which have recently faced cuts. (This language was added to SB 4.)

HB 1034: Student cellular telephone use

HB 1059: Commercial advertising on a school bus

Allows a school district to display commercial ads on its buses, with some restrictions.

HB 1071: 21st Century Scholarship eligibility

Exempts students with disabilities from needing to be enrolled full time in order to qualify for the 21st Century Scholarship.

HB 1086: Ten Commandments

Allows public school districts to permit teachers and principals to display the Ten Commandments but not read them aloud in front of students.

Status: Died in the House.

HB 1093: Student bullying

Adds actions by a school staff member to the definition of bullying and requires schools to track bullying incidents in order to identify bullying types, flag students who might be at risk of bullying, and implement interventions to stop bullying.

HB 1107: Bullying oversight committees and ombudsman

Creates a state bullying ombudsman within the Department of Education and requires every school district to establish a bullying oversight committee.

HB 1124: Testing drinking water for lead in school buildings

Requires school districts to test water for lead and includes civil penalties for failing to do so.

HB 1136: Tuition caps

Places tuition caps at University of Southern Indiana and Ball State, Indiana, and Purdue universities for Indiana residents.

HB 1149 Pre-K tax credit

Establishes an early childhood scholarship tax credit for contributions made to a scholarship-granting organization. Requires school districts that operate an early learning center to open the program to families living outside the school district.

HB 1154: Hunger-free campus grant program

Provide grants to state educational institutions for purposes of addressing food insecurity among students.

HB 1158: Personal outcomes

Requires public schools to teach the positive outcomes of obtaining a high school diploma, getting a job, and waiting until marriage to have children.

HB 1159: Pre-K vision screening

Requires school districts to conduct vision screenings for preschool-aged children.

HB 1160: Citizenship exam for eighth grade and high school

Requires schools to administer the naturalization examination in eighth grade and high school and makes passing it with a score of 70% a graduation requirement.

HB 1170: Teacher compensation

Raises minimum teacher salaries to $60,000 beginning in fiscal year 2028.

HB 1232: Schools, funding and religion

Requires a public school to teach the Bible as literature in every grade level of K-12, including age-appropriate instruction on the history of Israel; the moral and ethical teachings of the Old and New Testaments; the life of Jesus; the history of the early Christian church; and the Bible’s influence on Western civilization. Prohibits a school from teaching the Bible as religious dogma or divinely inspired.

HB 1289: State and local administration

Limits collective bargaining with school bus drivers to the topics allowed in collective bargaining with teachers.

HB 1313: Education matters

Prohibits public schools, excluding charter schools, from hiring lobbyists. Prohibits a school employer from deducting union dues. Prohibits a school district from converting a scheduled instructional day to virtual instruction because of the planned or coordinated absence of teachers or other personnel for the purpose of participating in a protest.

HB 1388: Initial practitioner license

Waives the pedagogy exam for graduates of a teacher preparation program, unless the individual fails to obtain a teaching license within three years of graduation.

HB 1418: Teacher licensing requirements

Exempts teacher candidates from a content exam if they are seeking a PE, music, or art license for any grade, or an English language arts, math, or health license in grades 7-12.

SB 58: Cursive writing

Requires elementary schools to teach cursive.

SB 62: Unlawful possession of a firearm by a child

Makes changes to laws concerning firearm possession by a child, including adding an enhanced penalty if an offense was committed on or in school property, within 500 feet of school property, or on a school bus.

SB 66: Kindergarten readiness indicators

Requires the early learning advisory committee to establish and publish kindergarten readiness indicators concerning behavior, executive functioning, literacy, math, and others.

SB 68: Accelerated graduate degree programs

Requires colleges and universities to add graduate degree programs in fields like social work and counseling, and to allow students to complete them on an accelerated timeline.

SB 77: Sale of school buildings

Creates exceptions to the $1 law for school districts in a county with a population of less than 150,000 to have one year to sell a school building to a county or municipal government before the school building must be made available for lease or purchase to a charter school or state educational institution for $1. Read more here.

SB 84: Prekindergarten and child care

A sweeping child care and preschool bill that seeks to expand the income eligibility for the programs, raise reimbursement rates for providers, and fully fund applicants to the child care fund in order to eliminate the waitlist. Read more here.

SB 86: Charter schools

Removes the charter board, state educational institutions, and nonprofit college or university governing boards from the definition of an authorizer.
After June 30, 2026, provides that the charter board, state educational institutions, and governing boards may not issue new charters or renew existing charters.
After June 30, 2026, establishes a five-year moratorium that prohibits an authorizer from granting a charter to an organizer to establish and operate a charter school in Indiana.
Requires charter schools to provide transportation services to all students who reside within the public school district within which the charter school is located.
Exempts school corporations subject to certain property tax sharing requirements from the dollar law.
Changes the maximum charter school contract term to five years.

SB 110: Indiana University Board of Trustees

Requires three members of the Indiana University Board of Trustees to be elected Indiana University alumni.

SB 123: Student water safety

Requires public schools, including charter schools, to present an informational video on water safety to K-12 students.

SB 124: Age for compulsory school attendance

Lowers the mandatory school age from 7 to 5.

SB 129: Social media access

Requires social media operators to obtain parental consent for minor users to view social media.

SB 138: School chaplains

Allows chaplains to volunteer or work in schools, providing secular advice or nonsecular advice if the parent of a student gives permission.

SB 248: South Bend schools

Provides that members of the governing body for the South Bend Community School Corporation shall become an advisory board to a new governing body for the school corporation. Members of the governing body for the school corporation shall be appointed by the Indiana secretary of education following a nomination process.

Status: Withdrawn.

Aleksandra Appleton covers Indiana education policy and writes about K-12 schools across the state. Contact her at aappleton@chalkbeat.org.

Indiana schools eye the potential impact of Indiana’s sweeping immigration bill

2026-02-18T16:10:23+00:00

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An Indiana bill that compels greater cooperation between local governments and federal immigration authorities could affect the state’s K-12 schools.

But it’s not yet clear how the sweeping immigration bill that touches on information collection, detainer requests, hospitals, and employment may affect schools — or even which schools it would apply to.

Indiana law already prohibits governmental bodies and postsecondary institutions from impeding federal immigration enforcement, but SB 76 specifies that this applies when any level of government is doing the enforcement, as long as the actions don’t violate state or federal law.

The bill also focuses on detainer requests and specifies that governmental bodies can’t impede officers from gathering information about citizenship or immigration status.

Groups like the Indiana Association of Public School Superintendents say they’re still working to understand how the provisions of the bill might affect public schools.

The potential effects of SB 76 also sparked questions at a recent Indianapolis Public Schools legislative council meeting. The district recently changed its policies on immigration enforcement following a lawsuit from Attorney General Todd Rokita.

“I’ve got a lot of questions on if this bill is just structured to still repeat what they already had a right to do,” said IPS board member Ashley Thomas. “It is going to be really important for us to stay vigilant on that one.”

The legislation reflects federal policy changes in how immigration officers operate near schools. While schools were traditionally treated as sensitive locations off-limits to immigration enforcement, the Trump administration rescinded that policy in January 2025. Still, the administration maintains that ICE “does not raid schools.”

Minneapolis schools have reported U.S. Border Patrol officers on school property, and agents recently arrested a day care worker in Chicago. Advocates say increased fear of immigration enforcement has led to greater absenteeism and even more virtual learning days in other states.

House lawmakers passed SB 76 last week. On Monday, senate lawmakers filed a motion to adopt changes from the House, but have not yet voted. The Senate next meets on Thursday.

Which schools and employees does SB 76 apply to?

House lawmakers voted down amendments by Indianapolis Democrat Rep. Ed DeLaney that would have exempted school districts and school resource officers from the requirements of the bill.

As written, the bill applies to state universities and governmental bodies, which includes school districts under Indiana law — but not necessarily charter schools. DeLaney said his amendment would treat both types of K-12 schools the same way.

But the House sponsor of SB 76, Union City Republican Rep. J.D. Prescott, said the bill does not change the underlying definition of a governmental body that already exists in state law.

The amendment was also unnecessary because “ICE very rarely enters a school corporation,” he said during House debate on the bill.

But groups have said the uncertainty of immigration enforcement in schools also has effects.

In a call to action on the bill, the Indiana State Teachers Association said it could potentially lead to “higher levels of school absenteeism and negative changes in school climate, student mental health and community trust.”

In a recent blog post, Michael J. Petrilli of The Fordham Institute, a conservative education reform think tank, wrote that it was important to ensure that students attend school in person.

“Current immigration enforcement actions in Minnesota and elsewhere are significantly suppressing school attendance and harming student learning,” Petrilli wrote in a proposed letter to Secretary of Education Linda McMahon. “We ask that you work with Secretary Noem, officials in the White House, and others to ensure that all students feel safe going to school.”

Another aspect of the bill requires local governments that have custody of an individual to comply with a federal immigration detainer requests, such as holding the person longer to give immigration authorities time to assume custody.

An amendment by DeLaney would have exempted school resource officers and university police from these requirements. However, it did not pass.

Prescott said these types of officers don’t typically hold individuals long-term, but instead make an arrest and transfer custody. Adding the exemption would amount to a loophole, he said.

How will SB 76 affect school policies on judicial warrants?

The bill doesn’t outline what policies could be considered an impediment to immigration enforcement. Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita’s office deferred questions to Prescott, who did not return a request for comment.

Rokita filed a lawsuit against IPS last year over policies that required officers to present a judicial warrant to enter schools and barred employees from collecting information about students’ immigration status, saying these illegally limited cooperation with immigration enforcement. The district has changed its policies in response to the lawsuit.

SB 76 gives greater authority to the AG’s office to pursue penalties for these violations, potentially teeing up further fights between Rokita and schools over what policies could be considered an impediment to immigration enforcement.

It comes down to how the law will be applied, said Lisa Koop, the National Immigrant Justice Center’s national director of legal services.

“On its face, I don’t see SB 76 as telling schools, you have to throw open the doors and let them in,” she said.

But if schools are considered governmental bodies, it’s possible the bill and the underlying law could be used to compel school officials to comply or to challenge school policies that require staff to ask immigration agents for a judicial warrant to enter school buildings.

“You can always consent to allow law enforcement to enter. The person in charge — the superintendent or school principal — can say, ‘sure come in,’” she said. The question then becomes about the Fourth Amendment rights of the children in the building, she said.

In a letter to IPS, Rokita argued that making a judicial warrant a condition of ICE activity on school grounds is not consistent with state law.

“There are multiple ways in which local school officials may assist ICE — from consent to ICE’s entry onto school grounds to cooperating with ICE in the apprehension of an individual who is the subject of an administrative warrant,” the letter said.

How does collecting information intersect with FERPA?

Another part of the bill specifies that a governmental body can’t restrict the gathering of information related to immigration status, as long as the request doesn’t conflict with federal law.

This could set up conflicts on the interpretation of federal law and policy regarding student information.

In the same letter to IPS, Rokita argued that schools can release directory information under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, or FERPA, which could include information related to a student’s immigration status.

Schools also traditionally don’t collect immigration status because the landmark case Plyler v. Doe established that they cannot deny enrollment to a student based on citizenship status.

“There’s no reason to obtain that information,” Koop said.

Indiana and other red states have tried in the past to challenge the ruling in Plyler. Bills proposed last year would have allowed Indiana school districts to deny enrollment to immigrant students and report how many undocumented students are enrolled each year, but they did not advance.

Because a person may be in the process of obtaining citizenship, it can be difficult for a school official to correctly determine the citizenship status of a child, Koop said. Allowing officers into schools to question the citizenship status of students is an intrusion for immigrant and non-immigrant students alike, she said.

“I hope we can continue to tell clients that there’s nowhere safer to be than at theIr public school in the care of their public school teachers,” she said. `

Aleksandra Appleton covers Indiana education policy and writes about K-12 schools across the state. Contact her at aappleton@chalkbeat.org.

Indiana’s targeting of degrees with low earnings could eliminate these programs

2026-02-11T23:31:20+00:00

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Indiana lawmakers are moving to eliminate state college degrees that aren’t earning graduates enough on the job market, mirroring the federal government’s targeting of career programs delivering poor results.

SB 199 appears to only apply to a handful of degrees at nonprofit institutions like Ball State, Indiana University, and Ivy Tech, according to data on low-earning programs released by the U.S. Department of Education.

The legislation requires state colleges and universities to eliminate low-earning degrees as defined by the federal Higher Education Act, unless the state Commission for Higher Education grants an exemption.

This means graduates of bachelor programs must have earnings above those of a typical high school graduate, or around $33,000 in Indiana, for the program to keep operating and to receive federal student loan funding under corresponding federal changes. A similar standard applies to graduate programs.

SB 199 aims to prevent students from taking out loans to attend programs that will make it difficult to pay back those loans — or to earn a living, supporters said.

“Some forms of higher education out there simply don’t help students achieve economic mobility,” said Preston Cooper of the American Enterprise Institute, who has worked with the federal Education Department on the earnings standards. “Students take on debt and end up making less than a typical high school graduate.”

But critics of the legislation have challenged whether it’s the state’s role to dictate what students can study in college.

“I think we’re going down a dangerous path when we start eliminating degree programs because we don’t think they make enough money,” said Rep. Tonya Pfaff, a Terre Haute Democrat during a committee hearing. “Part of those degree programs is the ability to take singular classes out of those degree programs, which I believe makes a student more well-founded and better equipped to handle the diversity of the future careers that we will be offering.”

SB 199 is not the first time Indiana has recently tried to trim the number of degrees at universities and colleges. Last year, the state’s higher education institutions cut hundreds of degree programs — though these largely had low enrollments or were inactive, officials said.

Meanwhile, changes at the federal level aim to hold undergraduate certificate programs, most offered at for-profit colleges, to the same standard. It’s not clear whether Indiana would have to pass further legislation to reflect those changes.

More than half of all students enrolled in low-earning programs who receive federal student aid are in these certificate programs, said Jordan Matsudaira, co-director of the Postsecondary Education & Economics Research Center, or PEER, which studied which programs are likely to fail an earnings test. Among the students enrolled in failing undergraduate certificate programs, 85% attend for-profit colleges and 56% are in cosmetology programs, according to the study.

Advocates for these programs have pushed back, saying that the department’s methodology doesn’t fully reflect income for their graduates.

SB 199 is a wide-ranging education bill that also includes language about minors’ social media use. It passed the House Education Committee Wednesday and is headed to consideration by the full House next.

Indiana degrees affected include dance and music

In January, the U.S. Department of Education released its preliminary list of degree programs that would fail to meet the new federal earnings threshold. The final list won’t be available until 2027, and programs would have to fail the earnings test multiple years in a row before losing federal loan funding.

The preliminary list identifies 16 degree programs at 11 Indiana colleges and universities — though some told Chalkbeat that they don’t offer the degrees named. It also identifies 21 undergraduate certificate programs, primarily in the cosmetology field.

One of the larger degree programs is Ivy Tech’s associate degree in Teacher Education and Professional Development Specific Levels and Methods, which currently has 549 students enrolled, according to the college.

A representative of Ivy Tech said this degree was intended to be a transfer program for individuals looking to go into teaching and complete a four-year teaching degree. The school has not yet discussed what will happen with this program due to the federal rule changes.

Below is the U.S. Department of Education’s list of Indiana programs that are predicted to fail to meet the federal earnings rules and lose eligibility for federal loans.

It includes undergraduate certificate programs that aren’t currently a part of the Higher Education Act, many of which would not be captured by SB 199, since they’re not offered by state institutions.

Associate Degrees

Indiana Wesleyan University-Marion, Associate, Teacher Education and Professional Development Specific Levels and Methods.
International Business College-Indianapolis, Associate, Allied Health and Medical Assisting Services. (A website for this college says it has transitioned to a new name and model.)
Ivy Tech Community College, Associate, Design and Applied Arts. (A representative of Ivy Tech said the college does not offer this degree.)
Ivy Tech Community College, Associate, Teacher Education and Professional Development Specific Levels and Methods. (Noted above.)
Ivy Tech Community College, Associate, Library and Archives Assisting. (A representative of Ivy Tech said the college does not offer this degree.)
Purdue University Global, Associate, Allied Health and Medical Assisting Services

Bachelor’s Degrees

Huntington University, Bachelor, Graphic Communications. (A representative of Huntington University said the university has not offered this degree in many years, if ever.)
Purdue University Northwest, Bachelor, Computer Software and Media Applications.
Purdue University Northwest, Bachelor, English Language and Literature General
Indiana University-Bloomington, Bachelor, Music.
Indiana University-Northwest, Bachelor, English Language and Literature General
Ball State University, Bachelor, Dance.

Master’s Degrees

University of Southern Indiana, Master, Mental and Social Health Services and Allied Professions. (A representative of the University of Southern Indiana said the university does not offer any program by that name.)
Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College, Master, Rehabilitation and Therapeutic Professions.
Purdue University Global, Master, Non-Professional Legal Studies.
Trine University, Master, Criminal Justice and Corrections. (A Trine representative said the program does not receive state funding. It would not have been affected by a previous proposal to cut state funding from these programs.)

Undergraduate certificate programs

Purdue University Global — Human Services General
Ivy Tech Community College — Teacher Education and Professional Development Specific Levels and Methods.
Ivy Tech Community College — Somatic Bodywork and Related Therapeutic Services.
J Michael Harrold Beauty Academy
Rudae’s School of Beauty Culture-Ft Wayne
Tricoci University of Beauty Culture-Highland
Ravenscroft Beauty College
Don Roberts School of Hair Design
PJ’s College of Cosmetology-Clarksville
PJ’s College of Cosmetology-Richmond
Rogers Academy of Hair Design
Tricoci University of Beauty Culture LLC-Bloomington
Denmark College
Tricoci University of Beauty Culture-Indianapolis
Summit Salon Academy
The Salon Professional Academy-Evansville
Paul Mitchell the School-Indianapolis
Summit Salon Academy-Kokomo
Lil Lou’s Beauty and Barber College
Paul Mitchell the School-Merrillville
Kenny’s Academy of Barbering

Aleksandra Appleton covers Indiana education policy and writes about K-12 schools across the state. Contact her at aappleton@chalkbeat.org.

How schools in Marion County responded to anti-ICE student protests

2026-02-11T13:00:00+00:00

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As they left their fourth period classes last week for an anti-ICE walkout, several Southport High School students said they noticed a school employee near the front door. The students decided to go through a side door instead, where they climbed over a bank of snow to reach the parking lot.

“I wanted to say something about what I believe is injustice in the country right now,” said junior Derek Stanley. “But I was nervous. I didn’t know how it was going to work out, what door we were going through, if anyone would stop us, if we would get repercussions.”

Southport High School students leave school on Feb. 2 for an anti-ICE walkout.

The group of more than 100 students walked to Madison Avenue holding signs and chanting, “no justice, no peace.” Some students brought signs or carried flags from their home countries. A police officer from the school also trailed the group in a car for safety.

Across Marion County and central Indiana, thousands of students walked out of school last week to speak out against heightened presence of federal immigration agents across the country, including agents who killed two people in Minneapolis last month.

The walkouts left schools to strike a balance between allowing for student expression and maintaining safety, both in and out of the classroom. Some districts sent preemptive emails to families and worked with students to ensure the walkouts would be safe. Districts also referred to student handbooks for attendance policies, stopping short of saying the specific repercussions. But in at least one case, at Southport, that meant suspensions.

While the district declined to say how students were disciplined at Southport, the student handbook does say students can be suspended for causing disruptions to learning.

“One of the greatest things about America is we have a right to speak out and protest. I wanted to take a stand for what I believed in, ” said Ava Miller, a Southport junior who was suspended for the walkout. “Seeing what the world is like right now, I want to act on behalf of everyone being silenced.”

Shortridge High School students protest U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement efforts during a walkout Feb. 6, 2026, at the school in Indianapolis.

Protests can’t cause ‘substantial disruption’

The landmark 1969 Supreme Court case Tinker v. Des Moines established that public school students do not “shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.” Students have the right to express their opinions as long as it doesn’t cause a “substantial disruption” to the educational environment, according to the ACLU.

However, student walkouts are not protected under the First Amendment, and schools must be consistent in discipline and not punish a student more harshly based on the specific message of their protest.

Students walk out of class on Fri., Jan 30, 2026 in protest of ICE detentions across the US in Denver, Colorado.

Generally, student protests against immigration enforcement have been tolerated more in blue states. In Denver, roughly 400 students walked out of a suburban district and didn’t face consequences. Yet in Texas, the state education agency warned school districts they might face state takeovers if they “encourage” student protests. And Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton launched an investigation into student walkouts in Austin. Students also face discipline in Florida and Arizona.

Here in Indiana, the department of education sent an email to school superintendents early last week acknowledging that students were walking out “in political protest.” The department said it didn’t support student walkouts, and stressed that districts should enforce student conduct, attendance, and discipline policies, including having parent permission to leave the school building.

“Above all, student safety and parental authority must remain paramount,” the department wrote to school leaders.

Schools work with student organizers, prioritize safety

Several Marion County districts also sent messages ahead of student protests to share expectations around attendance and the schools’ response. And while some districts stressed it would be business as usual and school employees would remain neutral, other schools reached out to student planners to ensure safety.

Warren Central High School principal Masimba Taylor said her staff caught wind of the planned protest earlier in the week when students started sharing ideas on social media.

She said the team talked to students about why they wanted to walk out and worked with them on suggesting a safer route to take in a march near their school. On the day of the walkout, Taylor said it was all hands on deck for administrators to be present and provide supervision so educators could continue teaching inside the high school.

Students from North Central High School protest U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement efforts during a walkout on Feb. 2, 2026, at the intersection of East 86th Street and Westfield Boulevard in Indianapolis.

The school also informed parents in advance of the walkout, and some attended to offer an additional layer of help. Justin Beattey was one of those parents and said he saw staff and administrators present, taking a neutral tone and focusing on keeping kids safe.

“I thought they did a really good job of maintaining objectivity and just making sure no one was hurt,” Beattey said.

Similarly, students at Shortridge High School said they went through rounds of negotiations with administration about their demonstration last week — originally planned as a 2-mile walk down Meridian Street to Herron High School.

Student organizers later changed their plan to protest on school grounds after talking to administration about concerns for student safety. They were not worried about potential disciplinary actions stemming from the protest.

At Crispus Attucks High School, an email to students and families encouraged students to advocate for their beliefs without leaving school grounds.

“While we respect our students’ desire to engage with the world around them and to make their voices heard, we are also responsible for their safety during school hours,” the email said.

Shortridge High School students protest U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement efforts during a walkout Feb. 6, 2026, at the school in Indianapolis.

Southport students face one-day suspensions

Per student handbooks and attendance policies, students who participated in walkouts could face a range of discipline. For example, at Lawrence Central and North high schools, the district said any disciplinary action against students is due to an unexcused absence — not for the student protest.

That discipline could include an attendance agreement, parental notification, or detention depending on the student’s overall attendance, the district said.

At Southport, students said they received emails from the principal on the night of the protest saying the walkout had created an unsafe environment.

“Beyond school discipline, these actions shook the sense of safety for many of your peers and their families. For many, Southport is a sanctuary, and that sanctuary was disrupted,” the email said.

The Southport handbook does not specify disciplinary action for protesting, but says students may face suspension or expulsion for a list of behavior incidents, such as “disruptions to the educational process or to the orderly atmosphere for learning.”

Southport students said that when they returned to school Tuesday, counselors and administrators began to call them down to dole out one-day out-of-school suspensions.

For Stanley, the junior, he said the prospect of his first-ever suspension from school initially made him nervous, but he was ultimately fine with the result.

“I’ve seen both in person and online people saying how scared they are. I wanted to speak about it,” Stanley said. “I’m glad I prioritized speaking out what I believe is right over three hours of school. Looking back, I would’ve regretted not doing it.”

Miller’s mom, Kelly, said the unexcused absence was a fair consequence. But the school could have warned students in advance about what other discipline they could face, especially when it became clear that students across the state were holding walkouts. Ultimately, she said her daughter had their support to walk out.

“She’s living out her values and principles … We trust her and her instincts and we want to support her,” she said. “What more could we do than hope to develop that heart for social justice and the courage to stand up for what she believes in?”

Reporters Amelia Pak-Harvey, Erica Meltzer, and MJ Slaby of Chalkbeat and Zak Cassel of WFYI contributed to this article.

Aleksandra Appleton covers Indiana education policy and writes about K-12 schools across the state. Contact her at aappleton@chalkbeat.org.

Mirror Indy reporter Carley Lanich covers early childhood and K-12 education. Contact her at carley.lanich@mirrorindy.org or follow her on X @carleylanich.

Gov. Mike Braun visits students on career pathways during Career and Technical Education Month

2026-02-10T23:38:17+00:00

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When high school junior Avelyn McGrane completes the veterinary science program at the Central 9 career center in Greenwood, she’ll have options.

After spending this year doing lab work in the classroom — which includes a rescue cat room — she can complete a year-long internship working with animals during her senior year. After graduation, many students go on to a two-year vet tech degree or a four-year program at Purdue University, said teacher Jessica Smith, and students can add four more years of veterinary school beyond that.

Established in 1972, Central 9 offers 26 career pathways to 1,200 students who come to the center from nine high schools in Johnson and Marion counties. On Tuesday, the center hosted its first-ever gubernatorial visit: Gov. Mike Braun toured the facility as part of his proclamation of February as Career and Technical Education Month, asking students and teachers about the post-high school opportunities the programs provide.

Central 9 offers 26 career pathways to 1,200 students who come to the center from nine high schools in Johnson and Marion counties. Gov. Mike Braun visited for the first time on Feb. 10, 2025.

Career programs have taken the spotlight in Indiana since the state overhauled its graduation requirements to emphasize career experience in high school beginning with the class of 2029, or current freshmen.

The goal at Central 9 — and in career and technical education programs across the state — is for students to graduate with a diploma, some postsecondary education or training, and an idea of what they’d like to do after high school.

For Indiana, the push for workforce training in high school is also needed to address the shortage of skilled workers, state leaders have said, while calling on employers to provide more work opportunities to students.

Gov. Mike Braun toured Central 9 Career Center in Greenwood on Tuesday as part of CTE Month.

“We need a lot of HVAC professionals,” Secretary of Education Katie Jenner told students in the HVAC program Tuesday. Jenner joined Braun on his visit.

Each career pathway at Central 9 has an advisory board made up of industry professionals who can connect students to internships as well as help arrange donations of equipment like a fire engine. The Central 9 program also relies on federal Perkins grants that support CTE programs, said executive director Bill Kovach. The center has leveraged those funds to buy equipment such as a simulated ambulance and digital anatomy tables.

Some students, such as those in Central 9’s firefighting academy, may be eligible to go directly into the workforce, school leaders said. Students in the early education program are already working in nearby day cares, making lesson plans and planning art activities with the goal of eventually pursuing degrees in early childhood education.

McGrane said she isn’t immediately going into veterinary sciences.

“I love the class and I still have a passion for animals, but I’m going into the military,” McGrane said, to work with K9 teams.

Indiana Secretary of Education Katie Jenner visits Central 9 Career Center on Tuesday with Gov. Mike Braun.

Students say they appreciate the freedom that real-world workforce programs provide compared to the traditional high school experience, said the school’s marketing manager, Tiffany Bickerstaff. But the program also expects students to meet recommended qualifications, like a minimum GPA or attendance, as well as skills like communication with adults coping with stressful situations, which Bickerstaff said helps get the “right student in the right seat.”

“We want them to understand this is adult-level training and college level curriculum,” Bickerstaff said. “The difference between here and high school is that we treat them like adults.”

Aleksandra Appleton covers Indiana education policy and writes about K-12 schools across the state. Contact her at aappleton@chalkbeat.org.

Indiana tries again to restrict social media for minors: ‘It’s not the magic pill, but it will help’

2026-02-09T22:13:29+00:00

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The parents of slain Fishers junior Hailey Buzbee called on Indiana lawmakers to limit minors’ access to social media after their daughter’s death was linked to a 39-year-old man she spoke to online.

The original version of SB 199 would have banned social media operators from allowing Hoosier children to make accounts on their platforms and limited access for older teenagers. But this language was stripped in the Senate.

Now, House lawmakers are considering adding a version of the restriction back with an amendment.

Speaking at the House Education Committee Wednesday in support of the amendment, Beau Buzbee said 17-year-old Hailey had been lured away from their home by an online predator last month. Law enforcement announced Feb. 1 that she is believed to be deceased and that an Ohio man was arrested in connection with her disappearance.

Buzbee said their experience showed glaring gaps in Indiana law that needed to be addressed.

“We are losing the fight to protect our children. The internet and social media are the devils’ and predators’ playgrounds, and it’s on this front that we must fight,” Buzbee told lawmakers. “Please do not let this opportunity slip away.”

Supporters of Hailey’s Law have also called for schools to provide mandatory updated predator education and for updates to the state’s missing person alert system. Lawmakers said on Monday they would add an expansion to the alert system as an amendment to HB 1303, a bill that increases the penalties for child exploitation, and that they would discuss adding more education to the existing health standards.

Indiana legislators previously considered — but ultimately failed to advance — a social media ban for minors under 14 and restrictions for those under 17 this year.

The most recent iteration of the ban is the amendment to SB 199, which requires social media providers to estimate the age of an account user and seek permission from the parents of users under 16. For minor accounts, the amendment forbids social media providers from using an algorithmic feed or selling data for advertising purposes, restricts who can contact the user, and gives parents monitoring tools.

Critics have raised First Amendment concerns as well as the possibility that the state will be drawn into an extended legal challenge over the law.

But supporters of a restriction on social media, including Secretary of Education Katie Jenner, say the state must act to address the risks of social media to children and teens the way it does for other dangerous activities, like tobacco use. Social media use is linked to depression, irregular sleep, and a lack of physical activity and social emotional support, said State Health Commissioner Lindsay Weaver. And these issues spill over to classrooms and affect learning, school leaders said.

House lawmakers heard hours of testimony overwhelmingly in support of the language on Monday, but did not take action to add it to the bill.

Supporters of the amendment included South Bend student Rima Bahradine-Bell, who said social media use promises community and affirmation but actually leads to comparison and dependency.

“I’m coming to you as a teenager and a high schooler, and I’m telling you that I would have liked to not have any social media at that age,” she said. “My friends are telling me to tell you that we did not want this.”

Amy Klink, a school counselor at Guerin Catholic High School, said she frequently speaks to students experiencing mental health crises as a result of social media and to their parents, who struggle to restrict social media access.

“Even when parents are aware of a social media account, they can’t be aware of every account with a new name. Parental verification could help with this,” Klink said. “It’s not the magic pill, but it will help.”

SB 199 will return to the House Education Committee on Wednesday for lawmakers to amend and vote.

Aleksandra Appleton covers Indiana education policy and writes about K-12 schools across the state. Contact her at aappleton@chalkbeat.org.

A bill on the Ten Commandments is not moving forward in the Indiana Statehouse. Here’s what is.

2026-02-02T23:49:01+00:00

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Key education bills affecting students across the state are moving forward after the midway point for the 2026 legislative session in Indiana. Those bills focus on cell phones in schools, math instruction, access to restrooms, and teaching students to wait until marriage to have children in order to avoid poverty.

Under a truncated timeline due to the early start of the session, lawmakers proposed and passed fewer education bills than in recent past years. And they withdrew several controversial measures, like those that would have required public school classrooms to display the Ten Commandments and banned minors from social media, as well as a bill that would have created an appointed board to oversee South Bend schools.

But the bills that have advanced through their originating chambers could have a significant impact on schools and students. And bills that failed to pass could reappear in other bills as the legislative process continues.

Below are key statewide issues lawmakers are advancing through the 2026 session. For a full, updated list of where education bills stand, see our bill tracker. Additionally, lawmakers advanced a proposal to create the Indianapolis Public Education Corporation, you can read more here.

Lawmakers plan to adjourn by the end of February. Bills must pass by Feb. 24.

School cell phone restrictions pass, but social media ban fails

Tightening Indiana’s existing school cell phone ban has arguably been GOP lawmakers’ top education priority during the 2026 legislative session, with proponents saying it would relieve teachers of the responsibility to confiscate cell phones and enforce policies.

SB 78 requires districts to either ban students from bringing personal devices such as cell phones, tablets, laptops, or smartwatches from schools, or to require that devices be stored away during the entire instructional day. The bill includes exemptions for medical needs, translation services, or special education purposes.

It also specifies that any learning done on devices during the school day must be done on school-issued devices.

A related bill, SB 159, also seeks to place limits on those school-issued devices by specifying that students cannot use the devices for noneducational purposes during instructional time. It also requires schools to give parents the option to set stronger content filters on school devices — a potential hurdle for districts to implement, according to the Indiana CTO Council.

However, not all bills targeting technology use are moving forward. Language that would have restricted Indiana children from making social media accounts was removed last week from SB 199. Such bans have drawn legal challenges in other states.

Ten Commandments bill stalls, but other social issue bills move forward

For the last several legislative sessions, GOP lawmakers have sought to restrict instruction on racism, sexism, and other ideas related to diversity in Indiana schools. That process continued this year with SB 88, which initially prohibited these concepts in the teaching of the United States national identity.

The amended bill removes that language, but still requires schools to teach students the importance of graduating college, getting a job, and waiting until marriage to have children — a series of steps known as the “success sequence.” While advocates characterized it as an anti-poverty measure, critics questioned the bill’s origins in model language from conservative policy organizations.

SB 88 would also expand the use of the Classic Learning Test — an alternative to the SAT and ACT that primarily uses texts from Western history and antiquity — for college admissions in the state.

In another bill defining gender and sex in Indiana statutes, lawmakers also inserted a provision that requires schools to designate multiple occupancy restrooms and changing rooms for use by males or females, and requires individuals to only use the restroom that matches their sex, rather than their gender identity.

But HB 1086 that would have permitted teachers and principals to display the Ten Commandments in classrooms died in the House on Monday.

Lawmakers also declined to take up a bill this year to allow school chaplains to serve as counselors in schools — a proposal that has cleared the Senate in past years.

New requirements for math instruction

Math instruction has not necessarily received the same attention as reading instruction did during Indiana’s years-long push to improve literacy scores through the science of reading.

Still, new bills this year would build on last year’s math instruction legislation.

HB 1266 requires the Department of Education to create a teaching and learning framework for math focused on K-5 grades that recommends at least 60 minutes daily of math instruction time and another 20 minutes daily for intervention.

HB 1176 and SB 239, meanwhile, build on last year’s legislation to screen young students for math skills beginning in 2026-27. The bills add a requirement that schools inform parents when their students are deemed at risk of not achieving proficiency in math.

Funding for child care via vouchers, employer subsidies

While Indiana’s GOP supermajority is unlikely to consider sweeping changes to child care such as offering universal preschool, lawmakers are advancing some proposals to address child care issues.

Language in SB 4 allows lawmakers to use a $300 million fund from the 2025 budget to supplement funding for the Child Care and Development Fund voucher program, which helps low-income families pay for child care. The state froze the program and implemented a waitlist last year due to a lack of funding.

Another bill, HB 1018, would remove a transportation requirement in a grant for school-aged child care providers. And HB 1177 expands a child care tax credit to larger businesses in the hopes that more employers will choose to offer child care to their employees.

No employers have opted to use the credits under current statute, which limits it to businesses that have 100 or fewer employees, according to HB 1177’s author, Rep. Becky Cash.

Aleksandra Appleton covers Indiana education policy and writes about K-12 schools across the state. Contact her at aappleton@chalkbeat.org.

Indiana House passes a bill creating the Indianapolis Public Education Corporation

2026-02-02T23:41:33+00:00

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Indiana House lawmakers have passed a bill to give a new board control over transportation, accountability, and some facilities for Indianapolis district and charter schools.

HB 1423 creates the Indianapolis Public Education Corporation, a nine-member board appointed by the Indianapolis mayor that would oversee key aspects of schools within its boundary, such as a transportation system and an accountability system that could be used to recommend closing inefficient or low-performing schools.

While the bill’s author, Indianapolis Republican Rep. Bob Behning, has said he intends for the corporation to control and eventually own school buildings on behalf of the schools under its jurisdiction, a recent amendment gives charter schools the right to opt out of facility management, though they would lose some local property tax funding.

Behning said he expects few schools would opt out.

“An opt-out makes absolutely no sense long term,” Behning said. “When you opt out as a charter, what you are opting out of is having parity in terms of having debt service of capital project dollars.”

But there were situations where a building was built with private investment, Behning said, creating concerns about the state “coming in and taking that investment away from them.”

Still, this change, made last week, drew criticism from IPS and its supporters. Democratic lawmakers also raised the opt-out issue, along with concerns about Indianapolis families losing electoral power.

“If you happen to have a nice building, and it’s paid off, you can say, ‘I’m not contributing my building to this overall project.’ At the same time, that same charter school could get about 60% of the property tax revenue it would otherwise get, and put it to whatever purpose it wants,” said Rep. Ed DeLaney, an Indianapolis Democrat, on the House floor Monday. “We’re not getting where we need to get, which is to have a uniform system of common schools.”

The bill now goes to the Senate, where it must pass by Feb. 24. Behning said he will suggest an amendment to the Senate Education Committee to give IPS the flexibility to opt into the facilities management provision of the bill.

The bill represents the culmination of the process begun by the Indianapolis Local Education Alliance, which lawmakers formed during the 2025 legislative session to study how district and charter schools might pool resources.

HB 1423 prescribes a timeline for how the new corporation will assume the power to levy taxes, as well as how it will design new transportation and accountability systems. The corporation will assume many of its management responsibilities beginning with the 2028-29 school year.

How exactly the corporation will assume control of privately, philanthropically, or bond-financed buildings is still to be determined. HB 1423 also does not address a key question of special education funding, which was included in ILEA’s initial report to Indiana lawmakers.

Aleksandra Appleton covers Indiana education policy and writes about K-12 schools across the state. Contact her at aappleton@chalkbeat.org.

Indiana lawmakers move to permit — but not require — display of Ten Commandments in schools

2026-01-27T18:25:05+00:00

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Indiana lawmakers have advanced a bill allowing school districts to permit the display of the Ten Commandments in classrooms and elsewhere — but teachers would be prohibited from reading it aloud in front of students.

Lawmakers also stopped short of requiring that the Ten Commandments be posted in all public school classrooms and libraries, as the original bill proposed.

Under HB 1086, which advanced out of the House Education Committee Tuesday along party lines, school libraries would also be required to keep a copy of the Ten Commandments, and students would be allowed to cite the text in their work without consequence. Districts could also display the text elsewhere in school buildings and at events.

If passed, the bill could embroil Indiana in an ongoing legal fight across the country over the display of the Ten Commandments in schools. While recent laws requiring the display of the text in other states have been struck down, the issue is once again under review in a federal appeals court.

Moreover, critics of HB 1086 said giving Indiana districts permission to display the Ten Commandments rather than a mandate would effectively shift the legal burden from the state to school districts.

But the Indiana School Boards Association, which expressed a neutral position on the bill, said Indiana schools already have permission to display on their property an “object containing the words of the Ten Commandments,” along with “other documents of historical significance that have formed and influenced the United States legal or governmental system.”

Supporters of the bill said the Ten Commandments are commonly posted in public and in government buildings, including in the U.S. Supreme Court. They said many of the country’s founding documents like the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution are steeped in an understanding of the text.

“These are just kind of the basic underpinnings of morality within Western civilization that really we should all support and want to get behind within our culture,” said Ryan McCann, executive director of the Indiana Family Institute.

Supporters of the bill also said the Ten Commandments teach students character education, and that they will be accountable for their actions to a supreme being.

But the bill’s critics, who outnumbered supporters at Tuesday’s hearing on the bill, said the key difference between schools and other government buildings is that students are compelled to attend schools.

And there’s a clear distinction between student-initiated religious expression and school actions that could be seen as coercive and in violation of the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause, like posting the Ten Commandments, said Samantha Bresnahan, senior policy specialist at the ACLU of Indiana.

Religious leaders who spoke in opposition to the bill said that critically, the bill does not specify which version of the Ten Commandments would be available in Indiana schools. Some versions are specific to different faiths and contain key language differences, they said.

Moreover, the task of interpreting the Ten Commandments belongs to faith communities, which can best derive meaning from the text, said Timothy McNinch, an assistant professor of the Hebrew Bible at Christian Theological Seminary in Indianapolis.

“How are Hoosier first graders supposed to understand on their own what to make of commands about adultery or graven images or Sabbath-keeping or coveting your neighbor’s wife?” he said. “Posting without interpretation transforms the commandments from a meaningful text into an abstract symbol … that seems to signal our preference for Christian scriptures to the exclusion of sacred texts of other faiths, even the ones that communicate the same moral values that we hope our children acquire.”

HB 1086 is moving to a full vote in the House, where lawmakers must pass bills by Thursday in order to send them to the Senate.

Aleksandra Appleton covers Indiana education policy and writes about K-12 schools across the state. Contact her at aappleton@chalkbeat.org.

Indiana lawmakers move to expand the use of the Classic Learning Test for college admission

2026-01-22T21:01:00+00:00

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Indiana lawmakers have advanced a bill that could lead to more high school students taking the Classic Learning Test instead of the SAT or ACT for college admission.

If passed, SB 88 would require the state’s public colleges and universities to consider scores on the Classic Learning Test, or CLT, the same way they would consider SAT or ACT scores for admission. The CLT asks students to analyze pieces from “texts that have had a lasting influence on Western culture and society.”

The legislation would also require Indiana public schools to teach students the “success sequence,” a term coined for a series of steps that supporters have linked to avoiding poverty, but that critics say oversimplifies a systemic issue. The steps are graduating college, finding a full-time job, and having children only after marriage.

In addition, SB 88 would also allow prospective teachers in an alternate licensing pathway to submit their test scores on the SAT, ACT, CLT, or GRE in lieu of taking a licensing exam.

The testing change would be a boon to the growing number of students in private schools in Indiana, advocates said, as well as home-schooled students for whom the remotely proctored CLT is more accessible than the SAT or ACT, which must be taken on-location at a testing site.

The CLT has been a more accurate assessment for students at the Redeemer Classical School, a Christian microschool in Fort Wayne, said the school’s headmaster, Nathaniel Pullmann at the Wednesday hearing. The school teaches classical literature, science, and math, including works by Homer, Shakespeare, Newton, and Euclid, he said.

“If this bill is passed, the colleges in Indiana will find the same thing that hundreds of other colleges have found, that it is, in fact, a good predictor of educational success,” Pullman said. “The idea that including the works of the Western world as the reading samples that we’re going to use to assess their reading ability from, the idea that that’s discriminatory somehow, is just absurd.”

Critics have raised concerns about potential cultural bias in the test, which asks students to answer questions about passages from both religious and secular texts by writers like Rudyard Kipling, Plato, Cicero, and Thomas Jefferson, as well as more recent nonfiction articles.

Others pointed out that the bill’s aims originate from model policy language put forth by groups like the American Legislative Exchange Council, an organization of conservative lawmakers.

“Why should Indiana accept a bill that has been cut and pasted from various outside think tanks?” said Russ Skiba, professor emeritus at Indiana University, and founder of the University Alliance fo Racial Justice.

The bill does not mandate that universities consider any test scores for admission. And most Indiana public colleges and universities are test optional, meaning students can choose whether to submit their SAT and ACT scores as part of their application. All Indiana University campuses follow this policy, as does the University of Southern Indiana, Indiana State University, and Ball State.

One notable exception is Purdue University, which briefly instituted a “test-flexible” policy during COVID, but reinstated a requirement for its West Lafayette campus that prospective students submit their SAT or ACT scores for the 2024 fall semester. Test scores are optional — but recommended — for the university’s Fort Wayne and Northwestern campuses.

Nine private colleges and universities in Indiana currently accept CLT scores — though some of those schools are test optional as well. Service academies also recently announced they would accept the test scores.

Some Indiana lawmakers support a ‘success sequence’

SB 88 would require public schools to teach the “success sequence,” of graduating high school, finding a full-time job, and having children only after marriage, as part of good citizenship instruction.

“If students live that, the chance of them being poor is almost zero,” said GOP Sen. Spencer Deery.

But critics said the term oversimplifies systemic issues, and confuses causation and correlation.

Democratic senators also questioned the stigma the bill could create for students in single-parent households.

“My biological mother could have sat in one of these classrooms being pregnant in school, hearing about how critically important it is that she be married,” said Sen. Andrea Hunley, a Democrat. “And I can’t help but think about how she might have felt.”

Author Sen. Gary Byrne, a Republican, removed language from the bill that would have required schools to teach the significance of the Ten Commandments as part of civics education, as well as restricted national identity instruction. However, on Monday, House lawmakers will discuss a separate bill to require public schools to display the Ten Commandments.

SB 88 advanced out of the Senate Education Committee and is moving to the full Senate for consideration.

Aleksandra Appleton covers Indiana education policy and writes about K-12 schools across the state. Contact her at aappleton@chalkbeat.org.

Lawmakers draft timeline for new Indianapolis education board but school closure uncertainty remains

2026-01-21T20:26:54+00:00

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Indiana lawmakers have advanced a bill that would give a new governing body power over buildings, buses, and taxes for Indianapolis schools, after adding key dates for when these changes would happen.

But questions still remain about how the new Indianapolis Public Education Corporation would gain control of buildings, and how the accountability system it’s tasked with designing would be used to close underperforming schools.

HB 1423, which the House Education Committee advanced Wednesday, adopts most of the recommendations from the state-mandated Indianapolis Local Education Alliance in December that would drastically change how Indianapolis schools operate and reduce the power of the elected IPS school board. Power over buildings, transportation, property taxes and school accountability for district and charter schools would go to the new mayor-appointed corporation. The bill does not give the corporation power over schools’ staffing and academics.

Under the bill, several of the new corporation’s duties would begin in the 2028-29 school year, in part because the bill’s architects are still determining how the new board will take control of buildings that are debt financed. HB 1423 author Rep. Bob Behning, the Republican chair of the House committee, has said his intent is for the new body to manage buildings immediately and eventually own them too.

“These are all onions that have to be peeled, which is why we’re asking for an additional year … to begin,” said Michael O’Connor, the facilitator of the Indianapolis Local Education Alliance.

Here are some key dates in the latest version of the bill:

No later than March 31, 2026: The mayor shall appoint nine initial members of the corporation to staggered terms beginning upon appointment and ending in 2029, 2030, or 2031. Each future member’s term will be six years.
Before April 1, 2026: Any debt, liabilities, or obligations incurred by IPS or a charter school before this date would remain the responsibility of the district or school that incurred them.
After March 31, 2026: Any debt incurred after this date would be the new corporation’s responsibility.
After March 31, 2026: Key powers over budgets and referendums shift to the new corporation. However, referendum revenue will continue to flow to IPS and charter schools. And operating referendums approved March 31 or before will continue, with the funds distributed to IPS for the same purposes and term for which it was originally approved.
April 1, 2026: Beginning on this date, the bill limits charter authorizing within IPS boundaries to the mayor’s office, the Indiana Charter School Board, and the IPS school board, which has expressed interest in becoming an authorizer.
July 1, 2026: The corporation assumes control of IPS’ debt service fund. The corporation also assumes control over the regular property tax levy for assessments beginning in January 2027.
Aug. 1, 2026: The corporation board must submit to state lawmakers a progress report on creating an accountability framework, including information “related to the progress in the plan to close inefficient school buildings.”
Nov. 1, 2026: The corporation board must submit the final school performance framework to the legislative council.
Nov. 30, 2026: The corporation board must submit to state lawmakers a progress report on creating a unified transportation plan and a feasibility study to determine the best approach for managing school property.
November 30, 2027: The corporation board must submit the final transportation plan and property management feasibility study to the legislative council.
2028-2029 school year: The corporation begins to control the management and operation of school property, oversee the provision of transportation, implement its school performance framework, ensure that property is made available to participating schools, and other powers.

Questions about Indianapolis buildings, accountability to be determined

The bill specifies that the corporation will work with the nonprofit organization leading the transportation and centralized school facilities pilot in Marion County on plans about those issues.

Lawmakers amended the bill Wednesday to provide the corporation no more than 3% of the property tax revenues used for operating expenses — or around $3 million — to pay an executive director, staff, and consultants, Behning said.

But further financial details will likely have to be added in future legislative sessions, he said, like how much the corporation could spend on a new transportation system before distributing the balance of the available revenue to district and charter schools.

It also remains to be seen how exactly the corporation will gain control of debt-financed buildings. Some buildings in the Indianapolis education landscape are also privately owned, or built with philanthropic funding.

Democratic lawmakers asked who receives the revenue when a building is sold — especially since provisions of the bill would exempt IPS from a state law requiring school districts to give unused or underutilized school buildings to charter schools for the sale or lease price of $1.

The bill also says that lawmakers will review the corporation’s unified school accountability framework in 2026 and 2027. This framework is to be based on multiple measures and will include a requirement to close chronically low-performing schools

This language has led to questions from lawmakers about who will have the final say about which schools close.

Democratic Rep. Ed DeLaney proposed an amendment that would require the corporation to first consult with the Indiana Department of Education, and to hold a public hearing, before it may close a school.

But Behning rejected the amendment over concerns that it would effectively neuter the new corporation before it has a chance to set its own performance benchmarks.

“The question I think long-term is what happens if there’s a low-performing school and they just refuse to operate along the performance metrics they’ve all agreed to?” Behning said.

Aleksandra Appleton covers Indiana education policy and writes about K-12 schools across the state. Contact her at aappleton@chalkbeat.org.

In ILEA bill, critics see taxation without representation but supporters see shared accountability

2026-01-12T21:12:00+00:00

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A bill to create an appointed board to oversee key aspects of district and charter schools in Indianapolis would unfairly dilute electoral power, critics said during a House hearing Monday, while supporters said it would ensure shared accountability and transportation for all students.

HB 1423 largely adheres to recommendations the Indianapolis Local Education Alliance submitted in December that would give power over taxes, buildings, and transportation for IPS and charter schools to the Indianapolis Public Education Corporation, which would consist of nine members appointed by the mayor.

The alliance’s recommendations would drastically change Indianapolis schools and reduce the power of the elected IPS school board, and could be replicated in school districts across the state facing declining enrollment and logistical challenges.

The four-hour hearing before the House Education Committee hearing marks the latest phase of state and local officials’ push to remake Indianapolis education, which started with the creation of the ILEA last legislative session and continued with the task force’s meetings in the second half of 2025. While those meetings, especially the final vote, were at times heated, testimony during Monday’s hearing was routine.

The bill doesn’t specify how the new corporation will distribute property tax funds to districts and charter schools, or how it will gain control of buildings that are financed by debt. Lawmakers still have to work out those details, said Rep. Bob Behning the bill’s author and chair of the House Education Committee.

However, Behning said the corporation will control — and eventually own — all district and charter buildings. The corporation will also determine a formula to distribute property tax funding.

The bill also doesn’t act on a recommendation from ILEA to increase funding for students with disabilities whose education is provided by IPS at a budget deficit. Lawmakers are unlikely to address that issue in a short session when they don’t discuss a state budget.

At the House committee hearing, supporters of the bill said it would create a shared system of accountability as well as a shared transportation system that would allow students to attend the school of their choice.

“I see students spending hours commuting, families struggling to coordinate rides, and young people missing opportunities simply because reliable transportation is not guaranteed,” said Ma’at Lands, founder and executive director of Rooted School Indianapolis, a charter school.

But dozens of speakers on Monday said the bill would significantly dilute the power of the elected Indianapolis Public Schools board, and that the ILEA ignored overwhelming support for an elected body to oversee schools.

Courtney Hawk, an Indianapolis parent, said she did not vote for an appointed board.

“If they raise my property taxes, I can’t vote them out. I can only hope that the mayor replaces them,” she said of the appointed board. “This violates a fundamental democratic principle: No taxation without representation.”

Bill significantly increases Indianapolis mayor’s power

Should the bill pass, the Indianapolis mayor could begin appointing members to the new corporation board immediately, but would have to do so by June 1.

Rep. Vernon Smith, a Democrat, questioned the idea of giving the Indianapolis mayor the power to appoint all nine members of the corporation board — a comment that earned applause from several people signed up to testify.

The Indianapolis Public Education Corporation would not oversee township school districts. Critics of the bill also said it would leave Center Township families with less electoral power than those in the other 10 school districts in Indianapolis.

“We don’t have a performance crisis that justifies stripping power from voters,” said parent Megan Hise, citing academic growth and graduation rates. “We have a success story that deserves stability and investment.”

But ILEA facilitator Michael O’Connor, who presented the bill at the hearing, said giving the mayor power over transportation, facilities, and uniform accountability “gives people a place to hold them accountable.”

Under the bill, the mayor would also be one of only three entities with the power to authorize charter schools. That’s led to concerns from representatives of Education One, the authorizing arm of Trine University, as well as charter school leaders and GOP Rep. Becky Cash, who said during Monday’s hearing that schools serving students with disabilities often have outside authorizers.

O’Connor said the ILEA frequently heard criticisms that there are too many charter authorizers, contributing to a lack of coherence in the system of education in Indianapolis.

More funding for students with disabilities is unlikely

In presenting the recommendations to the House Education Committee, O’Connor said the bill was a faithful reflection of the recommendations of the ILEA — other than addressing the organization’s request for additional funding for students with disabilities.

IPS currently operates its special education program at a deficit of tens of millions of dollars, officials have said. Charter schools would like to continue using district services for their students, O’Connor said.

“Charters would like to utilize what is a very well-run special education program within IPS,” he said. “We believe that it is fair and equitable that that be fully funded, and be a service that could be provided by IPS, but it needs to be better funded by the state.”

But since lawmakers won’t pass a state budget this legislative session, they might be reluctant to discuss such a funding change.

A bill by Democratic Rep. Tonya Pfaff, who sits on the House education committee, calls for a comprehensive study of special education service costs to the state, schools, and families. But it’s unclear if the bill will get a hearing, Behning said.

Supporters like shared accountability for schools, buses, taxes

Speaking in support of the bill, IU Indianapolis student Kelin Peraza-Argueta said the legislation would offer a shared accountability system for schools — something that was missing when she searched for a school for her nephews.

“There were so many questions we had and so many unanswered, and we had no clear way to see which school would be best for them,” she said.

Democratic Rep. Ed DeLaney said the bill also creates oversight for charter schools that now receive or will soon receive property tax revenue under recent legislative changes. It also limits the number of charter authorizers and exempts Indianapolis schools from the $1 building law.

“I don’t see it as a perfect solution, but you’ve got to get to the core problem that generates this bill,” DeLaney said.

During testimony, Democratic Rep. Cherrish Pryror asked whether the city of Indianapolis would now be liable when IPS or charter schools are sued. The new layer of government would make it difficult for parents to know who they should go to with concerns, she said.

“I fear that if this were to go into effect, what we’re really doing is setting up IPS for failure, and it’s going to artificially lead to IPS being worse,” said Rep. Cherrish Pryor during testimony. “And if that happens, the legislature has to own it.”

Behning said the bill would not come back to the committee this week. The committee is meeting again Wednesday. The deadline for bills to pass the full Indiana House before heading to the Indiana Senate is Jan. 29.

Clarification: This story was updated to say the the new board would oversee key aspects of schools.

Aleksandra Appleton covers Indiana education policy and writes about K-12 schools across the state. Contact her at aappleton@chalkbeat.org.

Legislative proposal would create a new mayor-appointed board over Indianapolis schools and charter schools

2026-01-08T18:36:04+00:00

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A much-anticipated proposal that would give the Indianapolis mayor more power over schools while reducing the power of the existing elected school board has been filed in the statehouse. The bill marks the next step toward a fundamental shift in how Indianapolis Public Schools and charter schools operate, and could go into effect in just a few months.

HB 1423 largely falls in line with the recommendations of the Indianapolis Local Education Alliance and would create an Indianapolis Public Education Corporation made of nine board members appointed by the mayor. The new body would have the authority to control and manage school property, as well as to establish and oversee a transportation plan to transport all students within Indianapolis Public Schools boundaries — the two primary goals lawmakers had for the work of the Indianapolis Local Education Alliance.

The Indianapolis mayor would need to appoint members to the corporation body by June 1, 2026.

The bill would require all schools within district boundaries — district and charter — to offer transportation. Currently, fewer than half of independent charter schools offer bus services, while roughly half of charters in the IPS Innovation Network use IPS bus services, according to a report from the mayor’s Office of Education Innovation.

In a significant shift of power, the district would lose its authority to levy and collect property taxes or issue debt, powers that would instead go to the new corporation. The legislation tasks the corporation with developing a formula by which to distribute property tax funds to schools.

The bill does not, however, mention the need for additional special education funding — a recommendation from the ILEA that does not appear to have been adopted.

The legislation comes after months of heated public meetings during which parents, students, school leaders, and community members debated the future of schools in Indianapolis. Supporters of IPS decried efforts to take power from the elected school board, voicing concern over publicly funded, privately run charter schools. Charter school supporters, meanwhile, pushed back against any attempts to limit charter school growth and advocated for more student transportation options.

The bill will be heard on Monday at 9:30 a.m. in the House Education Committee, according to committee chair and bill author Rep. Bob Behning of Indianapolis. If it passes the committee, it will head to a vote in the full House, then the Senate.

Bill limits charter authorizers, requires closure of low-performing schools

The legislation would also limit charter authorizing within IPS boundaries to the mayor’s office, the Indiana Charter School Board, and the IPS school board, which has expressed interest in becoming an authorizer. Schools overseen by other authorizers would be able to remain with those authorizers until the end of their charter term.

Indianapolis Local Education Alliance backs plan to create new education authority to oversee IPS, charter schools

The corporation board would be composed of three charter school leaders, three IPS commissioners, and three other members who have expertise in capital planning, facilities, transportation, or logistics or experience working with vulnerable student populations, as recommended by the ILEA. Each member’s term would be four years, though they would be eligible for reappointment.

Under the proposal, the new body would establish and manage a unified enrollment system, as well as a single school performance framework.

The school rating system must be based on academic performance and assessments, student discipline, enrollment, condition of school property, and the health of the school’s finances, organization, and governance. The framework must also close chronically low-performing schools.

School boards would still be responsible for running day-to-day operations of district and charter schools, retaining the power to hire and fire employees or create their own school budgets.

Bill sets deadlines for transfer of financial responsibilities

The bill would ultimately shift financial responsibility of taxes and bonds from the IPS school board to the corporation.

The corporation would assume the power to seek voter-approved tax increases for operating or capital expenses in April. That’s when the corporation would also become liable for all the outstanding debt of the district — typically used for larger expenses such as building maintenance or construction projects — which would no longer be able to issue bonds for debt.

How a fractured Indianapolis school system reached the verge of a huge power shakeup

However, the existing operating and capital referendum funds, approved by voters in IPS in 2018 and 2023, respectively, would still go to IPS to cover costs that voters specifically approved at the ballot.

The bill also exempts IPS from a state law requiring school districts to give unused or underutilized school buildings to charter schools for the sale or lease price of $1.

The bill could still see significant amendments during the 2026 session. Behning previously expressed skepticism about giving the Indianapolis mayor authority to appoint all nine members of the body. He did not immediately respond to a question from Chalkbeat Thursday.

Following the bill’s filing on Thursday, Mayor Joe Hogsett’s office declined to comment beyond a previously published op-ed by the mayor in the Indianapolis Star. In it, Hogsett, who chaired the ILEA, expressed support for the groups’ recommendations and asked for “our local voices to remain at the forefront” of the conversation at the statehouse.

Scott Bess of the Indiana Charter Innovation Center, which advocates for charters around the state and in Indianapolis, said the group is generally supportive of the bill, but raised concerns about limiting charter authorizers and requiring schools to offer transportation.

IPS said in a statement that the district was still analyzing the bill language.

This story was updated to include more background information and responses from Mayor Joe Hogsett’s office, the Indiana Charter Innovation Center, and Indianapolis Public Schools.

Amelia Pak-Harvey covers Indianapolis and Lawrence Township schools for Chalkbeat Indiana. Contact Amelia at apak-harvey@chalkbeat.org.

Aleksandra Appleton covers Indiana education policy and writes about K-12 schools across the state. Contact her at aappleton@chalkbeat.org.

Indiana looks to ban social media operators from allowing Hoosier children to create accounts

2026-01-07T22:22:37+00:00

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Indiana lawmakers are trying again to restrict minors’ access to social media, citing bullying and mental health concerns that begin on the platforms and spill over into schools.

SB 199, presented to the Senate Education Committee by Secretary of Education Katie Jenner, would require social media platforms to verify users’ ages and obtain parental permission for the accounts of teenagers aged 14 to 17. Children under 14 would not be allowed to make — or keep — accounts.

The bill also enacts a curfew for teen accounts from 10:30 p.m. to 6 a.m. and bans social media operators from recommending algorithmic content to these accounts.

Jenner, speaking passionately about the topic, said schools and families are seeing children afraid to come to school due to online harassment or experiencing sleep loss, eating disorders, and anxiety. Common apps to block access to social media aren’t enough, she said.

“For most of us in the room, social media arrived when we were already well into adulthood. We had childhoods free from constant comparison, cyberbullying, algorithm-driven manipulation, and 24/7 access to content that is intentionally addictive,” Jenner said. “Our children growing up today do not have that same luxury.”

A similar social media ban passed the Indiana Senate last year, but did not pass the House in part due to concerns that it would’ve led to legal challenges. Critics also say the bans violate parental rights and users’ First Amendment rights and are too easy to skirt via VPN services and other means.

But while social media bans usually face a legal battle, recent court decisions have allowed such laws to go into effect in Missouri and Florida. In December, Australia also became the first country to ban users under 16 from social media platforms.

“I’m hyperaware that other states that have pursued legislation related to social media have faced lawsuits,” Jenner said. “We know the battle we’re up against and to be very clear, when it means standing up for something that is right and protecting our kids, I’ll battle all day.”

The impact of social media use on students in schools took center stage at the committee hearing, as educators described fights and bullying started online, as well as risky behavior made possible by online platforms, such as drug use.

SB 199 does not list which social media platforms would be affected. Rather, it defines social media as an online forum or website that:

Allows users to upload content or view the content of other users.
Employs algorithms that analyze user data or information on users to select content for users.
Has addictive features, like continuously scrolling content, autoplaying videos, likes, or a livestreaming feature.
Has a user base in which 10% or more of the daily active users who are 16years of age or younger spend an average of two hours per day or longer on the platform.

The social media ban has been proposed alongside separate bills this year to tighten the state’s existing rules on cell phone use in schools, effectively enacting a bell-to-bell ban on devices like phones, watches, and personal laptops. Senate education lawmakers advanced one of those bills — SB 78 — Wednesday. They also discussed SB 159, which would require school technology policies to allow parents to restrict how school-issued devices are used at home.

Cindy Long, executive director of the Indiana Association of School Principals, said past legislation on cellphones, bullying, student behavior, and discipline has focused on managing symptoms of a larger issue. SB 199 is different, she said, because it targets the digital platforms at the root of the other issues.

“While schools can limit device use during the school day, the influence of social media extends beyond our buildings,” Long said. “We see discipline reports showing two to three hours every day addressing issues that originate on social media.”

Bryan Ramirez, assistant principal at North Central High School, said online platforms exacerbate conflicts and make it easy for students to seek things like vapes online.

“All of this is happening through messaging apps and social media,” he said. “They’re easy to create, they’re easy to hide. And the parents, they’re just shocked.”

Two of the 17 or so speakers opposed the social media language in the bill.

DeOnyae-Dior Valentina, the executive director of the nonprofit Strength Over Struggle, said the ban would cut marginalized youth — like LGBT youth, rural youth, and children in unsafe homes — off from sources of information and support.

The ACLU of Indiana said the language violates free speech rights not just for minors, but for all by forcing users to hand over personal data to access speech.

Furthermore, SB 199 actually trumps parental consent by restricting when minors can access social media even after a parent gives permission, said Samantha Bresnahan, ACLU senior policy specialist during testimony.

“The Constitution is clear: Lawmakers cannot control what ideas and information parents can allow their families to access,” Bresnahan said. “This is government overreach.”

Lawmakers did not vote on the bill Wednesday, but it will likely return to a future hearing.

Aleksandra Appleton covers Indiana education policy and writes about K-12 schools across the state. Contact her at aappleton@chalkbeat.org.

Indiana lawmakers react favorably to most ILEA recommendations and discuss replicating them

2025-12-18T20:05:44+00:00

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There could be rare bipartisan agreement among lawmakers in favor of a task force’s recommendation that an independent agency oversee Indianapolis Public Schools and charter schools. But they could tweak the proposal to give the mayor less power.

And state leaders are already thinking about how they could replicate the Indianapolis Local Education Alliance’s proposal in other parts of the state — particularly in rural districts where there is population decline and a need to consolidate buses and facilities.

Speaking at an annual legislative conference, Republican Rep. Bob Behning, the chair of the House Education Committee, said Thursday the General Assembly could use the group’s recommendations as a guide for legislation. But he expressed skepticism about the group’s proposal for the Indianapolis mayor to appoint all nine members of the independent agency, the Indianapolis Public Education Corporation.

“A different mayor could have a totally different outcome in terms of what that panel might look like,” Behning said. “We need to at least make sure that the whims of whoever is at the helm of the mayor’s office doesn’t necessarily have a huge impact on the overall governance.”

In addition to recommending a new agency with oversight powers, the group voted 8-1 to recommend requiring that all schools provide transportation to students living within IPS boundaries, restricting the number of charter authorizers, and exempting IPS buildings from a state law requiring districts to make unused buildings available to charters for $1.

Behning said he would also support repealing the so-called $1 law, although he noted his support depended on the ILEA’s recommendations being fully implemented first.

The ILEA’s recommendations also earned support from Indianapolis Rep. Ed DeLaney, a Democrat. Since the new agency as proposed would have the power to impose property taxes for both IPS and charter schools, that means it could demand accountability for charters that’s currently missing, he said.

“Over my objection, we decided to give the charter schools tax revenue,” he said. “This gives us an opportunity to say, ‘we’re not going to give you the money, we’re going to have a structure under the mirror to see how you do it and make sure you cooperate.’”

Despite their past disagreements over charter and traditional public schools, Behning and DeLaney said they may co-author a bill based on the ILEA’s recommendations. Each said taking the responsibility of buildings and transportation away from the current IPS board would allow the board to focus more on students and academics. 2

“I think this allows the IPS board to focus on really trying to drive resources into the classroom and have a positive impact in terms of outcomes for kids, and they won’t have to be labored with facilities,” Behning said.

Lawmakers: ILEA proposals could help other school districts

Leaders from other parts of the state also see the potential to replicate some of the ILEA’s work in their own districts.

Sen. Jeff Raatz, a Richmond Republican and chair of the Senate Education Committee, said rural communities face many of the same challenges as IPS, like declining population and transportation issues.

“This is an innovation incubator on education,” he said. “So we’ll get started here, and maybe it will work in other ways across the state, to help economies of scale, and looking at the number of buildings as population declines in some counties.”

Raatz said while a statewide expansion of the ILEA’s work is unlikely this year, lawmakers may make it easier for rural school districts to merge together or consolidate services.

For example, they could repeal a state requirement that school boards must meet in the geographic boundaries of their school district, Behning said.

Secretary of Education Katie Jenner also said rural and suburban districts are watching what happens in Indianapolis closely. During the 2025 session, lawmakers initially proposed a bill that would have dissolved IPS and four other school districts where most students attend schools not directly run by the district. That led to panicked calls from leaders of the other districts, Jenner said.

“I think we’ll be able to learn some things and probably apply them more broadly in Indiana, and I believe other states will watch as well,” Jenner said.

But Jenner also encouraged lawmakers to look at more than just student enrollment when considering school consolidation, closure, or other changes. Student academic outcomes and fiscal health should also be factors to account for small, successful school districts, she said.

In a last minute move in the 2025 session, Indiana lawmakers added a provision to dissolve the Union School Corporation, citing its low enrollment of around 300 students in brick-and-mortar schools as well as its academic performance.

The same law that created the ILEA this year also gave other schools throughout the state the option to participate in a pilot program testing new ways to use facilities and transportation. Three such pilot programs were approved this year, including one involving more than 50 public charter and private schools in Marion County.

Behning said the Marion County program may be reconsidered, given the recommendations of the ILEA.

Lawmakers are up against the clock to pass a bill turning the ILEA’s proposals into law.

The 2026 session started early in December, meaning lawmakers may only have three committee hearings to pass bills before they must move to their full chambers. Raatz said on the Senate side, that might mean a max of 10 education bills this year.

Aleksandra Appleton covers Indiana education policy and writes about K-12 schools across the state. Contact her at aappleton@chalkbeat.org.

ILEA proposals to change who runs Indianapolis schools in spotlight again at public hearing

2025-12-15T20:54:12+00:00

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Is this thing even on?

That’s what people at a public hearing on the Indianapolis Local Education Alliance wondered after the mic briefly stopped working — a technical glitch that underscored their real question: whether the group had not only heard but truly understood concerns about their work so far.

Those comments from some of the roughly two dozen attendees at the Madam Walker Legacy Center on Monday took place two days before the Indianapolis Local Education Alliance’s vote on its final recommendations Wednesday.

The alliance is considering two proposals that would both reduce the power of the elected IPS school board. One would give oversight of charter and IPS schools to a collaborative board consisting of IPS, mayoral, and charter school appointees. Another would give oversight to an independent Indianapolis Education Authority within the mayor’s office, and create a new secretary of education position.

But would an appointed board listen and be responsive to the public’s views about schools? Several people in the audience on Monday were skeptical. They pointed out that the ILEA — which consists of appointed members — was advancing proposals to create appointed boards, despite public support for elected ones.

“The thing I see here is consolidation of executive authority to individuals who do not have direct accountability to the public,” said Madison Whitcomb, a community member. “I don’t want people appointing anybody. I want them elected. When I elect someone, I have a voice in that.”

ILEA member and former mayor Bart Peterson rejected the idea that public feedback had reached any kind of consensus. Ultimately, the ILEA’s recommendations will likely leave some people disappointed, he said.

“It’s not about pleasing any individual,” he said. “It’s about trying to figure out the best thing to do for our city, for our students, and our families.”

It’s unclear whether state lawmakers will adopt the task force’s recommendations or mandate their own changes.

The alliance was created by state lawmakers to make recommendations on how charters and Indianapolis Public Schools could share transportation and facility resources. But to address those challenges, the group is also tackling the question of who in the city should have oversight of public schools.

Groups supporting IPS have criticized the two proposals to change how schools are run, and instead have called for an elected school board to oversee both district and charter schools. On Monday, they also raised concerns about how the city would fund a new secretary of education position and other staff necessary to maintain the proposed Indianapolis Education Authority.

But IPS has financial concerns, too, including a precipitous funding cliff that could lead to schools closing, said Chris Bultman executive director of external affairs at Indiana Math and Science Academy, an independent charter school.

“That would be bad, that would reduce choice,” he said.

IPS currently operates at a deficit that’s reached tens of millions of dollars, said Andrew Strope, IPS deputy superintendent, who spoke at the public comment session. And the effects of a new law that both caps property tax revenue and requires school districts to share that revenue with charter schools will further impact the district’s operations fund by up to $50 million.

Some charter school supporters have praised some aspects of the two proposals the ILEA will consider Wednesday, but have also warned the group not to recommend infringing on charters’ independence.

Bultman said he liked the ILEA’s proposed governance models because they retained his school’s elected board to make decisions for the school. But the ILEA should avoid limiting the number of charter authorizers, or placing a moratorium on new schools, he said.

Stand for Children Indiana, an advocacy group that’s backed the expansion of charter school models, has proposed a board that’s partly elected and partly appointed by the mayor’s Office of Education Innovation.

Stand for Children has also called for an end to district-run schools, calling for all schools to be autonomous — either as an Innovation Network school or a charter school — with their own boards. The head of the Indiana Charter Innovation Center has also called for all schools to become autonomous.

The task force is also considering two sets of proposals for how IPS and charters could share transportation and facilities. In one model, schools would participate in and pay into a collaborative that manages transportation and building services. In another model, an independent authority would collect property taxes and oversee those services.

The ILEA will meet at 6 p.m. on Dec. 17 at the City-County Building at 200 E. Washington St. and will take another hour of public comment before discussing and then voting on final recommendations.

Aleksandra Appleton covers Indiana education policy and writes about K-12 schools across the state. Contact her at aappleton@chalkbeat.org.

Amelia Pak-Harvey covers Indianapolis and Lawrence Township schools for Chalkbeat Indiana. Contact Amelia at apak-harvey@chalkbeat.org.

What do Indiana lawmakers think of the proposals to change how Indianapolis Public Schools functions?

2025-12-11T21:04:58+00:00

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With the work of the Indianapolis Local Education Alliance nearly complete, the future of public schools in the city will soon be in state lawmakers’ hands.

When they’re finalized in a Dec. 17 vote, those recommendations could form the basis of a bill for the 2026 session that could affect not just how students get to and from school and which buildings they learn in, but who runs public education in Indianapolis.

Right now, the ILEA is considering two options for school oversight that would dilute the power of the IPS school board. However, the ILEA’s recommendations aren’t binding. And lawmakers on the House and Senate Education committees are introducing their own ideas that could affect who can authorize charter schools, which schools must provide transportation, and whether charter schools will still be able acquire buildings from school districts for $1.

Indianapolis-area lawmakers on education committees say there is potential for improvement in the city’s school bus transportation. But there’s less agreement over what to do about school buildings and who exactly should govern both IPS and local charter schools.

The outcome may have significant implications for other public school districts. Several education laws that initially only applied to Indianapolis eventually expanded to cover other parts of the state.

Rep. Bob Behning, an Indianapolis Republican and chair of the House Education Committee, said he has started a bill with general concepts, but is waiting for the recommendations to be finalized. He also said that he’s pleased with the group’s work.

The committee will meet for the first time on Jan. 7, and likely only three times before bills need to advance to the full House, said Behning, who wrote the law establishing the ILEA during the 2025 legislative session.

Changing who runs Indianapolis schools proves tough issue

With dozens of bus routes in the city, Democratic Rep. Ed DeLaney said he would be open to a unified solution that also provides transportation for private schools that accept school vouchers.

“The focus on transportation and buildings is critical. That’s the right thing to focus on,” DeLaney said.

Democratic Sen. Fady Qaddoura has introduced a sweeping charter reform bill this year that would require charter schools to provide transportation if they accept property tax revenue, among other changes.

But Behning said he would likely not support a requirement that all public schools provide transportation.

Democratic Sen. Andrea Hunley said that if IPS is required to provide transportation, then local charter schools should be too — or else they shouldn’t be considered public schools.

There’s some overlap between questions about who will run schools and how to manage school buildings. IPS works with some charter schools through its Innovation Network. And independent charters can purchase or lease unused IPS school buildings for $1 under Indiana law.

Behning said if there’s ultimately a new building authority that manages school facilities, repealing the so-called $1 law would make sense. He also said a new shared accountability system could be used to determine which charter and district-run schools stay open and which ones close.

“We had a vision that the authority would kind of determine who would get access,” Behning said. “If you are better performing than x, the facility is available to you.”

Hunley said any shared accountability framework shouldn’t be developed with the intent to close schools, but to measure success. In the future, this could be one data point among many in decisions about whether to close a school, she said.

Indiana is also working on a new state school accountability model due to be finalized in January.

Beyond infrastructure, the ILEA seeks to address who would be the ultimate authority over public schools in the city, as well as who would authorize charters.

One proposal under consideration by the ILEA would give significantly more authority to the Indianapolis mayor’s office; the other would create a new board with appointees from IPS, charters, and the mayor’s office. But many details about those and other plans under consideration remain unclear.

So far, groups supporting IPS have sharply criticized those two proposals, while pro-charter groups have offered some praise but said the ILEA should not restrict charters’ autonomy.

The Indianapolis mayor’s office may be the most logical central authority to make decisions for Indianapolis schools, DeLaney said.

But Behning said he would not support recommendations that restrict the number of charter authorizers in the city, or give the mayor’s office sole power to authorize.

Rather than create a new body to oversee IPS and charter schools, Hunley said the IPS board could be reframed as the authority over all schools in Indianapolis. The district already provides transportation and special education services for more than just its directly enrolled students, she said.

Qaddoura said he would reject any bill to dilute the power of the IPS board.

“IPs should be in control of education in Indianapolis,” Qaddoura said. “I don’t want the mayor’s office engaged in making educational decisions on behalf of the city. IPS has an elected board. Parents can use the election to elect those who reflect their values.”

Could a bill changing Indianapolis schools affect other districts?

Most lawmakers on the House and Senate education committees represent areas outside Indianapolis. But there’s a reason for them to take note of an ILEA bill.

In the past, education legislation that initially applied only in Indianapolis — like a requirement that districts share property tax revenue with charter schools — eventually expanded to other parts of the state. A recent survey by the Indiana Coalition for Public Education indicated statewide concern from district leaders over future budgets as a result of this year’s budget bill that included property tax caps and other changes, like the tax-sharing provisions.

Even within the supermajority, there’s some difference of opinion on school choice. One bill last session, House Bill 1136, authored by Republican Rep. Jake Teshka of North Liberty, would have simply dissolved Indianapolis Public Schools and four other school districts But this year, Terre Haute Republican Sen. Greg Goode has gone in a different direction by authoring a bill to exempt more districts from the state’s $1 building law, which has been rarely used or successful in practice.

Both Teshka and Goode sit on their respective education committees. Neither responded to a request for comment on the ILEA’s recommendations by deadline.

Hunley said that the ILEA process was an alternative to the legislature deciding the future of IPS without community input, as lawmakers did with the Union School Corporation.

“In one sentence, in one line, an entire school district was disbanded without hearings, public comment, or public input,” Hunley said. “There’s very real precedent for the legislature to do that.”

Qaddoura said the threat of unilateral dissolution in Teshka’s bill effectively forced IPS to negotiate via the ILEA to maintain power.

“The goal of ILEA was just one step in the master plan of the general assembly to convert Indiana from a traditional public school state to a fully charters and vouchers kind of state,” Qaddoura said. “Choice at the expense of 1 million students is not a choice.”

Hunley said she has heard concerns from school leaders in the area she represents — which includes portions of the Wayne, Warren, and Perry schools. But more districts should voice their opinions, she said.

“Everyone should be watching,” Hunley said. “If a school board loses the power to govern, then every school district in the state should be worried, because they won’t be the last.”

The ILEA will hold a public listening session on Dec. 15 from 12-2 p.m. at the Madame Walker Legacy Center at 617 Indiana Ave. The group will vote on final recommendations on Dec. 17 at 6 p.m., at the City-County Building at 200 E. Washington St.

Aleksandra Appleton covers Indiana education policy and writes about K-12 schools across the state. Contact her at aappleton@chalkbeat.org.

Should students have cellphones in class? Indiana said no 2 years ago. Now the law may get stricter.

2025-12-04T21:05:12+00:00

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Since Indiana’s school cellphone ban went into effect in 2024, classroom distractions haven’t disappeared. But they have become a little more old school.

Students now pass notes and notebooks, doodle, write poetry, and talk to their neighbors, teachers say. But all of these diversions are less diverting than a phone.

“None of those things come with the FOMO of seeing another kid scrolling on their phone. There’s not a compulsion to write poetry because your neighbor is writing poetry,” said Jon Bernardi, a math teacher in Shortridge High School in Indianapolis. “Kids are talking to each other more, there are fewer distractions in the class, and my morale is better because I don’t have to gripe about the phones.”

As things stand now, the cell phone ban applies only to instructional time, and teachers are allowed to let students use their phones in class for learning.

But more restrictions could be on the way. GOP lawmakers have introduced new bills that would mandate that phones be securely stored at school or left at home during the whole school day. The ban also would extend to all personal devices including laptops and smartwatches, meaning that any learning would need to happen on school-issued devices.

The bell-to-bell ban would further align Indiana with a growing push to limit screen use for learning in order to improve focus and academics. It may also win praise from educators who have seen positive effects from the existing ban. But more restrictions could face pushback from students as well as parents worried about not being able to reach their children in emergencies.

“That was the biggest drawback for families,” said Cindy Baker, executive director of TROY School, a private alternative school in northeast Indiana that’s not subject to the 2024 law but chose to implement a policy when it went into effect. “But honestly, not allowing students to have access to their phone, they’re not getting those random questions from their parents or someone else that upset them. We have some better behaviors because they don’t have access to that.”

Cellphone ban shows promise for academics but implementation varies

Implementation of the cellphone ban has varied across Indiana schools. That’s one reason that Rep. Jake Teshka, a North Liberty Republican, authored the new House proposal for tighter restrictions on phones. Republican Sens. Jeff Raatz and Greg Goode filed a similar bill in the Senate.

“When we have an instructional time ban only, the teacher becomes the enforcer, and that’s one more thing on their plate,” Teshka said. Stopping class to take a phone away, and possibly arguing with a student, is a distraction in itself, he said.

Like the current law, the proposals would grant some exceptions for medical needs, translation purposes, or other reasons outlined in an Individualized Education Program, a service plan for students with disabilities.

At Shortridge, students can keep their phones, but they must be stored in backpacks during class time. Bernardi said most students follow the rules — but when he sees phones out in class, he contacts a dean to come and confiscate them, preempting any possible conflicts with students.

As a small school, TROY asks its 50 students to leave their phones at the front desk and then pick them up at the end of the day, Baker said.

At Northview Middle School in Washington Township schools, students must keep phones in their lockers from bell to bell, said teacher Marissa Tanner. Teachers will confiscate phones and send them to the office for families to pick up. A second offense is an automatic out-of-school suspension.

Tanner said it’s taken some time for families to and students to adapt to the policy and for it to feel comfortable.

“When I do have to confiscate a phone, there really is no longer a fight to turn them over because the kids understand the expectation,” she said.

But locking phones away in secure pouches has had some unintended consequences, like complaints of theft and forgotten phones, said Austin Wilson, a student at Northridge High School in Middlebury Community Schools.

“Getting into class is painfully slow with everyone finding their pockets, and there’s also always a line at the end of class to get your phone back,” Wilson said. “This has caused less teaching time as a side effect, too.”

More than a year in, Wilson said the phone ban is not consistently enforced by teachers. Still, phones aren’t usually a distraction in class for the simple reason that the Wi-Fi signal is not usually strong enough in classrooms.

When students were allowed to keep their phones in their backpacks, they would mostly pull them out to listen to music during independent work time, he said. This school policy worked better, Wilson said.

“I think schools can handle it at their own discretion,” he said. “I don’t know why there needs to be a law for it.”

While implementation has varied, teachers commonly said the cellphone ban has led to fewer fights as a result of social media posts, smoother classroom management, and more in-person engagement.

There are also promising signs about the impact of cellphone bans on academics. One of the first studies looking at the link between cellphone bans and academics found a modest improvement in test scores for Florida students.

Tanner said Northview’s state testing scores have risen since the phone ban went into effect, from 18% proficiency on the math portion of the ILEARN in 2022-23 to 40% proficiency in 2024-25, and 31% to 42% proficiency in English language arts during the same period.

“While this can’t all be attributed to the cellphone policy, the limits on distractions have been a major help in my opinion,” Tanner said.

Lawmakers want to rethink the role of laptops in learning

The bills’ requirements to restrict the use of wireless devices to school-issued ones shows that ongoing concerns about screens could also resonate with some educators. Some Indiana districts have already moved to this model.

For the past two years, Northview has turned to classroom sets of Chromebooks rather than sending devices home with students. Washington Township schools had also limited the use of the devices, Tanner said.

“This policy also holds teachers to higher standards by making sure planning is intentional and technology is used as a tool,” Tanner said.

Indiana is not alone in reconsidering the role of laptops for classroom learning. That represents a reversal of COVID-era policies that sought to give all students a device in order to access online learning.

Some schools have already turned back to physical textbooks and note-taking by hand, said Henry Seton, a New Jersey teacher who has written about this topic. He said that trend is driven by research showing that those are linked to better comprehension and deeper learning. Laptop use in classrooms can be helpful for specific assignments, but requires constant monitoring by teachers, he said.

“Even on school issued Chromebooks, students access addictive games, social media, even their own phones,” he said. “It’s so easy to hit alt-tab.”

TROY offers a bank of Chromebooks for some assignments. But most learning happens through reading together, reading independently, and then transferring the knowledge in a project — like an old-school posterboard.

“It’s hard for our students who might have anxiety or feel overwhelmed seeing all their classes in one place,” she said. “They learn best in a way that is not on a Chromebook.”

Aleksandra Appleton covers Indiana education policy and writes about K-12 schools across the state. Contact her at aappleton@chalkbeat.org.

Lilly Endowment gives Marion County schools $460 million but delays grant decision for IPS

2025-12-02T22:34:48+00:00

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Marion County public and private schools will receive $460 million from the Lilly Endowment to support a wide range of initiatives like new student programming, teacher training, and updated STEM and performing arts spaces.

The 34 grants announced by the organization Monday range from around $195,000 to $40 million. They will benefit public school districts, charter schools, and private schools throughout Marion County as part of the endowment’s twin school initiatives — the Marion County K-12 Public Schools Initiative and Marion County K-12 Private Schools Initiative.

But the Indianapolis-based philanthropic foundation has not yet made a decision on the grant proposal from IPS, due to the ongoing work of the Indianapolis Local Education Alliance, which this week will move closer to making key recommendations about the future of the district and local charter schools.

“The Endowment will delay its decision on IPS’ phase 3 competitive grant proposal under the Marion County K-12 Public School Initiative until after these recommendations have been made and until there is clarity about the impact the recommendations may have on the district’s proposal,” the organization said in a press release.

The endowment supports a number of education initiatives throughout Indiana, including the state’s shift to reading instruction based on the science of reading. The grant funding for districts comes as many are preparing for declines in revenue as a result of the state’s new property tax caps.

December’s competitive grant announcement follows two rounds of planning and implementation grants announced by the Lilly Endowment earlier this year. These smaller grants went to 82 schools in Marion County to help districts support evidence-based programs that improve student achievement or career readiness. IPS received $10.5 million from these earlier grants to support reading and tutoring initiatives.

Districts then submitted proposals for larger projects to compete for the implementation grants announced this week.

The largest grant of $40 million went to Perry Township Schools, which described the funding as an “extraordinary investment.” (The district has an operations fund of around $52 million and an education fund of around $138 million, the two primary sources of state and local funding for its costs.)

Perry will use the funding to address math proficiency, develop teachers, and expand its career education offerings. The Lilly grant will pay for a facility on the University of Indianapolis campus that will expand the district’s entrepreneurship graduation pathway.

“This investment directly supports and accelerates our goal to empower the Southside community of Indianapolis,” said Melissa Morris, the district’s director of grants and strategic partnerships, in a news release. “We look forward to working with our partners over the next five years to develop a self-sustaining system that inspires students to dream and equips them with the skills to turn those dreams into reality.”

With a $14.4 million grant, Adelante Schools, a K-8 charter school, will fund advanced degrees and licensure pathways for teachers, and enhance social studies and science instruction, the school said in an announcement on its website.

It will also update its cafeteria, gymnasium, and arts and wellness spaces.

“This grant allows us to create the learning conditions our students deserve,” said CEO Edward Rangel in the announcement. “By expanding rigorous instruction, improving key school spaces, and supporting our teachers as they further their education, we are building a stronger pathway to long-term student success,”

“The Endowment is pleased to support a wide variety of schools in Marion County in their efforts to help students succeed,” said Ted Maple, the Endowment’s vice president for education in a press release. “We believe those projects selected for funding will significantly benefit thousands of students across our city.”

Aleksandra Appleton covers Indiana education policy and writes about K-12 schools across the state. Contact her at aappleton@chalkbeat.org.

What education issues will Indiana lawmakers consider in 2026?

2025-11-18T21:11:28+00:00

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It’s anything but business as usual in the Indiana statehouse.

The beginning of the 2026 legislative session has been dominated by the will-they, won’t-they question of redistricting, which has drawn national attention and left little time for lawmakers and advocacy groups to outline their plans for new legislation — including on education.

“I don’t know about you, but I’ve had an interesting fall,” said House Speaker Todd Huston in Organization Day remarks focused on affordability. “My 2025 bingo card has been turned upside down.”

But while legislative leaders haven’t yet detailed their education priorities for 2026, they have a list of unfinished business to tackle when it comes to schools, including a multiyear deregulation effort and a possible overhaul of the governance of Indianapolis Public Schools.

The upcoming session is a short session ending in March, which means lawmakers won’t have to pass a budget or debate education funding. But past short sessions have brought big changes to education, like the state’s third grade retention requirements and classroom cell phone ban — both passed in the 2024 short session.

This year’s big changes remain to be seen. Lawmakers begin filing bills now through their January deadlines. And advocacy groups like the Indiana State Teachers Association and the Chamber of Commerce, along with Gov. Mike Braun, all typically release their legislative priorities in January.

One idea that’s not returning is a 2024 proposal to expand Education Scholarship Accounts — a school choice fund for students with disabilities — to all students. Sen. Ryan Mishler said he is not planning to resurrect this idea because of the 2025 law to make school vouchers universal beginning next summer.

Here’s what we can expect in 2026.

A school deregulation effort continues

In the 2025 session, House Education chair Bob Behning began what he said was a multiyear effort to overhaul Title 20, Indiana’s education code. Behning confirmed to Chalkbeat that this process will continue in 2026.

This year’s HEA 1002 contained dozens of provisions repealing both expired and existing statutes within Title 20. Among the more notable changes was the end of a requirement that the Indiana Secretary of Education have education and leadership experience.

Other changes removed the requirement that school districts provide a noncharter option for students if they grant a charter and reduced the notice schools must provide if they eliminate transportation.

And a last-minute amendment to that bill dropped requirements that teachers must train in restorative justice, cultural competency, and social emotional support to manage their classrooms effectively.

Behning did not specify which regulations might be considered next.

The future of Indianapolis schools to be determined

In the 2025 legislative session, Indiana lawmakers created the Indianapolis Local Education Alliance to consider how Indianapolis Public Schools and charter schools in Marion County might share transportation and facilities. Now, their homework is due back to lawmakers.

Once the organization’s recommendations are finalized, they are to be submitted to the legislature, which may codify them into laws affecting both charter and traditional public schools in Indianapolis.

The wide-ranging work of the group has considered not just sharing buildings and bus routes, but could also consider a new structure of governance for the school district and the need for a new system of rating schools that could affect which schools are ultimately closed.

A draft of those recommendations is expected Wednesday, with final recommendations due Dec. 31.

Less focus on early education, more on career education

In remarks at a legislative preview event with the Indiana Chamber of Commerce, House Minority Leader Phil GiaQuinta said his caucus would again call for the state to invest in a robust preschool program.

Republican leaders again said no.

“I guess I’m so old that I remember when having a neighbor, family member, or friend watch your kid for day care was okay, and maybe I missed the dramatic societal consequences of that,” Huston said. “You say now we have to create this colossal structure, and that structure comes with all these costs and constrained supply, and means it just makes the user experience [cost] even more. I think we gotta find the appropriate balance.”

In recent years, lawmakers have taken incremental steps to reduce regulation in the hope of making it easier for operators to run child care centers, and to entice businesses to offer child care to their employees.

But this year has brought additional challenges for families and childcare providers, including a freeze on new child care vouchers until 2027, cuts to reimbursement rates, and uncertainty over federal funding that supports different programs.

Senate Minority Leader Shelli Yoder said child care providers face difficulties hiring and retaining staff, and that one solution would be to help workers develop new skills and earn more money. But Senate President Pro Tempore Rodric Bray and Huston said professionalization would also lead to higher costs for families.

The Republican leaders also touted the success of past year’s efforts to establish more career and technical education and apprenticeship programs for Indiana high school students to earn workplace experience. Yoder said Indiana students need to keep learning critical thinking skills alongside workplace skills, especially in the context of AI.

Both houses of the Indiana General Assembly officially reconvene on Jan. 5, but Huston told his members to keep the first two weeks of December open “for potential business.”

Aleksandra Appleton covers Indiana education policy and writes about K-12 schools across the state. Contact her at aappleton@chalkbeat.org.

Indiana revives $1,000 grants for student tutoring sessions after abrupt closure last spring

2025-11-13T21:38:59+00:00

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A program that gives qualifying Indiana students $1,000 grants for tutoring is reopening after abruptly closing earlier this year due to insufficient funding.

Indiana Learns began in 2022 to address COVID-related learning loss, through a unique model that gives funding directly to families to schedule English and math tutoring lessons with approved providers.

But the program depended on federal pandemic aid, and up until now, it was not clear whether the state would continue to support it after the relief money expired. In February, the program also ran out of funding sooner than expected due to heavy use, leaving some students in limbo. Since October 2022, the program has enrolled more than 25,000 students, according to a state news release Wednesday.

In the news release, the Indiana Department of Education said the program would reopen enrollment through Dec. 19, with families able to schedule tutoring sessions immediately. The department did not answer questions about how the program will be funded moving forward. According to the program’s website, its expected close date for the 2025-2026 school year is April 10, which is the date all tutoring must be completed.

The requirements for the program remain similar: Students must reside in Indiana, be in grades 3-8, and have scored below proficiency in either the math or English/language arts portions of the ILEARN. Students must also qualify for the free or reduced-price lunch program, and unlike previously, attend a school federally designated as low-performing.

Students who qualify can use their $1,000 grant to schedule in-person, online, or hybrid tutoring through an approved vendor.

The program is administered by The Mind Trust, a nonprofit charter school incubator based in Indianapolis. Representatives of the organization have previously said that students who attend sessions regularly see the greatest gains from the program.

“Indiana Learns specifically focuses on our most struggling students and provides them the opportunity to receive high-quality tutoring support, regardless of their parents’ ability to pay,” said Secretary of Education Katie Jenner in the news release. “This investment in our Hoosier families is an investment in the future of our state, and first and foremost, the future of our students. ”

Aleksandra Appleton covers Indiana education policy and writes about K-12 schools across the state. Contact her at aappleton@chalkbeat.org.

Families’ uncertainty over SNAP makes school food pantries a critical resource

2025-11-03T21:15:47+00:00

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On Mondays, Stephanie Quinlan writes out menus for the Perry Township Academic Center’s food pantry in English, Spanish, Burmese, Arabic, and four other languages spoken by Perry Township school district families.

Then on Tuesday mornings, the parking lot fills up with trucks dropping off fresh produce and other supplies.

When this pantry first opened at Southport High School in 2019, it served just seven to 10 families weekly. But when the parking lot fills up again on Tuesday afternoons, about 150 people show up to use it.

“Each week I may have … someone who comes in for the first time that says, ‘I just lost my job today and saw your sign on the street,’” said Quinlan, the district’s assistant director of student services, who runs the pantry. “And it’s like, yeah? Come on in. Here we go.”

The district’s food pantry will open again this Tuesday. But something is different this time: There’s major uncertainty over when millions of people will receive their federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits during the ongoing government shutdown.

Though federal judges have ruled that the Trump administration must use emergency money to partially fund the program, it was still not clear Monday when recipients would see the funds. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the funds could be released by midweek. The Trump administration also said Monday that it would partially fund SNAP benefits.

As a result, school and city food pantries have been preparing to serve an uptick in the number of students and their families who need food assistance until the benefits are released. Around 600,000 people in Indiana — including 260,000 children — use SNAP.

A list of food pantries in Indianapolis is available here from the Indianapolis Star, and here from Mirror Indy.

When families’ food budgets are squeezed, there are ripple effects for other student needs, said Hanna Yaeger, director of community engagement at Teachers’ Treasures, a nonprofit organization that provides free supplies to teachers at qualifying schools.

“Ultimately a parent has to make a decision — and you should choose food over pencils,” Yaeger said. “We’re there to make sure when you make that choice you have everything you need.”

Quinlan said most of the people who visit the Perry Township pantry also receive SNAP. Typically, the pantry is at its busiest at the end of month when families are stretching their meal budgets, she said.

The program has grown steadily since it moved to the academic center in 2022 as more and more people learn about it, Quinlan said. It is now nearing capacity: Last week, it had to turn away cars for only the second time ever.

The pantry is funded in part by the Emergency Food Assistance Program from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, as well as Gleaners, the largest food bank in Indiana. Quinlan said the USDA funding has been granted through June and so far has not been affected by the shutdown.

The USDA program typically provides products like black beans or frozen chicken breasts in bulk. That establishes a starting point for Quinlan to shop for the rest of the pantry with a $1,400 monthly budget from Gleaners.

The emergency food program requires Quinlan’s volunteers to ask patrons if they meet the household income requirements — but they will receive food even if they don’t. The pantry doesn’t have ZIP code requirements, but if multiple households are arriving in one car, volunteers will ask for proof of each one’s address.

Patrons of the pantry park in one of the spots outside the center and wait to speak to a greeter or Quinlan herself, who will hand them a menu of available produce, dairy, meat, and packaged goods. They then choose what they want, and volunteers “shop” for them and load it into their cars.

This is a draw for senior citizens and people with mobility needs who visit the pantry, Quinlan said.

Diapers are one of the most requested items, Quinlan said, but purchasing diapers would take up half the budget for the pantry, so the staff waits until they have enough donated to give away.

Quinlan said the pantry takes individual donations of food — ideally in large enough quantities to be able to offer to all the patrons of the pantry that week. Cash donations also allow her to purchase much more food through Gleaners than the average person could get at a grocery store.

“Ideally, we empower families to make their decisions and be able to get out of where they are now, not to rely on us forever,” she said.

Teachers’ Treasures works with traditional public, charter, and private schools in Indianapolis. One of those private schools — Central Catholic School — operates a food pantry that around 170 of the school’s 230 students visit, said Ariana Jehl, a teacher and Teachers’ Treasures advisory board member. The school is anticipating increased need, she said.

While Teachers Treasures doesn’t specialize in food, the organization accepts some non-perishable shelf items — ramen, easy mac, and water bottles — that teachers pick up, along with hygiene items to donate to their school pantries.

For Quinlan, her first shopping trip to Teachers’ Treasures yielded five silver thermal covers to be used to keep food cold.

Teachers’ Treasures has also seen a growing need for food and snacks, Yaeger said.

“We realize it’s reality,” she said.

Aleksandra Appleton covers Indiana education policy and writes about K-12 schools across the state. Contact her at aappleton@chalkbeat.org.

Why Indiana’s lieutenant governor is door-knocking to defeat a local property tax referendum for schools

2025-10-27T22:42:07+00:00

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As six Indiana school districts seek local property tax referendums to pay for teachers and transportation, Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith joined the campaign to defeat them by door-knocking in Avon.

Beckwith said Saturday in a social media post that he was out in Hendricks County ahead of the Nov. 4 election to encourage voters to defeat Avon Community Schools’ referendum renewal — an unusual move for a statewide official. The referendum funds 170 teacher and staff positions in the district, as well as student programming at Avon High School.

In an interview, Beckwith said it’s not just Avon’s referendum he’s against: All six referendums should be defeated in order to prevent property tax increases.

“Property taxes are crushing too many homeowners, and this referendum would only make it worse,” his post said. “Families deserve relief, not bigger bills. Seniors deserve security, not fear of being taxed out of their homes. And young families deserve a future where owning a home is achievable.”

But supporters of referendums say they’re a critical source of stable funding on top of existing property tax revenue and state and federal funding sources. Operations referendums support staff positions, transportation, and programming, while capital referendums fund construction projects and safety referendums pay for school safety initiatives.

“The Indiana Legislature enacted property tax caps 15 years ago and gave local communities the referendum process as a lifeline if they believe their schools need more funding to be effective,” Avon schools said in a statement. “This is a local issue for local citizens, so we’re confused as to why our Lieutenant Governor — who is not responsible for education policy and does not live in our community — would take an interest in this campaign.”

Property tax reform has been a key issue this year for Beckwith, Gov. Mike Braun, and other Republican leaders. New laws capped the growth in general operating revenue that districts expect to receive from property taxes, restricted referendums to general election years, and implemented requirements that districts share some of their tax revenue with charter schools. And Beckwith said the laws didn’t go far enough because they didn’t provide immediate relief to taxpayers.

An amendment allowed districts to run referendums in the November 2025 election — and made them high stakes for districts that will use the results to inform decisions about staffing through the next year.

Avon schools said in a statement that Beckwith did not contact the district about the referendum.

Beckwith said his office had been contacted by a local organizer opposed to the referendum. He said most voters he spoke to while door-knocking were opposed to the referendum.

“I don’t want to burden Hoosiers,” he said. “I want to give them a breather.”

What voting down a referendum means for schools

In a statement, Avon schools said the district would “prefer the state provide sufficient funding to public schools,” but that until it did, school corporations would have to use referendums “to cover the funding gap.”

Avon’s referendum renewal is primarily aimed at retaining staff positions in order to keep class sizes down, Superintendent Scott Wyndham previously told Chalkbeat. It also supports clubs at Avon High.

The referendum renewal process is “a non-partisan, local campaign to support our students and educators in Avon Community School Corporation,” the statement said.

Its tax rate of 33 cents per $100 of assessed value is slightly lower than the original referendum passed in 2018, which was 35 cents. On the decrease, Beckwith said tax bills would likely increase anyway due to greater assessed values.

In 2011, a referendum put forth by the district failed, leading to larger class sizes, which had a negative impact on academics, Wyndham said.

Beckwith said he doesn’t want to see layoffs, but that districts sometimes use the threat of layoffs to pass referendums. He said existing property tax revenue and state dollars should be adequate to fund schools, and that defeating the referendums would require schools to operate more efficiently.

“I don’t think we have a money problem, I think we have a spending problem,” Beckwith said. “Schools have other funding they can use to keep teachers — they just don’t want to. They want to make sure money is still left to do big projects.”

The district statement said this year’s referendum has been endorsed by groups including the Washington Township Board, the Greater Avon Chamber of Commerce, the Avon Library Board, Avon Oriole Advocates, and the Avon Federation of Teachers.

“These local governing bodies and community entities have a huge stake in the health and vitality of our community and our schools,” the district statement said. “They are far better suited to speak on this local issue than a state-wide elected official who does not live or work here.”

Election day is Nov. 4, with referendums on the ballot for voters in six school districts. Find your polling location and more information here.

Aleksandra Appleton covers Indiana education policy and writes about K-12 schools across the state. Contact her at aappleton@chalkbeat.org.

Indiana school referendum elections: Districts seek funding for teacher pay, class size, buses

2025-10-27T14:01:51+00:00

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It’s a quiet election season in Indiana, but voters in six school districts will soon decide whether to support property tax measures that would fund teacher salaries, transportation, and student programming.

Avon Community Schools, Cannelton City School Corporation, Duneland School Corporation, Hanover School Corporation, Lake Central School Corporation, and Northwest Allen Community schools all have operating referendums on the ballot on November 4.

This year’s referendums are a test case in voter support at a time when Indiana is lowering property taxes and increasing how much of that funding some districts must share with charter schools.

Many expect to raise less operating revenue through taxes over the next decade as a result of the caps placed by a sweeping property tax reform law passed earlier this year — a campaign priority for Gov. Mike Braun.

That law, known as SEA 1, also restricted when schools could run referendums to only general statewide elections, rather than during any primary or general election. That’s given districts fewer opportunities to pass a referendum. However, there’s an exception for next month’s local election for school boards that passed a resolution before June 30 to place a referendum on the November ballot.

Superintendents said the results of this election will determine whether their districts can start building new buildings on schedule, and whether they need to make decisions about layoffs in May.

“No one takes joy in doing referendums, but it’s a reality for schools,” said Hanover Superintendent Mary Tracy-MacAulay.

Another new law requires school districts to gradually begin sharing operating revenue — including referendum funds — with charter schools, if at least 100 students representing 2% of the district’s population attend brick-and-mortar charter schools.

Here are the six school districts with referendums on the ballot.

Avon Community School Corporation, Hendricks County

Type: Renewal

Property tax rate: 33 cents per $100 of assessed value for eight years

Total revenue: $14,334,998 annually

Highlights from the spending plan: $8.4 million for maintaining reduced class sizes, $4.8 million for instructional supports and opportunities, $1.1 million for competitive compensation to attract and retain teachers.

Avon schools saw firsthand the effects of a failed referendum in 2011, said Superintendent Scott Wyndham. Staff reductions led to larger class sizes that persisted until the district successfully passed a referendum in 2018.

Now, the district hopes to renew that referendum at a lower rate of 33 cents per $100 of assessed value, compared to 35 cents as passed in 2018, in order to maintain its smaller class sizes and continue funding student clubs and activities at Avon High School.

The stakes are high for this referendum. Without the option to run a referendum in the May primary elections, Wyndham said the district needs to know this year if it will have to make staff cuts before the next school year. If the district were to wait and fail to pass a referendum in November 2026, state law would bar them from filing reduction in force notices until May 2027. That would leave 170 positions without a source of funding.

Wyndham said he’s encouraged by the community effort to pass the referendum — particularly a group of volunteers who have been door-knocking and making phone calls.

Cannelton City School Corporation, Perry County

A spending plan was not available for Cannelton City Schools on the Department of Local Government Finance website. Neither the district — which consists of a single school — nor the Perry County Auditor returned requests for information from Chalkbeat.

Duneland School Corporation, Porter County

Type: Renewal

Property tax rate: 39 cents per $100 of assessed value for eight years

Total revenue: $16,179,502 annually

Highlights from the spending plan: $8 million for maintaining class sizes, $3.3 million for attracting and retaining teachers, $2.4 million for student health and safety initiatives.

Duneland school officials hope a renewal of its operating referendum will help the district mitigate the impacts of SEA 1. A district analysis found it would lose over $1 million in 2026 alone as a result of the new law, said Superintendent Chip Pettit.

The renewal would allow the district to maintain class sizes and various activities, as well as recruit teachers, school resource officers, counselors, and nurses. If it doesn’t pass, the district will try to avoid unilateral cuts, but will have to make reductions, Pettit said.

“I feel very fortunate that the community has supported us in this way, we don’t take that for granted,” he said.

Hanover School Corporation, Lake County

Type: Renewal

Property tax rate: 29 cents per $100 of assessed value for eight years

Total revenue: $5,160,173 annually

Highlights from the spending plan: $2.5 million for managing class sizes, $1.5 million for bus transportation, $759,000 for security measures.

Bus service is potentially at stake in Hanover schools if this year’s referendum renewal doesn’t pass, said Tracy-MacAulay, the superintendent. The referendum would also support teachers, bus monitors, and school resource officers.

Losing the funding would lead to difficult decisions about what cuts to make — especially as the district grapples with the effects of SEA 1, and another requirement to pay for students’ textbook fees.

“In the end, I would have to look at all positions with the board and make decisions to cut,” she said. “We can’t give up SROs, we’re not going to start cutting teachers, we could potentially take away bus service.”

Past Hanover district referendum elections have been close. A 2019 construction referendum failed by 68 votes, leading the district to try another referendum the following year that passed.

Lake Central School Corporation, Lake County

Type: Renewal

Property tax rate: 26 cents per $100 of assessed value for eight years

Total revenue: $17,772,0331 annually

Highlights from the spending plan: $12 million for retaining teachers and staff, $2 million for maintaining class sizes, $1.7 million for student health and safety initiatives.

Lake Central did not respond to a request for an interview.

Northwest Allen Community Schools, Allen County

Type: New

Property tax rate: 0.27 per $100 of assessed value for 8 years

Total revenue: $12,156,914 annually

Highlights from the spending plan: $5.1 million for attracting and retaining teachers, $2.7 million for instructional support staffing at all buildings, $2.2 million for staffing at a new Career and Technical Education facility

This year’s operating referendum is the first for Northwest Allen schools. But it’s been planned for over a year, through focus groups and community feedback about the district’s next decade, Superintendent Wayne Barker said.

One common request the district heard during that process was for more personalized learning, which the district hopes to fulfill through a new career and technical education facility on the high school campus. While the district can build the facility without additional revenue like a capital referendum, it needs the operating referendum to hire teachers and staff, Barker said.

“We do a good job preparing kids for college, but we could do a better job preparing kids for life,” Barker said, characterizing the feedback the district received.

The district hopes to put the building out to bid in November if the referendum passes, in order to open the facility in 2027.

Barker said the referendum is also meant to raise teacher salaries by $3,000 in order to make the district more competitive with neighboring districts, and to add school resource officers to meet recommended ratios.

Northwest Allen receives around $8 million less than the state average in annual funding, according to district data.

“We’ve been doing more with less for a long time,” Barker said.

Aleksandra Appleton covers Indiana education policy and writes about K-12 schools across the state. Contact her at aappleton@chalkbeat.org.

Indiana submits federal funding flexibility request to Trump administration

2025-10-20T20:29:43+00:00

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Indiana has submitted its plan to use hundreds of millions of dollars in federal education funds with fewer restrictions to the U.S. Department of Education, state officials said Monday.

If approved, the plan would allow Indiana to merge several federal Title programs — funds currently earmarked for certain programs and groups of students — into a block grant. The state would then be able to spend that block grant on other priorities permissible under the Every Student Succeeds Act, the main federal K-12 law.

The controversial proposal, which the state submitted Friday, would also allow districts to spend their federal funding in the same way.

Doing so would reduce the administrative burden associated with federal funding, the state has said, and free up more staff to work directly with students. But advocates have expressed concern that the plan would cut funding for certain groups of students, like English learners and rural students.

Other aspects of the plan would substitute federal accountability standards for the state’s A-F school accountability model — the latest version of which is currently in development.

The plan would also redirect a fund meant for low-performing schools to other nearby schools, even if those schools are not low-performing.

This aspect of the plan has drawn criticism from education advocates who say that students who can’t transfer to another school would be hurt by the loss of School Improvement Grants. The state has denied that redirecting the funds would amount to abandoning low-performing schools.

The priorities of the plan as submitted are largely unchanged from the first draft the state presented in July.

Indiana’s proposal is similar to waiver proposals submitted by Iowa and Oklahoma after a call by the Trump administration to “return education to states.” Indiana officials have heeded that call.

“Indiana continues to lead the nation in education and innovation,” Gov. Mike Braun said in a statement Monday. “We can best support Hoosier students when we return education to the states, empower parents with high-quality educational options, get red tape out of the way for educators, and focus on improvement for every student.”

The U.S. Department of Education has 120 days to respond to Indiana’s request, according to the state. If approved, the plan would go into effect for the 2026-27 school year.

Aleksandra Appleton covers Indiana education policy and writes about K-12 schools across the state. Contact her at aappleton@chalkbeat.org.

How a hike through the forest and a lesson on listening build a foundation for middle school

2025-10-14T11:00:00+00:00

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Before leading a hike at Eagle Creek Park in Indianapolis, Clare Wildhack-Nolan asked the group of fourth-graders to listen to the birds and insects around them.

Note five colors in the early fall landscape, she urged them, and imagine what it would be like to touch three nearby objects: tree bark, fallen leaves, and mud from the recent rain.

Wildhack-Nolan was not just introducing students to their surroundings but also leading them through a common calming exercise focused on the senses.

The park field trip was hosted by the Peace Learning Center, which for nearly three decades has served thousands of Marion County students and educators. The exercise is one example of the center’s work to introduce students to techniques to recognize and regulate their emotions, treat others with respect and empathy, and work cooperatively.

Such practices have long enjoyed bipartisan support in Indiana. But amid criticism nationally from conservatives who want schools focused solely on academics, Indiana lawmakers this year eliminated a requirement that teachers learn cultural responsiveness, restorative justice, and social-emotional support to manage their classrooms effectively.

The legislation was to go further, but backlash caused lawmakers to retain other training requirements. Still included are requirements that teachers learn to recognize how trauma affects students and help students understand and meet expectations for behavior.

None of the practices targeted in the new law have been banned, however, and the work goes on at places like Peace Learning Center, which works with districts like the MSD of Pike Township, the home district of the students on the hike with Wildhack-Nolan.

“We try to help people see what they need to do to comply, but also, what’s still allowed?” said Peace Learning Center CEO Tim Nation. “We want to help young people learn to manage their emotions so they can sit in classrooms and learn reading and math.”

Good listeners vs. bad listeners

The Peace Learning Center occupies a nearly 100-year-old former estate overlooking a reservoir. Nation and his co-founder found the spot while on a cross-country ski trip through the park in 1997. Back then, the program was an AmeriCorps in-school initiative.

The Peace Learning Center was established in Eagle Creek Park in 1999.

Established in 1999, the center now runs a mix of in-school training for teachers and students and field trips to its Eagle Creek campus. Its Restorative Justice Initiative — which includes staff development, community circles, and peer mediation — has led to decreases in both in-school and out-of-school suspensions at middle and high schools that use the program, according to data from the center.

All fourth and fifth graders at Pike Township have been coming to the center for two years for field trips funded by grants from the Herbert Simon Family Foundation and the Indianapolis Urban League.

The goal at this age is to build communication skills that lead to positive experiences with friends and teachers, which in turn improve attendance and academics. Starting in these grades also gives students a foundation for middle school, when friendships and social skills become more important, facilitators said.

“There’s this element of starting to be a tween, and that’s when a lot of people struggle with friendship issues,” Wildhack-Nolan said.

Back inside the center’s main room, under paintings of Martin Luther King Jr., Mother Teresa, and other peace leaders, facilitator Macy Cansdale told the students to act like bad listeners. So they ignored their partners as they talked — turning away, pretending to sleep, or speaking to others. Their conversation partners said these reactions made them feel awkward and confused.

“It’s like when I told my brother about my day, and he just said, ‘OK, that’s nice,’” one student said.

But when the students switched gears and listened attentively, their conversation partners reported feeling happy and important.

In addition to hikes,students at the Peace Learning Center take part in lessons and games to learn listening skills.

The center has not yet compiled data about how these trips affect Pike students’ behavior when they go back to the classroom, Nation said.

But Gregory Nunley, the district’s director of professional development, said the partnership has played a meaningful role decreasing truancy and the number of students referred to administrators for behavior incidents.

“Our partnership with the Peace Learning Center is an important part of our commitment to supporting the whole child,” Nunley said in a statement. “Through interactive, hands-on experiences like nature hikes, cooperative challenges, and team-building, our 4th and 5th grade students learn how to manage emotions, show empathy, build relationships, and make responsible, caring decisions.”

At the end of the listening exercise, Cansdale asked students to think of a few people in their lives who they could practice actively listening to — like their teacher, Sarah James.

James, who also attended the trip last year, said her students returned from the experience curious about the park and its history, which they study during their Indiana history unit. And the lessons on listening and communication made an impression while students are still at an impressionable age.

“My big hope is that with the good listener, bad listener exercise, that we’ll continue doing that in the classroom,” James said.

It’s important for lessons to extend into the classroom, facilitators said, giving students and teachers a chance to practice the skills they learned at the center.

“Everything we teach at the center is an ongoing process,” Wildhack-Nolan said. “It’s something you have to think about, do in practice, on an ongoing basis.”

With their hike through a forested area near the reservoir underway, Wildhack-Nolan called a halt to find out why students were screaming. Was it the spiders?

Students hike through a wooded area near the Peace Learning Center. Some said it was their first trip to Eagle Creek Park.

The students were unanimous: “Yes!”

Wildhack-Nolan assured them screaming was a natural reaction but that it could also lead to safety risks, like running and slipping. The spiders became part of an impromptu lesson on how students could control their reactions, even if they couldn’t control something happening around them.

They could not control the spiders.

But they could take a deep breath and keep moving.

Aleksandra Appleton covers Indiana education policy and writes about K-12 schools across the state. Contact her at aappleton@chalkbeat.org.

What happened after Indiana officials called for investigations into teachers’ social media posts?

2025-10-03T19:18:26+00:00

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After conservative activist Charlie Kirk was killed, Indiana officials issued a clear warning: Any teacher making negative comments about his death could face serious consequences.

Two weeks later, the full impact of the calls by Gov. Mike Braun and Attorney General Todd Rokita to investigate and document teachers’ social media posts — and possibly result in their firing or licensure revocation — remains unclear. No cases to revoke a teacher’s license have been filed, and school board meetings where teachers’ statements were in the spotlight have remained mostly tame.

While at least three K-12 teachers have resigned from their positions, the Indiana Department of Education would not say whether it is investigating any teachers for their comments, and no cases have been filed with the state authority ultimately responsible for revoking their licenses.

The school districts where teachers have made controversial posts have been added to the Indiana attorney general’s Eyes on Education portal — which encourages members of the public to report partisan political content in schools — but the office has said it is not investigating the posts. The portal also includes posts from university faculty and staff — a Ball State professor who was fired for her post has filed a lawsuit through the ACLU.

The response at school board meetings since the submissions to the portal were posted has been mixed, with people speaking up both in support of the teachers and applauding the stance of state officials — but overall the atmosphere has been a far cry from meetings during the height of the pandemic that featured hours of public testimony, audience reaction, and occasionally, members of the public removed from the room.

No cases filed with teacher licensing authority

Braun said the state education department had the authority to suspend or revoke licenses for misconduct, and would review teachers’ posts for “political violence.” Misconduct in office is one of the charges that can lead to a teacher losing their license under state law, along with incompetency or “willful neglect of duty.”

IDOE would not say how many reports it has received about teachers’ posts or whether it is reviewing any for misconduct.

The state Office of Administrative Law Proceedings — which is charged with making a decision on teachers’ licenses after the department’s initial investigation — said no cases on teacher licenses have been filed with the office since Kirk’s death on Sept 10.

This formal licensure review process is separate from steps taken by Rokita’s office, which has said it has received hundreds of complaints about teachers’ social media posts.

In the last two weeks, it has added another 15 Indiana school districts and six universities to a portal tracking responses to Kirk’s death by schools, teachers, and university professors, for a total of 22 K-12 entities and eight universities. This includes social media posts, as well as instances where schools allegedly failed to lower their flags in honor of Kirk, and in one case, a letter from a superintendent warning staff of doxing cases.

But the portal is “not intended to provide a basis for legal action against schools or teachers from the Attorney General’s Office,” a spokesperson for Rokita’s office said in a statement, though it could provide a basis for legal action from others.

The office does not investigate the submissions beyond verifying their authenticity.

Instead, the AG has sent a letter to Indiana superintendents and public university administrators outlining how schools as government employers may discipline or terminate educators “making divisive statements that excuse or even celebrate Kirk’s death,” despite First Amendment protections.

“As a legal matter, schools have substantial authority consistent with the First Amendment to terminate or discipline teachers or other educators for divisive or controversial speech,” Rokita’s letter said.

Public employees like teachers have First Amendment rights to speech, including the right to speak on matters of public concern, according to a previous comment by the ACLU of Indiana, but courts will balance that right to speak against the employer’s interest in maintaining an efficient workplace.

School board testimony centers free speech

Chalkbeat reviewed the recordings of the six school boards that have met since the portal added complaints related to Kirk’s death: Elkhart, Lafayette, South Bend, South Gibson, South Newton, and Valparaiso.

In some cases, there was little to no comment from members of the public about the teachers’ posts in question, as the meetings focused on finalizing school district budgets — a typical board task during this time of year. School board members usually cannot respond to public comments or address personnel matters publicly.

In two others, a handful of public speakers who addressed the posts spoke unanimously or near-unanimously in support of teachers named in the portal to applause from others in the room.

The South Newton school board, which represents a district of around 850 students in northwestern Indiana, heard the most speakers at 11. It also heard the greatest variety of opinions, with some community members praising the effectiveness of the teacher named on the portal, and others expressing concern that students had seen her post. The audience in the boardroom remained quiet during each speaker’s testimony.

One overarching theme from speakers was support for teachers who made posts on their private social media accounts that were then screenshotted and shared to a wider audience — sometimes leading to safety concerns both for themselves and their schools.

“Her beliefs and self-expression off the clock to her peers regardless of what a mob of online zealots might suggest have harmed no one. Her departure from the school has done and will continue to do irreparable harm to her students,” said James Manago of a teacher who resigned to the Valparaiso school board.

Another common opinion was that teachers who work with children should be held to a higher standard for speech.

“Our educators should be individuals who are not only well-versed in the subject matter they are teaching but that should be people that our kids can trust and respect and feel safe with,” said Dana Lawrence to the South Newton school board. “An educator’s job comes with great responsibility and fair or not, they are held to higher standards than others.”

Speakers across school board meetings also emphasized the importance of First Amendment rights.

“The rights given to us under the First Amendment do not say ‘Free speech for everyone but teachers,’” said Rebecca Scott to the South Newton school board.

“I may not agree with her post, but at the end of the day, what makes the United States of America the United States of America is … your First Amendment rights,” said Brett Miller to the Valparaiso board. “It’s frustrating as a parent and a resident that we are potentially losing a good teacher because of … the fear of speaking up.”

Meanwhile, others said there were limits to free speech protections.

“Yes, you can have free speech, but that doesn’t mean you can say simply anything you want without consequences,” Andrew Karr told the Valparaiso school board to applause, giving the example of bomb and death threats. “The public approval and seemingly endorsement of killing of people you disagree with should also fall under this category of unacceptable discourse.”

A former teacher said it would be a “dreadful loss” for students for teachers to avoid controversial subjects in the classroom.

“When I was teaching, if some kind of traumatic event happened on the news, I would start every class with ‘well, what do you think?’ And the hands went up,” said Paul Schreiner to the Valparaiso school board. “That was the best experience I ever had when I was a high school teacher. I get the sense … that there is developing an atmosphere of fear to talk about things that are controversial.”

This story has been updated with additional comment from the Attorney General’s Office that specifies the Eyes on Education portal could be used as a basis for legal action by others, but not by the office.

Aleksandra Appleton covers Indiana education policy and writes about K-12 schools across the state. Contact her at aappleton@chalkbeat.org.

Indiana teachers could have their licenses suspended or revoked for posts about Charlie Kirk

2025-09-18T20:11:12+00:00

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The Indiana Department of Education will review statements teachers have made about the killing of Charlie Kirk and potentially suspend or revoke their licenses for “misconduct,” Indiana Gov. Mike Braun said Wednesday.

At the same time, Attorney General Todd Rokita is compiling some of these statements in a new section of a state portal that Rokita established last year where people can file complaints about how teachers and schools are approaching race, gender, and political ideology.

Kirk’s Sept. 10 killing has sparked national scrutiny of social media posts that teachers and others have made about the conservative activist.

The moves by two of Indiana’s top officials mirror those of state education leaders in Florida and Oklahoma, as well as federal officials, who have urged action against teachers who have made posts that “justify political violence.”

In a post on X Wednesday, Braun said “in the aftermath of Charlie Kirk’s assassination, there have been some terrible things shared, particularly across social media.”

He further said that Secretary of Education Katie Jenner “has the authority to suspend or revoke a license for misconduct and the office will review reported statements of K-12 teachers and administrators who have made statements to celebrate or incite political violence.”

“Teachers play a critical role in the shaping of our youth. As a result, we hold them to a higher standard. The vast majority of Indiana’s educators live up to that standard; but sadly, in recent days a few have not,” Braun said.

State law says that upon the recommendation of the secretary of education, the department of education can revoke or suspend a teacher’s license for “immorality, misconduct in office, incompetency, or willful neglect of duty.”

Separately, Rokita has added a section to the Eyes on Education portal specifically for posts about Charlie Kirk. On Thursday, this section featured screenshots of social media posts allegedly from the employees of two colleges and six school districts throughout Indiana. It also listed the dates of the school districts’ next board meetings, and contact information for their leadership.

The posts vary, from memes and reposts of quotes, to the individuals’ negative opinions about Kirk’s politics and their positive reactions to his death.

At least two teachers named in the portal have parted ways with their districts in the last week, according to the superintendents of those districts.

On Thursday, groups including the ACLU of Indiana and the Indiana State Teachers Association said teachers have a right to lawful speech.

“While celebrating violence is unacceptable, threatening educators’ licenses for lawful speech risks silencing those who are teaching honestly or sharing personal views responsibly,” the groups said in a statement.

Braun’s office referred a request for comment to the Indiana Department of Education.

In a statement Friday morning, Rokita said his office is not conducting investigations into the individuals listed on the portal. Instead, the goal of publicizing the posts is to provide parents with “information they need to make informed decisions about their children’s education,” the statement said.

He said the office has received “hundreds” of submissions over the past week, and that more would be posted on the portal in the coming days.

The Indiana Department of Education said in a statement late Thursday that the department maintains an established, formal process for reviewing all complaints against educator licenses, which is separate from the portal managed by Rokita’s office.

Upon being notified of a complaint, the department investigates to determine whether it meets one of the standards for suspension or revocation. If so, a formal complaint is filed with the Office of Administrative Law Proceedings, which is the final administrative authority in issuing an order on the educator’s license.

“IDOE is aware of social media comments made by a small number of Indiana educators following the assassination of Charlie Kirk and is reviewing each matter accordingly,” the department said. “These isolated comments do not represent Indiana educators as a whole, the vast majority of which hold themselves to the highest professional standards and work diligently to model good citizenship.”

Jenner was in Washington, D.C. on Thursday testifying before the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions.

Chalkbeat contacted all eight school districts and colleges named in the Charlie Kirk section of the Eyes on Education portal. Four responded by deadline.

In the case of a teacher at the Metropolitan School District of Durham Township — a district of around 900 students in northwestern Indiana — Superintendent Brian Ton said the teacher was placed on leave after he was made aware that the individual made posts during the school day, which is a breach of board policies. The teacher then chose to leave the district, he said.

“The impact to our educational environment would have been substantial, so I accepted her decision,” Ton said.

Ton said the district was not aware that the incident was included on the Eyes on Education portal, and that Rokita has not contacted the district about it.

Bryan Perry, Superintendent of the South Gibson School Corporation, also said a teacher named in the portal had resigned from their position.

Asked about a teacher listed on the portal, Elkhart Superintendent Larry Huff said in a statement the district is “reviewing any matters related to the use of social media,” and that staff had received reminders about these policies.

“While personnel matters remain confidential and we are unable to comment on them, please know that we take any potential violations of board policies seriously and will address them appropriately,” Huff said.

In a statement on a teacher’s posts listed on the portal, Valparaiso Community Schools said that it would not comment on personnel matters, but that the district was reviewing the situation in accordance with district policy and state and federal legal guidelines.

“The post was made on the employee’s personal account during her personal time and does not reflect the values or mission of our district,” the district said. “While employees have the right to express personal opinions as private citizens, the school district also holds them to high professional standards.”

Groups stress teachers’ First Amendment rights

The Indiana State Teachers Association said in a Thursday statement that the organization “condemns violence in all forms, including political violence.”

“Political violence threatens our democracy, but so does censorship,” the ISTA said. “We stand ready to work with state leaders to ensure that educators can stay focused on what matters most: teaching and supporting Indiana’s students.”

Josh Bleisch, a staff attorney with the ACLU of Indiana, said that public employees like teachers don’t lose their First Amendment rights to speech, including the right to speak on matters of public concern. But that doesn’t mean these cases are an automatic win.

A court will balance that right to speak against the employer’s interest in maintaining an efficient workplace, Bleisch said.

“If a teacher made a post during the school day or in the classroom — that’s a different story,” he said.

Furthermore, while Braun’s post said that “calls for political violence are not freedom of speech,” Bleisch said the standard for what the First Amendment does not protect is actually much narrower.

The law does not protect incitement, which is legally defined as speech directed at producing imminent lawless action, and that is likely to produce such action. That’s different from expressions of dislike, he said.

The ACLU of Indiana has received inquiries from individuals potentially facing reprisal for their posts, but Bleisch declined to say whether the organization is pursuing a specific legal challenge at this time.

This story has been updated with comments from the Indiana Department of Education and the Attorney General.

Aleksandra Appleton covers Indiana education policy and writes about K-12 schools across the state. Contact her at aappleton@chalkbeat.org.

Indiana seeks contractors to improve middle school reading scores

2025-09-10T19:32:49+00:00

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Around one-third of the 186,000 middle schoolers tested in Indiana in the 2024-25 school year did not read at grade level, according to data from the Department of Education presented Wednesday.

To improve reading proficiency for sixth through eighth graders, the department will seek outside contractors to work with middle schools on reading interventions as part of a pilot program.

The data follows this summer’s state testing scores, which showed that English language arts proficiency declined for middle schools, even as younger students improved in ELA and reading.

To begin addressing the issue, the state wants to bring in vendors for “outcomes-based contracting,” or a contract in which they would be paid for improving literacy in grades 6-8.

The state is seeking philanthropic donations to supplement state funding for the pilot program, which middle schools would be able to opt into, said Secretary of Education Katie Jenner.

“The only way to turn the curve is to address head-on the area where we see that slide,” said Jenner.

Officials did not say on Wednesday how much state funding is available for the program or how many schools can participate.

Middle schoolers’ reading proficiency data was collected as part of the state’s ILEARN checkpoint pilot, which broke the state test into sections throughout the year for schools that chose to participate. By the second checkpoint in 2024-25, 42% of students in grades 6-8 were not reading at grade level as measured by their Lexile scores, which are calculated based on the students’ reading ability and the difficulty of a text, officials said.

By the end-of-year summative test, around 31% still did not read at grade level.

In contrast, around 13% of third graders were not proficient in reading as measured by the third grade reading test, the IREAD. Officials pointed to the IREAD results, which improved significantly this year, as a sign that the state’s recent efforts to improve early literacy are paying off.

One caveat: The middle school numbers represent only around 75% of schools in Indiana, and will likely change after this year, when all schools are required to administer the ILEARN in sections.

Aleksandra Appleton covers Indiana education policy and writes about K-12 schools across the state. Contact her at aappleton@chalkbeat.org.

3 big questions as Indiana prepares to ask for federal education funding flexibility

2025-09-09T19:54:52+00:00

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Sometime this month, Indiana will ask the Trump administration for unprecedented flexibility in how it funds and evaluates schools.

The state wants to receive its federal education funding in block grants, and in turn give the money to schools to spend with fewer strings attached.

The potential change is meant to reduce bureaucracy, state officials have said, and allow both the state and school districts to direct the funding to their top goals. It’s welcomed by the U.S. Department of Education, and in line with the Trump administration’s stated goal to give states more oversight of education.

But education advocates worry the state’s plan will take money away from student groups that often need a lot of support, like rural students and English learner students, as well as underperforming schools. Moreover, they say Indiana can already use flexibility in federal law to combine some funds and streamline accountability without seeking a waiver from accompanying regulations.

After concluding public comment on the plan at the end of August, Indiana intends to formally submit the request for a waiver from the Every Student Succeeds Act in September, according to a July presentation. The state will work with federal education officials on the “technical requirements” of the waiver through the fall and winter, the presentation said.

The state education department did not make Secretary of Education Katie Jenner available for an interview about the waiver request before Chalkbeat’s deadline.

What comes next? It’s not clear when — or if — the state might get full approval. The kind of spending flexibility that Indiana is seeking is in a grey area of what Secretary of Education Linda McMahon is allowed to grant, said Anne Hyslop, director of Policy Development at All4Ed, a nonprofit advocacy group.

“The flexibility is unprecedented. These waivers have not been requested before,” Hyslop said.

The federal department invited states to submit ESSA waiver requests in August, and two states — Iowa and Oklahoma — did so earlier this year. Iowa officials said the department is still helping the state with its request.

Ultimately, the Trump administration may have different responses to different parts of Indiana’s plan, Hyslop said.

Here are three more questions education advocates are asking about Indiana’s waiver plan.

Will funding reach the students who need it?

The bedrock of Indiana’s waiver request is more flexibility for the state and school districts to spend their federal Title funding, which pays for everything from teacher training to STEM and childcare programs.

To do this, the state is asking to consolidate many Title funds it receives into a single block grant. Additionally, while the state will not change how it allocates Title funds to districts, it seeks to remove the requirements that spell out what districts must use the money for, allowing them to use it on any activities approved by federal education law.

According to the state’s draft waiver request, this would help districts whose individual Title allocations have been too small to fund meaningful programs, like the 310 districts that received less than $25,000 to educate English learners, or the 230 districts that received less than that amount for students’ academic enrichment.

But advocates have expressed concerns that removing the guardrails of Title funding will mean less is spent on the needs of protected individual student groups, like English learner students. Education advocacy groups have suggested that the state instead use the existing flexibility allowed by the Every Student Succeeds Act to consolidate some funds.

“The state has not demonstrated why additional flexibility is needed beyond what already exists, particularly when that additional flexibility would primarily impact funding specifically designated for at-risk students, English learners, and rural students,” said joint comments from groups including All4Ed, EdTrust, and the Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates.

Indiana in 2023 consolidated a state grant for English learner students into general tuition support. Teachers and administrators have since raised concerns about the money not being spent on English learner programming, according to a policy paper on the waiver request from the Indiana Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages. Using this money without oversight creates an environment in which “there are no consequences” for not serving those students, the paper said.

Consolidating Title III dollars for English learners runs similar risks, and would leave that group of students in Indiana without a dedicated source of funding, said one of the paper’s authors, Trish Morita-Mullaney.

Indiana Secretary of Education Katie Jenner said during the August State Board of Education meeting that the state will continue to serve student populations with additional needs. But she added that “for every single grant, there is a pile of compliance paperwork that has to be completed, even if across the board you’re just trying to get kids to read, or just trying to get kids access to STEM,” Jenner said.

If the state offers flexibility, it should also provide districts with information about high-quality, research-backed programs to ensure the money will effectively address student needs, said Thomas Toch, director of FutureEd, an education-focused think tank at Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy.

Will Indiana’s unfinished A-F model be ready to act as the sole accountability measure?

Another ask in Indiana’s waiver request is to use the state’s own A-F school accountability model as the sole metric for school accountability.

The purpose, according to the state, is to create one set of expectations for schools, while better aligning those expectations with the state’s new diploma requirements and focus on career readiness.

But that A-F system doesn’t exist yet. It’s currently under development, with a final draft due to be voted on by the state Board of Education later this year.

“Asking to waive all federal accountability without showing what the new accountability system will look like feels premature,” said Hyslop of All4Ed.

Education groups say it’s also not clear why the state needs to waive federal standards in order to streamline accountability. Other states have put in place streamlined accountability models by aligning state standards to federal standards.

But Indiana’s current draft proposal does not include several accountability measures that are required federally, like a standalone high school graduation indicator and English proficiency rates for English learners, according to comments from EdTrust and other education groups.

The proposal also doesn’t include a plan to identify schools where groups of students are struggling academically, “a bedrock of federal education policy for over 20 years,” wrote All4Ed.

What will happen to students at underperforming schools?

The final component of Indiana’s waiver request would redirect School Improvement Grant funding away from the low-performing schools to other neighboring schools — like charters and microschools. Indiana says the current system has failed to improve underperforming schools, as measured by state test scores and graduation rates.

But education groups say this would make it more difficult to support students who stay at the identified schools and can’t transfer.

Indiana is not alone in declaring the SIG program a failure. A widely cited 2017 report found that schools across the country that received this funding did not improve — and some even declined.

But that report was based on a previous iteration of the SIG program, education analysts said, which required more prescriptive interventions and spread the available funding to more schools. Indiana began allocating the funding on a competitive basis in 2021, giving fewer schools more money and leeway to make improvements.

At the same time, the 2017 national survey missed some local improvements in students’ academic proficiency and graduation rates, Toch said. Schools may have made progress but still be in the bottom distribution of schools.

Still, it may be easier to start a new school to take in students than turn around an existing one, Toch said.

“We don’t want to give up on SIG schools. There is evidence you can make a difference, but to do so, you have to bring in new leadership, new teachers, a new culture,” Toch said.

But an All4Ed study found that four in 10 low performing schools in Indiana had less per-pupil spending after they were identified — making it unsurprising that some schools would remain on the lowest-performing list, the organization said in public comments on Indiana’s plan.

“We are alarmed that IDOE’s request appears to give up on the notion of trying to improve the state’s lowest performing schools,” the comment said.

Aleksandra Appleton covers Indiana education policy and writes about K-12 schools across the state. Contact her at aappleton@chalkbeat.org.

Online schools working with rural Indiana district targeted for closure announce new partner

2025-08-27T21:22:23+00:00

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The online schools that partner with a small, rural Indiana district targeted for closure by lawmakers have found a new district partner.

The Indiana Digital Learning School and the Indiana Digital Alternative School will add Beech Grove City Schools as their second district partner while the Union School Corporation continues a legal battle against the state and Gov. Mike Braun to stop the forced closure of the district in 2027.

The provision to close Union schools was added last minute to a sweeping property tax reform bill during the 2025 session.

If Union schools loses its legal fight, it will close its brick and mortar campuses that serve around 292 students as of 2025. But it’s been unclear until now what would happen to the 7,500 or so students statewide who take classes through the two online schools, which are operated by the for-profit company Stride/K12 in partnership with the district.

One possibility is that they will transfer to Beech Grove, said Liz Slinger, executive director for the two virtual schools.

But for now, the company’s contract with Union is active and it will continue to serve those students, Slinger said. New virtual students from around the state will be enrolled in Beech Grove schools for the foreseeable future, unless they express a preference for Union.

Slinger said the two virtual schools will provide Beech Grove students with full services in grades K-12, including dual enrollment classes and the Indiana College Core through Ivy Tech, as well as a credit recovery program.

“Beech Grove is an innovative district, interested in the different ways of serving students,” Slinger said. “Their approach aligns well with ours.”

Beech Grove schools Superintendent Laura Hammack said the district has been exploring online programs for its own community after seeing an “explosion” of enrollment in virtual programs outside the district.

She said the virtual schools’ synchronous curriculum was a draw.

“My bias is that being in school all day every day, that is normal and usual, but … I’ve been needing to better listen to our school community,” Hammack said. She added that families had sought virtual options for medical and mental health reasons.

Hammack said the district was aware of the legal battle that Union was facing, but that leaders spent time learning about the virtual program at Clarksville schools, which is also operated by Stride/K12.

Union schools’ case against the state and Braun is ongoing. Secretary of Education Katie Jenner was recently dismissed from the suit, but a Randolph County Court judge declined to dismiss Braun.

In legal filings, the district has argued that the wording of the provision in the new property tax law forcing it to close actually prevented it from operating beginning with the 2025 school year, because it could not enter into the agreements necessary to hire staff and provide services. But a court decision in July said the district could operate as normal until 2027 while Union’s case proceeds.

Correction: A previous version of this story misspelled Beech Grove City Schools Superintendent Laura Hammack’s last name.

Aleksandra Appleton covers Indiana education policy and writes about K-12 schools across the state. Contact her at aappleton@chalkbeat.org.

Indiana’s K-12 schools leader poised to also lead higher education system pending a vote

2025-08-20T20:18:25+00:00

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Indiana Secretary of Education Katie Jenner will likely take on a dual role overseeing the state’s college and university system along with its K-12 schools following a Friday vote.

The Indiana Commission on Higher Education will hold a special meeting on Friday to vote on whether Jenner will become the next Commissioner for Higher Education, according to a news release from the Commission on Higher Education sent Wednesday. Jenner would retain her current role as the head of the Department of Education in charge of the state’s K-12 schools.

The move is part of an ongoing effort by GOP Gov. Mike Braun to streamline state government, giving cabinet heads like Jenner more responsibilities. In a December announcement reappointing Jenner to the top K-12 job, Braun said her role would include “establishing a unified, student-centered vision across the full spectrum of education, from Pre-K and K-12 to college.”

“As we continue to identify ways to better serve Hoosier taxpayers, having a proven, consistent leader directly overseeing both K-12 and higher education is the logical next step and will ensure that the best interest of our students remains top of mind every step of their educational journey,” Braun said in Wednesday’s announcement.

Current Commissioner of Higher Education Chris Lowery announced in July that he would leave the role in October.

“The logical next step of Secretary Jenner assuming the role of Commissioner will offer clarity and consistency for the Commission, while continuing to drive our mission and deliver better results for Indiana students, employers, and our state,” Lowery said in the announcement.

Neither the Department of Education nor the Commission on Higher Education immediately responded to a request for comment from Jenner. If the commission votes for her, she will begin her new role on Oct. 11.

Jenner will not receive a pay raise for the new role, according to Department of Education spokesperson Courtney Bearsch. Any future structural changes to the higher education commission would require legislative action, Bearsch said.

As the head of both the K-12 and higher education systems, Jenner would focus on higher education accessibility and affordability, the successful implementation of the state’s new high school diploma requirements, and teacher preparation programs, among other initiatives, according to the announcement.

Jenner is the state’s first appointed secretary of education, assuming the role in 2021.

The commission will meet on Friday at 1 p.m. at its Indianapolis office. The meeting will also be livestreamed.

Aleksandra Appleton covers Indiana education policy and writes about K-12 schools across the state. Contact her at aappleton@chalkbeat.org.

Indiana third grade reading scores improve at record-breaking rate, reach pre-pandemic levels

2025-08-13T14:47:47+00:00

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Indiana third graders’ reading proficiency improved at a record-breaking rate in 2025, putting students’ scores on par with pre-pandemic levels.

Statewide, 87.3% of third graders scored proficient on the state test, the IREAD, up nearly 5 percentage points from the 82.5% proficiency rate in 2024. The jump represents the largest single-year increase since the assessment began in 2013, according to state data presented Wednesday. And it breaks the improvement record set last year, when scores increased less than one percentage point from 2023 to 2024.

The increase comes after concerted efforts in elementary schools to help students pass the IREAD and thereby avoid mandatory retention in third grade under a law that went into effect for the 2025-26 school year. In total, 73,500 out of 84,163 third graders scored proficient on the IREAD.

It’s not yet clear how many students were held back. State education officials say the data won’t be available until after the Oct. 1 count day, when student enrollment is finalized.

“This is a time for celebration, and it is also a time to double-down on our commitment to helping even more students learn to read,” said Secretary of Education Katie Jenner in a news release about the scores.

Students across all ethnic and socioeconomic student groups improved in 2025. Black students’ proficiency rate improved by 7.5 percentage points this year, and their proficiency rate has risen four years in a row. Scores for English learners improved seven percentage points from last year, although their scores have declined since 2021.

State education officials say early intervention — along with a statewide shift to instruction backed by the science of reading — has played a critical role in improving proficiency.

Beginning in 2022-23, Indiana began administering the IREAD to second grade students on an opt-in basis. This program expanded to all students in 2024-25.

Students who pass in second grade do not have to take the test again, and their scores are counted in their cohort’s overall pass rates. That means students who passed as second graders in 2024-25 were not counted in this year’s overall pass rate. They will be counted in 2025-26 scores. Around 48% of second graders passed the IREAD in 2024-25, while another 20% were on track to pass in third grade.

Meanwhile, students who score below proficiency in second grade receive additional reading support in class and over the summer. They retake the test in the summer after their second grade year, and then have three more opportunities to pass in the spring and summer of third grade.

Schools that participated in the Indiana Literacy Cadre — which places instructional coaches in schools to work with teachers on the science of reading — had a greater rate of improvement than schools that didn’t, according to the department of education’s presentation.

Students who don’t pass in third grade are retained, unless they meet the criteria for a Good Cause Exemption. This can include having an Individualized Education Program, being an English learner, or being previously retained. Students who pass the math portion of the ILEARN, which is administered in grades 3-8, can also qualify for a retention exemption.

The trend for IREAD scores is notably different than for ILEARN results, which came out last month and showed that English language arts scores have remained essentially unchanged across the state even as math scores have improved.

State officials said the bulk of the state’s work to improve reading scores has been focused on early literacy, while more intervention is needed for students in middle school.

“That’s the only needle we have not moved in the state of Indiana,” Jenner said of middle school English scores. “We believe we’ve solved multiple other challenges and we’re up for the challenge there.”

There’s also a difference in what the tests ask of students, according to the state presentation Wednesday. The IREAD tests foundational reading skills, including phonics, vocabulary, and comprehension, while the ILEARN also tests writing and communication.

The IREAD results were met with applause at Wednesday’s State Board of Education meeting, which recognized several public and private schools that had made improvements in reading proficiency.

In Evansville-Vanderburgh schools, Dexter Elementary posted a 24 percentage point increase in proficiency rates, Fairlawn Elementary posted a 36.5 percentage point increase, and Glenwood Leadership Academy saw a 44 percentage point increase.

“We explicitly taught the research-based stuff and cut the fluff,” said India Williams, a literacy cadre coach at Fair Lawn Elementary School.

Aleksandra Appleton covers Indiana education policy and writes about K-12 schools across the state. Contact her at aappleton@chalkbeat.org.

A third of Indiana counties lack voucher-accepting private schools, complicating choice expansion

2025-08-07T16:01:12+00:00

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Sitting on the Kentucky border, the Christian Academy of Indiana draws students from 56 different ZIP codes in southern Indiana. Some come from as far as 30 miles away and live in counties without private schools.

Families in those distant communities make the drive every day — sometimes carpooling — because they’re drawn to the school’s environment and extracurriculars, and especially its Christian teaching, said Lorrie Baechtel, director of admissions for the school, which is part of a three-school network in Indiana and Kentucky.

“There are lots of good public school options in Indiana. Families come to our Indiana campus more for that mission,” Baechtel said.

The school’s enrollment has boomed in the last four years, driven in part by the expansion of the Choice Scholarship, Indiana’s signature voucher program. That’s made tuition more affordable, Baechtel said. More than 1,200 students attended in 2024-2025, up from around 700 in 2021-22.

That reflects a statewide trend: Voucher use has surged in recent years as Indiana lawmakers loosened eligibility requirements. In 2026, the program will open to all families, regardless of income.

But the Christian Academy’s ability to attract students from far away tells another story too. Even as vouchers have become more accessible, Indiana’s rural students aren’t using them at the same rate as their urban and suburban peers. That’s in part because one-third of counties don’t have a private school that accepts vouchers within their borders, and distance is a factor in parents’ decisions on school choice.

The result is that students who live closer to an urban center — which typically have one or more voucher-accepting private schools — may use vouchers at rates up to 30 percentage points higher than those for students who live in a neighboring district.

That also means rural families may be at a significant disadvantage when the state opens the Choice Scholarship to all, and when private school scholarships funded by new federal tax credits also begin to roll out in 2027.

“If there are no schools there for you to attend it’s unlikely it’s going to be all that useful for you,” said Jon Valant, director of the Brown Center on Education Policy at the Brookings Institution.

More than that, public education advocates say splitting state school funding with vouchers leaves less for the rural public schools these students do attend.

“We’re making the policy choice to fund a lot more choices than we used to,” said Chris Lagoni, executive director of the Indiana Small and Rural Schools Association, which represents public schools. “We’re inviting more and more folks to Sunday dinner. It’s a little bit of a bigger meal, but a lot more guests.”

But the state’s Republican lawmakers have dismissed the fears of a hit to public rural schools as a result of vouchers, saying that rural voters support choice and parents want educational options — whether that’s private, charter, or traditional public schools.

Meanwhile, school choice advocates say the latest expansion of the Choice Scholarship, along with a growing preference for smaller learning environments and the rise of voucher-accepting online schools, could mean more private school access for rural areas in the near future.

“I think we’re best when we have a robust ecosystem of private and public options,” said Eric Oglesbee of the Drexel Fund, a nonprofit venture philanthropy organization that funds new private schools in Indiana and throughout the U.S.

Location matters in accessing a private school

Across the state, around 76,000 students received vouchers for the 2024-25 school year — an increase of about 6,000 students from the year before. The program cost the state $497 million last year, and the average voucher recipient came from a household with just over $100,000 in income.

But around one-third of Indiana counties don’t have voucher-accepting private schools within their borders, according to a Chalkbeat analysis of state data, which also shows that voucher use is lower in rural areas than urban ones.

Voucher use can shift dramatically even between nearby areas. For example, around 16% of students who reside in the Madison school district in southern Indiana use vouchers, but that rate drops to as low as 1% in nearby districts that are more rural. Similar trends hold in other areas of the state, like Indianapolis, Evansville, Fort Wayne, and South Bend.

Location matters because driving distance has been shown to be a factor in how parents choose a school.

In a 2024 survey of parent preferences by EdChoice, an Indianapolis-based group that supports vouchers, around half of parents said they would drive a max of 15 minutes for their children “to attend a better school.” Just over a quarter said they would drive no more than 20 minutes, and the final quarter said 30 minutes would be their max.

Concerns about this issue have persisted in the state for years. Alli Aldis of the advocacy group EdChoice pointed to a 2018 report from her organization that called areas of rural Indiana as “schooling deserts.” It estimated that in the 2017-18 school year, around 3% of Indiana students, many in rural counties, lived more than 30 minutes from a charter, magnet, or voucher-accepting private school.

Starting a new school anywhere, but particularly in a rural area, comes with challenges like finding a building, said Oglesbee of the Drexel Fund.

A 2023 Drexel Fund report found that facilities in the state are “inadequate to meet the needs of new entrants to the market.” Though the report notes that real estate is both affordable and available, there are no public sources of facilities funding, and surplus facilities are not available to private schools.

But new laws in Indiana have the potential to change that. House Enrolled Act 1515 established voluntary school facility pilot programs open to both public and private schools to “allow for additional flexibility and creativity in terms of what is considered a school facility,” like colocating with schools, government entities, and community organizations.

Oglesbee said the organization is fielding an explosion of interest from potential new private schools in Indiana, possibly as a latent result of the 2023 expansion to voucher eligibility, which made the program nearly universal.

School succeeds ‘if the community asks for it’

Other challenges to opening a private school include hiring staff and recruiting students, which can be a particular issue in rural areas with both fewer children and licensed teachers, advocates said.

Opening a school also requires a team of people with both education and business experience, Oglesbee said. And they’re more likely to succeed if they have roots in the community they hope to serve.

“I see less of the ‘if you build it, they will come’ idea,” Oglesbee said. “A school is successful if the community asks for it.”

At a recent conservative policy conference, Indiana House Speaker Todd Huston said rural Indiana communities were “super excited” for school choice, and noted that no Republican lawmaker had been beaten in a primary for supporting the policy.

But Indiana voters haven’t voted on school vouchers, and don’t have a legal avenue to overturn the policy, said Chris Lubienski of the Center for Evaluation and Education Policy at Indiana University. Last year, voters in Kentucky and Colorado rejected ballot measures in favor of school choice, while Nebraska voters partially repealed a state-funded scholarship program.

“There’s resistance: ‘Why do I want to have my taxes fund a program I can’t use?’” Lubienski said.

In rural areas, support for school choice may actually mean support for transfers between public school districts, said Lagoni.

Ultimately, the Rural Schools Association believes any school receiving state dollars should be subject to the same expectations of transparency and accountability, Lagoni said.

Asked about concerns that rural students often have difficulty using vouchers, Huston said he expects voucher usage to continue to grow once the program becomes universal in 2026-27.

“We want to make sure our policies align with what works best for families,” Huston said.

Vouchers add to financial stress for rural schools

With more school options in Indiana, downward pressure on local tax revenue, and declining population, rural public schools feel pressure to compete. Sometimes that means closing and consolidating schools.

Vigo County schools recently announced plans to close two rural elementary schools as part of a plan to renovate facilities and offer more programming. The school corporation’s enrollment has declined slightly, due in part to an overall decline in the county’s total population, said spokesperson Katie Shane.

More students who reside in the district are using vouchers, although they’re not the biggest reason for the district’s falling enrollment. While 429 students used vouchers to attend private schools last school year, an increase from 252 the year before, around 870 Vigo students transferred to another public school district in the fall of the 2024-25 school year. That reflects a statewide trend.

Without their nearest public elementary schools, students may have to travel by bus for half an hour or more to the nearest school, according to community members who have started a petition to save one of the two schools marked for closure, Hoosier Prairie Elementary School.

“Hoosier Prairie isn’t just about going to school,” said Shyann Koziatek, an educational assistant at the school who also signed the petition to stop its closure. “Kids love to learn and love the routine we have.”

Rural schools also often function as large area employers and drivers of the economy.

“Schools are often the center and identity of the community, how people view who they are,” Lubienski said. “You go and cheer on your football team, it’s where you put on your school play.”

But private schools can serve the same role, choice advocates say.

“If people have stronger educational options, more choices, that only strengthens the community,” said Aldis of EdChoice.

Correction: This map has been updated to reflect the correct locations of Tri-Creek, Tri-County, Tri-Central and Tri-Township schools.

Reporters from the Arnolt Center for Investigative Journalism at Indiana University Jon Eckert, Charlie Herman, Char Jones, Mitchell Lierman, Mackenzie Lionberger, Eva Remijan-Toba, Maddie Slepski and Jasmine Wright contributed to this story.

Aleksandra Appleton covers Indiana education policy and writes about K-12 schools across the state. Contact her at aappleton@chalkbeat.org.

Federal funds for low-performing schools would be redirected under Indiana flexibility request

2025-07-24T20:37:38+00:00

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Indiana would redirect $25 million in annual federal school improvement funding away from low-performing schools under a state proposal for more flexibility in how it spends federal funds.

State education officials announced last week that Indiana intends to ask the U.S. Department of Education for its federal Title dollars in a block grant with fewer requirements on how the state must spend the money. School districts also would have more flexibility to use their federal funds to support more kinds of programs. The money currently supports specific student groups like English learners and specific activities like professional development and out-of-school-time care.

On Thursday, the Indiana Department of Education shared new details about which grants would be affected and how the state intends to use the funds instead.

Among the changes would be a significant shift in School Improvement Grants, competitive grants that currently fund improvement plans at district and charter schools identified as low performing under the Every Student Succeeds Act.

The state is proposing to instead give these funds to any school that’s “actively seeking to serve students that would have otherwise enrolled in the eligible school,” including microschools, charter schools, and “partnerships with industry or postsecondary institutions.” The new beneficiaries would not need to be considered low-performing.

The proposal says this new approach is not intended to “abandon efforts to improve existing schools, but rather to complement them by ensuring students and families have timely access to better options when needed.” The department would still consider investments in low-performing schools.

“This flexibility ensures students and families no longer depend solely on political will for innovative opportunities to materialize,” the draft says.

The draft proposal also says that the current framework for the School Improvement Grants has failed to produce meaningful results, and that receiving the funds has often come with stigma.

“Expanding eligibility through an innovation grant model allows [local education agencies] and partners to seek support without this public designation,” the proposal says.

Other changes to grants, school grading

Under the flexibility request, school districts would be able to use some of their federal funds as a block grant rather than adhering to the specific requirements of each Title fund.

The state would still calculate and distribute specific Title funds to schools but remove the requirements of each fund, allowing schools to use any of the dollars to fund any activities allowable under ESSA.

The change would reduce administrative reporting requirements associated with each program fund and allow schools a larger pool of money to support programs, according to the draft proposal.

Indiana is also seeking the flexibility to use a single performance system for schools rather than a separate one to meet federal requirements. That new system would be the A-F model that’s currently in development.

The department is accepting feedback on its proposal online through Aug. 25. Officials intend to submit the waiver request in September, and if approved, the flexibility would go into effect in 2026-27.

Aleksandra Appleton covers Indiana education policy and writes about K-12 schools across the state. Contact her at aappleton@chalkbeat.org.

How to share your thoughts on Indiana’s plan to revive the A-F grading system for schools

2025-07-24T20:12:42+00:00

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A plan to once again assign A-F grades to Indiana schools is officially open for public feedback.

The state is moving forward with a draft first presented in June that would assign schools grades no later than December 2026 under a new legislative mandate. Public comment is now open online; an in-person session will also take place in August.

Indiana has not issued A-F grades to schools since 2018 due to changes in the state testing model, and later, the pandemic. The state in 2022 moved away from a single letter grade to evaluate schools and unveiled its Graduates Prepared to Succeed (GPS) dashboard, which features a profile of each school’s testing and attendance data.

But education officials said some families had found the dashboard to be too complex. Earlier this year, lawmakers mandated that the state develop an updated grading framework based primarily on state test scores and aligned with the state’s new high school graduation requirements.

Unlike under the previous iterations of the grading framework, the proposed plan gives schools credit for students who are progressing in their skills, rather than just those who are proficient, according to the Department of Education’s June presentation.

It works by assigning each student at a school a number of points based on their proficiency on the state tests — the ILEARN in grades 3-8 and the SAT in high school. Students would get 100 points for meeting or exceeding the proficiency benchmarks for those tests, and 90 points for approaching proficiency, in the draft proposal.

It also gives students points for other skills, like attendance, workforce skills, and proficiency on the IREAD, the state third grade reading test.

Schools would then be assigned a letter grade based on the average points generated by all students.

The first public comment period is open now through Aug. 22 online. The Department of Education will also hold an in-person public comment session on Friday, Aug. 22, at 10 a.m. in the Indiana Government Center South, Conference Room C.

After the first public comment period concludes, the Department of Education will present a second draft of the grading framework, as well as host a second public comment period. The State Board of Education must adopt the final draft of the grading system by Dec. 31.

Aleksandra Appleton covers Indiana education policy and writes about K-12 schools across the state. Contact her at aappleton@chalkbeat.org.

How will a new national school choice program affect Indiana? It’s complicated.

2025-07-17T17:54:01+00:00

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A new federal tax credit touted as the country’s first national school choice program could help families pay for Indiana’s rising private school tuition costs but also favor wealthier urban areas over rural communities.

The program established by the tax and domestic policy bill signed by President Donald Trump earlier this month likely won’t generate as much money as school choice advocates initially hoped after members of Congress made compromises to get it over the finish line. Still, advocates say it might start small but will grow rapidly.

The new program creates a dollar-for-dollar federal tax credit for individuals who donate to scholarship-granting organizations, or SGO, a type of nonprofit that provides funding for families to send their children to private schools. These nonprofits are associated with multiple schools.

Indiana lawmakers would first have to opt the state into the program in order for families to benefit from it. If state lawmakers do so, the additional scholarship funding could help cover rising private school tuition costs that aren’t always paid for by the state’s voucher program or the current scholarships backed by SGOs and funded by a state tax credit.

But as with other school choice programs, the new federal funds would only benefit students who can in practice attend participating schools.

The gap between the voucher amount students receive and the total cost of tuition at private schools can be significant, said Scott Schumacher, executive director of The Lutheran SGO of Indiana.

A report this year from Indiana’s voucher program estimated families were still responsible for an average of $2,450 in tuition costs after receiving a voucher.

“If Indiana chooses to opt-in, this could provide another great way to reduce the gap between school choice vouchers and the full cost to educate a child attending a participating non-public school,” Schumacher said.

Because eligibility for the federal program’s is tied to local median income, that could mean higher-income families in urban areas qualify for the scholarships funded by the new federal tax credits, while middle-income families in rural areas don’t, said Jon Valant, director of the Brown Center on Education Policy at the Brookings Institution.

Coupled with the fact that rural areas tend to have fewer private schools to begin with, the new federal tax credits are less likely to help rural families, Valant said.

Under the federal program, nonprofit organizations can begin accepting donations and distributing scholarships in December 2026.

Federal tax credits could grow fast in Indiana

It’s likely that conservative-led states like Indiana will opt in to the new program, said Valant, because “it’s additional money they can put into school choice.” But the decision will likely be more complicated in blue and purple states, where public opinion on choice programs is mixed and Democratic officials might be hostile to them.

However, donors in states that don’t opt in could still donate to SGOs in participating states and receive the tax credits.

Unlike in earlier proposals of the federal tax credits, in the final version, only cash donations are eligible for the federal credit for a maximum amount of $1,700 per individual, rather than cash or stock donations. And critically, corporations are excluded from the credit entirely.

Those changes will likely slow the growth of the program, although there is no total cap on the federal tax credits.

Indiana already offers its own state tax credit for donations to SGOs in which donors get a 50-cent tax credit for every dollar they donate. There are no limits on individual or corporate contributions, but the total amount available for the tax credit is $18.5 million per fiscal year.

Donations came in under that cap the last two fiscal years. It approved around $17 million in tax credits in fiscal year 2025, and $15.5 million fiscal year 2024.

The state has eight active SGOs that distributed around $23 million in scholarships in the 2023-24 school year, the most recent data available.

These private scholarships are separate from — and can be used by families in addition to — Indiana’s Choice Scholarship Program, the state’s signature voucher program. That program provided $497 million in state funds in 2024-25 for students to attend private schools.

Indiana lawmakers this year removed the final income cap on the Choice Scholarship Program to make all families eligible, regardless of how much they make, beginning in 2026.

It was not possible to enact a national equivalent of this kind of voucher program because the federal government doesn’t fund parents and schools directly, said Jeanne Allen, founder and CEO of the Center for Education Reform, which supports private school choice.

Instead, the federal tax credit signed into law by Trump was the “least intrusive, most direct way for taxpayers to participate in educational choice,” Allen said.

It also has lots of potential for future expansion, she said.

“It’s a relatively small amount of money, it’ll take time to raise it, but once people are aware of it, it’ll accelerate,” Allen said.

Funding could fill gaps but leave students out

Even as more Indiana families gain access to vouchers, there are indications that they cover less as private schools raise tuition, according to the 2024-25 Choice Scholarship report.

Indiana students can receive a voucher amount equivalent to either the school’s tuition, or 90% of the amount given to a student’s home school district, whichever is less. In 2024-25, only around 28% of students received the full cost of their tuition and fees — a much smaller share than in past years, when around 43% of families received an amount that could cover their full tuition costs.

Meanwhile, Indiana’s SGOs and the new federal program have different eligibility requirements. The state SGOs are open to families making 400% or less of the federal income threshold for families to get free or reduced-price lunch. The new federal tax credits are open to families making no more than 300% of the local median income.

This will mean that SGOs need to keep the state and federal donations and scholarships separate, Schumacher said.

The reliance on local median income for the tax-credit eligibility could also favor many urban families over rural ones, according to Valant, because urban areas tend to be higher-income communities.

Few regulations on SGO’s also could open the door to discrimination against certain students, such LGBTQ children or those with disabilities, Valant said.

In Indiana, students must meet income, residency, and age requirements to receive an SGO scholarship, but the organizations can set their own additional requirements for their scholarships as well. For example, every student who gets a scholarship from the Lutheran SGO receives $500, but scholarships are distributed based on financial need, and families can apply for additional support.

Donors can designate their contribution for a specific school, but not for a specific student.

Receiving a school voucher is not a condition of receiving a scholarship from an SGO. The Indiana Choice Scholarship program has its own eligibility requirements.

Aleksandra Appleton covers Indiana education policy and writes about K-12 schools across the state. Contact her at aappleton@chalkbeat.org.

Indiana to seek major new flexibility for federal school funding. Here’s what that means.

2025-07-16T21:51:22+00:00

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Hundreds of millions of dollars in federal education funding Indiana receives for teaching and learning could be rolled into block grants and distributed to schools to spend with minimal requirements, under a plan presented by officials Wednesday.

The state plans to submit a waiver request to the U.S. Department of Education in the coming months seeking to consolidate the money it receives under the Every Student Succeeds Act, commonly known as Title funding. This money supports specific programs related to professional development, after-school care, English learner education, and more.

Under the state’s request, the specific federal program requirements associated with each grant would be eliminated, both for the state and local school districts. That essentially means schools would be able to use any funding they receive to support any of the Title programs, rather than following current requirements for specific Title funds to serve specific students and purposes.

Title I-A funding, which supports students from low-income backgrounds and is the single largest source of federal K-12 funding, would not be consolidated into the funds given to districts, according to the state, which did not explain why.

If approved by federal officials, the plan would go into effect for the 2026-27 school year.

A common concern about consolidating federal funding in this way has been that it would direct money away from groups of students who need extra support.

But Ron Sandlin, chief innovation officer at the Indiana Department of Education, said Indiana’s goal is to reduce reporting requirements associated with different streams of funding, as well as eliminate the workarounds that some districts have relied on in order to fund programs and teachers, like combining small grants to fund a large project.

“It’s calculated the same, but once it gets to you, you can use it for any activity approved by ESEA,” Sandlin said, referring to the main federal K-12 law. “No longer will you receive Title III money that can only be used on specific activities. You’ll receive Title III money, and then it can be used on any activities.”

The state would create reporting requirements for after the money is spent, Sandlin said, to monitor how much each school spends on serving the populations previously required by the Title funding.

Another part of the state’s waiver request includes combining competitive grants and school improvement funds into an “Innovation Fund” that could be used to support more schools than are currently eligible.

Sandlin suggested eliminating requirements for these funds could benefit more types of schools in Indiana’s school choice landscape.

“Indiana has a robust ecosystem of public education. The federal government has not caught up to us. They continue to force us to funnel things through the traditional geographically located school corporations. … We know we have a very dynamic educational environment that serves students across school types,” Sandlin said.

Another part of Indiana’s waiver request would have the state’s forthcoming A-F grading system pull double duty and serve as its federal accountability system too. The Elementary and Secondary Education Act includes accountability requirements, although the current iteration of the federal law adopted in 2015, the Every Student Succeeds Act, is less strict than its predecessor.

Consolidating education funding has been a popular conservative idea under the second Trump administration. Earlier this year, Indiana Secretary of Education Katie Jenner and Gov. Mike Braun expressed support for the idea of giving states more control over education and related funding.

Indiana’s plan comes just days after the Supreme Court ruled the president could proceed with mass layoffs at the U.S. Department of Education that are part of President Donald Trump’s plan to ultimately dismantle the department.

The plan also follows months of funding whiplash as the Trump administration has threatened to withhold Title dollars from states that teach diversity, equity, and inclusion ideas deemed illegal under its interpretation of civil rights laws. Indiana planned to certify that it did not have any such programs or teachings.

Earlier this month, federal funds supporting after-school programs, migrant education, English learners, adult education, and professional development were frozen as the Trump administration completed a review of the grants.

Indiana’s plan is similar to plans submitted by Iowa and Oklahoma to the federal education department earlier this year. The Iowa Department of Education told Chalkbeat that their plan is still under review.

“Because this is a first-in-the-nation proposal from March 2025, [the U.S. Department of Education] continues to help Iowa identify and pursue potential paths forward to achieve Iowa’s novel requests through a combination of waivers, modernized administrative interpretations, and cost allocation options,” the Iowa department said in a statement.

Indiana officials plan to release the details of the proposal in the next week, after which they will hold a 30-day public comment period before submitting it to the U.S. Department of Education.

Aleksandra Appleton covers Indiana education policy and writes about K-12 schools across the state. Contact her at aappleton@chalkbeat.org.

2025 ILEARN: English scores flat for fifth straight year as math scores improve

2025-07-16T18:40:42+00:00

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Indiana students’ English language arts scores have remained essentially unchanged for five straight years despite major state investments in literacy, although math scores grew over the same time period, new test results show.

The 2025 ILEARN results released Wednesday show that overall, 40.6% of students scored proficient or better on the English language arts portion of the state test, which is administered in grades 3-8.

That’s a decline of around half a percentage point from last year, and about the same percentage of students who reached proficiency as in previous years going back to 2021.

Since the 2022-23 school year, Indiana has overhauled its reading instruction in early grades to better align with the science of reading. This has included $111 million earmarked for placing literacy coaches in schools and evaluating teacher training programs, as well as a new law to hold back third graders who don’t pass the state reading test, the IREAD.

IREAD scores are expected in August.

In this year’s ILEARN results, the share of third grade students proficient in English language arts improved 1.6 percentage points over last year. But their proficiency rate has risen by only 1.7 percentage points since 2021, due to a decline in performance in 2023 and 2024.

In fourth grade, around 41.4% of students were proficient in English language arts in 2025, a .4 percentage point drop since last year, but a 1.8 percentage point improvement over 2021.

Meanwhile, Indiana students’ math proficiency has increased since 2021, when around 36.9% of all students were proficient in math. In 2025, 42.1% of students tested proficient, an increase of around 1.2 percentage points over 2024.

Notably, math performance in third grade has steadily declined since 2023.

Under a new law passed in 2025, math instruction will see changes similar to the science of reading shift, beginning with a math skills screener for younger students in 2026-27.

Overall, 31.2% of all Indiana students scored proficient in both English language arts and math in 2025. Indiana students recently posted improved scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, known as the nation’s report card, in both reading and math.

‘An urgent need to support middle school students’

The bifurcation in math and English language arts performance is most prominent in grades 6-8, where some of the greatest declines in English language arts proficiency and greatest increases in math proficiency occurred this year.

In seventh grade, for example, math proficiency improved 2 percentage points over last year, and 5.4 percentage points since 2021. But in English language arts, proficiency has fallen 3.9 percentage points since last year and 3.2 percentage points since 2021.

State education officials have been highlighting the need for intervention in these grades since 2022.

This year, they’ve linked the state reading overhaul to the difference in scores, with a board presentation pointing out that older students would not have benefitted from the changes in reading instruction that began in 2022-23.

“While we are positively moving and improving in math, there is an urgent need to support middle school students in English/language arts,” said Indiana Secretary of Education Katie Jenner in a news release about the scores.

“These are our students who intermittently came to school during the pandemic,” said board member Pat Mapes of older students. “They’re going to constantly be catching up.”

Scores among different student racial, ethnic, and social groups have remained relatively flat, with some notable exceptions.

For example, Black students’ proficiency in both English language arts and math has grown each year since 2021, with around 21.8% of Black students now proficient in English and 19% proficient in math — an increase of around 4.4 and 7.4 percentage points, respectively. Black students and Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander students were the only student groups to improve in English language arts proficiency since last year.

Math proficiency among English learner students has improved by 4.2 points since 2021, but English proficiency has fallen from a peak of 13.9% in 2022 to 12.7% — around the same rate as in 2021.

Proficiency rates for students who are eligible for free and reduced-price meals have increased from 22% in 2021 to 28.6% this year.

See how students at your school did on the ILEARN test using the table below:

The 2024-2025 school year was the first year that schools could choose to administer the ILEARN at several checkpoints throughout the year, with the goal of giving educators more data on student performance. Around 75% of schools participated in this pilot.

Beginning next year, all students and schools will participate in the checkpoint model. Department of Education officials said that beginning next year, the state will roll out portals for parents to view the results.

SAT reading scores improve, math scores flat

The state also released SAT scores Wednesday in a presentation to the State Board of Education.

Though not required for graduation, the SAT currently serves as the state’s federally mandated high school assessment, and students can use them to meet one of the state’s graduation pathways.

Around 54.8% of 11th grade test-takers met the college-ready benchmark for reading and writing in 2025, an increase of around 2.7 percentage points over 2024. Math proficiency remained flat, with around 25.4% of students meeting the benchmark.

This story has been updated to clarify that the ILEARN scores released Wednesday are for English language arts and math.

Aleksandra Appleton covers Indiana education policy and writes about K-12 schools across the state. Contact her at aappleton@chalkbeat.org.

Money for Indiana after-school programs, professional development in limbo after Trump freeze

2025-07-03T17:43:01+00:00

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An estimated $107 million in federal funds to support after-school programs, academic enrichment, English language learners, and more in Indiana are in limbo following a decision by the Trump administration to withhold the funding as it completes a program review.

States expected to receive more than $7 billion in federal K-12 education funding on July 1, but were told on Monday that the applications were still under review. The pause is part of an ongoing push by the Trump administration to ensure that no federal funds are flowing to programs that support what it describes as illegal diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.

On Thursday, Indiana education officials said in a weekly newsletter that additional information “will be shared with schools as we know more about these allocations.” The department reiterated the statement in response to questions from Chalkbeat.

In a statement announcing the pause to states, the U.S. Department of Education said “decisions have not yet been made concerning submissions and awards for this upcoming academic year.”

Funding could have an impact this school year

Indiana has already taken steps to verify that the state’s schools do not engage in diversity, equity and inclusion practices in order to preserve federal funding.

It’s not clear yet how the latest decision by the administration will affect Indiana, where students return to schools as early as July 24.

The allocations for the affected programs in the 2025-26 school year, as approved by Congress in March, were expected to stay the same as in the previous year. Here’s what they totaled in 2024-25:

$41.2 million for Title II-A, which supports professional development for teachers and administrators;
$20.7 million for Title IV-A, which supports academic enrichment and can include STEM, music, and arts education, technology access, as well as programs to prevent bullying and abuse;
$19.9 million for Title IV-B, which is for before- and after-school care programs known as 21st Century Community Learning Centers;
$12.8 million for adult basic and literacy education;
$10.1 million for Title III-A, which supports English learner programs; and
$2.5 million for migrant education

The announcement blindsided out-of-school care providers, which were counting on the funds being released in order to hire staff and prepare for the upcoming school year, said Brent Wake, senior vice president of engagement for the Indiana Afterschool Network.

The 21st Century Community Learning Centers serve 20,000 students in 200 communities in Indiana, Wake said. Many offer free or low-cost care, which includes academic enrichment, homework help, and social emotional learning.

“We’re taking programs that work and removing necessary funding and saying ‘good luck,’” Wake said.

If the funds are not released quickly, some providers may face decisions about cutting staff or hours, or eliminating programs for the upcoming school year, Wake said. Others may need to close their doors.

The Title IV-B grant is the largest source of dedicated funding for before- and after-school programs, Wake said. The centers may be supplemented by private donations, tuition charged to families, or the state’s two childcare assistance programs — the Child Care and Development Fund and On My Way Pre-K. Both state programs currently have waitlists.

Wake said providers had been preparing to advocate to preserve a dedicated funding stream for 21st Century Community Learning Centers in the 2026-27 budget, which sought to consolidate many federal grant programs into block funding for states.

Indiana agreed to strip DEI, racial and ethnic studies to save funding

This is not the first time this year that federal education funding has been at risk over concerns that programs it funds do not align with the new administration’s goals.

In April, the Department of Education told states that in order to receive federal funding, they must certify that their schools do not engage in diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. Indiana education officials said they would comply.

During this year’s legislative session, lawmakers also stripped state requirements related to racial and ethnic studies electives, citing a request by the Indiana Department of Education amid concerns that the state could risk losing its federal funding.

The state previously required high schools to offer one semester of a racial or ethnic studies class each school year, but did not require students to take it.

Republican lawmakers said during the session that $1 billion in federal funding was at risk if lawmakers did not remove the course requirement. Democrats pushed back on the change.

Aleksandra Appleton covers Indiana education policy and writes about K-12 schools across the state. Contact her at aappleton@chalkbeat.org.

School choice grows in Indiana, but not as much as in past years

2025-06-26T20:48:55+00:00

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Enrollment in Indiana’s signature school voucher program grew at a significantly slower rate over the last year after past explosive growth driven by looser income requirements.

New data from the state shows that the Choice Scholarship program added around 6,000 students from 2023-24 to 2024-25, representing an approximately 8% increase. By comparison, enrollment grew by 30% from 2022-23 to 2023-24.

The state spent around $497 million on the Choice Scholarship program in 2024-25, an increase of just over $58 million from the previous school year. Costs for the program increased by around $127 million from 2022-23 to 2023-24.

While this year’s annual Choice Report does not speculate as to what may have caused the slowdown, the data covers a period of time in which lawmakers did not take steps to expand eligibility for the program. In 2023, they made the program nearly universal, allowing households making up to 400% of the income required to qualify for subsidized school meals to qualify for a voucher. That’s around $230,000 for a family of four.

During the 2025 legislative session, lawmakers dropped the final income requirement, officially making the program open to all — but those changes don’t take effect until the end of June 2026 and won’t be reflected until the 2026-27 choice report.

Removing income requirements was a priority for Gov. Mike Braun on the campaign trail and for top Republican legislators, who say they’re prioritizing parental choice in their children’s education.

But the move has drawn controversy from groups who say the voucher program has deviated too far from its original purpose of allowing low-income families to leave underperforming public schools, and now provides state funding to wealthier families who already attended private schools.

As in previous years, the typical voucher student in Indiana in 2025 has never been enrolled in an Indiana public school. An average voucher student is white, female, and elementary-aged, from a household of 4.65 that makes around $103,000 annually, according to the report.

Like last year, the increase in voucher use is concentrated among wealthier households. Per the report, the greatest increase in voucher usage — 1.7% — was among households making more than $200,000 per year. Voucher usage among households making between $50,000 and $100,000 declined at the same rate.

Total private school enrollment in Indiana grew to just under 100,000 students in 2024-25, with around 76,000 of those students using a voucher. Both traditional public and public charter schools grew in enrollment over the last year — the former from around 978,000 to 982,000 and the latter from 52,000 to 56,000 — for a total of just over 1 million students.

Vouchers grow, but cover less

More schools than ever are participating in the Choice Scholarship program, according to the report, and data suggests they’re charging more in tuition and fees.

The count of schools charging more than $5,000 in tuition and fees increased over last year, according to the report, while that of schools charging less than $5,000 decreased.

Additionally, a greater share of families received a voucher that did not cover the full cost of tuition in fees in 2024-25 than in years before.

Indiana households receive either the total tuition and fees for their school, or 90% of the per-student funding that their local school district receives, whichever is less.

In 2024-25, 72% of households received a voucher worth 90% of the per-pupil funding, while 28% received the full cost of tuition and fees at their chosen school. In 2023-24, those figures were more balanced, at 57% and 43%, respectively.

Around 55,000 students were responsible for around $134 million in tuition not covered by the vouchers — or around $2,400 per student, according to the report, which does not take into account other scholarships offered to families.

Aleksandra Appleton covers Indiana education policy and writes about K-12 schools across the state. Contact her at aappleton@chalkbeat.org.

Schools assess fallout after lawmakers snub prominent bills on student mental health

2025-06-20T11:00:00+00:00

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Emojis are an important part of morning check-ins for students at some Marion County schools.

After they pick a smiling, neutral, or sad face, they also write a few words to explain their choice. If they skipped breakfast or didn’t get a good night’s sleep, that signals to school staff that they may need a snack or a talk with a trusted adult.

Students in a southern Indiana district learn that not getting basic needs met can cause someone to “flip their lid,” and lose control of their behavior. But they also learn how to reset from that state, and come back fresh the next day.

These are examples of social-emotional learning programs in Indiana schools. Educators say they provide a common language for students, teachers, administrators, and parents to understand a student’s well-being, and in turn improve academic performance, attendance, and school culture.

“You can’t teach a child anything if they don’t feel safe and cared for,” said Tricia Hudson, director of K-8 curriculum at North Lawrence Community Schools.

But putting these programs in place and maintaining them in the current political climate is increasingly challenging for Indiana schools despite persistent needs: Indiana schools saw a 41% increase in bullying incidents from 2023 to 2024, according to the Indiana Youth Institute. And feelings of hopelessness remain higher among Hoosier girls than boys despite an overall decline in self-reported rates of depression.

Indiana legislators this year left several bills on the table that sought to address student mental health, bullying, and counselor shortages, and dropped some requirements related to social emotional learning in teacher training. In April, the Trump administration announced an end to federal grants that supported mental health professionals. And conservative state and national politicians and groups have criticized social-emotional learning as inappropriate in a school environment.

Uncertainty about state and local funding is also an ongoing concern, said Brandie Oliver, a professor in the graduate counseling program at Butler University, because it affects schools’ ability to offer proactive rather than reactive resources.

While most schools offer some mental health support, a much smaller portion effectively address the needs of all students, she said. Without that kind of help, growing anxiety and school refusal can affect students’ attendance and academics.

“The capacity to be able to adequately resource the needs of our students is just not there,” Oliver said. “We’re trying to triage what we see rather than get to the root causes.”

Lawmakers don’t pass bills on bullying, school counselors

The legislative session was “devastating” for student mental health initiatives, said Rachel Van Alstine, a parent and advocate for anti-bullying legislation.

Three bills about the issue championed by her group, the Parent Coalition for Child Safety and Wellness, failed to advance this year. One of them would have changed the definition of bullying to include isolated incidents, and also would have required more tracking and reporting of bullying.

Another bill would have compelled parents and the state Department of Child Services to address bullying behavior by seeking resources for the perpetrator, and the the final bill would have specified that officials must assume students’ mental health is endangered if they learn that their parent or guardian uses illegal substances.

Van Alstine said her group was told by legislators that these initiatives were scrapped due to a tight state budget. But addressing bullying early could save the state money it spends on mental health issues, she said.

“We have the money — but where are we choosing to put it?” Van Alstine said.

Other bills that failed this year would have created ways for victims or perpetrators of bullying to transfer schools.

Proposals that sought to increase the time that counselors can spend with students, or relieve them of other non-counseling duties, also failed to pass despite years of advocacy from counseling groups. Indiana already has much higher ratios of students to counselors than recommended.

When those counselors spend their time overseeing testing or making attendance calls, they’re not able to “help a student change their behavior, or find a reason to wake up and be there,” said Jan Desmarais-Morse, executive director of the Indiana School Counselor Association.

“They may struggle emotionally, have discipline issues, or not meet their full potential because of all the other things getting in their way,” Desmarais-Morse said. “That’s our job, to help remove barriers.”

Indiana lawmakers again tried to allow chaplains to serve as public school counselors, but the bill failed.

One of the few proposals related to mental health that passed the state legislature focuses on how quickly schools must report bullying to parents. The new rule going into effect July 1 says schools must make a “reasonable attempt” to notify parents that the school is investigating a bullying incident “before the end of the next school day after the school becomes aware of the possible incident.”

The school must also report the conclusion of the investigation to parents before the end of the next school day. Current law gives schools five days to report a bullying incident to parents and does not address investigations.

Lawmakers also increased the Secured School Safety Grant Program by $2.6 million in each of the next two years. The program can fund mental health programs, along with school resource officers and other safety initiatives.

In a last-minute move, Republican legislators removed teacher training requirements related to social-emotional learning, cultural competency, and restorative justice, arguing that they were not relevant to schools’ core purpose.

“Teachers should focus on academic rigor, math, science, reading, and writing, technical skills, instead of this emotional regulation, empathy, and etcetera,” said Republican Sen. Gary Byrne.

But the move drew significant pushback — even in one instance from a fellow conservative legislator, Sen. Ron Alting, who said that “the best counseling I’ve had in my whole life was from my teachers and my coaches.”

Schools help students understand their emotional status

Despite the hostile political environment, some schools are proceeding with mental health programs, often through community partnerships, although these are easier to form in urban districts than rural ones, Desmarais-Morse noted.

Districts may also turn to discretionary grants, but these don’t offer the same reliable funding for counselors and mental health initiatives as consistent state aid.

Offering these services in schools removes transportation, scheduling, and access barriers for families, said Oliver, the Butler professor, and students are more likely to complete a series of counseling sessions.

But on the flip side, fully implementing these programs can take years — much longer than the life of a typical grant.

North Lawrence Community Schools in Bedford, Indiana was among five districts to receive funding and support from Butler University to sustain in-school social emotional and mental health programs. Providing mental health services in every school was a promise the district made to the community made in 2020 when it underwent school consolidation, said Hudson, the curriculum director.

The district tries to funnel grant funding into support for several longstanding programs: The district has since 2018 trained all staff — certified and not — in Trust-Based Relational Intervention, or TBRI, a framework to address student behavior. TBRI provides a common language for educators and students to understand their emotional state, said Megan Shipley, the district’s school health coordinator.

Teachers also practice the principles of TBRI, like recognizing when they’re “flipping their lids,” a term for becoming overwhelmed.

The district also uses grant funding to place specialists in schools from Centerstone, a community mental health system. These specialists can help identify students who need more comprehensive interventions, and offer it at school.

But now the district may need to seek alternative funding sources to sustain a family engagement specialist position. It’s currently funded by the federal Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, but the grants associated with that law were recently discontinued by the Trump administration.

“Our job is to make such a strong case that these roles are essential that you can’t say, ‘oh we’ll be fine without that,’” said Hudson.

In Indianapolis, 13 schools use the Building Dreams platform from the Fight for Life Foundation, which allows educators and parents to communicate about student behavior, both positive and negative. The program has been provided for free to some schools via fundraising and grants. But at least one of those schools will need to find new funding to sustain the program beginning next year.

The system allows students to report both their own mood — via the morning check-ins — as well as concerns or conflicts with peers that trigger a series of interventions from school personnel, said Fight for Life founder Marlin Jackson.

“We want to create an environment where students feel, ‘they’re paying attention to me. They support me. I feel understood so I want to be here,’” said Jackson, a former Indianapolis Colts player.

At a recent panel discussion about Building Dreams, educators observed that regular check-ins had reduced negative behavior and helped students learn to articulate and cope with their feelings.

“It gives you a chance to express your emotions,” said Joshua Lopez-Martinez, a fifth grade student recognized at the panel for his consistent use of the platform. This in turn builds trust with teachers, he added: “Everyone should be able to do that.”

The practice of giving their classmates compliments made students kinder and more self-aware over the course of the year, said Daria Parham, executive director of schools at IPS who used to be the principal of Frederick Douglass School 19, which uses Building Dreams.

“It creates a sense of belonging, and that sets the tone for learning,” Parham said.

Aleksandra Appleton covers Indiana education policy and writes about K-12 schools across the state. Contact her at aappleton@chalkbeat.org.

As Indy charter struggled, ex-CEO’s school credit card shows charges for steakhouses, wine, StubHub

2025-05-28T17:29:38+00:00

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Thousands of dollars in alcohol, travel, restaurant, and entertainment expenses were charged to the company credit card of a leader of an expanding Indianapolis charter school network who was terminated in February, according to school records.

The more than $200,000 in charges were on the card assigned to Amy Swann, who was most recently Matchbook Learning’s chief compliance officer but served as its CEO from July 2019 to around the spring of 2024. They included over $40,000 in airfare, over $3,000 in alcohol purchases, over $10,000 in restaurants, $6,091 for a luxury hotel in India — and even $1,678 in charges for sommelier courses, according to a record of charges that occurred between December 2023 and June 2024.

Matchbook officials say that some of the charges benefitted students — such as nearly $45,000 in Amazon purchases. But they say they did not know the purpose of other purchases, such as $1,080 for the Daytona International Speedway, and did not authorize spending of school funds on alcohol. They also say they were initially unaware that Swann moved to Florida in 2023, which she said she made for health reasons.

Chalkbeat obtained the credit card charges through a public records request.

The lengthy period of questionable transactions raises concerns about oversight of Indianapolis charter schools, which receive state funding like other public schools. Charters will also begin receiving local property tax revenue in the coming years through a legislative win this year that angered supporters of schools run by Indianapolis Public Schools.

Matchbook Learning took over IPS’ K-8 School 63 in 2018 as part of the district’s Innovation Network — but the turnaround strategy has largely failed to improve academic results, according to state test scores. Matchbook opened its second school, a high school, last year.

The K-8 school has one of the highest shares of students from low-income backgrounds among all schools in Marion County, according to demographic data. It is also one of the most underperforming schools in the city, according to state math and reading test scores.

Swann was officially let go through a board vote terminating her employment with cause in February, records show — only about two months after Matchbook received a renewal of its charter from Mayor Joe Hogsett’s Office of Education Innovation in December 2024.

Swann, who was a 2017 fellow with the Indianapolis-based non-profit the Mind Trust along with Matchbook founder Sajan George, had been with the school for over a decade. She oversaw the K-8 school and the construction of the new high school.

She said that some of the expenses the board said weren’t authorized were for school purposes, such as alcohol for staff events and dinners with board members and vendors. Others she said were accidental, such as the trip to India. Swann said she reimbursed the school for the cost of the hotel for that trip, which the school confirmed. The sommelier charges, Swann said, stemmed from plans to do wine-based fundraisers for Matchbook. (Matchbook board minutes from August 2024 indicate the board discussed “Wine + Welding” when reviewing possibilities for investor tours and events.)

Swann also said multiple people had access to the card, and that she did not review bank statements. She said some charges she was not aware of — such as $1,629 for Stubhub and $915 to Ticketmaster — and that these might have been fraud. But according to the school, the records reviewed by Chalkbeat were only for a card number assigned to Swann. While Swann could have given her card to others, she was not supposed to, said Matchbook Learning Chief Operating Officer Don Stewart.

“I’m happy. I’m actually a lot better off,” Swann said of her termination from Matchbook. “Now I feel like I’m going to be made out to be this evil person.”

George, now chair of the Matchbook board, said he couldn’t elaborate on Swann’s termination, but that the spending in the expense reports was a factor. He said Swann’s role with the school was scheduled to end in April, but that the school terminated Swann in February in part for the unauthorized trip to India that included the luxury hotel stay, a timeline that Swann confirmed. Swann did not have approval to take time off or charge her company card for that trip, George said.

“You’re catching us where we should be, which is we took action on the things,” George said. “And honestly, if we had known some of these things, we might have taken that action earlier.”

It’s not clear whether the school will seek to recoup any of the other costs.

George also said school leaders were unaware of Swann’s move to Florida in 2023 and that it was among the reasons the network changed her title last summer from CEO to chief compliance officer. Swann said the title change occurred because she moved to Florida.

The 2024 charter renewal process included a review of financial information, such as the school’s annual audited financial statements, according to the mayor’s Office of Education Innovation. Officials there were aware of a “leadership transition” at Matchbook but were not made aware of “spending concerns” until after Swann was terminated in February, according to an OEI spokesperson.

George denied that the charter school waited to terminate Swann until after the mayor’s Office of Education Innovation renewed its charter to avoid disrupting that process. George said that the school’s authorizer was aware that Swann had moved to Florida and that the school had new leadership.

Charter school leader took frequent flights from Florida

The more than $40,000 for airfare on the credit card is the one of the largest categories of spending.

Much of that, George said, was to pay for Swann’s commuting expenses between Indiana and Florida, where she moved in the summer of 2023.

The board initially did not realize that Swann moved to Florida, he said, but agreed to retain her until she could finish some of her assigned projects — like the construction of the new high school. George said Swann flew from Florida to Indianapolis once or twice per month.

Swann said she moved to Florida in the summer of 2023 for health reasons, and in part due to a shooting that affected the school community in March 2023.

During that shooting, which occurred after a school basketball game, two gunmen targeted a Matchbook student. Swann said she walked toward two gang members with guns out who came into the gym looking for the student and convinced them to leave.

Swann said that some airfare charges were also for school board members who live out of state to travel to Indiana. State law does not have any residency requirements for charter school board members.

George said the school began to notice that the charges for the flights were not the least expensive possible, as required by the school’s policy. Among the travel expenses is a nearly $1,500 charge for the Delta lounge.

Still, George said it was important to the school to retain Swann because of her long tenure with Matchbook Learning, and because of the ongoing construction project she was overseeing. But after it became clear she would not return, the school changed Swann’s title and duties.

“School leadership is not a remote or hybrid job,” George said.

In the public records obtained by Chalkbeat, the school listed Swann’s salary at $187,000.

Swann is the third Mind Trust fellow to attract controversy in recent years.

In 2019, the nonprofit ended its fellowship with Tariq Al-Nasir after Chalkbeat uncovered his financial troubles and questionable academic credentials. A school launched by another Mind Trust fellow, Shy-Quon Ely, also faced a discrimination lawsuit in 2021 before the IPS school board voted to remove it from the Innovation Network later that year. The school later settled the lawsuit for $48,500, according to WRTV. The Mind Trust later supported the district’s decision.

In a statement, Mind Trust spokesperson Kateri Whitley said the vast majority of the organization’s more than 80 fellows have a “strong track record of leadership for the students and families they serve.”

The Mind Trust “had no knowledge of any allegations of misspending” regarding Swann, Whitley said, and noted that the group had no formal relationship with her once her fellowship ended in 2018.

“As with any school, whether it be traditional, charter, or private, we strongly believe excessive spending for travel, meals, and other expenses that are not directly related to student learning are not prudent uses of school funds,” the statement said. It also said the organization supports the Matchbook Learning board’s decision to terminate Swann’s employment if they found misconduct.

Charter school founder: Ex-CEO lacked good judgment

The credit card charges include roughly $1,525 for two meals at Harry and Izzy’s, $2,076 for two visits to Ruth’s Chris Steak House, and nearly $1,600 in charges to seafood restaurants in Florida.

Swann attributed these costs to meals with community partners, vendors, and staff.

She attributed roughly $1,343 spent at a Florida Costco to materials she would purchase for the school to later bring up in her suitcase for events. And while she was uncertain about charges totaling $1,080 for Daytona International Speedway, she later said that the school explored partnerships with Indy Car and NASCAR.

The card records also show charges to wine stores like Vivino and Total Wine in the first six months of 2024. These purchases were made after George told school leaders to stop paying for alcohol on the school’s tab in 2023, said Stewart, Matchbook Learning’s chief operating officer.

“It’s fair to say that any alcohol charges on the credit card after that were against what the board’s directive was to myself and the leaders in the school,” Stewart said.

But Swann said the policy not to purchase alcohol for staff was adopted after the charges, in the summer of 2024.

George and Stewart also said that board dinners took place once a year and only in Indianapolis. But the card charges include dozens of dinners at higher-end restaurants in Indianapolis and Florida.

Swann said the charges for high-end Indianapolis restaurants were for when board members who live outside of Indianapolis would come to visit, or to celebrate when teachers made good academic progress or other milestones. The Florida dining charges, she said, were for when community partners, vendors, and other people the school was working with would visit the state.

George said he was unaware of some of these charges until Chalkbeat highlighted them, adding that “we just don’t look at that level of detail” with the credit card statement. Yet he indicated the school previously had some concerns that led to Swann’s change of roles at the school.

“The details might be surprising or unknown to me previously, but the general lack of transparency and good judgment is not new to me, which is why we made those [title] changes,” George said.

Amelia Pak-Harvey covers Indianapolis and Lawrence Township schools for Chalkbeat Indiana. Contact Amelia at apak-harvey@chalkbeat.org.

Aleksandra Appleton covers Indiana education policy and writes about K-12 schools across the state. Contact her at aappleton@chalkbeat.org.

Sex ed, DEI, parent rights: New Indiana social-issue laws dictate what schools must and can’t do

2025-05-16T18:39:31+00:00

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For years, Indiana lawmakers tried but failed to change how schools handle issues related to race, sexuality, parental rights, and more.

In 2025, they finally succeeded.

As the Trump administration advanced conservative priorities through executive orders and other moves, state lawmakers have banned schools and teachers from implementing certain concepts about race and identity, including that a person should be blamed for “actions committed in the past.” That’s something they have tried to do since 2022.

They’ve also required school boards to post their sex education materials online, and codified parental rights over their children’s health care and education — two more ideas that didn’t make it through the legislature in past years.

The result is a suite of new social-issue laws affecting public schools that will go into effect in July, which could chill classroom speech and lead teachers to avoid topics “that could cause offense,” said Jonathan Friedman, an official at PEN America, which supports protections for freedom of expression.

“Across a number of states, it’s clear that the election of Trump has given legislators a green light to unleash education bills of their liking with fewer brakes and fewer boundaries,” said Friedman.

Despite the momentum, not all social-issue legislation made it over the finish line this year.

For example, a wide-ranging bill to ban teaching that racism and exclusion are part of the national identity died in committee. Another controversial bill to allow chaplains to serve as public school counselors that passed the Senate did not receive consideration in the House.

Here’s what these new laws will require of K-12 schools and teachers.

Ban on teaching ‘personal characteristics’ echoes DEI orders

Indiana lawmakers have tried since 2022 to pass a law limiting discussions of race and racism in schools.

While the terms for the ideas they’ve targeted have changed — from critical race theory and divisive concepts to diversity, equity, and inclusion — the bills have generally sought to ban teaching that any person is superior to another based on their personal characteristics or should feel guilty for historical events based on those characteristics.

But the proposals have faltered in the past in the face of intense criticism from educators and others who say the language would chill classroom discussions of history.

This year, however, SEA 289 passed into state law against the backdrop of federal and state orders banning DEI practices throughout the public sector. Those practices, Republican leaders have said, constitute unlawful discrimination.

The original bill introduced this year would have required schools to post curricular, instructional, and training materials related to diversity, equity, inclusion, and nondiscrimination, as well as race, ethnicity, and sex. It also would have banned schools from compelling students or teachers to “affirm, adopt, or adhere” to beliefs that a person’s character or relative worth could be determined by their “personal characteristics,” or that they could be blamed for past actions based on those characteristics.

As passed, the new law prohibits public schools from requiring employees to attend training sessions that include these ideas. It also says teachers can’t “implement” any of these ideas or “compel” students to do so — a slight departure from past bills that said teachers couldn’t “promote” these concepts during instruction.

It’s not yet clear how educators, schools, and parents will interpret this language,

said Chris Daley of the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana. It’s possible, he said, that people could use it to target teachers who teach lessons that a parent objects to.

However, he said the language indicates a teacher would need to “clearly go beyond just including information about these topics in a lesson” in order to run afoul of the law. For example, a teacher would have to require students to take an action, such as writing a report.

Furthermore, the far-reaching law prohibits state employers and schools from making hiring, admission, and scholarship decisions based on a person’s personal characteristics, like race, religion, and national origin. (The law specifically allows privately funded college scholarships based on personal characteristics.)

As part of these revisions to the original legislation, the law changes the criteria for the Next Generation Hoosier Minority Educators scholarship fund, replacing the requirement that a teacher candidate is Black or Hispanic with a requirement that they work in an underserved county — listed as Allen, Marion, Lake, St. Joseph, or Vanderburgh counties.

The scholarships, established in 2023, provide up to $10,000 per year of college for high-achieving students who commit to teaching in Indiana.

Sex ed: School must post material, teach consent

Under SEA 442, Indiana now requires schools to publicize more information about their human sexuality instruction, if they teach such courses at all.

Sex education is not required in any school other than instruction on HIV/AIDS, and under the new law, it remains optional.

But school boards in districts that choose to provide the instruction must post all of the relevant learning material online. The law states that schools can’t use any sex ed curriculum that hasn’t been approved by their school boards, which is true of curriculum on other topics, too.

The original Senate version of the bill went a step further and required school boards to also approve information about whether a male or female teacher would teach the course, and whether male and female students would be taught together.

The new law requires schools to put that information in the consent form sent to parents before sex ed instruction takes place.

Critics of the law pointed out that Indiana law already allows parents to review sex ed curriculum materials and opt their students out of any such instruction.

“Transparency is already the expectation,” said Cindy Long of the Indiana Association of School Principals at a hearing on the bill.

Supporters, however, said the law makes it easier for parents to find the information.

The law also says schools that do teach sex ed must show a medically accurate, age-appropriate presentation of fetal development as part of the course. They must also teach the importance of consent in sexual relationships.

Social-emotional learning not required for teacher training

HEA 1002 includes dozens of changes to education code that would reduce schools’ workload, said Rep. Bob Behning, the Republican chair of the House education committee.

But one of the most controversial provisions drops state guidelines that teacher preparation programs include training on social-emotional learning, cultural competency, and restorative justice. These terms that have come under fire from conservative groups that say they teach children values that might be contrary to what they learn at home.

Originally, this language — added as a Senate amendment late into the legislative process — also stripped requirements related to positive behavioral intervention and trauma-informed care, too. But those provisions were restored by a conference committee led by Behning after public outcry.

Critics said practices targeted by the bill are considered best practices that reduce suspensions, expulsions, and behavioral incidents in classrooms, while supporting academic achievement.

Russ Skiba, an Indiana University professor emeritus whose research has found that Black students face higher rates of exclusionary discipline than white students, said changes in the way teachers learned about discipline practices in the early 2000s had a notable impact on reducing disparities. New federal and state guidelines did too, he said.

“The legislature has an important effect just in saying something ought to be focused on,” Skiba said, citing the science of reading as another example. “Suspensions and expulsions went down because of leadership from the top.”

Republican lawmakers defended the changes, saying that they didn’t ban any practices but only removed requirements.

Behning, who declined an interview about the law, notably authored a 2015 law that provided grants for schools to train teachers in alternative methods for student discipline, including “positive behavioral intervention and support, restorative practices, and social emotional learning.”

Lawmakers prioritize parental rights in student records law

Indiana lawmakers also this year passed a parental rights law with implications for schools.

SEA 143 says governmental entities may not “substantially burden a parent’s fundamental right to direct the upbringing, religious instruction, education; or health care” of their child, unless there is a compelling governmental interest.

Though the law had the support of many GOP lawmakers, some argued it could be interpreted to actually give the government more clearly defined rights over parents. Other critics raised concerns about the law’s treatment of minors’ constitutional rights.

The law specifies that schools cannot advise a child to withhold information from their parents, or deny parents access to information related to a child’s health care, or “social, emotional, and behavioral well-being.”

Though many of the examples offered in support of the law concerned state agencies like the Department of Child Services, some speakers at public testimony also wanted it to apply to when a student chooses to go by a different name or gender identity at school. A law passed in Indiana in 2023 already requires schools to notify parents when their students wish to make these changes.

At the same time, parents are prohibited from using the law to access a “medical treatment, service, or procedure” for the child that has been banned in Indiana, such as an abortion or gender-affirming care.

Aleksandra Appleton covers Indiana education policy and writes about K-12 schools across the state. Contact her at aappleton@chalkbeat.org.

How this Indiana teacher prepares her students now for college success

2025-05-15T19:35:01+00:00

As new graduation requirements go into effect in Indiana, more students will likely take college and career courses to prepare for life after high school. But making sure students can access these classes — and succeed in them — takes some patience and creativity.

When Sheridan High School teacher Jill Cali noticed her students struggling with the longer deadlines and open-ended questions typical of college assignments, she began to teach them how to break tasks into more manageable steps. Soon, her students were reaping the benefits.

Other roadblocks to students’ success in college courses, especially in rural communities like Sheridan, a town of 3,000 people in northwest Hamilton County, include accessing these credits and paying for them.

Cali said being part of the Rural Early College Network, sponsored by the Center of Excellence in Leadership of Learning at the University of Indianapolis, allows her students to earn college credits for free. The network also serves as a source of support, allowing her to exchange ideas with teachers at other schools.

“The struggles that students typically have in early college courses are some of the same things that prevent many students from being confident that they will find success in college,” Cali told Chalkbeat. “When students believe they don’t have the ability to be successful in completing college-level work, their first instinct is to shy away from it.”

Read on to learn more about how Cali approaches her early college classes.

This interview has been lightly edited for length.

How and when did you decide to become a teacher?

I decided to become a teacher during my sophomore year of college when I realized that I was not meant to be an accountant! I had always loved working with kids and had a natural talent in Spanish, so becoming a [Spanish] teacher seemed like a good fit. The longer I teach, the more sure I am that this was the right path for me. I was made to be a teacher.

What was the process like to become a dual-credit instructor?

Our superintendent suggested I pursue a Master of Science in Curriculum and Instruction so I would be able to teach the dual-credit Education Professions courses. During our conversation, he convinced me that the degree program would be flexible enough to work with my busy single parenting and teaching schedule and that I would see the return on my investment very quickly. He was right.

The following week, at the age of 42, I enrolled in a program to complete my master’s degree online, working at my own pace. I finished in six months, after working tirelessly to make sure that I only had to pay for one term.

In order to be approved as a dual-credit instructor, I had to coordinate with my high school’s higher education partner, Ivy Tech Community College. This involved submitting my [college and grad school] transcripts, along with a proposed syllabus for each of the courses I planned to teach. The process was honestly pretty quick and painless.

What’s your favorite lesson to teach and why?

In my Principles of Teaching class, the introduction to teaching course, I teach about differentiation and making accommodations for students with special needs. My very favorite lesson to teach is the one in which I give students various tasks, but each has a different limitation. Their reactions, creative thinking, and “aha moments” are the reason it is my favorite lesson. During that lesson, my students realize that some of the most basic tasks can be entirely impossible with just one small limitation. Their internalization of how frustrating learning can be for some of our students really helps us to move forward with the unit of study in a productive manner.

Tell us about your own experience with school and how it affects your work today.

Throughout my childhood and into adulthood, I was a student who strived for excellence in every subject. Realizing that I finally understood a concept I had been trying to grasp or persevering through a tough problem to find an answer always gave me immense satisfaction. I loved the “light bulb moments” as a student, but I enjoy them even more now that I am the teacher. A natural lifelong learner myself, it has always been my goal to inspire my students to be inquisitive and curious investigators of anything that interests them.

How is your early college classroom different from a standard high school classroom?

At a glance, my classroom looks a bit more like a college classroom than many high school classrooms. I was fortunate enough to be able to use grant money to furnish the room with flexible seating options. What you can’t see is that my early college students work with elementary students, getting experience in the field. The flexible seating allows them to move seamlessly between working independently and cooperating and creating with their peers.

How do you help students adjust to those expectations?

Students in early college learn that when something feels overwhelming or difficult, they have the tools to tackle it on their own. This doesn’t mean that they can’t ask for help or guidance. It means that before asking for help, students should make sure they have exhausted all options for figuring it out on their own.

I send a letter to each student and one home to their caregivers prior to the start of school in the fall, explaining what dual-credit means and what the expectations will look like in my early college class. This ensures that there is no confusion about what will be expected of early college students and also opens the lines of communication with students and families.

Having taught these courses for a few years, I’ve found that students struggle with a course that has larger assignments and more time between deadlines. The first thing I do to support them in addressing this is to show them how they can break larger assignments and projects into smaller tasks on their own. Many students are used to having teachers do this for them. I show them how they can establish their own, smaller deadlines based on what they know about their personal schedule, how fast they tend to work, and the support they think they might need.

Students also find it challenging to write nearly everything for their dual-credit courses using a formal tone with proper grammar and spelling. In addition, students tend to have trouble answering multi-part questions … particularly when they are higher-level thinking questions. I spend a full class period — more, if needed — showing them and having them practice how to appropriately respond to the types of writing prompts and questions they will typically see in their early college courses.

Another area where students tend to struggle is with attendance and deadlines. During the COVID-19 pandemic, many schools insisted that students be shown grace in both of those areas. Unfortunately, this instilled in them the idea that as long as they completed all graded assignments, it didn’t matter whether they participated in class or how late assignments were submitted. Though their learning is always my primary focus, much of what my students learn builds on itself. In addition, much of the learning takes place through class discussions.

“I loved the ‘light bulb moments’ as a student, but I enjoy them even more now that I am the teacher.”

What are some barriers your students face to postsecondary opportunities, and how does the Rural Early College Network help you help them overcome those?

The greatest barrier to postsecondary opportunities for students in my school is the financial barrier. The dual-credit courses we offer are all free to our students, so when they successfully complete those courses, the number of semesters that will be required for them to complete their degree can be reduced. This translates to money saved for the student and makes their postsecondary options more affordable and attainable.

Rural Early College Network schools meet throughout the school year to share ideas and support each other in building programs that provide our students with the tools they need to be successful in our classrooms, in college, and beyond.

What’s the best advice you’ve ever received, and how have you put it into practice?

The best advice I have ever received with regard to teaching is, “Student behavior and choices are almost never personal attacks against the teacher.” It was the great reminder that my teenage students’ brains are not fully developed. When they make poor choices or when they act out, it nearly never has anything to do with how they feel about me or anything even relating to me. Letting that go and remembering to see their behaviors as something completely separate from me has really made it much easier to create consequences when appropriate, support my students when needed, and establish a welcoming environment in which every student starts fresh every day.

Aleksandra Appleton covers Indiana education policy and writes about K-12 schools across the state. Contact her at aappleton@chalkbeat.org.

Over $3 million in federal funding for Perry teachers’ bonus pay in jeopardy after grant terminated

2025-05-06T19:29:12+00:00

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Grant funding that supported bonuses for effective teachers at MSD Perry Township schools, as well as literacy positions at the district, is at risk due to the Trump administration’s cuts to federal funding seen to support diversity, equity, and inclusion programs.

Perry was just one of 29 districts nationwide, and the only one in Indiana, to receive a Teacher and School Leader (TSL) grant from the U.S. Department of Education in 2023. Through the funding, the district hoped to retain effective teachers, address learning gaps, and narrow achievement gaps, according to its application.

But the TSL grants were among those terminated in February as part of the U.S. Department of Education’s moves to cancel federal funding for programs that it says supported improper DEI initiatives.

The district was due to receive a total of $6.4 million through the grant over three school years, starting with 2023-24. The district received the grant funding for the first year, but the grant for the second and third years, or around $3.5 million, is now in limbo.

The district has appealed the loss of the grant to the U.S. Department of Education but is still awaiting a decision, according to district spokesperson Elizabeth Choi.

In a press conference when they announced the grant in 2023, district leaders said they intended to use the bulk of the grant funding — more than $5 million — on performance bonuses for teachers rated as highly effective, or those who mentored and provided professional development to other educators.

The rest of the funding was supposed to fund two new literacy coach positions. One coach would help teachers work with older students, including Perry’s large population of older English learner and immigrant students, and another coach would analyze literacy data for all students. (The Trump administration gutted the federal Office of English Language Acquisition earlier this year.)

Representatives for the federal Education Department did not respond to a request for comment regarding what the department objected to about Perry’s plans for the grant.

The district’s application included a reference to “improving classroom instruction and building school cultures that support equity, inclusion, and student ownership of their own learning.” Department officials have previously said “objectionable material associated with DEI” has led to grants being canceled.

Still, the district believes its programs are in line with new federal and state goals outlined by the Trump administration and Gov. Mike Braun that prioritize “merit.”

“The funding … allows the district to create performance incentives as well as retain top talent,” Choi said in a statement to Chalkbeat last week. “We believe this grant promotes merit in Perry Township Schools rather than fund illegal programs.”

No positions have been eliminated at this point due to the loss of the grant, Choi said.

Aleksandra Appleton covers Indiana education policy and writes about K-12 schools across the state. Contact her at aappleton@chalkbeat.org.

Indiana lawmakers expand voucher eligibility, increase school funding in budget

2025-04-25T05:31:24+00:00

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All Indiana families will be eligible for school vouchers starting June 2026, an expansion expected to cost the state around $93 million, according to the state budget that lawmakers passed early Friday. It’s now on its way to Gov. Mike Braun’s desk.

The latest budget maintains 2% increases in K-12 tuition support for public schools each of the two years of the budget, with additional funds allocated in 2026 for the Choice Scholarship voucher expansion.The increases also include the $160 million curriculum materials fund that schools currently receive as separate dollars.

In total, the state will spend approximately $9.4 billion in fiscal year 2026 and $9.6 billion in fiscal year 2027 on K-12 funding, up from around $9 billion in 2025 — which includes basic funding that all students receive, as well as categorical dollars for educating students in poverty, in special education, or English learner programs.

Delaying the voucher expansion to the second year of the budget is a compromise between Gov. Mike Braun and House budget writers, who wanted to see vouchers open to all beginning in fiscal year 2026, and Senate lawmakers who ruled out a voucher expansion over concerns that this year’s tight budget would impact the funding available. The state’s voucher program cost around $439 million in 2023-24, the latest figure available from the state.

The latest state revenue forecast showed $2 billion less than expected for the next biennial budget.

“We’ll be able to do that in the second year and give those parents the choice that I think they deserve,” said Rep. Jeffrey Thompson, chair of the House Ways and Means committee, at a media briefing on Wednesday.

The budget passed over the objections of Democrats in the General Assembly, who characterized the voucher expansion as a subsidy to wealthy families.

“This is a choice to prioritize the wealthy while leaving working families and our public schools behind,” said Rep. Carey Hamilton.

They also expressed concerns over a provision in the budget bill giving Gov. Mike Braun the power to appoint the entire Indiana University Board of Trustees. Currently, three members of the nine-member board are alumni and elected by alumni.

“It concentrates power instead of dispersing it. It silences stakeholders instead of engaging them,” said Democratic Rep. Mitch Gore.

Schools will also be grappling with the effects of Senate Enrolled Act 1, which reduces property taxes and requires districts to share some local revenue with charter schools. The proposal is expected to cost school districts around $744 million over the next three years.

Here are some other notable changes in education funding in the final budget:

Lawmakers have opted to keep funding for virtual students at 85% of the amount that brick-and-mortar students receive in current law. This is a compromise between the House — which proposed giving these students equal funding — and the Senate, which wanted to reduce the funding to 70% over ongoing concerns about virtual schools’ performance and transparency.
A new Freedom and Opportunity in Education line item has been reduced to $50 million per year from $86 million per year that House and Senate lawmakers allocated to the fund. These dollars are intended to pay for Indiana Department of Education initiatives, like the statewide teaching jobs website and the expansion of the ILEARN checkpoint pilot.
The allocation for teacher appreciation grants has been reduced from $37.5 million per year to $35.6 million per year.
The distribution for summer school has been reduced from $18.3 million per year to $17.4 million per year.
The administration of the Career Scholarship and Education Scholarship accounts shifts from the state Treasurer’s Office to the Education Department. Each program would receive $10 million per year.
Gifted and talented education stands at $15 million per year after initially facing cuts.
Lawmakers did not restore funding for the dual immersion pilot program, Dolly Parton Imagination Library, or the internet connectivity fund — cuts made early in the budget process.
The final budget restores the $52.6 million in the Charter and Innovation Network School Grant program, which offers those schools $1,400 per student. But it removes funding for the Charter School Capital Grant, a $25 million line item allotted in 2023-24 for facility needs.

On Thursday morning, lawmakers sent SB 287 allowing school board candidates to choose a partisan political affiliation to the governor’s desk.

They also voted through SB 289. After several changes throughout the session, this bill now prohibits state universities, public schools, and their employees from teaching or training that “a person having a specific personal characteristic is inherently superior or inferior to a person having a different personal characteristic,” that those characteristics determine a person’s character, or that a person should be blamed for actions committed in the past.

The bill prohibits public employers and employees from implementing any of these ideas or compelling students to do so.

The bill also changes the criteria for state-funded teaching scholarships that previously were awarded to Black or Hispanic candidates to instead go to candidates who live and work in underserved counties, defined as Allen, Marion, Lake, St. Joseph, and Vanderburgh counties.

Reporter Amelia Pak-Harvey contributed to this story.

Aleksandra Appleton covers Indiana education policy and writes about K-12 schools across the state. Contact her at aappleton@chalkbeat.org.

Lawmakers end racial and ethnic studies course mandate, make more education changes as session ends

2025-04-25T04:08:06+00:00

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Indiana lawmakers wrapped up the 2025 legislative session early Friday with a final vote on a two-year state budget that provides a 2% annual increase in funding for schools and establishes a universal school voucher program to begin next year.

They also passed several education bills that are poised to transform teaching and learning in Indiana. Among them was a 116-page deregulation bill with provisions that end requirements for high schools to offer at least one semester of an elective racial or ethnic studies course per school year.

This 11th-hour change apparently came at the request of the Indiana Department of Education after correspondence from the U.S. Department of Education regarding state code, Republican Sen. Jeff Raatz said late Thursday in floor discussions about House Bill 1002.

The U.S. Department of Education recently ordered states to certify in writing that they’re not participating in what the Trump administration says are illegal diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, or else risk losing federal funding. Raatz did not specify if that was the correspondence he was referring to. The administration’s effort has run into roadblocks in the courts.

Raatz said $1 billion in education funding for federally funded programs like school lunches was at risk if lawmakers didn’t remove the course requirement.

But the change in Indiana code doesn’t prohibit schools from offering such courses. And the federal Education Department has said that “schools with programs focused on interests in particular cultures, heritages, and areas of the world would not in and of themselves violate” federal civil rights law as it relates to DEI, “assuming they are open to all students regardless of race.”

“Sometimes I have to do things I don’t necessarily want to do,” Raatz said in response to questioning from Democratic Sen. Greg Taylor, who authored the 2017 law about the racial and ethnic studies courses. “But bottom line is, we cannot as the state of Indiana … forgo a billion dollars in our education system.”

“Are you going to tell me that we’re not brave enough to hold pat on an elective course for kids because the federal government says ‘we could cut your funding’?” Taylor said in comments, referring to the law as one of his chief accomplishments.

State lawmakers this year have also leaned into other culture war issues they previously declined to take up against the backdrop of a changing political landscape.

One bill will allow school board candidates to declare a political party, ending the state’s practice of nonpartisan school board elections. Another prohibits state employees, including teachers, from teaching or training that moral character is determined by people’s “personal characteristics,” or that they should be blamed for actions committed in the past, in an echo of several attempts to pass such legislation in recent years.

And Gov. Mike Braun has already signed an expansion of the restrictions on transgender women competing on women’s sports teams that affects colleges and universities.

But not all legislation this year tackles social issues.

State leaders hope that new requirements for math education in line with the push to implement the science of reading will lead to a boost in math scores similar to students’ gains in literacy. And with a new framework for categorizing and reducing absences, they hope to address an absenteeism rate that has remained stubbornly high since COVID.

Here are the education bills that passed the 2025 legislative session. Those already signed by Braun have been marked with an asterisk. The rest are on their way to his desk.

*SB 1: Property tax relief.

Description: The property tax reform bill was amended to change how and how much residents would receive in property tax deductions and credits. The bill also now includes parts of SB 518, which requires school districts to share property tax revenues for operations with charter schools. Read more.

*S B 143: Parental rights.

Description: Stipulates that the government may not interfere in a parent’s right to direct the upbringing of their child unless there is a compelling governmental interest. It also specifies that the bill cannot be construed to allow a parent to access medical care for their child that the child is not legally allowed to have, such as puberty blockers and other gender-affirming care currently banned for minors in Indiana, according to examples given in committee.

SB 146: Teacher compensation.

Description: Increases minimum teacher salaries to $45,000.

Indiana bill to allow party affiliation in school board elections heads to governor’s desk

2025-04-24T16:00:27+00:00

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A proposal to allow school board candidates in Indiana to declare a party affiliation is heading for the governor’s desk after some uncertainty about the final language of the bill.

Under changes approved by the House, Senate Bill 287 allows school board candidates to state a party affiliation, identify as independent, or remain nonpartisan in general elections. In Indiana, school board elections are currently nonpartisan.

But lawmakers have tried to change that for several years amidst increased tensions over COVID-related school closures and mask and vaccine policies, as well as subsequent fights over curriculum and teaching.

Up until now, the idea has failed. The proposals have faced significant opposition from educators and advocates who expressed concern that partisan politics would detract from a school board’s primary duties to choose a superintendent, approve a budget, and set policies.

But supporters of the bill this year said politics already influence how schools operate, and that allowing candidates to declare a party would provide more information about their values to voters. Some lawmakers supported the idea that the bill would help more conservative candidates win school board seats.

The bill allows county parties to challenge candidates’ stated affiliation if they did not vote in that party’s two most recent primary elections, or obtain written certification from the county party chairman that they are a member of the party.

It also provides raises to school board members to an amount not more than 10% of the lowest starting salary of a teacher in that school district. That salary is currently set at $2,000.

Initially, the bill as passed by the Senate would have required candidates to state an affiliation and go through the primary election process, just like other candidates.

Senate lawmakers initially planned to agree with the House’s changes. But that concurrence was withdrawn, and the bill was sent to a conference committee, which is tasked with finding a compromise between the two versions.

The conference committee briefly met Monday and discussed reverting the bill to its Senate version. But on Tuesday, lawmakers appear to have changed their minds again, filing another concurrence on the bill as passed by the House. The concurrence prevailed on Thursday.

It’s not clear what lawmakers disagreed on, nor how the dispute was resolved.

Republican Sen. Gary Byrne, the bill’s author, did not immediately return a request for comment.

The bill is now on its way to the desk of Gov. Mike Braun. If Braun signs it, it would take effect in July. However, there are no school board elections in Indiana this year.

Aleksandra Appleton covers Indiana education policy and writes about K-12 schools across the state. Contact her at aappleton@chalkbeat.org.

Education bill tracker: What bills will lawmakers pass as the legislative session comes to a close?

2025-04-18T14:24:14+00:00

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Update, April 25: The legislative session ended early this morning. Here are the bills that passed as well as details on the state budget.

The 2025 legislative session is likely to bring big changes to Indiana schools, from how they receive funding to what students learn and how teachers teach.

As part of our coverage this year, Chalkbeat Indiana is tracking this year’s biggest education bills as they move through the statehouse.

This year, bills must receive a third reading in their originating chamber by Feb. 20 or else they’ll be considered dead before they move to the opposite chamber. They must receive a third reading in the opposite chamber by April 15.

Several high-profile bills did not receive committee hearings in the first half of session. These bills can be considered dead unless their language is added by amendment to another bill. Some of these bills include:

HB 1136, which would have dissolved Indianapolis Public Schools and transitioned all its schools into charter schools.
HB 1501, which would have turned over IPS school buildings and transportation to a centralized board.
HB 1394, which would have given schools the authority to deny enrollment to undocumented immigrant students. (Another immigration bill, HB 1531, originally required school districts to report how many undocumented students are enrolled each year, but this language was removed from the bill.
SB 257, which prohibited teaching that certain concepts like discrimination are part of the U.S. national identity.

More information about how a bill becomes a law is available here. You can also find more information on the two education committees here.

This year is a long budget session, which means lawmakers must adjourn by April 29.

Bills highlighted are moving forward this year. Bills with an asterisk have been signed by Gov. Mike Braun.

Some bills are noted to be in conference committee or headed to a conference committee, meaning the originating chamber has disagreed with the amendments made by the opposite chamber, and a committee made up of lawmakers from both chambers is meeting to hash out an agreement. A concurrence means the originating chamber agrees with the amendments made.

Once a bill passes in the senate and the house, it needs to be signed by Speaker of the House Todd Huston and Senate President Pro Tempore Rodric Bray before heading to Gov. Mike Braun to sign into law.

Education bills in the Indiana Senate

Senate lawmakers had until Jan. 9 to file bills and until Feb. 20 to pass bills in the Senate.

*SB 1: Property tax relief.

Status: Signed by the governor. Read more.

SB 8: School referendums.

Description: Provides that school referendums may be placed on the ballot only at a primary election conducted in a general election year or a general election. Changes the timeline for a school district to renew a referendum. Provides that in a local public question, a school corporation must provide the total amount of property tax revenue expected to be collected each year.

Status: Proposals from SB 8 were included in amendments to SB 1.

SB 11: Minor access and use of social media.

Description: Parental consent for social media use for those under 16 years old.

Status: Passed the Senate.

SB 16: Expulsion and suspension.

Description: New requirements and restrictions for suspension and expulsion in public schools, including that students may only be suspended or expelled if it’s necessary to minimize physical harm and school disruption. Requires schools to provide services to suspended students.

Status: Referred to the Committee on Education and Career Development.

S B 34: Literacy endorsement.

Description: Reduces hours and requirements to receive required literacy endorsement for licensure renewal

Status: Referred to the Committee on Education and Career Development.

S B 35: Cursive writing.

Status: Referred to the Committee on Education and Career Development.

S B 36: Counselor time with ratio exemption.

Description: Mandates that in 2025-2026 and 2026-2027 a school shall ensure that at least 60% of a school counselor’s time is devoted to providing direct services to students. In 2027-2028, that goes up to 80%.

Status: Heard in the Committee on Education and Career Development on Jan. 15 but did not return for a vote.

S B 67: Secured school safety grants.

Description: Grant from the secured school fund to be used to provide funding for school employees to receive youth violence early intervention training. Status: Referred to the Committee on Education and Career Development.

S B 110, SB 496: School based health centers.

Description: Requires DOE and DOH to establish a program to help schools establish health centers.

Status: Referred to the Committee on Education and Career Development. S B 132: Childhood obesity study topics.

Description: Establishes the childhood obesity commission as a temporary commission to study childhood obesity.

Status: Referred to the Committee on Family and Children Services.

S B 143: Parental rights.

Status: Signed by the Senate President Pro Tempore and House Speaker on April 9 after the Senate concurred with House amendments.

SB 146: Teacher compensation.

Description: Makes several changes to teacher compensation and benefits:

Increases minimum teacher salaries to $45,000.
Provides 20 days of paid parental leave for full-time teachers.
Joins the interstate teacher mobility compact.

Status: In conference committee. Read more.

S B 168: Resident tuition.

Description: Would make undocumented students who have graduated from Indiana high schools eligible to pay the resident rate for tuition at state universities.

Status: Referred to the Committee on Education and Career Development.

S B 213: K-12 education funding.

Description: Establishes a $65,000 minimum salary for teachers, raises the income cap to participate in the On My Way Pre-K program, specifies increases for school funding, appropriates funding for teacher recruitment and retention.

Status: Referred to Committee on Appropriations.

S B 228: PAC contributions.

Description: Provides that a political action committee (PAC) may not make total annual contributions in excess of an aggregate of $5,000 apportioned in any manner to a specific candidate for a school board office.

Status: Referred to the Committee on Elections.

S B 229: Mandatory discussion.

Description: Requires a school employer to discuss certain items with the exclusive representative of certificated employees.

Status: Referred to the Committee on Education and Career Development.

S B 230: Collective bargaining.

Description: Requires a school employer to collectively bargain with the exclusive representative of certificated employees programs and matters related to school safety and associated working conditions.

Status: Referred to the Committee on Education and Career Development.

S B 235: DEI prohibitions.

Description: Prohibits state agencies and educational institutions from taking actions that the bill defines as related to diversity, equity, and inclusion, including holding training or influencing the composition of employees with reference to race, sex, color, or ethnicity. Bans state entities from promoting opinions on a list of 16 concepts including bias, allyship, cultural appropriation, microaggressions, social justice, heteronormativity, and gender theory. Prohibits entities from using funds for a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion office or officer. Allows the state Attorney General to compel agencies to comply. Status: Language from this bill has been added to SB 289.

*S B 249: Teacher compensation.

Status: Signed by the governor.

S B 255: Education matters — licensing, religious instruction, bullying.

Description:

Allows secondary students to receive religious instruction during the school day equivalent to the time spent attending an elective course.
Requires the Department of Education to grant initial practitioner licenses to individuals who hold degrees in STEM subjects and have completed a certain number of teaching courses.
Requires schools to inform the parents of both the victim and perpetrator in a bullying incident before the end of the day that the school was made aware of the bullying.

Status: In conference committee.

S B 257: Civic education — required and prohibited concepts.

Description: Requires schools that teach American history and government to teach principles of the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights, and the Constitution of the United States. Prohibits this instruction from teaching that the national identity or culture has been established by racial identity or racial discrimination, gender identity or gender discrimination, victimization, class struggle, a hierarchy of privileges, or systemic exclusion.

Status: Heard in the Committee on Education and Career Development on Feb. 5, but did not return for a vote.

SB 285: Comparative college and career information.

Description: Creates a dashboard to compare the average costs, wages, debt, and qualifications for degrees and in-demand jobs.

Status: Passed the Senate. Referred to the House Education Committee.

S B 287: Partisan school boards.

Description: Requires candidates for school board offices to be nominated in the same manner as candidates for all other elected offices are nominated. Modifies the annual amount that the governing body of a school corporation may pay a member of the governing body from $2,000 to an amount not to exceed 10% of the lowest starting salary of a teacher employed by the school corporation.

Status: In conference committee.

S B 289: Nondiscrimination in employment and education.

Description: Prohibits state entities and public schools from requiring employees and students to affirm beliefs that any particular race, sex, ethnicity, religion, or national origin is superior to any other, or can be blamed for the past actions of individuals who share the same traits.

Status: In conference committee.

SB 299: Local public questions.

Description: Changes the required language for property tax referendums.

Status: Referred to Committee on Tax and Fiscal Policy.

SB 308: Intimidation.

Description: Provides that intimidation is a Level 6 felony if the subject of the threat is a public school, a state accredited nonpublic school, or a charter school.

Status: Referred to Committee on Corrections and Criminal Law.

SB 319: Chronic absenteeism.

Description: Requires the Department of Education to study and make recommendations on the categorization of student absences, create a list of best practices to reduce student discipline related to absenteeism, and other changes related to absenteeism.

Status: Referred to Committee on Education and Career Development.

SB 330: School air quality study.

Description: Requires the Indiana department of health to conduct an air quality study of every school located in Indiana.

Status: Referred to Committee on Health and Provider Services.

SB 335: Teacher retention grant program.

Description: Creates the teacher retention grant.

Status: Referred to Committee on Education and Career Development.

SB 336: Property tax revenue shared with charter schools.

Description: Removes and repeals provisions that require school corporations located in certain counties to share operations fund property tax funds.

Status: Referred to Committee on Education and Career Development.

SB 343: Tenure and viewpoint law changes.

Description: Makes changes to last year’s law prohibiting universities from offering tenure to professors on the basis of their speech and requiring universities to develop a complaint process on this subject.

Status: Referred to Committee on Education and Career Development.

SB 348: Waiving requirements for accredited schools.

Description: Requires (instead of allows) the state board of education (state board) to approve an application to waive compliance with certain provisions requested by a school or group of schools under the performance based accreditation law.

Status: Referred to Committee on Education and Career Development.

SB 358: Various education matters — voucher eligibility, curricular materials.

Description:

Provides that a school may be an eligible Choice Scholarship school if the school obtains provisional accreditation from a national or regional accreditation agency.
Requires the department to determine the feasibility of making certain math and English/language arts curricular materials available to public schools.
Language on counselors has been removed.

Status: In conference committee.

SB 359: Student well-being and resilience.

Description: Establishes a resiliency program at public schools to help students build resilience and grit by learning to manage their thoughts, emotions, and behaviors.

Status: Passed the Senate. Referred to the House Education committee.

SB 365: Education matters — outcome reports.

Description: Requires reports of student outcomes out of certain career and technical education and postsecondary programs.

Status: Senate concurred with House amendments.

SB 366: Education matters — preschool requirements, school board vacancies, school transfer requirements

Description:

Ends a provision allowing parents to request to transfer their children to school districts outside their legal settlement for better accommodation reasons.
Removes a requirement that a superintendent must discuss a plan for annual performance evaluations with a teacher or the teacher’s representative.

Status: Senate concurred with House amendments.

SB 373: Education — summer school, Department of Education authority.

Description: Would change summer school reimbursement to a per-student instead of program cost basis. Also requires that the evaluation process for STEM and reading materials must include the age appropriateness of the content. Proposed amendment would create a mastery-based education pilot program. Proposed amendment would create boards to make recommendations on school districts’ facility and transportation use. Read more.

Status: In conference committee. Read more.

SB 396: Age for compulsory school attendance.

Description: Lowers the age of compulsory school attendance to 5.

Status: Referred to Committee on Education and Career Development.

SB 403: Charter school requirements.

Description: Provides that access to financial data for local schools requirements apply to charter schools.

Status: Passed the Senate. Referred to the House Education Committee.

SB 442: Instruction concerning human sexuality.

Description: Provides that, if a public school provides any instruction to students concerning human sexuality, the school’s governing authority must publish certain information concerning the instruction online.

Status: In conference committee.

SB 448: Higher education — degree and credential matters.

Description:

Requires that, beginning with the 2026-2027 academic year, at least 50% of the students in a freshman class at a state educational institution must be residents of Indiana.
Requires the Indiana management performance hub to annually report certain credential information on its website.
Requires the secretary of education to establish a plan to develop a market driven stackable credentials and qualifications framework.
Provides that before the commission approves or disapproves a degree or program, a state educational institution shall provide, and the commission shall consider, certain information regarding the degree or program. Requires the commission to: (1) review each degree or program for approval or disapproval at least one time every 10 years, (2) outline a process for degree and program monitoring, improvement, suspension, and closure, and (3) publish certain information.

Status: Senate concurred with House amendments. The latest version of the bill removes the requirement that 50% of freshmen in a state educational institution must be Indiana residents.

SB 479: Transportation for gender transition procedures.

Description: Makes assisting a child in procuring a gender transition procedure a Level 6 felony, but does not apply to a child’s parents, or someone that has permission from the child’s parents.

Status: Referred to Committee on Corrections and Criminal Law.

SB 481: Real world and finance curriculum grant funds.

Description: Establishes the real world readiness grant program to provide grants to eligible schools to better prepare students for life after graduation.

Status: Referred to Committee on Education and Career Development.

SB 482: Absenteeism.

Status: In conference committee.

SB 483: Home school regulation.

Description: Requires a parent who withdraws the parent’s chronically absent child from a public school in order to homeschool the child to present a curriculum and courses the child will complete while homeschooled and meet regularly with the superintendent of the school from which the child is withdrawing.

Status: Referred to Committee on Education and Career Development.

SB 501: Discussable items for teachers.

Description: Requires a school employer to discuss items related to working conditions with the exclusive representative of certificated employees.

Status: Referred to Committee on Education and Career Development.

SB 518: School property taxes.

Description: Requires school districts to share property tax revenue with charter schools and other school districts that enroll students who have legal residence in that school district.

Status: Passed the Senate. Heard in House Ways and Means on Mar. 5. Proposals from SB 518 were included in amendments to SB 1.

SB 523: School chaplains.

Description: Allows chaplains to work or volunteer in public schools providing secular support or nonsecular support if the student and their parent provide permission.

Status: Passed the Senate. Referred to the House Education Committee.

SB 531: Ban on corporal punishment in schools.

Description: Prohibits the use of corporal punishment on students but makes exceptions for the use of reasonable and necessary force in certain situations.

Status: Referred to Committee on Education and Career Development.

Education bills in the Indiana House

House lawmakers had until Jan. 14 to file bills and Feb. 20 to pass bills in the full House.

HB 1002: Deregulation.

Description: With more than 70 provisions, this 130-page bill repeals and removes both expired and existing education statutes within Indiana code. Some notable points include:

Removes a requirement that if a governing body grants a charter to a charter school, they must also provide a noncharter school for students to attend, allowing districts to become all-charter.
Removes requirements for the secretary of education to have teaching and education leadership experience.
Reduces the notice that schools must provide if they eliminate transportation.
Ends the practice of interdistrict transfers by reason of better accommodation.
Removes a penalty for not conducting the minimum number of student instructional days.
Specifies that a charter organizer filing a consolidated audit must include a breakdown of the activities, financial position, and functional expenses for each charter school.
New amendments attempt to clarify when schools can charge fees, and remove requirements for social-emotional learning, trauma-informed care, and restorative justice. Read more.

Status: In conference committee.

HB 1022: Antisemitism.

Description: Provides that “antisemitism” has the meaning set forth in the May 26, 2016, working definition of antisemitism adopted by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance. Provides that an act of antisemitism constitutes a discriminatory practice.

Status: Referred to Committee on Judiciary.

HB 1028: Homestead property tax freeze.

Description: Freezes an individual’s property tax liability attributable to the individual’s homestead based on the date on which the individual acquired an ownership interest in the homestead.

Status: Referred to Committee on Ways and Means.

*HB 1041: Student eligibility in interscholastic sports.

Status: Signed by the governor.

HB 1045: Teacher compensation.

Description: Includes school social workers and school psychologists in the definition of “teacher” for purposes of the requirement for school corporations to expend a certain percentage amount of state tuition support on teacher compensation.

Status: Referred to the Committee on Education.

HB 1064: School athletic events.

Description: No longer requires a school corporation to offer a cash payment option at athletic events. Amended to allow students to request to transfer school districts for athletic reasons.

Status: House concurred with Senate amendments.

HB 1069: Tuition caps.

Description: Requires that, except for cost of living adjustments, the tuition rate and mandatory fees at specified postsecondary educational institutions may not increase from the time the student initially enrolls until the student graduates for an undergraduate student who is an Indiana resident.

Status: Referred to the Committee on Education.

HB 1070: Hunger-free campus grant program.

Description: Establishes the hunger-free campus grant program to provide grants to state educational institutions for purposes of addressing food insecurity among students

Status: Referred to the Committee on Education.

HB 1071: Resident tuition rate.

Description: Would make undocumented students who have graduated from Indiana high schools eligible to pay the resident rate for tuition at state universities.

Status: Referred to the Committee on Education.

*HB 1102: Contracting for preschool programs.

Description: Removes language restricting school corporations from entering into a contract with a religiously affiliated nonprofit preschool program.

Status: Signed by the governor.

HB 1136: School corporation reorganization.

Description: Provides that, if more than 50% of students who have legal settlement in a school corporation were enrolled in a school that is not operated by the school corporation on the 2024 fall average daily membership count date, the school corporation must be dissolved and all public schools of the school corporation must be transitioned to operating as charter schools.

Status: Referred to the Committee on Education.

HB 1160: Student immunizations.

Description: Provides that a student enrolled in a health profession education program may not be required to receive an immunization as a condition of clinical training or clinical experience required by the program when the student has a medical or religious exemption.

Status: Referred to the Committee on Education.

HB 1163: School wellness grant fund.

Description: Establishes the school wellness grant fund to provide grants to school corporations to support local wellness initiatives developed by the school corporation.

Status: Referred to the Committee on Education.

HB 1164: School transportation.

Description: Provides that the governing body of a school corporation must minimize or eliminate school bus route stops that require a student to cross certain roads.

Status: Referred to the Committee on Education.

HB 1173: Ban on university practices.

Description: Provides that a state university may not investigate or discipline student speech concerning politics, affiliations, perceived bias, prejudice, stereotypes, or intolerance, as long as the speech is protected under the First Amendment. Bans universities from considering a student’s race for admission, financial aid, or scholarships.

Status: Referred to the Committee on Education.

HB 1195: Pornographic material.

Description: Requires school governing bodies to adopt procedures allowing community members to request that sexually explicit material be removed from schools. Requires schools to make catalogues of all curricular and library materials available online.

Status: Referred to the Committee on Education.

HB 1201: Education matters.

Description: An omnibus bill focused on absenteeism and graduation.

Requires the Department of Education to create a list of best practices to reduce chronic absenteeism and to establish a categorization framework for excused and unexcused absences.
Requires public and private schools to adopt policies in line with the department’s categorization framework.
Prohibits a public school from expelling or suspending a student solely because the student is chronically absent or a habitual truant.

Status: Passed the House. Referred to the Senate Committee on Education and Career Development.

HB 1207: Space science and technology grant program.

Description: Establishes the space science and technology grant program to provide grants to public and private schools to develop and implement educational opportunities focused on atmospheric and outer space exploration.

Status: Referred to the Committee on Education.

HB 1210: Student behavior.

Description: Establishes the behavioral health fund for the purpose of improving funding for individualized education programs that have a behavioral intervention plan component for certain schools. Provides a procedure for a principal to place an aggressive student, who has been removed from a class, into the aggressive student’s original class, another appropriate class or placement, or in-school suspension.

Status: Referred to the Committee on Education.

HB 1222: Resident rate tuition.

Description: Would make undocumented students who have graduated from Indiana high schools eligible to pay the resident rate for tuition at state universities.

Status: Referred to the Committee on Education.

HB 1229: Local government finance.

Description: Abolishes property taxes and proposes a new fee and funding structure for schools to offset lost revenue.

Status: Referred to Committee on Ways and Means.

HB 1230: School board elections.

Description: Each school board candidate’s political party must be displayed on the ballot.

Status: Referred to the Committee on Education.

HB 1231: Display of the Ten Commandments.

Description: Requires each school corporation to display the text of the Ten Commandments in each school library and classroom.

Status: Referred to the Committee on Education.

HB 1246: Comprehensive student support program.

Description: Establishes the comprehensive student support program for the purposes of funding the formation and staffing of school based and district level comprehensive student support teams, and improving staffing ratios for student support personnel.

Status: Referred to the Committee on Education.

HB 1253: Child care changes.

Description: Various changes to child care requirements, including removing the requirement that children receiving care from a school must be children of students or employees.

Status: House concurred with Senate amendments.

HB 1256: College savings tax credit.

Description: Increases the college savings tax credit.

Status: Referred to the Committee on Education.

HB 1258: Teacher compensation.

Description: States that after June 30, 2026, a school corporation shall expend an amount for teacher compensation that is not less than an amount equal to 70% (instead of 62%) of the state tuition support distributed to the school corporation

Status: Referred to the Committee on Education.

HB 1285: Special education.

Description: Makes several changes to special education practices, including:

Prohibits schools from adopting policies to prevent parents from recording IEP meetings.
Requires schools to employ one person who has obtained nonviolent crisis intervention training.

Status: Returned to the House with amendments after passing the Senate.

HB 1303: Sex education.

Description: Specifies that if a school provides sexual health education, the instruction must be comprehensive.

Status: Referred to Committee on Education.

HB 1306: Classroom supplies tax credit.

Description: Increases the maximum amount of the income tax credit for classroom supplies from $100 to $300.

Status: Referred to Committee on Ways and Means.

HB 1321: Social media use by minors.

Description: Prohibits social media use by minors without parental permission.

Status: Referred to Committee on Judiciary.

HB 1326: Student and teaching scholarships.

Description: Removes the income requirement and lowers the age threshold for a student to receive a scholarship from a Scholarship Granting Organization to attend a nonpublic school. Also makes changes to teaching scholarships.

Status: Passed the House. Passed the Senate Education Committee. Reassigned to the Senate Appropriations Committee.

*HB 1348: Private school and home school diplomas.

Status: Signed by the governor.

HB 1368: School referendums.

Description: Provides that school referendums can only be placed on the ballot during general elections.

Status: Referred to Committee on Elections and Apportionment.

HB 1394: Authority to deny enrollment to unlawful immigrants.

Description: Authorizes a school corporation to deny an immigrant student enrollment in a school operated by the school corporation if the school corporation determines by a preponderance of the evidence that the immigrant student is present in the United States in violation of law.

Status: Referred to Committee on Education.

HB 1405: Student bullying and abusive behavior.

Description: Revises the definition of “bullying”. Requires each public school, including a charter school, to track, monitor, and analyze specified aspects of bullying.

Status: Referred to Committee on Education.

HB 1406: Contracts with CSA providers.

Description: Provides that individuals and entities that participate in designated and approved course sequences, career courses, apprenticeships, and programs of study leading to industry recognized credentials or work based learning courses (participating entities) may be awarded a contract for a public works project at any contractor tier.

Status: Referred to Committee on Employment, Labor and Pensions.

HB 1414: ABA therapy.

Description: Requires the office of the secretary of family and social services to study and prepare a report on applied behavior analysis (ABA) therapy services, and prohibits the office of the secretary from amending any Medicaid waiver or the Medicaid state plan to reduce or limit applied behavior analysis therapy services until the general assembly has reviewed the report.

Status: Referred to Committee on Public Health.

HB 1496: State educational institution administration.

Description: Prohibits use of state or federal funds by a state educational institution for policies or programs and campus activities outside the classroom that advocate for campus diversity, equity, and inclusion or promote or engage in political or social activism.

Status: Referred to Committee on Education

HB 1498: A-F Grades

Description: Requires the DOE to create a new A-F grading metric for schools. Read more here.

Status: Passed the House. Passed the Senate. Returned to the House with amendments.

HB 1499: Literacy

Description: Creates more exemptions to the third grade retention requirements, particularly for English learner students at some schools.

Status: Passed the House. Passed the Senate. Returned to the House with amendments.

HB 1500: Teacher appreciation grants

Description: Amends the requirements for teacher appreciation grants to include only teachers in high-need areas whose students demonstrate annual growth.

Status: Passed the House. Referred to the Senate Committee on Education and Career Development.

HB 1501: School facilities and transportation.

Description: Requires school districts where more than 50% of local students attend schools not operated by the district to participate in a pilot centralized school facility and transportation board, which will be charged with rethinking facility use and transportation, levying referendums and distributing tax revenue.

Status: Referred to Committee on Education.

HB 1508: Middle school instruction.

Description: Requires each school corporation to include instruction on fetal development as a part of the health education curriculum for students enrolled in grades 6 through 8.

Status: Referred to Committee on Education.

HB 1515: Education matters — private school police departments.

Description: Provides that a student must be withdrawn from enrollment in a school corporation’s virtual education program if the student accumulates 10 consecutive or 18 cumulative unexcused absences. Provides that a land use application for any approval that is required by a unit for a public school, charter school, or nonpublic school may not be denied for the sole reason that the requesting entity is seeking to establish a public school, charter school, or nonpublic school.

Status: In conference committee. The latest version of the bill removes the provision regarding police departments for nonpublic schools.

HB 1539: Education matters — bullying and misconduct

Description: Allows a district to transfer either the victim or alleged perpetrator of a bullying incident to another school within the district. Requires schools to notify parents within 24 hours of a student making an allegation of misconduct against a school employee.

Status: Passed the House. Referred to the Senate Committee on Education and Career Development.

HB 1629: Communism.

Description: Requires the department of education to develop curricula or approve instruction regarding the history of communism.

Status: Referred to Committee on Education.

HB 1634: Math.

Status: House concurred with Senate amendments.

HB 1636: Dynamic Choice Scholarship.

Description: Allows voucher students to elect to receive a Dynamic Choice Scholarship, which allows more uses than a traditional Choice Scholarship, similar to the allowed expenses under an Education Scholarship Account.

Status: Referred to Committee on Education.

HB 1640: Preschool.

Description: Expands eligibility for On My Way Pre-K to all 4-year-olds, regardless of family income or parents’ job or education status.

Status: Referred to Committee on Family, Children and Human Affairs.

HB 1644: Student voting.

Description: Provides that a document issued by a postsecondary educational institution is not sufficient proof of identification. Modifies the residence requirements for a college student voting.

Status: Referred to Committee on Elections and Apportionment.

HB 1652: Universal vouchers.

Description: Removes the income requirements for Choice Scholarships.

Status: Referred to Committee on Education.

HB 1658: Tax credit for teacher professional development.

Description: Provides a tax credit for professional development.

Status: Referred to Committee on Ways and Means.

Aleksandra Appleton covers Indiana education policy and writes about K-12 schools across the state. Contact her at aappleton@chalkbeat.org.

Teachers turned out to protest property tax bill. Senators passed it anyway.

2025-04-15T04:02:21+00:00

Hundreds of Indiana teachers rallied at the statehouse Monday to protest a property tax reform bill that would cost the state’s school districts an estimated $744 million over the next three years.

The planned rally — part of the Indiana State Teachers Association’s day of action — came in the final days of a legislative session, which features several bills that could significantly alter the future of the state’s public education system.

Perhaps the most significant legislation is Senate Bill 1, which focuses on property tax reform. The bill has been criticized by school districts and other public entities concerned with the impact that it would have on their budgets. The latest version of the bill would offer a maximum $300 tax credit for homeowners and other deductions, while also giving local governments the option to raise local income taxes to offset the loss in property tax revenues.

After over eight hours of session, senators narrowly voted around midnight to agree with the changes to the property tax proposal made by their House counterparts. That means the bill will now make its way to the desk of Gov. Mike Braun, who has expressed support for it. Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith, meanwhile, called for the governor to veto the bill in a social media post over the weekend.

In an exchange, Democratic Sen. Fady Qaddoura pointed out that schools would lose over $700 million in property tax revenue compared to current state law. But Republican Sen. Travis Holdman said schools would still gain property tax revenue year over year under the changes brought by the bill, but that the revenue would grow at a slower rate than under current law.

Sen. Andrea Hunley also asked for more clarity on how the changes in the bill would impact schools beyond the fiscal projections that extend to 2028.

The Senate spent much of its time Monday discussing its version of the state budget, which does not include universal vouchers or equal state funding for virtual schools — two provisions of the House version of the budget. Though Democratic senators proposed several dozen amendments, the education funding proposals remained largely unchanged from the version lawmakers introduced last week.

The budget will return for a final reading and vote in the Senate Tuesday. But a conference committee will likely need to hash out the differences between the two chambers’ versions of the funding proposals.

At the rally, teachers and union members at the rally also voiced concern with other legislative efforts, including the dissolution of the Union School Corporation and a requirement to share property tax revenues with charter schools in SB 1.

They also decried two amendments to Senate Bill 373, which House lawmakers discussed Monday. One amendment would create a mastery-based education pilot that they say would skirt collective bargaining rights. The other would establish the Indianapolis Local Education Alliance, which would examine how Indianapolis Public Schools and charters within its boundaries could share resources.

“The way it is currently, education — public education as we know it — will begin to disappear,” said Jenny Noble-Kuchera, president of the Monroe County Education Association. “And our children are the victims.”

SB 373 will be eligible for a third reading and vote ahead of the deadline for bills to clear their opposite chambers on Tuesday.

The rally caused at least four school districts to close or offer asynchronous learning days for students due to the high number of teachers that announced they would not show up for school Monday.

‘You’re advocating for the future of learning’

Educators with Indianapolis Public Schools and Monroe County Community School Corporation — both of which announced asynchronous learning days for Monday — worried about the impact of property tax reform and the requirement to share revenues with charter schools.

Under SB 1, IPS would lose roughly $14 million over the next three years. IPS has estimated it would lose $96 million through 2032. Those figures include the impact of proposed revenue sharing with charter schools, which would begin in 2028 and would grow to the full required amount in 2032.

Monroe County schools would lose roughly $17 million in the next three years under the bill.

Mary Garner, an English teacher at Shortridge High School in Indianapolis, said IPS already does more with less. She noted that the district doesn’t receive the state funding for students who leave a charter school and come back to IPS after the state-designated count day.

“We’re going to do that on even less,” Garner said. “And at some point that system’s going to break.”

In a statement, Kim Reier of the Indiana Charter Innovation Center — a new group that advocates for charters statewide — said that all public school students deserve fair funding.

“Ensuring public charter schools have access to local operational funding helps fulfill Indiana’s long-held promise for public school choice and honors the decisions of the 56,000 public school parents and students who are choosing public charter schools,” Reier said.

In her speech to the crowd at the rally, Indianapolis Education Association Vice President Monica Shellhamer lamented the lack of teacher representation on the proposed Indianapolis Local Education Alliance. And her support for the Union School Corporation drew strong cheers from the crowd.

“We cannot stand by and let the legislature decide what schools should be open and what districts should be closed,” Shellhamer said.

Meanwhile, Rep. J.D. Prescott, the Union City Republican who offered the amendment to dissolve Union School Corporation, cited Union’s declining enrollment and poor reading test scores to justify his proposal.

But Union Superintendent Galen Mast said the district’s IREAD pass rate — which was 44% in 2024 — accounts for both in-person and virtual students. The pass rate just for students at its brick-and-mortar Union Elementary School, he noted, is much higher. The 2024 pass rate for that school was 75%.

“It’s not democracy,” he said of the attempt to dissolve the Union district. “It’s authoritarianism.”

Meanwhile, other educators outside of IPS and Union also worried about what the legislation would mean for their own school district’s future.

“We know everything that’s happening to IPS is headed our way out in the suburbs,” said Rita Maxey, a teacher at Lincoln Middle School in Pike Township, where residents have strongly opposed the expansion of charters. “It’s only a matter of time.”

Ahead of the rally, Republican Rep. Andrew Ireland of Indianapolis filed an amendment to Senate Bill 373 that would forbid school districts from converting scheduled instructional days to virtual instructional days because of a “planned or coordinated absence of teachers” due to a protest or political advocacy event.

Ireland withdrew his amendment but said he would bring it back next year.

But Lyra Palmer, a fourth grader at Butler Lab School 55 in IPS, was happy to join her younger sister Fiona in advocating for public school funding at Monday’s rally.

“This is an amazing use of a school day,” Lyra said. “Instead of going to school and of course learning, which is important, you’re advocating for the future of learning.”

Amelia Pak-Harvey covers Indianapolis and Lawrence Township schools for Chalkbeat Indiana. Contact Amelia at apak-harvey@chalkbeat.org.

Aleksandra Appleton covers Indiana education policy and writes about K-12 schools across the state. Contact her at aappleton@chalkbeat.org.

New Indiana House tax reform plan adds in districts sharing some property tax revenue with charters

2025-04-04T23:04:37+00:00

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The newest Indiana House Republicans plan for property tax reform promises to save homeowners $1.1 billion in property taxes — but it’s not yet clear who will benefit or how this iteration will affect schools.

Additionally, lawmakers said Friday that a plan to require Indiana school districts to share some property tax funding with charter schools in Senate Bill 518 would be added to the larger property tax bill, Senate Bill 1.

Republican House Speaker Todd Huston and Republican Ways and Means Chair Jeff Thompson unveiled Friday their version of SB 1, which will be heard and voted on Monday morning in the ways and means committee. It includes changes to property tax deductions and credits, as well as other changes aimed at reform, they said.

Under their plan, Huston and Thompson said, more than half of all Hoosiers would pay less property tax in 2026 than 2025. But they did not provide details of which homeowners would benefit or how homeowners could determine if they would pay less.

It’s also not immediately clear what effect this version of SB 1 would have on Indiana school districts, which rely on property taxes to supplement state funding. The first version of property tax reform from Gov. Mike Braun would have cost schools and other local government entities around $1.2 billion in 2026 and up to $1.6 billion in 2028. The plan passed by Senate lawmakers in February — and panned by Braun — would have reduced this hit to around $300 million in 2026 and $800 million in 2028.

This effect would likely be multiplied if districts were required to share the tax revenue they receive for operations, debt service, and capital projects with charter schools, as well as referendums, as outlined by SB 518. Huston said Friday that the House version of SB 518 would remove the sharing of debt and capital fund levies, but that otherwise the idea fit well with House Republicans’ priorities.

Lawmakers said more information would be available after the House Ways and Means Committee Monday.

As in previous versions, the House amendment to SB 1 would require that property tax referendums be held only during general elections. It would also create a Property Tax Transparency Portal to allow taxpayers to compare their bill to proposed rate changes.

Huston placed the onus of ballooning property tax bills on local governments raising revenue to cover debt. Reforms will allow homeowners to understand their bill, rather than solve an “algebraic equation,” he said.

“I think it’ll be more transparent to the residents and their communities about what their taxes are, and if they’re going to raise them, what the cost will be,” Huston said.

In a statement, Rep. Greg Porter, the ranking Democrat on the ways and means committee, said the newest draft of the plan was “far from a solution.”

“Our schools will lose money, especially with Senate Bill 518 rolled into the plan diverting property tax dollars to charter schools so the state can pay even less,” the statement said. “This plan encourages local governments to raise their local income tax rate, so you’ll get more money in your right pocket but have to pay more out of your left.”

Bills must pass out of committee by April 10. The legislative session must conclude by April 29.

Aleksandra Appleton covers Indiana education policy and writes about K-12 schools across the state. Contact her at aappleton@chalkbeat.org.

Internet connectivity funding for Indiana schools is in jeopardy. Here’s why.

2025-04-04T17:36:19+00:00

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Indiana schools could lose both state and federal funding they use to pay for internet connectivity, due to a proposed cut in the next Indiana state budget and an ongoing Supreme Court case.

The combined effect could wipe out around $40 million that supports installing and paying for the faster internet necessary to support growing classroom technology use, advocates say.

The loss of the funding could come at a time when Indiana schools are grappling with the end of federal pandemic funding, a smaller increase to state tuition support than in recent years, and possible property tax reform — all of which could leave them with fewer dollars for connectivity. Rural schools in particular could be affected, although the Indiana Department of Education’s annual tech plan survey shows that most of the state’s school districts still fall short of national recommendations for bandwidth capacity.

“Realistically, no district will forgo internet,” said Noelle Ellerson Ng, associate executive director for advocacy and governance at AASA, the Schools Superintendents Association. “It’ll come down to how much flexibility, how much liquidity do they have in their budget, or far more likely, what gets cut to cover that new shortfall.”

The federal dollars come from a fund known as the Universal Service Fund (USF). USF includes programs to support low-income households and rural health care providers. But E-Rate funds specifically are used by school districts to support one-time and ongoing costs like fiber installation and internet service. Generally, priority Category 1 funds support installing internet that serves the school, while Category 2 funds may support routers, firewalls, and other configuration costs inside the school.

Indiana schools received around $37 million in 2024 in federal E-Rate funding for internet connectivity. But a case before the Supreme Court challenges the legality of how this money is raised. A lower court has ruled that the law that created the USF unconstitutionally delegated power to raise the funds to the Federal Communications Commission, which in turn delegated that power to a private entity.

While E-Rate allocations are based on need, internet connectivity ultimately serves every student at a school, Ellerson Ng added.

“Without hesitation, E-Rate is singlehandedly credited for supporting schools coming online,” she said.

In Indiana, a smaller state grant of around $3.4 million also provides matching funds to schools receiving the E-Rate funding. But that grant was cut under a budget proposed by Gov. Mike Braun and passed by the Indiana House in February.

It’s up to Senate lawmakers to restore it in their version of the budget, which hasn’t yet been released, but must pass the Senate Appropriations Committee by April 10.

The state education department did not reply to a request for comment about the potential loss of funding.

The potential loss of both the state and federal funds would hurt Indiana schools’ ability to educate students, said Terry Spradlin, executive director of the Indiana School Boards Association, in testimony before lawmakers in March in support of the state grant.

“The state grant is quite important to help offset costs, provide matching funds, and support access to necessary bandwidth for effective classroom learning,” Spradlin told Chalkbeat via email. “Schools are utilizing the Internet more than ever, and they are leveraging the additional bandwidth to better support their teachers and students.”

Rural schools in particular have relied on the state and federal funds to improve slow and unreliable internet connections by laying fiber, Spradlin said. But all schools are experiencing more demand for faster internet to keep up with classroom technology use, which in turn means higher costs.

One of the state’s large suburban districts, Carmel schools, which received around $540,000 in federal funds and $93,000 in matching state dollars in 2024, said in a statement that these funds support “internet access, essential cybersecurity measures like our firewall, and maintaining both wireless and wired networks.”

“Losing this funding would present a significant challenge, as it currently covers 40% of these critical costs,” the Carmel district said. “Beyond our district, these changes threaten equitable access to high-quality internet and network infrastructure for millions of students across the U.S., widening the digital divide and impacting learning opportunities,”

The Supreme Court is expected to decide in FCC v. Consumers’ Research this summer.

Aleksandra Appleton covers Indiana education policy and writes about K-12 schools across the state. Contact her at aappleton@chalkbeat.org.

Students will get automatic admission to Indiana public colleges if they earn new diploma

2025-04-02T21:34:12+00:00

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Students will be automatically accepted to all seven of the state’s public colleges and universities if they complete advanced courses and work experiences to earn Indiana’s new Enrollment Honors Plus diploma, state leaders announced Wednesday.

Additionally, students who complete one of the state’s other new pathways leading to employment or enlistment in the military will be eligible for other opportunities, like interviews and apprenticeships with large companies and trade organizations based in the state, or the Indiana National Guard.

Wednesday’s announcement represents the next step for the state’s new diplomas, which the State Board of Education adopted last December to go into effect for the Class of 2029. The guaranteed acceptances and job interviews will be available only to students who earn the second-tier “plus” level of the new diplomas, which require more advanced courses and work experience.

The emphasis on work in Indiana’s new high school graduation requirements originally drew criticism from the teachers and families of college-bound students, who said it would be difficult for college-bound students to juggle work and advanced classes. The compromise was two levels: an Honors Enrollment diploma, which does not have a work requirement, and a second-tier Honors Enrollment Plus diploma, which requires 75 hours of work experience.

The automatic admission policy puts Indiana on a short but growing list of other states like California, Idaho, New York, and Texas that offer automatic admission to public colleges and universities to high-achieving students.

But while some of those states limit students to certain campuses depending on capacity, Indiana students will be able to choose which campus they attend, according to Indiana University President Pamela Whitten and Purdue University President Mung Chiang, who attended a joint press conference Wednesday with Indiana Gov. Mike Braun and Secretary of Education Katie Jenner.

Ball State, Indiana State, Ivy Tech, University of Southern Indiana, and Vincennes University are also participating in the automatic acceptance program. Private colleges have also indicated interest, according to Wednesday’s announcement.

The state currently offers a pre-admission initiative based on students’ SAT scores and GPA. But it does not include all campuses, like the main branches of IU and Purdue, for example.

The new diplomas will be required beginning with the Class of 2029, but schools can opt-in to offer them earlier. According to Jenner, they can also opt to initially offer the diplomas only to students who want them.

College officials said they’ll begin to accept applications from students with the Honors Plus seal as soon as students can earn the new diplomas.

Students who earn the Employment Honors Plus, meanwhile, will receive what leaders called “dedicated career support.” This could mean interviews with companies like Community Health Network, Cummins, and Lilly, as well as guaranteed apprenticeships with the Central Midwest Carpenters Union.

To earn the advanced employment diploma, students will have to complete 650 hours of work experience, which can be paid or unpaid, in-person, on-campus, or simulated, according to the diploma guidelines. It’s not clear if the work experience can include typical first jobs in restaurants and retail; Jenner said the state will provide more examples of what that experience could look like.

“We have excellent examples around Indiana from urban schools right here in Indianapolis to some of our most rural schools in Perry County,” Jenner said. “They don’t even have a stoplight but most of their seniors have a work-based learning opportunity.”

Students with the Enlistment Honors Plus seal will be “uniquely qualified to join the Indiana National Guard and other military branches,” according to Wednesday’s announcement. Once they join the National Guard, students will have access to veteran mentors and job placement opportunities, according to the diploma guidelines.

The new diplomas — and the opportunities that come with them — are already attracting interest from Indiana students.

By the time junior Rima Bahradine-Bell graduates from Career Academy High School next year, she’ll also have earned her associate’s degree, her Certified Nursing Assistant certification, and her welding certificate.

That’s on top of running track, participating in the robotics team, and working part-time — and Bahradine-Bell said she hopes to clear her schedule enough to take on an internship related to her interest in politics, too. If she has the opportunity to earn the new diplomas, she said she would take it.

She said that beginning in middle school, teachers at the Career Academy Network of Public Schools began to encourage students to explore at least two different future paths.

“Even though I know I want to go to college, I know many of my peers and even my siblings didn’t think that college was for them,” she said. “Having those certifications going straight into the workforce was a great opportunity that my school is already providing.”

Aleksandra Appleton covers Indiana education policy and writes about K-12 schools across the state. Contact her at aappleton@chalkbeat.org.

Partisan school board elections bill moves closer to Indiana governor’s desk

2025-03-31T22:10:17+00:00

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A bill to give Indiana school board candidates the option to run as Republicans or Democrats has passed a key vote in the House and could soon head to the governor’s desk.

But the changes that House lawmakers made to Senate Bill 287 may first require a stop in a conference committee, where legislators from both chambers would hash out a final version.

The bill passed by the House on Monday gives school board candidates the option to state a party affiliation, identify as independent, or remain nonpartisan in general elections. It creates mechanisms for county parties to challenge an affiliation, and provides that a straight ticket vote does not apply to school board offices. It also provides raises to school board members.

The bill passed by the House doesn’t require a primary election for school board candidates. However, in the version passed by the Senate, the bill would have required school board candidates to go through the same primary process as other political candidates.

The bill’s sponsor in the House, GOP Rep. J.D. Prescott, said that disclosing party affiliation would drive up voter turnout in school board elections and help voters choose a candidate that aligns with their values.

“Politics are already in our schools, whether we like it or not, influencing everything from how schools handled COVID-19 to budgets, tax rates, debt, curriculum choices and more,” he said. “Just because our elections are nonpartisan, certainly doesn’t mean the candidates and board members are.”

A version of this proposal has been repeatedly brought forward by Indiana legislators since school boards became a hotbed of conflict during the pandemic over issues like masking and school closings. It previously stalled due to concerns over the effect it could have on school boards. Board members’ primary responsibilities are approving a school budget and hiring a superintendent.

Most public testimony on the proposal this year and in years past has been in opposition.

Democratic lawmakers, too, have rejected the idea. Among several arguments they made on Monday, Democrats said the bill actually disincentivizes voters from learning more about their school board candidates, and possibly creates an opportunity for candidates to disingenuously state a party affiliation for political advantage.

“[Voters] don’t care if it’s a Democrat or Republican, they just want to make sure our kids’ needs are being served,” said Rep. Cherrish Pryor, a Democrat who spoke in opposition to the bill.

Rep. Tonya Pfaff, a Democrat, also raised concerns about conflicts with the Hatch Act, which bars certain government employees from partisan political activities.

And Democratic Rep. Chuck Moseley, a former member of the Portage Township School Board, rejected the argument that politics on school boards is a fact of life.

“We kept politics out of that for one specific reason, because we were representing not just the taxpayers of that school corporation, we were also representing the kids that were in that school,” he said. “We had a responsibility to the parents of those kids that we wouldn’t interject our political thoughts and ideology into school board decisions.”

But some GOP lawmakers explicitly supported the possibility that the bill could help conservative candidates.

Rep. Hunter Smith said the educational landscape has been “growing increasingly and covertly more political for decades,” to the point that district curriculum directors could not find curriculum “void of slanted cultural endorsements and ideologies.”

“I believe this measure will promote leadership more in line with the values of Indiana’s over 2 million parents who entrust their children to our schools every week,” Smith said.

Under the bill, in order to state a party affiliation, a school board candidate must have voted in that party’s two most recent primary elections, or obtain written certification from the county party chairman that they are a member of the party. A candidate’s affiliation could be challenged if they don’t take one of these steps.

The bill also raises pay for school board members from $2,000 as in current law, to an amount not more than 10% of the lowest starting salary of a teacher in that school district.

It would take effect this July; however, there are no school board elections in Indiana in 2025.

The bill passed the House 54-40, with several Republicans joining Democrats in opposition. The Senate will vote on accepting or rejecting the changes made in the House.

Aleksandra Appleton covers Indiana education policy and writes about K-12 schools across the state. Contact her at aappleton@chalkbeat.org.

Proposals to drop social-emotional learning, allow schools to charge some fees advance in Indiana

2025-03-26T22:27:15+00:00

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Indiana teachers will no longer be required to train in social-emotional learning, trauma-informed care, or cultural competency if an amendment passed in committee Wednesday becomes law. And another amendment would mean some fees for students and families could return.

The amendments were added the week after the Senate Education and Career Development Committee heard public testimony on House Bill 1002, a 135-page proposal primarily aimed at removing some requirements in Indiana education code.

One amendment drops requirements that all Indiana teachers must train in practices like social-emotional learning and trauma-informed care — defined as support for students who have experienced trauma that may interfere with academics — as well as cultural competency and restorative justice.

The practices have long come under fire from conservative groups that say they inappropriately push liberal ideology that is at odds with what children learn at home. The fight seems to have gained momentum after the Trump administration issued new federal guidance promising to root out indoctrination in schools.

But educators and advocates for the practices say they have a place in the classroom. They say social-emotional learning helps students learn to manage stress. And districts like Indianapolis Public Schools have turned to restorative justice practices to de-escalate student conflicts and reduce disproportionate rates of discipline.

The amendment also removes evaluating “social, emotional, and behavioral functioning” from the defined responsibilities of a school psychologist.

The amendment further says school improvement plans would no longer have to incorporate “culturally appropriate strategies for increasing education opportunities” for student groups at the school, including different racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic groups. The change speaks to new federal guidance, including a Feb. 14 Dear Colleague letter from the U.S. Department of Education, that such consideration of race in educational settings is unlawful.

Republican Sen. Gary Byrne, who authored the amendment, said social-emotional learning and trauma-informed care “minimize the focus on core academics,” and add to the demands on teachers “who already claim to be overworked and underpaid.”

He said students, too, report higher rates of sadness or hopelessness than before these practices were common.

“Teachers should focus on academic rigor, math, science, reading, and writing, technical skills, instead of this emotional regulation, empathy, and etcetera,” Byrne said. “Teachers are not therapists, nor should they be treated as such. Licensed mental health professionals are better equipped to handle the social-emotional aspects of a student’s life.”

The amendment passed on party lines over opposition from Democratic lawmakers. Although the education committee typically hears testimony from the public the week before they amend and vote on bills, there was no public testimony Wednesday on these amendments.

Democratic Sen. Andrea Hunley, a former teacher and principal, said the changes made don’t prohibit teachers from training in these practices and implementing them on their own.

“Just because we strike this out of the bill and say it’s no longer the policy of the state of Indiana doesn’t mean it’s not a best practice,” Hunley said.

What can Indiana schools charge fees for?

The school fees amendment gives schools more authority to charge for materials that aren’t textbooks or laptops — somewhat of a departure from the legislature’s 2023 move to abolish textbook and curriculum fees for families.

Education committee Chair Sen. Jeff Raatz and other Republican lawmakers said that law didn’t offer enough specificity about what schools could charge fees for, leaving a gray area regarding things like uniforms and field trip fees.

Curriculum is defined in state code as “systematically organized material designed to provide a specific level of instruction in a subject matter category, including books, hardware that will be consumed, accessed, or used by a single student during a semester or school year, or digital content.”

Rogers’ amendment says schools can charge a “reasonable fee” for materials that don’t fall under this category.

But Democratic lawmakers said the language needed more clarity — and perhaps a list of examples of what’s acceptable.

Districts have said the $160 million appropriated in the last state budget to provide curriculum materials to all public and some private school students was not nearly enough, leaving them to cover the difference from their general budgets.

But education leaders, including Secretary of Education Katie Jenner, have said that some districts have fallen well below their state allocation for curricular materials.

This year’s budget proposal rolls the curriculum fund into the base tuition support that schools receive.

House Bill 1002 will be heard in the Senate Appropriations Committee before it moves to the full Senate.

Aleksandra Appleton covers Indiana education policy and writes about K-12 schools across the state. Contact her at aappleton@chalkbeat.org.

Lawmakers revive plan that could lead to IPS sharing buildings and buses with charter schools

2025-03-26T20:22:02+00:00

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Indiana lawmakers have revived a proposal that could lead to Indianapolis Public Schools sharing its school buildings and transportation systems with local charter schools.

The plan creates a nine-member Indianapolis Local Education Alliance (ILEA) made up of district, charter, and city leaders who would be charged with creating a school facility and transportation plan for the city.

The recommendations made by the body would not be binding. But they could be far-reaching, as members would be tasked with developing strategies related to facility use and transportation, including any “structural changes necessary … for a collaborative system of schools that can serve all students within the geographic boundaries of the school city fairly,” the amendment says.

Only IPS would be required to participate in such a group. Other districts could opt into pilot programs that would create independent boards to oversee school facilities and transportation systems, including by authorizing property tax referendums.

The proposal has been significantly pared down since the original version, House Bill 1501, did not move through the chamber before a mandatory deadline.

Author Rep. Bob Behning said last week he would add the language to another bill, and did so with an amendment on Wednesday to Senate Bill 373, a broad education matters bill.

The ILEA would begin meeting in July 2025 and submit its recommendations to lawmakers and the state education secretary by December 2025 under the bill.

The plan is the latest version of a push by Indiana lawmakers this year to exert control over Indianapolis schools and direct more resources to the city’s charter schools. In addition to HB 1501, lawmakers are also moving to require the district to share more local revenue with charter schools. On the extreme end, House Bill 1136 would have dissolved the district completely and replaced it with charter schools, but it didn’t advance this session.

The moves have drawn strong condemnation from IPS leaders and triggered public infighting between charter advocacy groups and those critical of their work.

During Wednesday testimony on the amended Senate bill, IPS board member Allissa Impink acknowledged the changes to Behning’s original proposal that would reduce the bill’s mandates.

The original version would have required any district where more than 50% of students were enrolled in schools not operated by the district — such as charter schools — to participate in boards that would oversee their facilities and transportation. The districts would have been required to eventually turn over control of their facilities and transportation to the newly-created boards, which would also have the ability to pass property tax referendums.

In addition to IPS, this included Gary Community School Corporation, Union School Corporation, Tri-Township Consolidated School Corporation, and Cannelton City Schools.

Under the amended senate bill, school districts other than IPS could opt in to participate in these boards. But like the original proposal, the new boards would have the power to approve or deny property tax referendums beginning in 2026. Beginning in 2028, the boards would take control of participating school boards’ facilities and could impose property tax levies.

Impink said the amendment needed further changes to ensure that the ILEA would not be a “quasi-government entity,” and that its authority would be advisory only.

“Please consider centering local leadership, respecting our democratic governance and making a commitment to a process that invites — not overrides — our public input,” Impink said.

Behning said he would work with Impink on some of her recommendations.

In a statement, IPS said the district first proposed the idea of the ILEA to act as an advisory board that would report to the IPS Board of School Commissioners “for the purpose of solving educational complexities that exist within the IPS boundary.”

The district said the current proposal is “more heavy-handed bureaucratic oversight” that would reduce local decision making around all students’ “access to good schools, transportation and facilities.”

Critics of the plan said the newest proposal still represented a state overreach into local authority.

They blasted lawmakers for reviving the proposal as an amendment to an unrelated education bill, while IPS is on spring break. Others pointed out that only IPS had been singled out for a mandatory advisory group.

“You can’t name a school district in the entire state that offers more school choice than IPS already does,” said Adrea McCloud, an IPS teacher. “This level of school choice and options is proof that our democratically elected school board is fully competent and able to do the job we elected them to do.”

Portions of Behning’s plan to create voluntary consolidated transportation boards received support from charter and private school choice advocates and parents. They said a lack of transportation prevented students from attending the schools of their choice.

Christina Cockrell, a charter school teacher, told lawmakers she purchased a van to provide school transportation. She said one of her students took two buses and 90 minutes to get to school on time.

Indianapolis school choice advocates from The Mind Trust and Stand for Children also called for IPS and charter schools to collaborate through the proposed ILEA.

Nationwide, enrollment declines are leaving some districts with an “overabundance of school buildings and structural financial challenges,” said Katie Beth Mueller, senior director of policy at The Mind Trust.

“The educational landscape has changed, and our policies must adapt to support the needs of students and families,” she said.

Lawmakers did not vote on SB 373, although they could hear it again in the Senate education committee as early as next week.

Correction: This story has been updated with the correct spelling of IPS board member Allissa Impink’s name.

Aleksandra Appleton covers Indiana education policy and writes about K-12 schools across the state. Contact her at aappleton@chalkbeat.org.

Education is a ‘state and local responsibility,’ Indiana leaders say after U.S. Education order

2025-03-21T21:39:43+00:00

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Indiana leaders this week welcomed an order from President Donald Trump intended to close the U.S. Department of Education, saying it will give the state more control over education and greater flexibility to spend federal funds.

The long-expected step directs Secretary of Education Linda McMahon to “take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Department of Education and return authority over education to the States and local communities” in order to save money and improve academic outcomes.

Both Indiana Gov. Mike Braun and Secretary of Education Katie Jenner expressed support for the move, with Jenner writing in her weekly newsletter Friday that it would “empower Hoosier communities to identify and respond to the unique needs of our students.”

“Hoosiers know what our students need to succeed better than bureaucrats in D.C.,” said Braun in a post on X.

But how the order and other presidential actions will ultimately affect students with disabilities, those learning English, and even college graduates paying back student loans remains to be seen, as advocates fear major disruptions in programs and services. Trump further announced Friday that the Small Business Administration would handle student loans, and that the Department of Health and Human Services would oversee students with disabilities.

Only an act of Congress could close the department completely. But experts say the order — combined with the layoffs and buyouts that have already affected critical areas of the department — could dismantle some key functions, leading to far-reaching consequences for students and teachers.

“It’s a broad strokes order creating chaos and taking away resources so that the Department of Education will no longer be functional even if there is a department going forward,” said Brooke Kandel, dean of Butler University’s College of Education.

Future for K-12 students is uncertain

What happens next will vary in each state and depending on how Congress acts, Kandel said. The order is not likely to affect curriculum in states and schools, which was already largely a local decision.

One of the Education Department’s key functions is distributing billions of dollars in education funding, especially the funding schools rely on to educate students who come from low-income backgrounds or those who receive special education services. Much early speculation has focused on how its funds would be allocated if the department were dissolved.

Indiana is one of 12 states to ask McMahon for “maximum flexibility” in receiving and spending federal funds. This could mean allowing states and districts to receive all their federal Title funds in block grants, said Jenner and 11 other state education officials in a January letter.

Their other suggestions included implementing “alternative spending approaches” such as competitive or matching grants for allocating Title I funds — which support students from low-income backgrounds, among others.

They also asked McMahon to allow states to “define how districts allocate funds at the school level, particularly when education goals are not being met.”

“By reducing federal constraints on funding streams, [state education agencies] can more effectively address their unique challenges, such as rural school support, achievement gaps, and workforce alignment,” the joint letter said.

But since Title funding currently supports specific initiatives and student groups, redirecting it could mean the loss of programs or services in areas such as special education or English learner education, Kandel said.

And the effects could compound. Cuts to the statistics arm of the department would mean the loss of national data sets.

Cuts to the Office for Civil Rights make the department less able to respond to families’ concerns about discrimination against students based on disability, race, or gender, she added. Under Trump, the focus of the OCR has shifted to focus on states, districts, and universities that it says are promoting DEI policies and are violating Title IX, a federal law that prohibits sex discrimination, by allowing gender-neutral bathrooms and trans athletes to compete in women’s sports.

“You need people to investigate possibilities of discrimination, and if you don’t have the staff you just can’t follow through with those, ” Kandel said. “We need to keep states and schools accountable to students and be consistent with how we apply laws to students.”

In comments during the order signing, Trump said funds for special education and high-poverty schools would be preserved. Rewriting the way federal funds for education are allocated would also require an act of Congress.

In a statement on potential cuts to education programs, the Indiana Department of Education said, “We are not currently aware of any federal funding cuts that will impact programs administered by the Indiana Department of Education.”

“Education is a state and local responsibility. Governor Braun supports efforts to return control over education to its proper place. He is confident in Indiana’s ability to provide an excellent K-12 education for Hoosier students,” the statement said.

Impact on college-going students

Coming off a year of persistent glitches and delayed aid notices, this year’s FAFSA - Federal Application for Free Student Aid - now faces questions from students and families about cuts and changes at the Education Department as well as about future loan repayment.

“We want to make sure that people don’t walk away” from aid dollars or from going to college in general, said William Wozniak, INVestED vice president and CMO. INvestED provides free FAFSA help across the state both in-person and via phone.

The biggest thing to know is “the FAFSA is open and financial aid is out there,” he said.

Wozniak stressed that despite the form’s name, it’s not just for federal funds, but also for state and university-based scholarships and funds.

That includes state funds like 21st Century Scholars and Frank O’Bannon Grant. The FAFSA website also notes that direct loans and Pell Grants are still available.

And award letters from universities are going out, Wozniak said.

While the form is working, the piece with more uncertainty is student loan debt and the future of repayment plans given ongoing court cases, he said.

So Wozniak’s advice to students and families is to fill out the FAFSA, see what’s available to them, and then make decisions about what aid to use.

“Let’s do everything we can on the front end to get all the financial aid we can to minimize debt,” he said. “That’s what we can 100% control.”

What things look like in four years is impossible to predict, he said, but students have control over looking at strategies to graduate with the least amount of debt.

The deadline to fill out the FAFSA for state aid is April 15. Indiana students are required to fill out the form, however there are some exceptions and it is not a requirement to graduate.

Aleksandra Appleton covers Indiana education policy and writes about K-12 schools across the state. Contact her at aappleton@chalkbeat.org.

MJ Slaby oversees Chalkbeat Indiana’s coverage as bureau chief. Contact MJ at mslaby@chalkbeat.org.

Indiana partisan school boards bill moves forward with changes. What happens next?

2025-03-12T20:54:30+00:00

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Indiana lawmakers want to give school board candidates the option to declare their political party on the ballot, ending the traditionally nonpartisan designation of these seats.

But the latest version of the controversial proposal moving through the Statehouse stops short of mandating that school board candidates must be nominated by political parties and go through the primary process like other offices. Those provisions around nominations and primary elections were contained in Senate Bill 287, which narrowly passed the Senate in February and headed to the House for consideration.

On Wednesday, the House Elections Committee removed those provisions and instead inserted the language of its own House Bill 1230, which died in the House earlier this session. The revised Senate Bill 287 now would instead give candidates the option to declare a party, run as an independent candidate, or run as a nonpartisan candidate, with procedures for political parties to challenge these affiliations.

Indiana lawmakers have tried in the past to pass bills on partisan school boards.

Supporters of these measures, including SB 287 author state Sen. Gary Byrne, say a party designation provides voters more information about who they’re voting for.

“It would be great if citizens researched their political candidates. But that simply isn’t reality,” said Juanita Albright, president of the Hamilton Southeastern School Board, in March 5 testimony to lawmakers.

Albright, a doctor, who said she was speaking only in a personal capacity, recounted meeting voters during her campaign who did not know who the school board candidates were or what they stood for.

“If I cannot get my patients to eat healthy and exercise on a regular basis, they’re probably not going to research their political candidates,” she said.

But Senate Bill 287 and other past proposals have faced intense opposition from education officials, teachers, and others who say they unnecessarily inject partisan politics into offices whose primary responsibility is to hire a superintendent and approve a school district budget.

“We’ve never sat around as a table and asked what our partisan political affiliation is. We don’t do that — we focus on kids,” said Heather Reichenbach, board president of Warsaw Community Schools during testimony. “Across Indiana, the overwhelming majority of school boards are successful because they are apolitical.”

Senate Bill 287 now heads to the House for a vote. If the bill passes the House, its significant changes likely mean it will head to a conference committee where House and Senate lawmakers will attempt to agree on a final version.

The House Elections Committee also discussed on Wednesday a bill that would remove student identification cards issued by state colleges and universities from the list of documents that can be used to confirm a voter’s identity at the voting booth. Proponents said the move would mean that college students have to follow the same procedure as any other voter in Indiana.

But the committee heard testimony from several college students who said the move would effectively disenfranchise their peers who live in Indiana the majority of the year, but don’t have driver’s licenses or other forms of state-issued identification.

This proposal, Senate Bill 10, will likely return for a vote next week.

Aleksandra Appleton covers Indiana education policy and writes about K-12 schools across the state. Contact her at aappleton@chalkbeat.org.

Scholarships for career-driven Indiana teens are growing and gaining fans, but lack transparency

2025-03-11T19:17:59+00:00

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This story is a partnership between Chalkbeat Indiana and journalists at the Arnolt Center for Investigative Journalism at Indiana University.

Three times a week, Milan High School senior Katherine Prifogle drives across the Indiana-Ohio border to Whitewater Aviation, trading her high school classroom for a cockpit.

The Indiana Career Scholarship Account, known as CSA, funds her trips to Ohio for aviation lessons. Prifogle hopes to eventually earn her pilot’s license.

The state-funded program started in 2023 to supplement career and technical education for Indiana sophomores, juniors, and seniors in public or private schools. For small schools like Milan High School, where funding is limited and opportunities for early career experience are rare, the CSA program fills a gap and enables students like Prifogle to gain creditable work experience based on individual students’ desires and interests.

“Our school is in a low-income area, so it’s an opportunity that most of the students wouldn’t be able to get otherwise,” said Zarah Hileman, a counselor at Milan High School.

The scholarship program is growing in more ways than one. Participation soared from around 200 students in the 2023-24 school year to 1,900 students this year, and the program is at full capacity. The Indiana General Assembly is considering boosting its funding from $10 million to $15 million in the next state budget. And new state graduation requirements could soon lead more students to using the program, and lawmakers are also moving toward making private school vouchers like the CSAs available to all Indiana families regardless of income.

But at the same time, the Arnolt Center for Investigative Journalism in collaboration with Chalkbeat found a glaring lack of transparency regarding how the CSA money is allocated and which employers get it.

Three state agencies jointly administer the Career Scholarship Accounts: the Department of Education, the Commission for Higher Education, and the Indiana State Treasurer’s Office. All three denied records requests for invoices related to spending and total distribution to each company receiving the funds in 2023 and 2024.

Startup Moxie students tour businesses, hear from business leaders, and prepare for careers through professional headshots and practicing their professionalism.

A representative from the Treasurer’s Office said the office was “unable to publish information requested externally.” The office also said: “Under state law, information on student funding allocations and spending is provided to the Indiana Department of Education and the Commission for Higher Education.”

Qualified expenses for CSAs, which lawmakers established in 2023, include everything from clothing and gas to business materials and technology, according to the state. But the lack of public records means it’s difficult to track what’s paid for and the price tag for various items.

The state’s CSA website lists 54 companies, 10 public schools, four private schools, and two charter schools as program participants. The Arnolt Center and Chalkbeat contacted all the listed participants. Only 10 of them responded, and five of those said they did not know why they were listed on the CSA website as a participating school or employer.

One such participant is Gaylor Electric, whose CEO is former GOP Rep. Chuck Goodrich, author of the CSA law. Gaylor is listed as a CSA partner. But Jeff Bryant, director of Gaylor University — Gaylor Electric’s training arm — said in an email that the company has not received or requested CSA funds, although it has hired students who have participated in the program.

Goodrich also did not respond to requests for comment about the program’s transparency and Gaylor’s role.

Students, businesses see benefits from Career Scholarship Accounts

Students can use the Career Scholarship Accounts to work on their broader business skills, not just to learn a particular trade or industry.

For example, some schools are using the CSA program to encourage students to join other programs like Startup Moxie, an entrepreneurship program located in Elkhart County that lets students use the CSA money on tools and materials.

Currently, 24 students are using Startup Moxie to tour local business facilities, get to know the owners, and develop their networking skills.

“I’ve seen students just year after year, student after student, that come into the program not extremely confident or not sure what they want to do after high school,” Startup Moxie Director Kris Weimer said. “It’s important for students to have this opportunity to help set them up for whatever’s next in their life.”

Concord High School has a list of career and technical education programs for their students to take on campus. However, Concord High School Principal Seth Mulnar said those courses cannot replicate networking opportunities with local business leaders or the diverse career-focused experiences that CSA programs like Startup Moxie can.

“I like the aspect of Startup Moxie that we are given an environment that fosters us to explore the entrepreneurship side of things and goes against the grain of traditional school,” said Max Malloy, a senior at Elkhart High School in the Startup Moxie entrepreneurship program. “It gives us a different path if we want to go out in our community and do something that is worthwhile.”

For companies, the CSA program is an opportunity to introduce a new generation of workers to the trades.

James Robertson, the owner of Armor Air, which offers HVAC, plumbing and air conditioning services, got set up with the Department of Education and partnered with Cardinal Ritter High School to teach students how to become HVAC technicians.

“We struggle to find people in the trades anymore,” he said.

While it’s the first year Armor Air has participated, Robertson said that some students are showing significant interest in the industry, enrolling in classes and asking for job interviews.

Cardinal Ritter High School Vice Principal Erik Longenecker said he had spent all of the 2022-2023 school year looking to fund career training programs for the juniors and seniors. When he found out about the CSA program, he encouraged students to apply for the 2024–2025 . Ultimately, the school received funding for 94 students.

In addition to the HVAC program, Cardinal Ritter offers CNA and cybersecurity training using CSA funding.

While there’s positive feedback about the scholarships, school administrators have acknowledged room for improvement.

The only criticism Longenecker has for the CSA program is their disbursement of funds throughout the year. While the program provides up to $5,000 annually, it is disbursed quarterly.

“It’s unique and makes it challenging when trying to pay for things upfront,” Longenecker said.

A student can roll over a maximum of $1,000 in funds into the next school year, and unused funds for an account are returned to the state once a student in the CSA program graduates high school.

Rather than paying students the full amount directly, scholarship funds are administered by the program directors to ensure that students’ needs are met. When students request funding to pay for specific needs, money can be taken from the account to cover the costs, according to Longenecker.

Concord High School Associate Principal Kendra Divine stressed that the program’s clear goal is to help students develop skills, and isn’t just a chance for teenagers to get “a wad of cash and then they go buy Skittles or something.”

“It’s more, this is the purpose of it, here’s what you’re going to use it for, and we are going to assist you while you use it. That’s how it works,” Divine said. “It’s not like you can do this and be $5,000 richer.”

But the limits on how the CSA money can be spent doesn’t necessarily mean it’s easy to learn notable details about how the program works.

Whitewater Aviation in Ohio, where Prifogle takes her flying lessons, sends a bill for them to Milan High School, which then works with the CSA program to pay the bill.

To facilitate this process, there is a third-party administrator of the program, ClassWallet. The State Treasurer’s Office sends the company quarterly payments to cover its expenses.

ClassWallet denied multiple requests for interviews about how the program functions. Several states have given ClassWallet contracts to help manage education choice programs, including Alabama, Arkansas, and North Carolina. The company has also expressed an interest in doing business with Tennessee to help oversee its recent school choice expansion.

New graduation requirements could boost prominence of CSAs

The Indiana Department of Education says the CSA program is designed to work in conjunction with — and not replace — the state’s dedicated career and technical education funding, which nearly 268,900 students used in the 2023-2024 school year.

The typical career and technical education approach backed by state funding “is providing that education in a school-like lab environment, where the CSA is allowing the education to take place at the place of business,” Jesse Webb, director of career and technical education for Fort Wayne Community Schools, said.

While CSA dollars can be used to attract students, schools cannot stack CSA dollars on top of the state’s grant funding for career and technical education, because schools can’t accept both.

The Indiana General Assembly is considering boosting Career Scholarships Account funding from $10 million to $15 million in the next state budget.

Mike Schimpf, superintendent of North Central Parke Community School Corporation, applied for his district to use CSA funding for students to enroll in a commercial driver’s license program, which is currently being funded through state career and technical education dollars.

Students who rely on career and technical education funding often take several courses on their graduation track. That means the funding those students can use from CSA can ultimately be less than the career and technical education funding available to them, Schimpf said.

Nevertheless, the Indiana General Assembly’s draft two-year budget that would increase the CSA’s funding to $15 million isn’t the only state policy change that could increase the scholarships’ prominence.

In December, the State Board of Education approved new graduation rules that allow students to earn seals from one of three “pathways” to enrollment in college, careers, or enlistment in the military.

Students can earn an Honors Employment seal on their diploma through 150 hours of work, which can now include a work opportunity paid for through CSAs.

Schools must implement the changes for diploma requirements by the 2028-29 school year. However, schools can choose to adopt the new graduation rules as soon as next school year, which could accelerate student interest in the CSAs and lead to increased state funding for them.

During the debate about revising Indiana’s graduation requirements, officials initially floated a plan to require more students to gain work experience in order to graduate. They backed off that plan in the final rules approved by the state board. State policymakers see CSAs as a means to help high school students get financial support so they can get jobs after graduating, similar to how financial aid helps college students pay for higher education.

“There is not a mechanism for high school students to receive financial aid for college classes, so the CSAs have been a game-changer,” said state Rep. Wendy McNamara, a Republican and director of Early College High School in Evansville.

Correction: This article has been updated to reflect that Chuck Goodrich is a former Indiana House Representative and correct the location of the school where Rep. Wendy McNamara is a leader.

Jon Eckert, Charlie Herman, Char Jones, Mitchell Lierman, Mackenzie Lionberger, Eva Remijan-Toba, Maddie Slepski and Jasmine Wright are reporters from the Arnolt Center for Investigative Journalism at Indiana University.

Aleksandra Appleton covers Indiana education policy and writes about K-12 schools across the state. Contact her at aappleton@chalkbeat.org.

Virtual school funding in Indiana could spike. But by how much?

2025-03-10T19:20:53+00:00

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Indiana lawmakers could soon approve a big spending hike on students who attend virtual schools, giving them the same base funding as students who attend in-person classes.

This would be a change after lawmakers slashed funding in 2019 for virtual schools to 85% of the per-student amount that in-person schools receive, citing concerns about their low performance.

House Republicans have recently pushed to equalize these two funding levels. House Speaker Todd Huston’s office said in a Friday statement that caucus members “believe parents and families should have the freedom and flexibility to educate their children in the way that works best for them.”

As a result, the two-year budget approved by House lawmakers and now moving through the Senate would increase per-student base funding for some virtual public schools by as much as 50%, according to projections. Meanwhile, the budget would provide districts that primarily educate students in person increases in base funding that are much smaller.

The new funding system would reward virtual schooling, which has a checkered track record in the state, and by extension the for-profit companies that have partnered with districts to provide it.

Two virtual charter schools in Indiana are facing an ongoing federal criminal case as well as a civil suit brought by the state’s attorney general. Another virtual program landed in hot water for offering what state lawmakers described as enrollment incentives in violation of state law.

At the same time that they are moving closer to this huge funding boost for virtual students, lawmakers also appear to have drastically undercounted the number of students from low-income backgrounds who attend virtual schools. As a result, the extra funding these schools receive to educate these students has dropped by as much as 100%.

Wade Coggeshall, a spokesperson for Indiana House Republicans, attributed this to “some inconsistencies in this data” that budget analysts are working with the Indiana Department of Education to identify.

It’s not clear how many schools the data “inconsistencies” affect, or what adjustments lawmakers might make as a result.

If legislators don’t revisit this issue, they could be cutting money earmarked to help districts educate these particular students, known as “complexity funding.”

But if lawmakers do revise this specific student count upwards, then state funding for virtual students could rise still further. It would also mean that districts who send students to virtual school could get a significant funding bump, which others that only provide in-person learning would miss out.

One trend that this budget plan doesn’t address: Indiana school districts’ complexity funding — which pays for additional teaching and counseling positions — has been declining for years due to what critics describe as a flawed methodology for counting children who live in poverty.

Indiana calculates this funding for every school based on the number of students who are in foster care or receive benefits through two federal programs: the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. But districts say this method adds barriers for families, and misses students who would qualify under another metric like the National School Lunch Program.

“When you put the onus on individuals, it’s a big hindrance,” said Rep. Greg Porter, a Democrat and the ranking member on the House Ways and Means Committee

Statewide, the draft budget passed by the House would cut complexity funding by $50 million from 2025 to 2026, from around $710 million to $660 million, according to the bill’s fiscal note compiled by the Legislative Services Agency. In the last budget, this funding remained basically flat year over year.

Base funding grows for virtual schools despite complexity issue

Even without a future adjustment in complexity funding, base funding for virtual schools is poised to grow if virtual students are funded at 100% of the per-pupil amount.

In some cases, much of this funding will go to private, for-profit online education companies that have contracted with public Indiana school districts to run virtual schools. While the details of these partnerships are not readily available, typically the district keeps a small portion of state funding and pays the rest to a company to operate a virtual school.

The programs are typically free to students and open to enrollment outside the school district’s boundaries.

Because these students are public students, they deserve “the same resources and opportunities, regardless of their location or mode of instruction,” said Brooke Gabbert, senior director of communications for Stride, a for-profit online education company previously known as K12 that operates six virtual programs in two districts and one charter school in Indiana.

“We believe all public school students should be funded equitably,” Gabbert said in a Friday statement. “Indiana’s school funding policies should not tell thousands of families that their children are worth only 85% of what other public school students are worth.”

The Clarksville School Corporation represents how the proposed budget could be a boon for virtual school funding.

The budget projections estimate Clarksville schools will enroll 1,500 brick-and-mortar students and around 6,700 virtual students by 2026. Its base funding is projected to grow by 52% to around $57 million in 2026, but its complexity funding would decline by 76% to just $1.6 million.

District spokesperson Brian Shaw said the administration is aware of the decline but unsure of the reason, and has asked the Indiana Department of Education for an explanation.

Clarksville contracts with Stride to provide virtual schooling. Shaw said the district shares 94% of its virtual school program revenue with Stride, but did not give a dollar figure for the contract. Stride is responsible for hiring and paying teachers.

The school’s 2021 financial report, the most recent available, indicates the school paid $12 million in 2021 for the education of around 2,300 virtual students.

The superintendent of Clarksville schools is Tina Bennett, the wife of Tony Bennett, the former Indiana schools superintendent who is now president of schools at Stride. In 2013, Bennett resigned as Florida’s top K-12 official in connection with questions about how he handled an Indiana charter school’s rating on the state’s accountability system.

In a statement, Shaw said: “Dr. Tina Bennett filed all necessary public disclosures for potential conflict of interest since Clarksville Schools engaged in the contractual relationship with Stride, and the Clarksville Community Schools Board of School Trustees has accepted that disclosure in a public meeting each year.”

During the 2023 budget session — the last time Indiana lawmakers attempted to raise funding for virtual students — Indiana Capital Chronicle reported that Indiana House Speaker Todd Huston consulted for Stride. At the time, Huston said at the time that he stayed out of the discussions on funding for virtual charter schools, but that his caucus wanted to see equal funding for students.

Huston also previously served as Tony Bennett’s chief of staff when he was Indiana’s state superintendent.

Gabbert said in her Friday statement that Huston ended his consulting relationship with the company on March 1. (Huston’s office said the end date was Feb. 28.)

Both Huston’s office and Gabbert said Huston has not performed work on Stride’s behalf in Indiana.

Gabbert also said that Tony Bennett would retire from the company on March 21.

Like Clarksville, the Union School Corporation contracts with Stride.

The district is projected to enroll just 224 brick-and-mortar students but 8,000 virtual students. Union schools’ base funding would increase by 25% to around $58 million in 2026, according to budget projections. It’s not clear how much of those dollars will go to Stride. The district paid $41 million to the company in 2021 for the education of around 6,000 students, according to its 2022 financial report.

But the same budget estimates show that Union schools’ complexity funding would fall from $10.5 million this year to $1.2 million in 2025, a decline of 82%.

Representatives for the district did not return a request for comment.

Representatives for Indiana Connections Academy and Indiana Connections Career Academy referred a request for comment to House Republicans. The virtual charter schools are operated by the for-profit company Pearson and this year enroll 5,400 and 900 students, respectively, according to budget projections.

Indiana Connections Academy would receive an increase in base funding of around 28% to $37.8 million in 2026. Yet it would lose all but 0.2% of its $4 million in complexity funding.

Its sister school would get a 34% foundation amount increase to $7 million in 2026 but would lose all of its complexity funding, which is currently $521,000.

Complexity funding for districts is complicated — and declining

Porter, the Democrat on the House Ways and Means Committee said the potential data issues with complexity funding don’t affect funding for Indiana’s brick-and-mortar public schools, although he did not explain why.

But irrespective of those issues, some of Indiana’s largest public school districts are also projected to lose the complexity funding for students from low-income backgrounds in the next two-year budget, due to the way the state counts students who qualify.

This has been an ongoing trend, according to studies by groups like the Indiana Urban Schools Association. Ahead of the last budget session, Fort Wayne schools officials told lawmakers in 2022 that around 67% of students qualified for the subsidized meals, while just 29% were identified under the method based on food assistance and foster care.

This steady decline in funding is linked to a decline in the number of students in qualifying programs. But the actual numbers of these students is not readily available. House Republicans said that information rests with the state education department, which did not reply to a request for the number of students included in the complexity count this year or in past years.

The Senate Appropriations Committee is scheduled to hear the state budget bill in its March 11 meeting.

Aleksandra Appleton covers Indiana education policy and writes about K-12 schools across the state. Contact her at aappleton@chalkbeat.org

A lawsuit over gender dysphoria could upend disability rights law, advocates say

2025-02-28T16:50:00+00:00

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A lawsuit over whether gender dysphoria should be considered a disability threatens to upend more than 50 years of disability rights law that allows students to get important accommodations at school.

The case has its origins in updates to federal rules made during the Biden administration.

Federal officials added language that gender dysmorphia may be a disability that deserves protection in federally funded health care settings, workplaces, and schools through a law known as Section 504.

Seventeen state attorneys general, including Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita, sued in Texas v. Becerra. The attorneys general didn’t just argue that gender dysphoria shouldn’t be classified as a disability, they argued that all of Section 504 should be declared unconstitutional.

Though they walked back that argument in the most recent court filings, disability rights advocates remain deeply concerned the case could undo protections for students with disabilities. For example, the law allows students with ADHD to have extra time on tests and students with hearing impairments be able to record lessons so they can replay them.

The case comes as many advocates are worried that efforts to overhaul or dismantle the U.S. Department of Education could hurt students with disabilities.

Still, advocates say this most recent filing indicates that states are not backing away from the broader legal challenge to 504.

“This means that the Attorneys General will continue to advocate that the ‘integration regulation’ is unconstitutional. The integration regulation protects our right to participate in our community with supports instead of being segregated in institutions or separate classrooms, " said a statement from the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund.

The case is currently on hold, with the next monthly status update due by April 21.

Section 504 protects ‘thousands’ of Indiana students

Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act was landmark legislation in 1973 that codified the rights of individuals with disabilities to participate in federally funded programs.

In the school setting, it can secure accommodations for students whose disabilities don’t qualify under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, which covers students with disabilities in 13 specific categories.

Section 504 may allow a diabetic student to check their blood sugar before taking a test, and to retake it if it’s low, said Joe Kwisz, president of the Indiana Council of Administrators of Special Education. It can provide protections for students with anxiety, depression, or temporary disabilities, such as requiring schools to offer an alternative to screen time for a student athlete recovering from a concussion.

“Not everything we do under 504 would be easily allowable without some kind of law enabling schools to make accommodations that students need,” he said.

The 2024 changes affect both the regulations of the law and the preamble, which can be more easily changed by a new presidential administration, according to Claudia Center, DREDF legal director.

It’s the preamble that says gender dysphoria “may constitute a disability under section 504 and that restrictions that prevent, limit, or interfere with otherwise qualified individuals’ access to care due to their gender dysphoria, gender dysphoria diagnosis, or perception of gender dysphoria may violate section 504.”

Whether an individual’s case of gender dysphoria could meet the criteria for a 504 depends largely on whether the diagnosis “substantially limits any major life activity” — a key component of the law for any disability to qualify under Section 504, said Janet Decker, an associate professor of education policy and law at Indiana University.

After an executive order on gender from President Donald Trump, advocates expect his administration to change the preamble and remove the reference to gender dysphoria.

But the 2024 changes to the law also include clarifications about its application in health care settings, including specifying that certain websites and apps must be accessible, and that patients can’t be offered care only in segregated or institutional settings.

Changing these rules would require the administration to go through another rule-making process, Center said.

Advocates hope that the attorneys general will agree to drop the case following the expected changes to the preamble.

“Once the hot topic is resolved, if section 504 rights are taken away from our students, that would be a tremendous disservice to our state and also the country,” Kwisz said. “If 504 was abolished, you’d have thousands of students in Indiana who would lose their services and protections as guaranteed by the law.”

What could happen in Texas v. Becerra

Some state AGs have indicated that they expect the lawsuit to wind down following Trump’s executive order. Rokita did not respond as to whether he would consider dropping the suit in expectation of the Trump administration making the change.

A Rokita spokesperson said in a statement: “As a father of a special needs child, Attorney General Rokita understands and is in full support of the ADA and Section 504. That is exactly why Indiana joined a multi-state lawsuit to stop the Biden Administration’s unlawful attempts to add “gender identity disorders” to the list of disabilities. And now thanks to President Trump, Section 504 will be restored to its original intent.”

It’s unlikely that the case will result in Section 504 being declared unconstitutional, said Decker, the IU law professor.

Decker pointed to parallels between this case and the legal fight over the Biden administration’s Title IX updates. Legal challenges over expanded protections for transgender students resulted in all the new regulations being tossed.

It’s an important case to watch in the context of the national push to downsize the federal government and dissolve the Department of Education, because of the potential to weaken the enforcement of protections guaranteed to people with disabilities.

“There are all kinds of inequities at the school level that are remedied through oversight at the federal level,” Decker said.

Aleksandra Appleton covers Indiana education policy and writes about K-12 schools across the state. Contact her at aappleton@chalkbeat.org.

A grant for Indiana families to buy tutoring is stopping sooner than expected. Will it come back?

2025-02-21T12:00:00+00:00

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A $15 million program that gave thousands of Indiana families cash for tutoring will wind down about a month earlier than anticipated due to unexpected heavy use that sapped its available funding – leaving students without extra support ahead of state testing.

Indiana Learns was a first-in-the-nation initiative that gave federal COVID relief funding directly to families for tutoring services to catch up after pandemic disruption starting in 2022. The program, administered by Indianapolis-based nonprofit The Mind Trust, expanded after another legislative change in 2023 to provide more tutoring funds, reach more students, and also allow tutoring during the school day. That law also changed how the money was distributed, from a one-time grant of $1,000 to an amount “subject to available funding.”

Operators hope the program will return with new state and grant funding next year, but funding from the next state budget is not guaranteed.

Like other tutoring programs around the country, Indiana Learns always expected to need new funding sources as ESSER came to an end. In a presentation to the State Board of Education in November, Mind Trust Executive Director Brandon Brown said the program had enough funding to last until the next state testing window.

But a notice to providers sent Feb. 14 and shared with Chalkbeat said the program would actually wind down on March 15. Only students with funds remaining in their accounts will be able to use tutoring services through that date, and new funds would no longer be added to student accounts.

“We wanted to go up to the start of ILEARN, but the program was pretty popular with families and we didn’t know how much would be allocated to the program,” said Kateri Whitley, senior communications director at The Mind Trust. The summative state testing window begins in April — some schools have been piloting “checkpoints” in earlier months.

Until this point, the program had replenished student accounts, Whitley said. That meant students who had been attending tutoring and whose accounts were depleted to a certain threshold would see their accounts replenished to $1,000.

Not being able to predict how many student accounts would be replenished – combined with the popularity of the program – means that it needed to end early, Whitley said. The program also does not want to spend all of its funding this year; it’s not clear how much remains.

“There’s a high likelihood it will continue and we don’t want to spend down every single cent this program year,” Whitley said.

But the decision has caused turmoil among schools and tutoring providers where the program was in use.

Several educators who spoke to Chalkbeat anonymously for fear of retaliation said the end date of the program came as a surprise and will leave students without tutoring support ahead of state testing. Furthermore, they said the lack of warning means that students who don’t have funds left in their accounts effectively have already had their final tutoring sessions, potentially without a final assessment of their skills, or a goodbye to their tutors.

The program had 23,000 enrolled students as of November last year. To receive the funds, students had to be in grades 3-8 at a public or private school, qualify for free or reduced price lunch, and score below proficiency in either math or English language arts.

As of Thursday, there were 15,000 students enrolled.

Students who still have funds in their accounts can use them for sessions until March 15. The Mind Trust did not say by deadline how many students still had funds to use, or how many students had had their accounts replenished.

Future funding sources uncertain

The program has paused for the summer in previous years in order to preserve tutoring funds for when they were most needed.

Whitley said The Mind Trust expects the program to return in the 2025-26 school year after the March pause, likely through funding in the next state budget. She also pointed to new grant funding from Accelerate, a national nonprofit, earmarked to keep the program going.

Lawmakers passed a draft of the budget Thursday. While it does not include a specific line item for Indiana Learns, it does give the Indiana Department of Education an $86 million Freedom and Opportunity block grant meant to support initiatives that improve student learning recovery.

In a statement, department representatives did not answer whether any of these funds would be used to support Indiana Learns in the future, highlighting instead other priorities to expand the new state testing checkpoint pilot and recruit teachers.

“As budget discussions continue, we will work with Governor Braun and the General Assembly to continue to measure return on investment and determine the best way to double-down on those initiatives that … positively move the needle for students,” the statement said.

Aleksandra Appleton covers Indiana education policy and writes about K-12 schools across the state. Contact her at aappleton@chalkbeat.org.

Where education funding stands at the midpoint of the Indiana legislative session

2025-02-20T22:10:11+00:00

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Indiana House lawmakers on Thursday approved their version of the next state budget, sending the proposal to the Senate to consider how to shape education funding for the next two years.

The House draft is similar to the proposal first outlined by Republican Gov. Mike Braun earlier this year, including an approximately 2% annual increase in tuition support, which funds both public schools and private school vouchers.

But lawmakers have also restored funding that would have been cut to gifted and talented education and folded curriculum costs into the base funding that schools receive.

The budget passed over the objections of House Democrats, who called for universal eligibility for preschool vouchers, as well as more funding for traditional public schools.

But the Republican architects of the budget rejected their amendments, saying that they fund students, not schools.

“Public schools would get lots of money next year if parents chose to send them there,” said Rep. Jeffrey Thompson, author of the budget bill and chair of the House Committee on Ways and Means.

The Senate will now consider the budget. Senators have already passed property tax measures that will likely lower the property tax revenue available to schools, though not as much as an initial proposal by Braun. Those tax measures will now move to the House for consideration.

Here is where education funding stands at the midpoint of the legislative session.

Education budget changes textbook funding distribution

Republican lawmakers are still proposing an approximately 2% increase in tuition support each year of the budget, or around $180 million more in 2026 and $370 million more in 2027. This figure is in line with Braun’s proposed increase for tuition support.

But the total budgeted for tuition support in the new draft of the budget looks higher because lawmakers would like to roll the funding that schools receive for textbooks into the foundational amount schools receive for educating students. Thus the total budget for tuition support is $9.4 billion for 2025-26 and $9.6 billion in 2026-27.

Schools received $160 million for curriculum costs in 2025.

“By putting it in the foundation that’s going to grow as we grow the foundation throughout the years,” Thompson said.

This fund will also cover a proposal to make school vouchers universal for all families, regardless of income, which would cost the state around $89 million in 2026 and $95 million in 2027, according to an estimate from the Legislative Services Agency, or LSA. In total, the Choice Scholarship program is expected to cost around $622 million in 2026 and $674 million in 2027.

The graph below from LSA shows a breakdown of tuition support expenditures. Foundation amounts are the base funding that schools receive to educate all students, while complexity dollars go to students from low-income backgrounds.

A screenshot of the Indiana Legislative Service breakdown of tuition support in the proposed state budget.

Under the new budget proposal, the tuition support will also fund virtual students at 100% of the foundational amount, rather than 85% as is currently law.

In other education funding, lawmakers have proposed $86 million per year for the Freedom and Opportunity in Education fund, up from $25 million per year in the first draft of the budget. This fund is a new line item intended to give the state Department of Education flexibility to fund priorities, such as expanding the new ILEARN checkpoint test, operating the state teaching jobs board, and funding student learning recovery grants.

Furthermore, Gifted and Talented Education funding has been restored to $15 million per year after facing a cut to $13 million per year in the first draft of the budget. The second draft also adds funding to the budget earmarked for adult learners.

However, Republican lawmakers did not restore funding for the Dolly Parton Imagination Library despite calls from their Democratic colleagues to do so.

They have also kept summer school funding flat at around $18 million, though another bill will allow the Department of Education to differentiate funding for these programs based on the type and length of the course.

Finally, lawmakers are increasing the annual allocation for Education Scholarship and Career Scholarship accounts — two voucher-like programs used to pay for students with disabilities to receive services outside of schools and for high schoolers to take career training with private companies.

Both programs will each receive $15 million per year — less than the $25 million initially proposed for Education Scholarship Accounts, but more than the $11 million first proposed for Career Scholarship Accounts.

Revised property tax relief bill still affects school funding

Indiana Senators, meanwhile, have passed a property tax relief bill that mitigates the initial impact of Braun’s proposal to cap property taxes. That proposal was expected to cost schools and other local government entities around $1.2 billion in 2026 and up to $1.6 billion in 2028.

The revised Senate Bill 1 is now expected to cost these entities around $300 million in 2026 and $800 million in 2028. (Braun has suggested he would consider vetoing the bill if it doesn’t provide more relief to taxpayers.)

It may also have other effects on funding because it restricts the years that schools can hold referendums to general elections instead of both general and primary elections.

According to a revised report from the Office of Fiscal and Management Analysis, Senate Bill 1 would reduce funding to Indianapolis Public Schools by an estimated $1.2 million in 2026 and up to $2.9 million in 2028.

Other districts in Marion County are projected to lose:

Beech Grove City Schools — $139,000 in 2026 up to $364,000 in 2028.
Franklin Township Schools — $241,000 in 2026 up to $443,000 in 2028
MSD of Decatur Township — $37,000 in 2026 up to $68,000 in 2028
MSD of Lawrence Township — $33,000 in 2026 and $740 in 2028
MSD of Perry Township — $60,000 in 2026 up to $492,000 in 2028
MSD of Pike Township — $566,000 in 2026 up to $1.4 million in 2028.
MSD of Warren Township — $338,000 in 2026 up to $759,000 in 2028
MSD of Washington Township — $1.2 million in 2026 up to $3.1 million in 2028
MSD of Wayne Township — $780,000 in 2026 up to $2 million in 2028
School Town of Speedway — $71,000 in 2026 up to $166,000 in 2028

Senate Bill 1 has passed the Senate and will now move to the House for consideration.

Another bill, Senate Bill 518, also passed a final vote in the Senate Thursday. It requires districts to share some property tax revenue with charter schools. Property tax revenue funds schools on top of the state tuition support described above, and currently, only districts in a handful of counties must share some of this revenue with charter schools.

An amendment Wednesday delayed some of the sharing provisions until 2028.

But the Republican supermajority voted down several amendments by Senate Democrats that would have instead sent the issue to a summer study committee, required audits of charter schools receiving property tax revenue, or reduced the amount that charter schools receive.

Aleksandra Appleton covers Indiana education policy and writes about K-12 schools across the state. Contact her at aappleton@chalkbeat.org.

The science of reading could inspire Indiana to change math instruction. But how?

2025-02-10T12:00:00+00:00

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Two years after Indiana made big changes to reading instruction, state policymakers want to see a similar shift in math.

A bill advancing through the state legislature would place new requirements for math instruction on teacher prep programs, while also requiring schools to screen young students for math proficiency and offer interventions for those who need them.

House Bill 1634 would also require older students who are proficient in math to be auto-enrolled in advanced math courses.

The idea behind the bill is based on Indiana’s reading overhaul, which over two years has changed the way universities train teachers and the way teachers teach reading, aligning both to a set of practices known as the science of reading.

Lawmakers and state education leaders have linked the state’s reading efforts to its performance on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, which this year showed that Indiana students improved their reading scores even as reading scores nationally continued to decline.

“Hopefully we can do something similar to that in regard to math,” said Republican Rep. Jake Teshka, the bill’s author.

But while Indiana followed in the footsteps of states like Mississippi to implement the principles of the science of reading, the template for overhauling math isn’t so clear-cut.

Only a handful of other states have passed laws requiring screeners or extra training for elementary teachers in math. There’s also less research about the best way to teach math, though advocates broadly describe two camps that emphasize either explicit instruction or student-led discovery.

Students in fourth grade improved their math scores on the NAEP slightly, but Indiana’s eighth graders continued to decline, a trend that began in 2019.

And the state may face pushback from teachers and teacher prep programs as it did with the reading changes, which required extra training and monitoring on top of existing requirements.

“There’s not a recipe in our country that we can just take from another state that has scaled the work and do it,” said Indiana Secretary of Education Katie Jenner at a hearing on the bill. “It’s an opportunity to move with urgency but also learn throughout the process.”

House Bill 1634 passed unanimously out of the House Education Committee on Wednesday.

What the bill means for teachers and prep programs

The bill tasks the Department of Education with developing guidelines for teacher preparation programs, in order to ensure that the curriculum they’re using is “aligned with evidence-based instructional strategies to promote: conceptual understanding; procedural fluency; and real world problem solving.”

The department must also review the state’s teacher prep programs to ensure they’re following these rules. Those who aren’t could face losing the “right to use the word ‘accredited.’” The state instituted similar requirements when it changed mandates for reading instruction two years ago.

A lot of the math instruction in schools today combines procedural and conceptual instruction, said Sarah Powell, a professor of special education at the University of Texas at Austin, whose research focuses on math.

But she added that in the last couple of decades, schools heavily emphasized conceptual understanding, or why a problem-solving approach works, rather than procedural understanding, or how to do the steps to solve a problem.

The issue with conceptual understanding is that “people learn through modeling or practice,” she said.

“You watch a YouTube video, pause it, practice, and finally you can tile your bathroom,” Powell said.

Since the push for the science of reading gained national attention, educators have applied a similar lens to math.

“A lot of schools are saying, wait a minute — if we have to explicitly teach reading, do we have to explicitly teach math?” Powell said. “We have a lot of evidence about the best ways to learn math, but not a lot of the best ways to teach math have been in place.”

Still, some researchers are wary of a mandate to teach math in any one specific way, especially when that mandate creates a burden for universities.

Enrique Galindo, an associate professor of mathematics at Indiana University who spoke in a personal capacity, said there’s likely not just one solution. Instead, teachers should be prepared to utilize a number of different strategies for different students who have different strengths.

“I think the problem is when legislation wants to mandate what to teach and how to teach, it basically does not trust higher education institutions that the state funds with taxpayer dollars to do their work,” Galindo said.

The main issue with a procedural-based approach “is that it doesn’t develop the kind of thinkers we need today to be successful in society,” he said.

“We need to prepare students who are problem solvers, who understand what they’re doing,” he said. “In the past we valued just getting to the right answer. But now you need to know how you do it, and how to explain it to others.”

(Powell and Galindo spoke to Chalkbeat before the details of the Indiana bill were available.)

Indiana lawmakers hope to avoid the duel of philosophies that marked the science of reading debate.

Rep. Bob Behning, a Republican and the chair of the House Education Committee, pointed out that teachers who had been trained in one method of teaching literacy — like balanced literacy — had to relearn techniques.

But less formal training in math in many instances for teachers in training may mean that educators are less comfortable tackling the topic.

Jenner said the state is seeking philanthropic contributions to help with the costs of implementing voluntary professional development for teachers aimed at boosting their confidence in teaching math.

In 2022, the Lilly Endowment gave around $85 million to place literacy coaches in Indiana schools and offer teachers stipends for taking professional development in the science of reading, among other literacy initiatives.

“Not every teacher who teaches math is in love with math,” Powell said. “A lot of elementary teachers, they love reading and want students to be readers.”

What the math bill means for students

The bill would require students in grades K-2 to take numeracy screeners, while those in older grades would continue to take the state math test, the ILEARN.

Students who score low on these screeners and tests would qualify for interventions, which must also be aligned to the ideas of conceptual understanding, procedural fluency, and real-world application, and happen on top of their regular classroom instruction.

Powell said schools have long recognized the power of reading instruction and intervention, but fewer schools take the same approach with math. Early math intervention could help students build skills for future grades, and eventually, future careers.

“If you have a hard time adding and subtracting, guess what, multiplication and division are hard,” Powell said.

Galindo said another solution for schools could be hiring math coaches who work with teachers to provide feedback and help prepare lessons. If a school provides numeracy screeners to young students, the screeners should narrowly define the skills students need at that age, he said.

In addition, the bill would require that students who demonstrate proficiency in math in middle school on the ILEARN or through their grades be enrolled in an advanced math class in the next grade. This idea drew some concerns from educators who said proficiency does not necessarily mean that a student is ready for advanced math.

When the House committee passed HB 1634, there was a round of applause for Jenner for the state’s recent NAEP reading results.

“I believe our schools will continue to improve, because the better a kid can read, the better they can do math,” said Democratic Rep. Tonya Pfaff, a math teacher.

Aleksandra Appleton covers Indiana education policy and writes about K-12 schools across the state. Contact her at aappleton@chalkbeat.org.

Lawmakers advance bills on DEI, sex ed, chaplains in schools

2025-02-05T22:59:36+00:00

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Indiana senators discussed and passed controversial bills on Wednesday about social studies curriculum, sex education materials, and chaplains in public schools.

One would require schools to seek school board approval for and publicize information about their sex ed curriculum. Another would allow chaplains to work as counselors in public schools. Lawmakers also discussed legislation to restrict how teachers can approach issues like race, class, and privilege in history and social studies lessons, as well as a bill that takes aim at diversity, equity, and inclusion curriculum and training

Most of the bills echo proposals that failed in past sessions and have sharply divided Democrats and Republicans. But the bills are now moving forward in a vastly different national political landscape, one where some of these ideas have support from President Donald Trump and his administration.

Lawmakers have until Feb. 20 to approve bills in their respective chambers. That means committees have a few more weeks to complete their work and advance bills to second and third readings to the full chamber.

Notably, the House Education Committee was poised to consider a bill Wednesday expanding Indiana’s law banning transgender girls from girls’ sports at the collegiate level. But lawmakers removed the bill from the agenda.

Here’s more on what the Senate Education Committee discussed and did Wednesday.

‘Teachers shouldn’t be encouraging those pessimistic views’

Senate Bill 257 would require teachers to base history or social studies instruction on the principles of the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights, and the Constitution of the United States. It also prohibits teachers from teaching that the U.S. national identity or culture has been established by racial identity or racial discrimination, gender identity or gender discrimination, victimization, class struggle, a hierarchy of privileges, or systemic exclusion. It would apply to all schools that teach these subjects.

It was authored by GOP Sen. Spencer Deery, who said he was concerned about statistics showing that young people have adopted a grim view of U.S. history, including one survey finding that more than half of young people are in favor of writing a new constitution.

“Teachers shouldn’t be encouraging those pessimistic views,” Deery said.

Deery argued that these views are “trendy, but short-sighted” and prevalent in school curriculum throughout Indiana and the United States. He denied that the bill would affect teachers’ ability to teach historical events like the Holocaust.

“Those things can be examples of ways we fell short of our ideals, or how we progressed from those shortcomings,” he said. Deery also authored last year’s controversial law on “intellectual diversity” and tenure at colleges and universities.

But Sen. J.D. Ford, a Democrat, asked whether teachers would feel uncomfortable teaching the Constitution, if they could not mention that the Constitution permitted enslavement and included the Three-Fifths Compromise, which were both forms of discrimination.

Deery said that the bill does not prohibit teaching that racial discrimination occurred, but does prohibit teaching that the country’s identity is rooted in racial discrimination.

In response to a request from Sen. Shelli Yoder, a Bloomington Democrat, to see the Indiana-specific data of these surveys, Deery said he believed most teachers were already in compliance with the provisions of his bill.

Public testimony was largely opposed to the bill. Education committee chair Sen. Jeff Raatz, a Republican, eventually decided to postpone a vote on the bill until next week to make technical corrections.

Chaplains as school counselors bill returns

Meanwhile, Senate Bill 523 revives a proposal from last year that would allow school chaplains to work as counselors in public schools on a paid or volunteer basis.

But this year’s version seeks to address past criticisms by requiring that the chaplains have some counseling experience.

Communication between students and chaplains would be confidential, with a few exceptions. Chaplains would provide secular “advice, guidance and support,” but could provide nonsecular support to students if a student and the student’s parents allowed it.

Bill author Sen. Stacey Donato, a Republican, said chaplains already work in public schools for sporting and other special events and could help students in crisis.

“Chaplains are not a new concept. The idea of a chaplain is not to convert people to a different religion. They are there to support people, regardless of their faith,” Donato said.

But Indianapolis Democratic Sen. Fady Qaddoura said in most other contexts, chaplains work with adults, rather than children. He asked what kind of secular support a chaplain could provide, to which Donato suggested tying shoes, zipping coats, and opening ketchup packets.

During testimony, Christopher Lagoni, executive director of the Indiana Small and Rural Schools Association, said church leaders already volunteer in schools and sometimes eat lunch with students, for example. He did not know of any working as counselors.

Both the Indiana School Boards Association and the Indiana Association of Public School Superintendents also expressed support for the bill, saying it allowed for local control.

But ACLU of Indiana Executive Director Chris Daley expressed concern that the bill would violate the U.S. Constitution’s Establishment Clause. Other speakers during public testimony — including religious leaders — questioned whether chaplains had the right training to work with students.

The bill passed out of the education committee on party lines.

Schools must publicize sex ed curriculum

Senate Bill 442 would require a public school that teaches sex education to obtain school board approval for the curriculum by submitting information about topics that will be taught, whether a male or female teacher will lead the course, and whether male and female students will take the course together.

The district must also publicize this information on its website.

Track Indiana education bills moving through the Statehouse

Indiana law currently does not require schools to teach sex education other than providing information about HIV, but those that do must emphasize abstinence. In 2023, lawmakers prohibited any human sexuality instruction before third grade.

Before the vote, senators approved an amendment to remove private schools from the requirements. They voted down an amendment that would require any sex ed curriculum to include instruction about contraceptives, consent, and healthy relationships.

The bill passed on party lines Wednesday. Qaddoura expressed concerns that the bill would lead to political fights at school board meetings.

“It will really rile up people against our school boards in different communities,” Qaddoura said.

Senators poised to pass anti-DEI bill

The Senate as a whole has already taken a major step toward restricting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in schools.

On Tuesday, Senate Bill 289 advanced through second reading of the Senate, with an amendment to incorporate some of the language of Senate Bill 235.

The bill would restrict mandatory diversity training in public K-12 schools and ban the hiring of DEI trainers and consultants at state universities. SB 289 also requires schools to post instructional and curricular materials online that relate to DEI, race, ethnicity, sex, or bias.

The combined bill does not include a long list of concepts initially included in SB 235 — like bias, allyship, cultural appropriation, microaggressions, social justice, heteronormativity, and gender theory. Bill author Sen. Tyler Johnson, a Republican, saying he felt “like we couldn’t define some of the terms in there.”

But the bill does define DEI as any effort to manipulate the composition of employees with respect to race or sex, to provide differential treatment on the basis of those characteristics, or other training or policies not expressly required to comply with federal law.

The bill could pass the full Senate as early as Thursday.

Aleksandra Appleton covers Indiana education policy and writes about K-12 schools across the state. Contact her at aappleton@chalkbeat.org

Draft budget has more for tuition support, less for gifted learners, zero for Dolly Parton library

2025-01-31T14:11:25+00:00

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Funding for gifted learners, dual immersion programs, and the Dolly Parton Imagination Library is on the chopping block in the proposed state budget, while tuition support is increasing, as Indiana faces a leaner two-year fiscal period.

In total, the 2025-27 state budget draft outlines an increase of around 2% each year in overall education funding, alongside cuts to several K-12 and library programs and initiatives.

Education officials say some of those cuts are necessary to increase tuition support, the primary funding mechanism for both public schools and private school vouchers.

The budget proposal from House lawmakers is just the first step in a months-long budget process in which legislators could restore funding. It also likely doesn’t capture the full effect of lawmakers’ policy priorities this year, which include caps on property tax growth as well as universal school vouchers.

It reflects the pressure on the state to fund K-12 education, which makes up nearly half — $21 billion — of the state’s two-year budget, amidst ongoing inflation, a Medicaid deficit, and the end of federal pandemic funding.

In a presentation to the House Ways and Means Committee on Wednesday, Secretary of Education Katie Jenner — who made recommendations that lawmakers then incorporated into the draft budget — said she looked through the whole budget to find places to streamline in order to increase funding for tuition support.

“I’ll be honest with you, I want all the things. … But noting that we had to make some decisions, I went through with a red pen and cut about 20.5 million in order to try and get that tuition support number up,” Jenner told lawmakers. “Glad to add that back in if we have the money.”

Indiana Department of Education representatives did not reply to a request for more details about what was cut. But a comparison of the proposed budget to the 2023-25 budget shows some key areas where funding is being cut, added, or held flat.

Here are a few highlights from the 2025-27 budget proposal.

Funding cuts: Dolly Parton’s library, computer science

The budget proposal includes 5% cuts to the Department of Education and the State Board of Education, per directives from GOP Gov. Mike Braun that state leaders find savings within their departments. That reduces funding for the department from $19.9 to $18.9 million annually, and funding for the board from $1.9 million to $1.8 million annually.

Other cuts include:

All funding is cut for the Dolly Parton Imagination Library, which received $2 million in 2023-24 and $4 million in 2024-25 — its first two years operating in Indiana. The library offers free books to children under 5 in around 85 counties in Indiana funded by a combination of state and local funding.
All funding is cut from the Career Advising Grant program, which received $10 million in 2023-24 and $15 million in 2024-25.
All funding — $425,000 — is cut from the Dual Immersion Pilot Program.
All funding — $3,415,000 — is cut from the School Internet Connection fund.
Funding for Gifted and Talented Education is cut from $15 million annually to $13 million annually in the two-year budget.
Funding for the State Library is cut from $3.7 million annually to $2.6 million annually. Additionally, funding for statewide library services is cut from $1.5 annually to $1.43 million annually.
Funding for the Next Level Computer Science program is cut from $3 million annually to $2.5 million annually.
Funding for the David C. Ford Educational Technology program is cut from $5 million annually to $3 million annually.
Funding for Alternative Education fund — which includes $10,000 for each child in recovery from alcohol or drug abuse who attends a certain kind of charter school — is cut from $5.3 million annually to $800,000 annually.

Funding increases: Tuition support, ILEARN pilot

One of the primary increases in funding in the budget proposal is for tuition support, which would increase by around $181 million in 2026 and $365 million in 2027, for a total allocation of $9.4 billion by 2026-27. That funding supports public schools, including charter schools, as well as private school vouchers.

According to a fiscal analysis from the Legislative Services Agency, making vouchers universal would increase state expenditures by an estimated $88.6 million in 2026 and $94.6 million in 2027. The state spent roughly $439 million on its voucher program for the 2023-24 school year.

Additionally, Education Scholarship Accounts, a voucher-like program for students with disabilities, would receive $25 million per year in the budget proposal, up from $10 million in each year of the last budget. Career Scholarship Accounts, which fund career training for high schoolers with private companies and organizations, will receive $11 million per year in the next budget, up from $10 million each year of the last budget.

A new addition to the budget is a $25 million per year Freedom and Opportunity fund, which will support the following, according to a Department of Education budget presentation to the House Committee on Ways and Means:

$11 million to expand the ILEARN checkpoint pilot
$4.5 million to develop and deploy an interactive advising tool to help implement the new diploma requirements
4.26 million to sustain the state teaching jobs board
$5.5 million to recruit English learner, special education, and STEM teachers

Funding is flat for summer learning, literacy programs

The budget notably does not propose additional funding for curricular materials, which will be held at $160 million per year.

Some schools have reported that their share of those funds has not been enough to pay for books and materials for all students, requiring them to dip into their general budgets to cover the cost.

The budget proposal also keeps funding flat per year for excess special education costs at $29 million, and summer school, at around $18.4 million.

Addressing increased costs in these categories may come down to budgeting. In her Ways and Means presentation, Jenner said there are schools that were spending less than their allocation for curricular material.

Jenner has also hinted at reprioritizing funding for summer school to focus more on required literacy intervention, and less on physical education costs, which currently eat up a large share of summer school funding.

The budget proposal also maintains $50 million per year for academic improvement initiatives. According to Jenner’s presentation, these funds would support the following:

$17.5 million for programs like the Summer Learning Labs, a summer acceleration program operated by The Mind Trust.
$20 million on literacy initiatives like the Literacy Cadre.
$10 million for outcome-based funding for staff who have improved students’ literacy skills.
$2.5 million for Crossing the Finish Line.

Policymakers have not publicly proposed a figure for the Indiana Learns program, which provides families with $1,000 in state funds for private tutoring.

The House Ways and Means Committee, which helps draft and advance the state budget legislation, has yet to schedule its next meeting.

Chalkbeat Data and Graphics Reporter Kae Petrin contributed data analysis.

Aleksandra Appleton covers Indiana education policy and writes about K-12 schools across the state. Contact her at aappleton@chalkbeat.org.

Lawmakers are considering bringing A-F grades for schools back. Here’s why.

2025-01-29T20:17:28+00:00

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Indiana’s A-F grading system for schools could be on its way back.

House Bill 1498, authored by GOP Rep. Bob Behning, the chair of the House Education Committee, would require the Department of Education to develop a new A-F grading methodology for schools, based on scores on the third grading reading and state summative assessments — the IREAD and ILEARN. The grading system would also have to take into account high school graduation rates, diploma attainment, and other relevant factors.

The department would need to develop the new metric by December 2025 and issue grades to public and accredited private schools by December 2026.

Though Indiana has long had state requirements to issue letter grades to schools, no grades have been issued since 2018 as the state first transitioned to a new statewide assessment, then dealt with the pandemic in 2020, and finally, unveiled its new Graduates Prepared to Succeed (GPS) profiles of each school’s performance in 2022.

Schools would once again receive “null” grades for the 2024-25 school year.

In testimony Wednesday before the House Education Committee passed the bill unanimously, Secretary of Education Katie Jenner acknowledged that she advocated in 2023 for the state to begin to move away from the A-F grading system in favor of the new GPS dashboard. This system includes information about each school’s test scores, attendance, and more.

Officials’ hope was that the dashboard would provide a comprehensive overview of schools that had been missing from a single letter grade. But Jenner said some parents reported that the dashboard was too complex.

“Full disclosure, we are hearing from people who say ‘I just want to know how my school is doing,’” Jenner said.

But the return of letter grades would revive criticism that the grades rely too much on test scores to determine a school’s performance.

An amendment to the bill would require the primary indicator of performance for elementary and middle schools to be test scores. For high schools, the grades would include other factors, like experiential learning and credential opportunities, Jenner said. The State Board of Education discussed a potential framework for new letter grades at its January meeting.

“Just as students aren’t a single letter grade, neither are schools,” said David Marcotte, executive director of the Indiana Urban Schools Association, which took a neutral position on Behning’s bill. “For the sake of simplicity, we go with a single letter grade, but sometimes we lose out on the accuracy of reflecting the full school.”

Rep. Ed Delaney, a Democrat, said letter grades are not useful and lead to unnecessary jockeying between schools. Instead, Delaney said he’d like to see two grade bands indicating whether a school needs intervention or not, presented alongside test score data.

“Then parents could look and see, does my school need intervention or not, and then how are the kids doing on IREAD, and then decide if that school is good enough for then,” Delaney said.

GOP Rep. Becky Cash also suggested that the information on the GPS dashboard could be simplified. And other lawmakers asked that the state pick an accountability metric and keep to it.

“I fear we’ve got a sense of whiplash where the way we measure school performance is changing, it seems like, every year,” said Rep. Andrew Ireland, a Republican. “Let’s get it done and then stick with the system for years at a time because I really don’t think it’s very accessible for parents if we keep changing the metrics we’re using.”

HB 1498 now heads to a full House vote.

Aleksandra Appleton covers Indiana education policy and writes about K-12 schools across the state. Contact her at aappleton@chalkbeat.org.

NAEP scores: How did Indiana 4th and 8th graders do on ‘the nation’s report card’ in 2024?

2025-01-29T05:06:00+00:00

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Indiana students fared slightly better on “the nation’s report card” in 2024 compared to 2022 as the state continues to slowly recover from the effects of the pandemic.

But across the state and nation, scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress — or NAEP — remain below 2019 levels, raising alarm bells about students’ reading and math skills after the pandemic. Nationally, there is also a growing gap between the highest- and lowest-performing students on NAEP.

Scores released Wednesday show Indiana students’ performance in both math and reading ticked up by between 1 and 3 percentage points in 2024.

In reading, around 34% of fourth graders and 33% of eighth graders were proficient or better in reading in 2024, up from 33% and 31%, respectively, in 2022.

In math, around 43% of fourth graders and 31% of eighth graders scored proficient or better in 2024, compared with 40% and 30%, respectively, in 2022.

Indiana’s performance across both subjects is in line with most other states, which saw no statistically significant score improvements compared to 2022. Nationally, reading scores have continued to drop in a trend that began before the pandemic in 2019. In math, some states made notable improvements, but Indiana was not among them.

Still, Indiana’s average scores remain above national averages. And while national averages have declined in reading, Indiana students’ scores rose this year.

“Over the past three years, Indiana has taken an all-hands-on-deck approach to solving our literacy crisis, and today we see that without a doubt, this work is making a difference,” said Secretary of Education Katie Jenner in a statement Wednesday. “This new data is just one more piece of evidence that the time and resources invested in this effort are paying off for students. This should provide continued motivation for everyone to keep our foot on the gas pedal, whether that’s classroom teachers or parents reading to their child at home.”

Another difference between Indiana and national averages concerns the highest- and lowest-performing students. Indiana fourth graders in the bottom quartile of scores improved their performance over 2022. But nationally, fourth graders in the bottom quartile of reading scores declined the most from 2022.

However, the gap in eighth grade reading scores between Indiana’s lowest- and highest-performing students grew from 2022 to 2024.

Across demographic groups, one of the state’s most significant jumps in scores was for Black fourth grade students, whose reading scores rose from 194 in 2022 to 201 in 2024 — one point higher than their 2019 scores. Hispanic fourth grade students have also matched 2019 scores in reading for the demographic.

No other student group in Indiana matched its 2019 performance in either subject in 2024.

Nationwide, it was rare for any state to exceed its 2019 NAEP scores in either subject — just Alabama scored higher in fourth grade math, and only Louisiana scored higher in fourth grade reading.

“NAEP has reported declines in reading achievement consistently since 2019, and the continued declines since the pandemic suggest we’re facing complex challenges that cannot be fully explained by the impact of COVID-19,” said National Center for Education Statistics Associate Commissioner Daniel McGrath in a press release.

NAEP scores, learning affected by student absenteeism

NAEP scores don’t indicate the efficacy of any single policy or practice. But their release is likely to trigger debates about how states have responded to the academic effects of the pandemic.

Since 2022, Indiana has passed several laws aimed at aligning the state’s early literacy instruction with a set of practices known as the science of reading.

Schools and teacher training programs are now required to use material based on the science of reading. And beginning this year, students who don’t pass the the third grade reading test — the IREAD-3 — will be be required to repeat third grade, with only a few exceptions.

Now Indiana lawmakers may turn their attention to math. A bill under consideration in the 2025 legislative session would change teacher preparation programs in regards to math instruction, as well as require math proficiency screeners and interventions for younger students.

The state has also invested state and federal funds in tutoring and summer school programs, and will likely seek help from lawmakers writing the state budget to keep those initiatives funded after the expiration of federal aid.

Other initiatives from lawmakers include addressing student absenteeism, which has declined nationally since 2022 but remains higher than in 2019. In a media call Tuesday, Commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics Peggy Carr pointed to absenteeism as a factor in students’ scores.

“If students aren’t in school, they can’t learn,” Carr said.

This story has been updated with a comment from Secretary of Education Katie Jenner.

Aleksandra Appleton covers Indiana education policy and writes about K-12 schools across the state. Contact her at aappleton@chalkbeat.org.

Trump likes Indiana schools. Are they winning the war on ‘woke’ he wants to fight?

2025-01-28T12:00:00+00:00

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President Donald Trump’s plan for schools nationwide is a familiar one to observers of Indiana education policy.

Since 2021, the state has taken steps each legislative session to limit content in schools and minors’ access to gender-affirming care and social transition procedures, while expanding access to vouchers and school choice. That push continues in the 2025 session, with dozens of bills filed that expand on similar issues.

Advocates for these laws say they’re necessary to protect parents’ rights to choose how to raise their children — rights that they say need to be on par with constitutional rights, and which they hope to see reflected in national legislation.

“When parents drop their children off at school, they want to know what’s going on,” said Matt Sharp, senior counsel for the Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative Christian legal advocacy group.

But the laws’ critics say they haven’t led to mass bans of content or revelations of indoctrination in schools because schools weren’t teaching objectionable content to begin with. Instead, they say the primary effect has been increased anxiety among educators and already vulnerable students.

Jessica Heiser, an attorney with Imprint Legal group, which helps districts understand educational civil rights laws, said that these curriculum laws often oversimplify the difficulty of running a classroom, which can cause problems for the districts left to implement them.

“They really don’t want laws around what they’re allowed to teach and not teach,” Heiser said of school administrators, regardless of their politics. “When you get into the nitty grittiness of you shall teach this, or you shall not teach that … legislators are out of their depth.”

To apply some of these laws on a national scale might require the kind of heavy-handed federal enforcement Trump — who praised Indiana schools as “well run” last year — professes to dislike, or else leave schools to police themselves with inconsistent results. Still, Trump’s attacks on “woke” beliefs before his second term and his actions immediately after his inauguration suggest his desire to fight particular cultural battles through American schools has not subsided.

The available evidence doesn’t clearly show that the statutes targeting curriculum, library books, and transgender students have accomplished their stated goals. But there’s reason to believe they’re increasing families’ interest in vouchers.

Some observers say it’s no coincidence that a major consequence of the new laws about public schools has been a surge in private school enrollment and voucher use. Discussions this year about making Indiana’s voucher program universal also often center around parents’ rights to choose a school for their children.

Fights over social issues can lead to citizens losing “trust and confidence in public schools,” Heiser said.

“You end up creating an atmosphere where public schools are so unpredictable and public schools are such a place of confusion and such a place of dissatisfaction, that you open up a conversation better for vouchers and for privatization,” Heiser said.

But some Indiana lawmakers have characterized concerns about how such laws affect the state’s broader reputation as overblown, as evidenced by what they say is Indiana’s ongoing economic and population growth.

In remarks late last year, Republican House Speaker Todd Huston chided doomsayers who had told him that “if we pass this bill, no one will ever come to Indiana again.”

“All that extreme hyperbole didn’t age well,” Huston said.

Classroom content bans seem slow to catch on

Lawmakers have made several attempts over the years to restrict the teaching of certain kinds of content in Indiana classrooms. It’s part of a nationwide push to ban “divisive concepts” related to race, racism, gender, and sexuality.

There are new versions of this legislation this year in Indiana. One bill would prohibit instruction on American history from promoting the idea that the national identity or culture has been established by racial identity or racial discrimination, gender identity or gender discrimination, victimization, class struggle, a hierarchy of privileges, or systemic exclusion. Others would require schools and state agencies to prohibit certain statements in training and curriculum related to diversity, equity, and inclusion.

But the push began in Indiana in 2022, when lawmakers considered a wide-ranging bill that sought to restrict how teachers teach about race and racism. It failed in the state Senate following an outcry from a broad coalition of educators, parents, clergy, and others.

The following year, lawmakers scaled back their ambitions and passed narrower restrictions on content in schools. One new law required schools to adopt procedures to challenge books that contain material deemed harmful to minors. Another banned teaching human sexuality to students in preschool through third grade.

Since then, there have been instances of complaints at local school board meetings about books and lessons in schools. One example is the community uproar last year over a class discussion about gender identity in an elementary school classroom in East Noble Schools.

But there have not been widespread reports of public backlash to classroom material leading to curriculum changes. And Chalkbeat and other outlets’ reporting have found few formal complaints about books, and even less action taken to move or remove them.

Supporters of the laws like the Alliance for Defending Freedom say this simply means the legislation is working, and schools have taken care to purge their curriculum of objectionable material.

Other observers say the effect has been a chilling one. Some teachers have told Chalkbeat they or their colleagues avoid topics related to politics due to fears about how some parents might react.

Even relatively straightforward events in national politics that students might encounter independently can be affected by this environment. Kevin Melrose, a social studies teacher in Washington Township schools, said he avoided instruction about national politics in order not to be partisan, per district policy, even as the class held mock debates for class president on the same day of the 2024 vice presidential debates.

One thing that makes Indiana unique is Eyes on Education, said Christopher Lubienski of the Center for Evaluation and Education Policy at Indiana University. That’s a portal launched last year by Attorney General Todd Rokita for people to file complaints about how schools teach race, gender, and political ideology. (Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin launched a similar tip line, but it has since shut down.)

If the Trump administration launched such a tip line launched nationally, it would require large-scale monitoring and investigation, which might conflict with Trump’s plans to run a smaller, leaner federal government.

So far, Rokita has posted complaints from just 18 out of the state’s 300 school districts and more than 150 charter schools, as well as from two universities. The substance of these complaints ranges from the material available in a school library catalog, to an invitation for Black students to meet with a college representative.

And records show that even a politically charged event like the 2024 presidential election didn’t lead to complaints about inappropriate or politically biased instruction. A Chalkbeat request for material submitted to “Eyes on Education” that was related to the election yielded two complaints that were apparently jokes.

Student pronoun law yields murky data, inconsistent approaches

Indiana has passed several laws that affect transgender students, including a prohibition on

transgender girls playing on girls’ sports teams at the K-12 level.

When the law was passed in 2022, the Indiana High School Sports Association, which had procedures in place for transgender athletes’ participation, said just one student had gone through the outlined process to play on a girls’ team in recent years. The association did not return a request for comment on whether there have been any additional instances since the law passed.

Data shows that trans students are a tiny fraction of school enrollment. Researchers estimate that 1.4% of youth ages 13-17 nationwide are transgender. In addition, very few openly trans students compete in U.S. school sports.

The author of the law, Rep. Michelle Davis, said at the time that the legislation was important whether it affected one student or 100. Davis this year has filed an expansion of the law that would affect collegiate and out-of-state teams. She did not return a request for comment.

The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit challenging the law on behalf of a transgender Indianapolis Public Schools student. But the group dropped the lawsuit in early 2023 after the student transferred schools.

Lawmakers then passed a law in 2023 requiring schools to inform a parent of a student’s request to use a different name, nickname, pronoun, title, or word to refer to themselves. Supporters say parents have a right to know about such cases.

“It’s been helpful and effective in putting school officials on notice that when a child is asking questions about gender, or any mental or physical issue, the first call should be to mom and dad,” said Matt Sharp, the ADF attorney.

But without specific guidance from the Indiana Department of Education about how districts should notify parents, or whether they should categorize such requests in any way, the result has been a lack of transparency and a grab-bag of local approaches.

From a legal perspective, this inconsistency can open districts to lawsuits and other conflicts, according to Heiser, the attorney who consults with districts.

In addition, such laws can affect students, even — and sometimes especially — when they are applied inconsistently, said Brian Dittmeier, director of public policy at GLSEN, a nonprofit focused on supporting LGBTQ+ students.

“When hostile laws are passed, and especially hostile laws that are vaguely drafted, it leads to a chilling effect on LGBTQ free expression,” said Dittmeier. “It leads to self-policing that harms students’ free expression and inclusion in the school community.”

A Chalkbeat survey of Indiana’s 10 largest districts found little willingness to share or discuss their policies.

Some districts use the notification requirement to hold a meeting with parents about how to support their students. Another district requires parental permission to use a nickname or pronoun that a student has requested.

Some districts’ policy interpretations obtained by Chalkbeat focus on students making a request related to their gender identity. Others applied the policy to all nicknames, including nicknames that cisgender students had used for years, according to the Indianapolis Star.

Some districts informed students that their parents would be notified about such changes, and gave them the chance to rescind their name or pronoun change request. But it’s unclear how widespread this practice is.

From 2023 to 2024, three districts — Perry Township, Fort Wayne, and Tippecanoe — each sent between 56 and 67 notifications to parents to inform them of a student’s desire to use a nickname or different pronoun, title, or word.

Students later rescinded some of their requests, indicating that the law may have pushed some transgender students away from publicly expressing their identity.

But it also isn’t clear from the districts’ data how many such requests or notifications were related to gender identity to begin with. The law doesn’t require schools to collect or share that specific information.

In all three districts, the notifications involved fewer than 1 in 200 students, or less than 0.5% of enrollment. The notices were most common in high school.

Several districts, including Indianapolis Public Schools, said that only individual schools track the notifications.

School voucher use surges as wealthier families qualify

If Indiana policymakers want to change schools’ approach to social issues, the stats don’t really say clearly whether they’ve succeeded.

But with private school choice, numbers tell a plain story — one that poses a different long-term challenge to public schools than culture war clashes, albeit a related one.

Over the last few years, as conservatives nationwide have pushed back on transgender student rights and certain classroom content, their reasons to support school choice nationwide have also begun to focus less on helping just students from low-income households or struggling schools, and more on giving choices to all families.

Private school enrollment in Indiana has surged since 2020, reaching an all-time high of 92,000 students in 2023-24.

The growth has been partly driven by Choice Scholarship Accounts — Indiana’s decade-old school voucher program. Though vouchers began as a targeted program offering state funding for private school tuition for low-income families, the qualifications have incrementally expanded.

Last year, the program saw a statewide 32% increase in enrollment, driven largely by wealthier families who became eligible for the program in 2023. Families can now make 400% of the amount required for students to qualify for federally subsidized meals — or around $230,000 for a family of four.

This year, lawmakers could remove the final income limit on which families can receive vouchers to make the program fully universal. That’s a priority for GOP Gov. Mike Braun and legislative leaders.

“I’m not going to apologize that our caucus will be very supportive of universal vouchers,” said GOP Rep. Bob Behning, chair of the House Education Committee, at a December legislative conference. “I think letting parents make that choice as to what’s best for their son or daughter is the best way to move forward.”

Since 2021, lawmakers have also added new voucher-like programs to pay for special education expenses and career training. Both of those programs reached maximum capacity this year, and some lawmakers have pushed to make the former available to all families to purchase classes and services using state funding.

It’s unlikely that many Indiana politicians believe in the complete privatization of the education system, said Lubienski of Indiana University. But the implicit effects of the social issue laws include raising questions about the public education system.

“The social issues put a target on public education and create a narrative that they’re serving special interests, or students who feel they’ve been ignored, at the expense of the wider population,” Lubienski said.

Aleksandra Appleton covers Indiana education policy and writes about K-12 schools across the state. Contact her at aappleton@chalkbeat.org.

Kae Petrin is a data & graphics reporter who covers data related to K-12 education, voting rights, and public health for Civic News Company. Contact them at kpetrin@chalkbeat.org.

Chalkbeat Indiana Bureau Chief MJ Slaby contributed to this article.

Bills to restrict or ban DEI in Indiana education advance after Trump and Braun orders

2025-01-23T00:39:53+00:00

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After moves by Gov. Mike Braun and President Donald Trump to end initiatives promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion — or DEI — policies, Indiana lawmakers could also soon restrict or ban them in K-12 schools and universities.

The Senate Judiciary committee passed two bills on Wednesday aimed at ending mandatory training and instruction that proponents say propagate stereotypes and discrimination.

Senate Bill 289 focuses on state agencies and public K-12 schools, and would require schools to publish curriculum and training materials related to diversity, bias, and other concepts online. It would end mandatory DEI-related training and prohibit schools from requiring students and employees to affirm a list of concepts related to race, gender, and other characteristics.

Senate Bill 235, meanwhile, would prohibit colleges and universities from funding DEI programs and offices and change licensing requirements in health care.

These echo an executive order signed by Trump on Tuesday that directed federal agencies to eliminate programs and initiatives related to DEI, as well as an order from Braun last week to replace diversity, equity, and inclusion in state government with “merit, excellence, and innovation.”

They reflect ongoing hostility to DEI in conservative circles. They also follow years of similar controversy over whether schools in Indiana and nationwide have been teaching students critical race theory, a phrase that often became a catchall for discussions of race.

Supporters of the two Senate bills from Republicans say they would once again elevate the importance of individual students’ academic achievement and skills, while reducing the extent to which schools and universities unfairly and simplistically divide people into groups.

But critics countered that the measures would make it harder for teachers to share a complex and truthful account of history, and also ignore systemic challenges that some students face more than others.

Both bills now head to the full Senate for a vote.

Bill would emphasize individual merit in education

SB 289 is directed at public K-12 schools and state agencies, and requires these entities to publish online all of their curricular, instructional, and training materials related to nondiscrimination, diversity, equity, inclusion, race, ethnicity, sex, and bias.

It also bans mandatory training and instruction on a list of concepts including that any race, sex, ethnicity, religion, or national origin is superior to any other, or that members of any group should be blamed for historical events caused by other members of the same group.

An amendment adopted by lawmakers allows the state attorney general to file an action to compel a school to comply.

The purpose is to require schools and the state government to consider individuals on their own merits, proponents said.

“People should be respected based on their own unique characteristic life skills and experiences,” said bill author Sen. Gary Byrne.

The proposal has similarities to a failed bill from 2022 that would have banned a list of “divisive concepts” related to race and racism from Indiana classrooms and required schools to post their related instructional materials online. Teachers and schools vocally opposed that bill due to the additional workload it would create, as well as its potential to chill class discussions.

Notably, Byrne’s bill attempts to set limits on its own prohibitions. For example, the bill says it may not be construed to ban discussions of how stereotypes are wrongfully embraced, or of scientific studies that reveal disparities between the aforementioned groups.

But teachers said in testimony that the new bill would be just as chilling as bills from years past.

“This bill is an effort by our state government to control the past and how it is taught in Indiana classrooms,” said Randy Hudgins, a social studies teacher. “What problems is this bill here to solve, and what evidence do we have that these problems are occurring in Hoosier classrooms?”

Asked by Democratic Sen. Greg Taylor if the bill would allow him to teach about Martin Luther King Jr. or the Holocaust as required by state standards, Hudgins said both topics would prove tricky under the bill’s provisions on race, religion, and ethnicity.

“I would feel like I was walking on eggshells in teaching [the Holocaust],” he said.

Jerell Blakeley, director of government, community, racial & social justice for the Indiana State Teachers Association, connected this year’s pushback against DEI to previous efforts to ban critical race theory. He said some critics of DEI and critical race theory use the words without understanding the definitions.

“They get their talking points from media outlets that are sort of demonizing these words that are really deeply committed to the most basic fundamentally American principles of all — fairness, justice, and nondiscrimination,” Blakeley said.

He added that Indiana lawmakers took steps recently to increase the diversity of the teaching force.

Testimony and questions also focused on the origin of the term DEI, after questions from Sen. James Buck about when it came to be. Some of the practices rolled back in Trump’s order were put in place by an executive order by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1965.

Asked to trace the history of the principles of DEI, Russ Skiba, a professor emeritus at Indiana University and founder of the University Alliance for Racial Justice, also pointed to origins in the Constitution’s 14th Amendment, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and advocacy for students with disabilities.

“Diversity, equity, and inclusion are not a curriculum. They are values,” Skiba said.

He pointed out that the bill could also negatively affect teacher training, recruitment, and diversity. Lawmakers would be “making advocacy for fairness and civil rights impossible” in Indiana whether they banned DEI outright or just sought to punish it, he said.

Just one person spoke in support of the bill during testimony. Kileen Lindgren, legal policy manager for the Pacific Legal Foundation, a national law firm, said it creates transparency, and furthers the equal protection goals of the Fourteenth Amendment.

“I don’t know how we can value the individual when we’re lumping people into categories,” Lindgren said.

DEI offices, staff at universities banned in bill

The second bill, Senate Bill 235, deals with state agencies, colleges, universities, and licensing boards.

It says higher education institutions may not establish DEI offices or hire DEI officers or consultants. It also removes DEI provisions from health professional licensing requirements, and requires medical programs to use a standardized test for admissions.

That bill provides a lengthy definition of DEI that includes practices that influence the composition of employees with reference to race, sex, color, or ethnicity, or provide special benefits to individuals on the basis of race, sex, color, or ethnicity

It further defines DEI as practices that would promote “as the official position of an agency a particular opinion referencing unconscious or implicit: bias; cultural appropriation; allyship; transgender ideology; microaggressions; group marginalization; antiracism; systemic oppression; social justice; intersectionality; neopronouns; heteronormativity; disparate impact; gender theory; racial or sexual privilege.”

Track Indiana education bills moving through the Statehouse

One speaker who backed the bill was Allon Friedman, a professor of medicine at the Indiana University School of Medicine who said he was speaking only in a personal capacity. Friedman said DEI practices in the medical field dehumanize patients by sorting people into categories, and de-emphasize academic excellence by requiring schools to use pass/fail rather than A-F grades.

“It undermines the foundational assumption that individuals are chosen to become doctors based on academic and holistic excellence,” Friedman said.

Friedman also said DEI leads to a “hostile mindset.” He said he experienced this firsthand after writing an op-ed in 2021 arguing against the hiring of a DEI officer at Carmel schools and receiving negative responses to it.

A representative for Indiana University adopted a neutral stance during testimony, saying the school was working with the author of the bill, Sen. Tyler Johnson, to refine some of the language.

But Gwen Kelley, an education researcher who works with the NAACP, pointed out the bill could end up requiring significant revisions to Indiana education code, the provisions of which include references to diversity and cultural responsiveness.

“Let’s reject the fear and embrace the truth,” Kelley said. “Only by addressing systemic issues head on can we create a system that works for all.”

Aleksandra Appleton covers Indiana education policy and writes about K-12 schools across the state. Contact her at aappleton@chalkbeat.org.

Gov. Mike Braun proposes a modest increase for Indiana schools funding, universal vouchers, and property tax caps

2025-01-16T20:17:50+00:00

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Gov. Mike Braun proposed a modest 2% annual increase in K-12 funding in the first budget presentation of his term, in line with expectations that a tighter budget would limit the money available for education costs.

At the same time, Braun is also forging ahead with two campaign promises to make school vouchers universal and to cap property tax increases, while chiding school districts that have come to rely too much on raising taxes through referendums to fund programs and operational costs.

“School districts better have tucked some of that away in their rainy day funds and not been mismanaging to where they would need that kind of increase year after year,” Braun said Thursday at a budget presentation. “The ones that poorly managed how they spend and overtaxed in the process are who we’re going to get back down to Mother Earth.”

The governor’s budget proposal typically informs the legislative budget process, which begins with hearings from state agencies, including the Indiana Department of Education. Lawmakers then write a budget bill. The budget is finalized in April and covers two years.

Indiana is facing a leaner year following the end of federal COVID relief spending, a Medicaid budget shortfall, and the ongoing pressures of inflation. Schools are contending with the end of their own federal emergency monies that funded salaries and programs post-COVID.

Braun’s proposed increase would amount to $540 million more in funding for K-12 tuition support over two years — $181 million in 2026 and $365 million in 2027. These funds support public schools, including charter schools, and the Choice Scholarship voucher program, which Braun intends to make universal this year.

In the 2023-25 budget, lawmakers touted an 8% increase in the total K-12 funding formula over the biennium, including an increase for Choice Scholarships. The final per-student funding increase was around 5% more in 2024 and around 2% more in 2025.

The budget also includes $50 million for other education initiatives and $362 million for child care subsidies, as well as $30 million more for Education Scholarship Accounts and $2 million more for Career Scholarship Accounts — two voucher-like programs for students with disabilities and career training for high schoolers, respectively.

Braun’s priorities also include increasing the school safety grant and raising minimum teacher salaries from $40,000 to $45,000 — a key proposal in Senate Bill 146, and expected to cost around $14 million from tuition support.

Track Indiana education bills moving through the Statehouse

He said he would ask each cabinet secretary to find cuts of around 5% in their budgets in order to help fund some of his other priorities, such as sales tax holidays on back-to-school supplies. A presentation to the State Budget Committee estimated around $700 million in reduced government spending over the biennium.

Some of Braun’s property tax priorities are reflected in Senate Bill 1, which caps property tax growth and restricts school referendums to general elections occurring in an even-numbered year.

Braun estimated that around one-third of counties would not have an issue with his property tax reform proposals because they had kept increases modest, or adjusted rates down as needed. Others “are going to scramble,” he said.

“Every county is going to have a little bit of a different story,” he said.

Aleksandra Appleton covers Indiana education policy and writes about K-12 schools across the state. Contact her at aappleton@chalkbeat.org.

Indiana bill would give teachers paid parental leave and raise in minimum pay

2025-01-15T22:02:21+00:00

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A Indiana bill would guarantee paid parental leave to the state’s teachers for the first time, and would also raise the minimum pay for teachers.

If enacted, the legislation would make Indiana one of a handful of states to offer this paid leave to educators, and could make the state more attractive to prospective and current teachers.

Senate Bill 146 would grant 20 days of parental leave to teachers who have worked for a school district for at least six months in the event of the birth of their child or their spouse’s child, the adoption of a child, or the stillbirth of their child.

Indiana teachers are currently eligible for unpaid leave under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act. But nearly a quarter of Indiana’s 168 school districts offer some paid leave under their collective bargaining contracts, according to Secretary of Education Katie Jenner.

The bill, authored by GOP Sen. Linda Rogers, would also raise minimum salaries for teachers from $40,000 to $45,000, increase the portion of state funding that must be spent on salaries, and require schools to offer a state employee health coverage plan if it’s less expensive than the district plan.

It would also change the requirements for the state’s Teacher Appreciation Grants and enroll Indiana in the Interstate Teacher Mobility Compact, which creates licensing reciprocity between member states.

Both pay raises and professional benefits like parental leave for teachers were priorities for new Gov. Mike Braun on the campaign trail last year as avenues to improve teacher recruitment and retention. But anxiety about the state budget left some lawmakers and advocates uncertain about whether the state would raise minimum salaries this year.

Braun is expected to present his budget proposal on Thursday, Jan. 16.

Speaking in support of the bill Wednesday at a Senate education committee meeting, Jenner said it would take around $14 million in additional funding for all schools to reach a $45,000 salary minimum for teachers.

“We have to keep our eye on the ball of teacher compensation,” Jenner said during testimony on the bill. “It really, really matters.”

Jenner said the expectations of the tight budget meant the department had not asked lawmakers for a higher minimum teacher salary this session.

Studies have shown that only a few large districts nationwide offer any kind of paid parental leave to teachers.

The leave granted under SB 146 would run concurrently with time taken under the Family and Medical Leave Act. But the bill does not specify that a teacher must first use their sick or personal days to take the paid leave. That earned praise from Sen. Andrea Hunley, a Democrat and former teacher and principal.

Still, Hunley called for more leave overall, and specifically more leave for part-time employees, who would only be eligible for 10 days of leave under the proposal.

“I think that’s a really great step to support our families who are expanding,” Hunley said. “But 20 days is only four weeks.”

Track Indiana education bills moving through the Statehouse

The bill would also change the requirements of the Teacher Appreciation Grant, which currently offers stipends to teachers rated as highly effective. Instead, the grant would reward teachers who meet certain criteria, like teaching special education or English learner education, mentoring other teachers, or overseeing significant student growth.

Lawmakers did not vote on the bill Wednesday, but they’re expected to consider it in a future committee hearing.

Aleksandra Appleton covers Indiana education policy and writes about K-12 schools across the state. Contact her at aappleton@chalkbeat.org.