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As we begin week six of the legislative session, here is an update on some of the bills we are following:
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HB 1064 Extracurricular school activities deals with athletic transfers and accepting cash payments at athletic activities. It is currently focused on public schools. We understand that IHSAA is looking at a policy revision regarding transfers, which may override the need for this bill.
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HB 1285 Special education deals with some special education issues in public schools.
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HB 1498 School accountability requires the State Board of Education to develop a new A-F methodology by December 2025 with implementation by December 2026. The bill passed out of the full House 62-25.
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HB 1515 Education and higher education matters has four parts pertaining to non-public schools. Sections 4-7 of the bill would allow non-public schools to establish their own police force. Section 8 of the bill would allow families or schools to appeal student ineligibility for the Choice Scholarship Program because of data error. Section 10 of the bill would allow non-public schools to participate in the STEM teacher recruitment grants. Sections 12 and 13 of the bill would allow non-public school leaders to participate in the Indiana Principals Institute. This bill passed out of the full House 57-28.
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HB 1634 Math education deals with automatic enrollment into upper level math courses in public middle schools. Similar to what has been required in reading, HB 1634 requires the use of a math screener and mandatory intervention for students deemed at risk in all schools.
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HB 1660 Excused absence from school would allow participation in FFA activities as excused absences. HB 1660 does include non-public schools.
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SB 442 Instruction concerning human sexuality deals with requirements around approval and posting of human sexuality curriculum. As promised, Senator Byrne, the author of the bill, amended non-public schools out of the bill. It then passed out of committee 9-4.
Last Thursday, the House Ways and Means Committee heard testimony on the Governor’s proposed budget, HB 1001, which includes a provision for universal choice. Thank you to the parents and school administrators who came to the Statehouse to testify in support of universal choice. The House Ways and Means Committee should release the House’s version of the budget this week and we anticipate that universal choice will be included in that version of the budget.
We are told that the Senate Education committee is finished meeting for the first half of the session and we assume the House Education committee will meet one more time to address a few more bills, including HB 1499. This bill would require school administrators to earn a literacy endorsement by 2027. We met this week with Rep. Behning, the bill's author, who clarified the endorsement part of the bill will be amended to focus only on elementary administrators in grades K-5.
We will need our non-public school community to be ready to engage in getting the House version of the budget over to the Senate, where we anticipate more challenges. We will need your help getting universal choice across the finish line! Stay tuned for our action alerts!
For more information, you can listen to our latest episode of the Statehouse Express podcast at the link below.
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