School districts can now share referendum funding with neighboring charter schools if they wish. Teaching License: HB 1251 allows school businesses to license full-time or part-time teachers who have at least four years of experience in a school subject and pass a background check. These teachers do not need to have a degree in pedagogy. The omnibus bill will also allow vehicles other than yellow school buses to transport students to and from school — a change desired by charter schools — and will direct the state Board of Education to streamline Indiana`s academic standards. Within weeks of the law going into effect, the Indiana Department of Education has not approached any schools to change its policies, spokeswoman Holly Lawson said. But Lawson said the ministry reached out in May to Cloverdale Community Schools, which oversees Tech Trep, about concerns about the program. Protection of “harmful material”: A bill to remove legal protections for K-12 schools and public libraries from a law prohibiting the distribution of materials harmful to children was nearly revived in the final hours of the session. But the Senate voted against these provisions. Supporters said they wanted to eliminate books depicting sexual encounters and that this could be considered pornographic, but opponents feared the bill would ban a wide range of books, including those on sex education or LGBTQ relationships. Revenue sharing: HB 1072 would have required all school businesses to share referendum money with charter schools that enroll students living within that company`s borders, a controversial provision that has already been raised. Indianapolis Public Schools have volunteered to share some tax revenue with their charter schools. The bill passed the House, but the Senate Budget Committee refused to hear it. Overall, Michael Brown, director of legislative affairs for the Indiana Department of Education, said it appears lawmakers have passed fewer education bills this year than in previous years outside of the budget.
Special education disputes: HB 1107 would have prohibited schools from requiring parents to sign a non-disclosure agreement to resolve disputes related to their students` special education services. But the bill suffered a unanimous defeat in the Senate, which supporters criticized as embarrassing. IC 20-33-1-2 Schools open to all § 2. Indiana Public Schools are open to all children until children complete their curriculum, subject to statutory authority delegated to school officials. Added by P.L.1-2005, SEC.17. Fundamental principles of Indiana law regarding prayer in public schools, which is largely influenced by interpretations of the United States Constitution but allows for a brief period of silence. Separate public schools, including all public school departments or departments based on race, color, creed or national origin of students. (b) The officials referred to in paragraph (a) may take all reasonable, practicable and practical positive measures to promote greater integration and to reduce or prevent racial segregation or segregation in public schools for any reason, including: (1) siting; or (2) revision: (A) school districts; (B) curricula; or (C) registration policies; Implement equal educational opportunities for all. (c) A school society should review its curricula to determine whether its practices: (1) segregation of students based on ability; (2) the placement of pupils in school pathways; or (3) use test results to select students; systematically segregate students on the basis of race, colour, creed, national origin or socio-economic class. Added by P.L.1-2005, SEC.17.
Amended by P.L.2-2007, SEC.226. Funding adjustments: SB 2 allows schools to receive full government funding for students who were quarantined during the counting window of the 2021-2022 school year. The bill widens the window and allows the Department of Education to adjust funds retroactively. During the 2018-2019 school year, schools were banned after the state changed standardized exams from the ISTEP test to the ILEARN test. And the pandemic canceled government testing in the spring of 2020, so the last two years have had no ratings due to the pandemic. Omnibus House Registered Act 1093, signed into law by Governor Eric Holcomb in mid-March and signed into law on July 1, tightens an earlier rule that prohibited schools and their representatives from offering “any item of monetary value, including cash or gift cards” as an incentive to register.