Indiana Statehouse: Letter grades and partisan school boards on agenda

Axios

25-03-2025

There are six weeks left in the legislative session and just three weeks to get bills passed out of committee.
Why it matters: It's getting close to crunch time, when lawmakers start compromising on, cutting or killing each other's bills.
Yes, and: The budget, property tax relief and health care costs — all priority issues heading into session — are hitting snags that likely won't get worked out this week.
Here's what we're watching instead:
🟢 Partisan school boards nearing finish line
Should it pass the House, which could vote as early as Monday, Senate Bill 287 will have passed both chambers — a first for a bill to make Indiana's school board elections partisan.
Yes, but: The version passed by the Senate is substantially different from what the House is considering, so there's no guarantee lawmakers will come to an agreement.
The Senate would have school board candidates follow the same nomination process as any other political candidate, while the House version skips primaries and still provides a nonpartisan option.
What's next: If the House passes SB 287, the Senate could accept the new version or go to a conference committee and work out a compromise.
🟢 A-F grades coming back
Schools could soon get graded again if House Bill 1498 passes the Senate.
It's up for floor amendments as early as today, which means it could get a final vote in that chamber later this week.
How it works: The bill would have the State Board of Education remake Indiana's school accountability system for what feels like the umpteenth time.
It would go back to an A-to-F system, but taking into account more than just test scores.
The state currently uses an "accountability dashboard" that displays various performance metrics.
The bill instructs the board to include "other factors" it considers relevant, which would likely include chronic absenteeism rates and third-grade reading proficiency.
⏳ Rethinking religious education time
Senate Bill 255 would allow high school students to miss more classroom time to attend religious instruction during the school day.
Flashback: Last year, lawmakers passed legislation requiring schools to permit students to leave school for two hours each week for religious instruction.
Sen. Spencer Deery, R-West Lafayette, said that equates to kids missing class 2.5 days a week.
"That's not good for the schools, the students, that's not good for anybody," he said.
The latest: SB 255 would give high school students more time, essentially letting them replace one elective course with religious instruction provided outside their school — rather than missing half a class each week.
Yes, but: Rep. Bob Behning, chair of the House Education Committee, did not hold a vote on the bill last week saying the committee needed more time to understand it.
An agenda for this week's education committee hasn't been released yet.
🚬 Cigarette tax on the table
House Bill 1001 is still sitting with the Senate Appropriations Committee, which took public testimony on the state's two-year spending plan last week.
Senate President Pro Tempore Rodric Bray, R-Martinsville, told reporters his caucus is more open this year to raising the cigarette tax than it has been in the past.
What he's saying:"Perhaps that's partly because there's some challenges that we have," Bray said. "It's going to be a challenging budget year in the best of circumstances, even assuming that the April forecast doesn't get worse and that's not guaranteed because it looks like it could be problematic."