Lawmakers End Racial and Ethnic Studies Course Mandate, Make More Education Changes as Session Ends

Yahoo

28-04-2025

This story was originally published by Chalkbeat.
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.
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.
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.
Description: Increases minimum teacher salaries to $45,000. Read more.
Description: Amends provisions that allow school corporations to provide a supplemental payment to teachers in excess of negotiated salary and allows districts to exclude revenue from bargaining for this purpose.
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.
Shortens the timeline for reporting bullying investigations to parents.
Description: Allows school board candidates in Indiana to declare a party affiliation. Read more.
Description: The bill prohibits state employers, including public schools, from requiring employees to attend training that includes the ideas that a person's moral character is determined by their personal characteristics, or that they should be blamed for 'actions committed in the past.' It prohibits state employees from implementing these ideas or compelling students to do so.
Description:
Requires a school where fewer than 70% of students passed the IREAD to participate in the Indiana Literacy Cadre.
Prohibits parents educating only their children from using ESA funds for tuition and fees
Language on counselors has been removed.
Description: Requires reports of student outcomes out of certain career and technical education and postsecondary programs.
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.
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. Amendments to create transportation and facility boards and mastery-based pilot programs have been removed. Read more.
Description: Prohibits school districts from using sex ed materials that have not been approved by their governing boards. Requires sex ed courses to show a fetal development video and emphasize the importance of consent.
Description: Makes several higher education changes.
Codifies the state's announcement that students who earn a new Honors Enrollment Plus diploma earn acceptance to the state's public colleges and universities, but stipulates that this acceptance does not guarantee admission to a specific program.
Requires the Commission of Higher Education to prepare an enrollment report for each college and university and their programs of computer science that disaggregates how many students are Indiana residents and not, and how many are U.S. citizens and not.
Outlines a process for colleges and universities to approve or disapprove new degrees and programs.
Description: Defines chronic absenteeism and requires the education department to establish a categorization framework to distinguish between excused and unexcused absences based on the reason for the absence.
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.
Requires the department to make a list of best practices and guidelines regarding classroom behavioral management strategies and a list of best practices to reduce student discipline.
Keeps some requirements for teacher preparation programs to train teachers on trauma-informed practices, and positive behavioral interventions, but removes other requirements related to cultural competency and social emotional learning. Read more.
Removes a requirement that school districts and charter schools must offer a course studying ethnic and racial groups as a one semester elective course in its high school curriculum at least once every school year.
Description: Prohibits transgender women from playing on women's sports teams at the university level, and requires out-of-state teams to notify Indiana teams if a trans athlete is allowed to play on a women's team.
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.
Description: Removes language restricting school corporations from entering into a contract with a religiously affiliated nonprofit preschool program.
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.
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.
Description: Provides that a high school diploma issued by a nonaccredited nonpublic school (a nonaccredited private or home school) is legally sufficient to demonstrate that the recipient of the diploma or credential has met the requirements to complete high school. Provides that a state or local agency or institution of higher education in Indiana may not reject or otherwise treat a person differently based solely on the source of a diploma or credential.
Description: Requires the DOE to create a new A-F grading metric for schools. Read more.
Description: Creates more exemptions to the third grade retention requirements, particularly for
Description:
Requires IDOE to submit a report on the academic readiness of virtual students.
Establishes a mastery-based education pilot program.
Establishes centralized school facilities and transportation boards.
Establishes the Indianapolis Local Education Alliance to conduct a school facilities assessment and establish a school facilities and transportation implementation plan. Read more.
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.
Description: Requires schools to automatically enroll certain students into advanced math courses in middle school and allows parents to opt students in as well. Establishes requirements for math screening, evaluation, and intervention, and spells out requirements for teaching math.
Aleksandra Appleton covers Indiana education policy and writes about K-12 schools across the state. Contact her at [e-mail].
Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools.
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