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Education Space / Hoosier Students, Educators Receive Strong Support from Governor Holcomb, Policymakers
Indiana’s legislative session recently ended with several visionary steps to ensure families and students can succeed in school, careers and in life.
“Even as Indiana policymakers and education leaders have had to shift their focus in the past few weeks, the 2020 legislative session concluded with several student-centered policy victories. I applaud Governor Eric Holcomb’s leadership and commitment to improving education so students, families and businesses all benefit.
“From customized learning to career and technical education and public charter school equity, Indiana’s leaders put a command focus on children, and they are giving education leaders the flexibility to meet students’ needs and ensure all children make learning gains. It will take each of us – parents, teachers, policymakers, business leaders and the community – doing our part to improve education in our state and provide a brighter future for the next generation.”
Patricia Levesque, ExcelinEd CEO
Governor Holcomb signed the following bills to improve educational outcomes and support the state’s families, students and educators:
- Next Generation Learning: House Bill 1003 authored by Representative Jack Jordan, allows the State Board of Education to grant schools waivers from restrictive laws and rules that can hinder innovation. Examples of rules that could be waived include seat-time requirements, state-mandated curriculum, unnecessary reporting, restriction around working with local industry and unfunded mandates.
- Career and Technical Education (CTE): Legislation by Senator Eric Koch (Senate Bill 195), which was amended into House Bill 1066, will allow students to have better educational opportunities to align their courses to high-wage, in-demand career opportunities. The bill specifically focuses on creating pathways for students into the electric and utility industries, a growing sector in Indiana. It also urges the Governor’s Workforce Cabinet to collect data on CTE pathways to inform decisions to create, approve or amend current and future CTE pathways.
- Public Charter Schools: Thanks to an amendment from Senator Rogers to House Bill 1065, school districts and non-virtual public charter schools will be able to share local tax dollars. Creating and sustaining avenues for the equitable funding of facilities ensures charter schools can invest their limited dollars more effectively in teachers and students. Representative Jeff Thompson sponsored legislation (House Bill 1066) that gives preference for enrolling in innovation network public charter schools to students who qualify for free or reduced-price lunch and to siblings of current or former students of the school.
COVID-19: You can find our resources for state leaders on COVID-19 by clicking here, including highlighted solutions from states across the country.
For more information on the transformative powers of student-centered polices, please visit the ExcelinEd policy libraries.
Solution Areas:
College & Career Pathways, Next Generation Learning, Private Education Choice
Topics:
Charter Schools, COVID-19, Personalized Learning