For the first time, Pike Township is asking voters to help fund operations. The ballot measure would fund three key areas: continuing programs and staffing added since the pandemic, attracting and retaining teachers, and school safety and security.
Lawmakers and advocates hope the ban improves student engagement, behavior, and mental health, all of which they say have declined since cell phones became a common sight in students’ hands.
Stricter rules on school attendance, reading proficiency, and cellphone use in the classroom will affect Indiana students and schools beginning next year under legislation passed in the General Assembly’s 2024 session.
A revised bill targeting absenteeism would require schools to prohibit habitually truant students from extracurricular activities, and would also impose a penalty on parents who make unproven allegations against teachers.
One bill has been stripped of language on civics education to instead focus on allowing chaplains in public schools.
Members of the Senate Committee on Education and Career Development advanced a heavily amended bill on Wednesday that in its original form would have referred more students to juvenile court.
Senate Bill 1 would reinforce the state’s policy of holding back students who fail the state’s reading test, while also requiring schools to identify and give remediation to those who are at risk of not passing the exam.
Just over 200 Indiana students received state funding for job training in the first year of the state’s Career Scholarship Accounts program.
Legislative leaders say to expect a quieter session after several years of major curriculum changes affecting things like literacy, as well as divisive and high-profile bills about critical race theory and book bans.
The state education department approved more than 69,000 Choice Scholarship applications during the first round of the program this school year.
About 96% of students who did not pass the state reading test moved to fourth grade over the last decade, according to a presentation at the State Board of Education meeting on Tuesday.
An all-time high number of Indiana students are using Indiana’s near-universal voucher program to attend private schools this year.
Perry Township Schools is raising wages as the district continues to face staffing strains.
Among those in Indiana seeking property tax increases are three districts in Hamilton County.
While chronic absenteeism in Indiana has improved this year after worsening during COVID, the rate remains 8 percentage points higher than before the pandemic.
More than four out of five third graders—just under 82%—passed the Indiana reading exam, the IREAD, in 2023. That’s several percentage points below the passing rate from 2019, when 87.3% of all students passed the test.
Recovering from the pandemic’s effects on student performance remains a top priority for schools, as state testing scores indicate that learning has stagnated.
Indiana lawmakers cleared the way last year for school districts to issue their own permits and hire adjunct teachers for hard-to-fill teaching positions.
Beginning this school year, after a law passed in the 2023 legislative session, all Indiana schools will be required to stop charging families for curricular materials, including textbooks, iPads, and Chromebooks.
By 2025, new Indiana teachers will be required to demonstrate their proficiency in the science of reading—a term for a wide body of research that emphasizes phonics, fluency, vocabulary, comprehension, and phonemic awareness in reading instruction.
