Legislative Update/ Education Bills.

I made a trip to the Indiana Statehouse yesterday with 350 postcards that I wrote myself. I wanted each legislator, regardless of party, to receive information from me. Thanks to Amanda Standers, I also met with her and Senator, Brett Clark. He was kind, but not very hopeful that things will get better. I wanted to provide you with some information regarding the education bills that are moving forward this session. Please let me know if you have any questions. Thank you for your support.

House Bill 1004 continues to be the most harmful bill of the 2026 legislative session since redistricting was defeated in December. The key concerns for HB 1004 are as follows:

• Teacher work hours (Section 95) – Removes the requirement to specify the number of hours per day in the regular teacher contract. This language was added following a court ruling of a lawsuit filed by ISTA when Tony Bennett was elected State Superintendent of Public Instruction. Attorney for ISTA, Eric Hylton, was able to stop Bennett from changing the Indiana Regular Teacher Contract language that would have allowed school boards to change work hours for teachers daily if they chose to do so. ISTA prevailed in this lawsuit. Unfortunately, there is no fear of lawsuits at the local, state, or federal levels these days. However, ISTA continues to fight to ensure minimum work-hour protections for teachers. The removal of this language in the huge deregulation bill reopens the door to expanded work expectations without contractual clarity OR ADDITIONAL PAY! This is terrible! This language would also impact statutory protections for teachers in join programs, such as special education cooperatives. Educators would lose: regular teacher contracts, due process protections, leave provisions, minimum salary guarantees, duty-free lunch, and reduction-in-force (RIF/Layoff) protections.
• This bill also removes the 1 percent cap on tuition support used for district remediation programs.
• This bill repeals the requirement that teacher licensure candidates received detailed score and subscore feedback if they do not pass the exam.

This bill has passed out of the House. It has been referred to the Senate Education Committee. It will likely be voted on in the Senate and move back to the House for a final vote. Please contact senators and state representatives to ask them to OPPOSE this bill.

House Bill 1423 is the bill that impacts Indianapolis Public School Governance by creating a mayor-appointed board and removing the decision-making powers of an elected school board. While this bill pertains to IPS now, it is opening the door to replace elected school board members with appointed school board members resulting in taxation without representation. Local tax-payers should be able to elect their own school board members.

House Bill 1176 is a broad omnibus bill that significantly expands charter and Innovation Network schools across Indiana.

• This bill allows multiple traditional public schools to convert into charter schools under a single charter and enables Innovation Network Charter Schools to expand across multiple districts, including rural areas.
• This bill weakens local governance and oversight by allowing charter organizations to contract with multiple districts, despite limited evidence of improved academic outcomes.
• This bill diverts public education dollars from traditional public schools to charter schools by allowing Scholarship-Granting Organizations (SGO’s) to retain unused state funds, without providing the same flexibility to traditional public schools.

Senate Bill 204 makes changes to Indiana law governing teacher salary schedules, stipends, supplements, and increments, limiting local control over compensation decisions through collective bargaining.

• Similar to the horrible changes in the TAG grants, this bill shifts funds between educators rather than increasing overall compensation, forcing trade-offs decided at the state level, rather than being bargained at the local level.
• This bill undermines local decision-making by narrowing how districts define “academic needs” despite districts having widely different staffing and retention challenges. This limits our ability to bargain equal raises by using the “academic needs” factor. It also further restricts the ability to pay teachers more for additional education/degrees.

Senate Bill 239 is a sweeping charter school expansion omnibus bill that reduces oversight while increasing financial and legal pressure on school districts.

• This bill accelerates large-scale expansion by allowing multiple public schools to convert at once, bundle under a single charter, and expand Innovation Network charter schools across multiple school districts. This is the companion bill to HB 1176.
• This bill penalizes school districts financially by imposing attorney fees for appeals, fast-tracking disputes directly to the Court of Appeals, and allowing charter school operators to collect $10,000 PER DAY in damages if building transfers are delayed. This is in regard to charter schools taking over empty/vacated buildings of traditional public schools.

Senate Bill 78 is the wireless communication device ban in schools bill. This bill expands upon a bill passed a few years ago by requiring stricter enforcement of cell phone and related device bans for the entire school day. ISTA supports this bill with recommendations. ISTA requests funding for implementation so that schools are not faced with another unfunded mandate.