Statehouse Express: Season 6, Episode 2

Hear the latest on what's happening at the Indiana Statehouse that could impact non-public schools. 

Transcript

Statehouse Express Podcast: Season 6, Episode 2

Welcome to the second episode of the 2025 version of the Statehouse Express! I’m John Elcesser, Executive Director here at INPEA. Well as we enter the third full week of session, things are definitely starting to pick up! Between the two education committees, 18 bills were scheduled to be heard or voted on last week. Of the 18, only 5 had any potential impact on non-public schools. The House Ed committee heard HB 1515, which was authored by House Education Chairperson Bob Behning.

HB 1515 had 4 parts that were applicable to INPEA schools. Sections 4-7 of the bill would allow non-public schools to establish their own police force. Currently, law only allows public and charters schools to do so. Heritage Christian School in Indianapolis brought this issue to INPEA last year. If passed, it would give full policing authority to a non-public school police force as well as requiring the same police training requirements. Section 8 of the bill would allow families or schools to appeal being deemed ineligible for the Choice Scholarship Program because of a data error. Incidences of the errors have increased since the launch of IDOE’s data exchange which interfaces with a school’s SIS system. A number of schools have had to write a check reimbursing the state after educating a student for the full year because a data error in reporting. Section 10 of the bill would allow nonpublic schools to participate in the STEM teacher recruitment grants. And finally, Sections 12 and 13 would allow non-public school leaders to participate in the Indiana Principals Institute.

In the Senate Education Committee SB 358, which is a various education matters bill, included only 2 aspects of the bill that dealt with non-public schools. Sections 1 and 8 of the bill would allow schools that are provisionally third party accredited to participate in the Choice Scholarship Program. INPEA testified providing a note of caution to ensure that provisional protocols met a level of rigor similar to that of full accreditation. There are currently 13 accrediting entities approved by the State Board. We would assume that they all approach provisional accreditation somewhat differently. 

Section 9 of the bill parallels the language in HB 1515 providing a choice scholarship appeal when a student’s ineligibility is due to a data error.

SB 366 is another various education matters bill, one part proposes providing some regulatory relief for PreK programs that attached to an accredited elementary school. The current draft of the bill only addresses public and charter schools. INPEA testified and asked for the inclusion of accredited non-public schools as well.

It’s only going to get busier around the Statehouse and as it does, we are going to need your help. Your engagement and the engagement of your school communities will be critical as we move through the session. Please watch for our legislative alerts and forward those out to your parents.

As you probably know, this is a week of celebrations for non-public schools. On Monday, INPEA hosted their INPEA day at the Statehouse as a part of our 50th Anniversary Celebration. In addition to our 50th Anniversary, this week marks the celebrations of National School Choice Week, National Catholic Schools Week and National Lutheran Schools Week. We are so blessed in Indiana to have a diverse array of quality non-public school options available to families. And our General assembly has shown great leadership in ensuring that those quality options are accessible to Hoosier families. As you probably know, there are still 3% Hoosier families who are not eligible for Choice. Now is the time to get Universal Choice across the finish line! Let’s do this!

And we hope to see you back here next week for our next episode of the Statehouse Express! Until then, enjoy celebrating all of our non-public schools.