Statehouse Express: Season 4, Episode 10

It was a historic legislative session for Hoosier families! Catch up on all that happened on this final installment of the 2023 Statehouse Express podcast! 

Transcript

Statehouse Express Podcast: Season 4, Episode 10
2023 Legislative Session Recap

Hi Folks, This is John Elcesser, Executive Director of INPEA and this is the final episode of the Statehouse Express for the 2023 Legislative Session. Let me begin by saying, back in January we were hoping for another historic legislative session for choice; and after a very wild roller coaster ride (where I almost lost my cookies), it ended up the way we hoped it would! Another Historic Legislative Session for School Choice! Another historic session for Hoosier families!

I have to begin by saying… thank you…thank you…thank you! Thank you to some key legislators: Speaker Todd Huston, House Ways and Means Chairman, Jeff Thompson, and House Education Chair, Bob Behning. And when we really needed a champion in the Senate, Senator Brian Buchanan stepped up and worked each Senator in terms of their vote on the choice expansions in the budget. I wasn’t confident that we were in a good place until about 10pm on the last night of the session; and I probably didn’t know for sure until vote came in at 2:30 am on Friday morning.

In addition, I have to thank many of you! Principals and Presidents who made sure your school communities were informed and engaged. School leaders who helped plan our 5 state choice rallies. The students and parents who shared their personal stories and all the stakeholders who showed up to make those rallies successful. Our legislative action center had the most engagements since we set up the site a number of years ago. I can’t tell you how pleased I was to see that folks are really owning their responsibilities to engage. In my 16 years at INPEA, one of main priorities was getting schools to understand that we need their voice. In the legislative process, numbers count! It has been a slow process, but we are definitely getting there. Thanks to all of you!

Now to the good stuff. Here are the Choice Expansions that passed in the biennial budget which infused over 2.3 billion new dollars into K-12 education over the biennium.

From a choice perspective the budget included:

• The elimination of the choice scholarship pathways/tracks (hoops)
• The increase of financial eligibility to 400% of FRL for the Choice Scholarship, Tax Credit Scholarship and ESA programs
  • That’s about $220,000 for a family of four.
  • It is estimated that just less than 97% of Indiana families now qualify for choice
• It maintained the $18.5 million statewide tax credit scholarship cap
• It now allows SGO funds to be used for PreK tuition (if in a PreK-8 school setting) 
• It maintained the $10 million cap for the new ESA program
  • Still only available for students with special needs
• It increased state tuition support for public schools, which also impacts the 90% voucher amount. And in a last minute change in the budget, they infused an additional $300 million in state tuition support.
• It increased special education funding by 5% which impacts CSEP kids and ESA kids
• And it established and funds the new career scholarship accounts (CSAs) at $5,000/student
  • Which is Capped at $5 million in year one and $10 million in year 2
  • Lots more about this program to come!

It is vitally important that we thank the legislators who voted for the budget. And you might even give a special shout out to the key legislators that I mentioned earlier. 

If you want to hear more about the new choice program changes tune into our Choice rollout webinar being presented by INPEA, IQE and EdChoice on May 9th @ 2pm ET and on May 11th @ 10am ET. Registration was included in our last INPEA newsletter. School leaders, finance folks, board members and pastors are all welcome!

Some other bills that should be on your radar:

• HEA 1382 provides grant funding for robotics programs and competitions
• HEA 1492 merges the State’s two safety grant programs. Non-pubs continue to have access to this funding.
• HEA 1590 addresses the definition of science of reading and requires IDOE to publish a listing of high quality curricular materials. Allows access to the next level computer science fund to state accredited schools for professional development and for computer science program sustainability.
• HEA 1591 (1) allows SGO funds to be used for PREK tuition (2) allows null grades to be used for the 22-23 & 23-24 school year (3)removes the voucher lottery requirement (4) prescribes certain metrics for a revised school performance designation (otherwise known as A-F)
• HEA 1608 deals with sex ed. instruction and the use of names and pronouns not aligned with a student’s birth sex 
  • This bill does not apply to non-pubs
• HEA 1635 a various education matters bill includes a number of things like:
  • Allowing nonpublic schools to issue an “adjunct teaching permit” with certain stipulations in terms of qualifications
  • Stipulates that the use of ASVAB as a graduation pathway must be accompanied by documentation that a student “intends” to enlist in the military 
  • And finally, it requires the IDOE to develop a revised A-F system.
• SEA 35 says that State accredited nonpubs (along with..) must offer a stand-alone course in financial literacy. Students in the 2028 graduation cohort must “successfully complete instruction” in this course in order to graduate.
• SEA 72 Involves DOE doing a survey on the teaching of cursive writing.
• SEA 167 requires beginning with the 2023-2024 school year, each student in the student's senior year shall complete and submit the FAFSA not later than April 15 of the school year unless a waiver is submitted.
• SEA 342 Prohibits the employment of individuals who have committed certain crimes or misconduct.
• SEA 369 was changed to a “may” provision regarding the deployment, maintenance and training with Automated External Defibrillators

 We will continue to provide more details on any bills passed impacting non-public schools as they become available. In the meantime, don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions.

2023 ended up being a great session! Thanks in part to our legislators but more importantly thanks to all of you!

The Statehouse Express will return next January, but INPEA isn’t going anywhere. We are still here for you! 

So, on behalf of Andrea, Beatrice, our soon to be new staff member, Chris, and myself, we wish you all the best during this last month of the school year! 

God bless!