Sweeping changes to Hoosier education as new laws go into effect

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Sweeping changes are coming to Hoosier school districts as new Indiana laws and the state budget go into effect.

Changes range from top to bottom. At the top, more governor oversight of the Indiana University Board of Trustees, and fewer mandated qualifications for the state's Secretary of Education. At the bottom, holding parents accountable for chronically absent students.

"The Indiana General Assembly in the 2025 budget session enacted 43 new laws pertaining to K-12 education and school governance," said Terry Spradlin, executive director of the Indiana School Boards Association.

He said schools will get a two percent funding increase for the next two years, notably less than inflation.

"For schools, that totaled $600 million statewide, and while that sounds like a lot, the total funding for K-12 education is more than $9 billion annually," Spradlin said.

Governor Mike Braun's property tax reform bill, now Senate Enrolled Act 1, requires school districts to share property tax revenue with charter schools starting in 2028.

"We are asking our public schools to do more with less," said Rep. Maureen Bauer (D) IN-6.

This comes as local school districts stand to lose property tax revenue because of the same law.

"I did poll my members, most feel like they can make it through the first two years, I think the third year, it's a really big unknown," said Christopher Lagoni, executive director of the Indiana Small and Rural Schools Association. "That's when the largest cuts come in in SB1, is in 3 years."

"School districts will lose a total of $750 million in anticipated revenue, property tax levy dollars, over the next three years," Spradlin said.

"Our South Bend schools alone could lose $27 million by 2028," said Bauer. "I'm concerned that that might mean cutting extracurriculars, it might mean cutting jobs, layoffs, it could mean changed bus routes."

In another change, school board races are now partisan; candidates can note their political party on the ballot.

"Well, that was an issue, a perennial issue, we fought against for 4 years," Spradlin said.

Here's Sen. Blake Doriot (R) IN-12, in an April interview with ABC57.

"Honestly, the schools are spending around 50% of the state's budget, and anywhere from 50 to 57% of local property taxes, and there's a group of us that feel that we should know a little bit more about the people we're electing," he said. "And so we think you need to claim a party."

School changes are coming from the broadly general, schools cannot spend money on DEI initiatives, to the hyper-specific, transgender girls cannot play K-12 sports.

New regulations rolled out on sex ed that require schools to publicly post any curriculum involving "human sexuality instruction," and on religion, in which secondary students can spend more time off-campus for religious instruction during school hours.

Another new law: teachers must now be paid at least $45,000 a year.

"School corporations are almost on their own to reach that mandate," Bauer said.

Schools that fail to meet the wage hike must announce so publicly at a school board meeting, but there's no actual penalty for districts that don't meet this wage requirement.

"I'd say there are about 70, roughly 70-80 school districts that do not [meet the wage requirement] out of 290 across the state," Spradlin said. "For those 70-80, it will be a hardship."

In higher education, Indiana public colleges must have at least 15 graduates per year in certain degree programs for them to continue, which could eliminate more than half of the offered degree programs.

And college-issued IDs are no longer valid as voter identification at the polls.

The Indiana School Boards Association compiled a comprehensive digest of the legislation impacting K-12 governance, which can be found here.