schools

Indiana education officials are moving forward with a plan to let schools administer the IREAD-3 test this fall. The State Board of Education approved a resolution at it's July meeting Wednesday saying schools can use the test for fourth graders returning to school. 

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos's latest guidance on emergency relief money for K-12 schools has education leaders puzzled. The U.S. Department of Education's recent directive means private schools will get a larger share of emergency aid funding – while low-income schools will get less.

The pandemic forced schools to find new ways to get free meals to students, many of whom depend on them for nutrition. Statewide, nearly half of all students qualify for free or reduced price meals.

Connie Kristelli has been a food service supervisor at Indianapolis Public Schools for more than 30 years. She is one of many staffers who helped Indianapolis Public Schools serve more 242,000 meals for anyone 18 years old or younger since school buildings closed.

Abrupt school closures last month took many people by surprise, and the state announced Thursday school buildings will stay closed for the rest of the school year. 

The decision announced this week was less of a shock, but teachers are still adjusting to the new reality amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Schools across Michigan are working to implement plans for coronavirus closures they hoped they wouldn’t have to use.

Health officials in Michigan say 13 more people have tested positive for the coronavirus, more than doubling the number of cases to 25. The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services said Friday the new cases are adults.

Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer has ordered all public, private, and boarding schools across the state closed to help prevent the spread of COVID-19. They will stay closed until at least April 6th.

As part of the weekly series MichMash, Cheyna Roth and Jake Neher talk about what this will mean for families.

A last-minute change to a bill at the Statehouse in the days before the 2020 legislative session came to an end opens the door for charter schools to receive property tax funding through referendum measures. Lawmakers approved the multi-purpose bill on the last day of session after more than an hour debating the language.

After months of delay, the State Board of Education released 2019 state school accountability grades Wednesday. 

The board held off on releasing letter grades after a significant drop in student test scores on the new ILEARN test last spring, until lawmakers could expedite a "hold harmless" bill this legislative session.

Lawmakers created an avenue for charter schools to access referendum funding Monday, with a sudden change to legislation in the Senate that worries public education advocates.

Sen. Linda Rogers (R-Granger) offered a proposal to a bill this week to let school corporations partner with charter schools to split referendum funding. Indiana law already says if school boards approve, school corporations can share some of their operations funding with local charter schools.

Indiana’s state tests have changed half a dozen times for students in the past decade, and with so much on the line, teachers, schools – and families – are trying to keep up.

Lawmakers are considering restrictions on how often schools in need of additional funding can propose referendum measures to local taxpayers, and education groups are once again pushing back on the proposal.

Right now, schools can propose referenda twice a year and in school-funded special elections, but lawmakers added a proposal into a bill this week that would limit those to general elections – about once every two years.

Indiana teachers and schools will be shielded from penalties from last year’s poor statewide standardized test scores.

"Hold harmless” legislation was sent to the governor’s desk Monday.

A bill that would require schools to test for lead in drinking water passed the state House on Thursday. The measure was originally aimed at Lake County schools, but it was recently amended by Rep. Sue Errington (D-Muncie) to include all Indiana schools. 

Kids who get exposed to lead can have trouble learning, behavioral issues, and poor kidney function. The bill would require all schools that haven’t tested for lead at least once since 2016 to do so within the next two years.

More districts are hiring law enforcement to increase security in schools and can use state funding to do so, but lawmakers are debating what sort of training officers need before working around students. 

Indiana requires school resource officers (SROs), to have 40 hours of specific training, but director of the Indiana School Resource Officers Association, Chase Lyday, says not every law enforcement officer in schools has had it. 

Several major pieces of legislation are already on the move as the General Assembly got the 2020 session underway. Here’s what you might have missed this week at the Statehouse.

Hold Harmless Legislation

Lawmakers wasted no time as the short session began – both House and Senate education committees almost immediately approved legislation to shield teachers and schools from penalties after a sharp drop in student test scores.

Indiana lawmakers are moving quickly with a measure to avoid penalizing schools for a drop in student scores on the state’s new ILEARN test, with both the House and Senate having moved the hold harmless bill through committee just days into this year’s legislative session.