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It’s anything but business as usual in the Indiana statehouse.
The beginning of the 2026 legislative session has been dominated by the will-they, won’t-they question of redistricting, which has drawn national attention and left little time for lawmakers and advocacy groups to outline their plans for new legislation — including on education.
“I don’t know about you, but I’ve had an interesting fall,” said House Speaker Todd Huston in Organization Day remarks focused on affordability. “My 2025 bingo card has been turned upside down.”
But while legislative leaders haven’t yet detailed their education priorities for 2026, they have a list of unfinished business to tackle when it comes to schools, including a multiyear deregulation effort and a possible overhaul of the governance of Indianapolis Public Schools.
The upcoming session is a short session ending in March, which means lawmakers won’t have to pass a budget or debate education funding. But past short sessions have brought big changes to education, like the state’s third grade retention requirements and classroom cell phone ban — both passed in the 2024 short session.
This year’s big changes remain to be seen. Lawmakers begin filing bills now through their January deadlines. And advocacy groups like the Indiana State Teachers Association and the Chamber of Commerce, along with Gov. Mike Braun, all typically release their legislative priorities in January.
One idea that’s not returning is a 2024 proposal to expand Education Scholarship Accounts — a school choice fund for students with disabilities — to all students. Sen. Ryan Mishler said he is not planning to resurrect this idea because of the 2025 law to make school vouchers universal beginning next summer.
Here’s what we can expect in 2026.
A school deregulation effort continues
In the 2025 session, House Education chair Bob Behning began what he said was a multiyear effort to overhaul Title 20, Indiana’s education code. Behning confirmed to Chalkbeat that this process will continue in 2026.
This year’s HEA 1002 contained dozens of provisions repealing both expired and existing statutes within Title 20. Among the more notable changes was the end of a requirement that the Indiana Secretary of Education have education and leadership experience.
Other changes removed the requirement that school districts provide a noncharter option for students if they grant a charter and reduced the notice schools must provide if they eliminate transportation.
And a last-minute amendment to that bill dropped requirements that teachers must train in restorative justice, cultural competency, and social emotional support to manage their classrooms effectively.
Behning did not specify which regulations might be considered next.
The future of Indianapolis schools to be determined
In the 2025 legislative session, Indiana lawmakers created the Indianapolis Local Education Alliance to consider how Indianapolis Public Schools and charter schools in Marion County might share transportation and facilities. Now, their homework is due back to lawmakers.
Once the organization’s recommendations are finalized, they are to be submitted to the legislature, which may codify them into laws affecting both charter and traditional public schools in Indianapolis.
The wide-ranging work of the group has considered not just sharing buildings and bus routes, but could also consider a new structure of governance for the school district and the need for a new system of rating schools that could affect which schools are ultimately closed.
A draft of those recommendations is expected Wednesday, with final recommendations due Dec. 31.
Less focus on early education, more on career education
In remarks at a legislative preview event with the Indiana Chamber of Commerce, House Minority Leader Phil GiaQuinta said his caucus would again call for the state to invest in a robust preschool program.
Republican leaders again said no.
“I guess I’m so old that I remember when having a neighbor, family member, or friend watch your kid for day care was okay, and maybe I missed the dramatic societal consequences of that,” Huston said. “You say now we have to create this colossal structure, and that structure comes with all these costs and constrained supply, and means it just makes the user experience [cost] even more. I think we gotta find the appropriate balance.”
In recent years, lawmakers have taken incremental steps to reduce regulation in the hope of making it easier for operators to run child care centers, and to entice businesses to offer child care to their employees.
But this year has brought additional challenges for families and childcare providers, including a freeze on new child care vouchers until 2027, cuts to reimbursement rates, and uncertainty over federal funding that supports different programs.
Senate Minority Leader Shelli Yoder said child care providers face difficulties hiring and retaining staff, and that one solution would be to help workers develop new skills and earn more money. But Senate President Pro Tempore Rodric Bray and Huston said professionalization would also lead to higher costs for families.
The Republican leaders also touted the success of past year’s efforts to establish more career and technical education and apprenticeship programs for Indiana high school students to earn workplace experience. Yoder said Indiana students need to keep learning critical thinking skills alongside workplace skills, especially in the context of AI.
Both houses of the Indiana General Assembly officially reconvene on Jan. 5, but Huston told his members to keep the first two weeks of December open “for potential business.”
Aleksandra Appleton covers Indiana education policy and writes about K-12 schools across the state. Contact her at aappleton@chalkbeat.org.