Indiana will join the federal tax-credit scholarship program in education overhaul

Indiana will opt into the federal tax-credit scholarship program for K-12 students created by Section 25F of the Internal Revenue Code, the centerpiece of an education omnibus (HB1266) signed by the governor on March 11 as Public Law 159. The Indiana Department of Education will participate as a covered state, and the bill makes conforming changes to the state's existing school scholarship tax credit.

The package also reshapes how teachers move into Indiana classrooms. It adds a new qualification path for transition-to-teaching candidates seeking a license for grades 5 through 12 and lets the department renew an emergency teaching permit up to two times if the holder is in good standing in an alternative certification program. Teachers who earn a literacy endorsement qualify for salary differentiation.

A long list of smaller provisions tightens administration of summer school reimbursement, four-day school week waivers, career and technical education oversight, and how operating and safety referendum dollars flow to charter schools that offer virtual instruction. The bill also tells state universities that run two-year graduate programs in mental and behavioral health to study whether they can be compressed into a single year, or five years when paired with a bachelor's.

Rep. Behning carried the measure. The House passed it 90-1 on January 28 and the Senate followed 47-0 on February 24. The conference report cleared the Senate 28-19 and the House 66-30 on February 27. Five additional legislators signed on as sponsors.