Gov. Mike Braun signs education bills on school choice, teacher pay, transgender sports ban

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Indiana Gov. Mike Braun signed a package of education bills Tuesday. While some of the bills focus on parents’ agency when it comes to choosing their child’s education, others work to increase resources inside of the school yard.

“We’ve secured big wins for Hoosier students and parents, like universal school choice, increased teacher pay, new accountability ratings for schools, and more money going to the classroom…” Braun said in a press release.

One of the bills Braun signed increases the minimum salary for teachers in Indiana from $40,000 to $45,000. It would also require the state board of education to submit a report to the general assembly by Nov. 1 to determine the feasibility of increasing health plan options for school faculty.

House Bill 1401 follows up with Braun’s executive order by codifying into law a ban on transgender women from playing in women’s sports at state or private universities. This new law adds onto Indiana’s ban for transgender girls from playing on girl’s sports in K-12 schools, despite the Indiana High School Athletic Association only knowing of one instance of a transgender athlete wanting to play on her team.

Charter schools have gotten a boost to the funding. Accredited nonpublic schools, like charter schools, can now dip into property tax revenues and additional teacher recruitment grants.

Another bill removes the current statewide assessment scores for a school’s performance and instead directs the state Board of Education to develop a new way to designate school performance.

Signed bills

• Senate Enrolled Act 146 – Teacher compensation.
• Senate Enrolled Act 448 – Higher education and workforce development matters.
• House Enrolled Act 1041 – Student eligibility in interscholastic sports.
• House Enrolled Act 1064 – School transfer.
• House Enrolled Act 1498 – School accountability.
• Senate Enrolled Act 373 – Various education matters.
• House Enrolled Act 1634 – Math education.
• House Enrolled Act 1515 – Education and higher education matters.
• Senate Enrolled Act 448 – Higher education and workforce development matters.
• House Enrolled Act 1002 – Various education matters.
• House Enrolled Act 1637 – School and public safety matters.

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