Indiana lawmakers concluded this year’s legislative session swiftly as promised Friday, and there are a slew of changes coming for schools.

Gov. Eric Holcomb still has his say on a number of education-related bills, although several were part of his 2024 agenda. As of Tuesday, Holcomb has signed Senate Bill 1 and 6, both reading-related legislation.

House Speaker Todd Huston (R-Fishers) told WFYI he’s confident changes to literacy testing and support for elementary students will lead to improvement in the mastery of reading skills.

On the other side of the aisle, House Democratic Leader Phil GiaQuinta (D-Fort Wayne) said he’s concerned about requirements in Senate Bill 1 to hold back students who struggle to read and believes there should be an investment in early childhood education to combat the state’s reading crisis.

“We should be more proactive than we have in the past,” GiaQuinta said. Attempts by Democratic lawmakers to bolster early education were rejected by the GOP in this session.

Here’s where some education legislation landed following the 2024 session and how that could impact K-12 schools as soon as next academic year.

To track if a bill was signed into law, go to Holcomb’s Bill Watch.

Changes to literacy testing, holding back struggling readers

Reading reforms and a retention measure – the priority of this year’s legislature – could soon be a reality for educators grappling with the state’s literacy problem.

Senate Bill 1, authored by Sen. Linda Rogers (R-Granger), enforces holding back third graders who fail IREAD-3, the state’s reading assessment, despite intervention efforts and support.

It also requires school districts to have all second graders sit for the test starting next school year while also offering summer school courses to students who are struggling to read or at risk of failing the IREAD exam. There are some retention exemptions for English Language Learners, students with disabilities and students who were previously retained.

The legislation’s push for retention split Republicans who believed it should be implemented as soon as possible and Democrats who feared it would put further stress on educators amid a curriculum shift to the science of reading.

Students will begin to be retained under the bill’s new rules next school year. Based on 2023’s IREAD-3 scores, about 7,050 more students would be retained to third grade in 2026, according to the fiscal analysis from the Legislative Services Agency, or LSA.

Senate Bill 6, widely-considered a partner bill of sorts to the state’s third grade retention bill – now waits for Holcomb’s signature.

The bill, co-authored by Rogers and Sen. Jeff Raatz, tasks Indiana’s Department of Education with developing methods to identify students in grades four through eight who did not pass IREAD-3 and who are not reading proficiently.

The department will also be required to develop guidance for schools to support students who are on the cusp of not being proficient readers.