Weekly Planner: Indiana Lawmakers Head Down The Home Stretch

Kyle Stokes / StateImpact Indiana

The Indiana Statehouse, with the statue of Gov. Oliver P. Morton in the foreground.

We’ll learn Monday what will become of Indiana Senate proposals to offer in-state college tuition to some undocumented immigrants and to set aside state grant money for school resource officers.

Those are stories we’re following this week at StateImpact with just 11 days left in the Indiana General Assembly’s session.

By rule, Monday is the last day for Senate bills to earn their initial up-or-down vote from House lawmakers. This allows time for conference committees, in which House and Senate lawmakers can hash out differences in bills, before the General Assembly adjourns on April 29.

Bills Coming Up:

• Senate Bill 1: The House must vote on the proposal to set aside $10 million in matching grants to fund police officers in schools. Though an amendment to the bill requiring armed personnel in every school stirred controversy, lawmakers have removed that component, sending the issue to study committee.
• Senate Bill 207: Like SB 1, this measure must also receive a House vote Monday to move on. As The Herald Bulletin reports, SB 207 “partially roll[s] back a 2011 law that bans undocumented students who grew up in Indiana from accessing the lower in-state tuition rate.”
• Senate Bill 345: We’ve written about the bill, which would require Indiana schools to set formal policies on the use of seclusion rooms. The bill is up for “concurrence” in the Senate. That means the original Senate author has the option of accepting the House’s amendments to the bill and allowing lawmakers to take a final up-or-down vote. The author can also decide to send the bill to conference committee.
• Senate Bill 177: The bill allows active-duty or honorably-discharged military service members to receive in-state tuition. Lawmakers will take up the measure in conference committee Tuesday.

What We’re Working On:

• Elle asks what’s next for early education in Indiana after a proposed preschool pilot program withered in committee.
• We want to hear from you — we’re doing a story about Indiana’s End of Course Assessment. All students theoretically have to pass it in tenth grade in order to graduate high school. But some students take the exams in middle school. Others never pass it and receive a waiver allowing them to graduate. When did you (if you’re a student) or your child (if you’re a parent) take the test? E-mail us at indiana@stateimpact.org.