Evan Eagleson is a Legislative Director for ExcelinEd in Action. In this role, he aids the advancement of student-centered legislation in the Great Lakes region.
Indiana has long been fertile ground for student-centered policies, setting the pace for other states in critical areas that include parental choice and career pathways.
Not only did the Indiana legislature build upon past successes and tackle early literacy this year, state leaders also added a first-of-its-kind policy that promises to improve student success in both the classroom and the workforce.
Under the leadership of House Speaker Todd Huston, Indiana became the first state to create scholarship accounts that support students in fully pursuing internships, apprenticeships and other real-world work experience.
This legislation was as common sense as it was groundbreaking. Indiana college enrollment rates have dropped more than 10% in recent years to 53%, according to the Indiana Commission for Higher Education. And, like many states, Indiana’s workforce industry needs—from manufacturing and skilled trades to high-tech—are rapidly expanding and evolving. Hoosier lawmakers recognized a pressing need to ensure high school students can gain relevant experience aligned to in-demand jobs and came up with a creative solution: Career Scholarship Accounts.
With a career scholarship account, 10th, 11th and 12th graders who participate in a workforce training program receive $5,000 per year to pay for courses, training or apprenticeship costs. Indiana’s innovative new law also requires that public schools hold at least one career fair each academic year to help connect interested students with work-based learning opportunities.
CSAs will serve as a model for the nation, inspiring many more states in 2024 to give students flexibility and funding to learn, explore careers and gain real-world work-based skills.
“It’s a forward-thinking policy like this that will set up Hoosier students for workplace and financial success and bolster Indiana’s progress in meeting workforce demands and filling in-demand jobs,” said Patricia Levesque, Executive Director of ExcelinEd in Action.
Indiana’s policymakers have long understood that well-designed education choice programs improve academic outcomes for those students who use a K-12 scholarship and for students who choose to stay in their public schools. That’s a win for all students.
The state remains a champion for family empowerment and educational choice, this year taking additional steps to improve on its robust system of opportunity for K-12 students.
Through an expansion of the popular Choice Scholarship Program, nearly all students are now eligible to receive a voucher to apply toward private school tuition and fees. In addition, Indiana policymakers increased funding for public charter schools, bringing per-pupil funding closer to that of traditional public schools and improving support for families seeking public school options outside of their assigned district schools.
Children who struggle to read in the early grades have a higher potential to grow up to be adults who struggle in life. Indiana leaders understand the immediacy of the need to reset strong foundations and build academic supports for every young reader in the state.
This year, Hoosier lawmakers enacted comprehensive early literacy legislation that bans the harmful three-cueing reading method where students are taught to guess words in favor of curriculum aligned to the science of reading. It also requires teachers seeking elementary education degrees and special education teachers to earn a literacy endorsement, requires schools to report information regarding remedial programs and more.
With these bold actions, Indiana policymakers join a growing contingent of states committed to improving early literacy, rising academic achievement and staying the course to prepare all students for long-term success.
Ensuring strong policies prevail requires committed, knowledgeable policy champions. Indiana families and educators have the strong leadership of Gov. Eric Holcomb, House Speaker Todd Huston, Senate President Pro Tempore Rod Bray, Rep. Bob Behning, Sen. Aaron Freeman, Rep. Chuck Goodrich, Sen. Jeff Raatz, Sen. Linda Rogers, Rep. Jake Teshka and Rep. Jeff Thompson to thank for this incredible and sustained progress.
