LEGISLATIVE SERVICES AGENCY
OFFICE OF FISCAL AND MANAGEMENT ANALYSIS
200 W. Washington St., Suite 301
Indianapolis, IN 46204
(317) 233-0696
iga.in.gov
FISCAL IMPACT STATEMENT
LS 6975 NOTE PREPARED: Jan 26, 2024
BILL NUMBER: SB 270 BILL AMENDED: Jan 25, 2024
SUBJECT: Various Education Matters.
FIRST AUTHOR: Sen. Rogers BILL STATUS: CR Adopted - 1
st
House
FIRST SPONSOR:
FUNDS AFFECTED:XGENERAL IMPACT: State & Local
DEDICATED
XFEDERAL
Summary of Legislation: (Amended) Department of Education: The bill requires the Department of
Education (DOE) to study:
(1) Creating a clearinghouse for each region of Indiana; and
(2) Selecting a single nonprofit organization to design, operate, and maintain all the regional
clearinghouses.
Sale or Lease of School Buildings: This bill establishes limitations regarding the lease of school property.
The bill amends the enrollment threshold regarding when a school building is considered underutilized. It
makes changes regarding requiring (instead of allowing) a school building to be closed or made available
for lease or purchase. The bill provides that school corporations that meet certain requirements regarding
sharing operating referendum tax levy and school safety referendum tax levy revenue are not subject to the
transfer of vacant school building provisions. It exempts school corporations that have had a designation as
a distressed political subdivision within the previous three years from the transfer of vacant school building
provisions. It also establishes additional requirements regarding notice, determinations, and appeals under
the transfer of vacant school building provisions. This bill amends requirements with regard to:
(1) Bringing a civil action to enforce a final order to make a covered school building available for
purchase or lease;
(2) The time frame for which a school building must be used; and
(3) Transferring a school building back to a school corporation.
The bill also provides that, if a school corporation transfers a covered school building in violation of the
transfer of vacant school building provisions, the transfer is void and allows for a court action with the award
of attorney's fees.
SB 270 1 Office of Administrative Law Proceedings: The bill provides that the Office of Administrative Law
Proceedings has jurisdiction over hearing officers authorized to conduct hearings required by the Individuals
with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).
Seizure Training: This bill specifies that training in the recognition of the signs and symptoms of seizures
must be provided to certain school personnel.
Operating Tax Referendum: The bill provides that all school corporations who adopt a resolution for an
operating referendum tax levy after May 10, 2024, must share revenue received from the levy with certain
charter schools (instead of requiring only school corporations located in Lake County, Marion County, St.
Joseph County, and Vanderburgh County).
Commission for Higher Education: This bill requires the Commission for Higher Education to:
(1) Study and make recommendations; and
(2) Submit a report;
regarding allowing Ivy Tech Community College to award bachelor's degrees and Vincennes University to
offer additional programs that lead to a bachelor's degree.
The bill makes conforming changes.
Effective Date: Upon passage; May 4, 2023 (retroactive); May 10, 2024; July 1, 2024.
Explanation of State Expenditures: (Revised) Independent Hearing Officers: In FY 2023, the Department
of Education (DOE) contracted with 10 independent hearing officers to conduct hearings under the federal
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Beginning in FY 2025, the Office of Administrative Law
Proceedings (OALP) will assume jurisdiction over these hearings and the Director of Special Education will
be required to oversee the training of hearing officers and establish guidelines. OALP and DOE are also
required to enter into a memorandum of understanding regarding the transition to hearing officers employed
by OALP. The bill’s requirements represent an additional workload for these agencies. Changes in
expenditures would depend on the difference between the compensation paid to independent hearing officers
under OALP and the compensation DOE would have paid to third-party independent hearing officers.
Existing staffing and resource levels may be insufficient for full implementation if currently being used to
capacity. The additional funds and resources required could be supplied through existing staff and resources
currently being used in another program, with new appropriations, or with IDEA funds that have been
distributed to the state of Indiana. Ultimately, the source of funds and resources required to satisfy the
requirements of this bill will depend on legislative and administrative actions.
(Revised) Department of Education (DOE): The following provisions represent a workload increase for DOE
that should be able to be implemented with no additional appropriations, assuming near customary agency
staffing and resource levels:
(1) DOE in consultation with the Department of Workforce Development and the Commission for
Higher Education (CHE), is required to prepare a report by October 31, 2024 regarding the creation
of regional clearinghouses where information and standardized forms can be shared. Potential
nonprofit organizations who can design, operate, and maintain the regional clearinghouses will also
be studied.
(2) DOE is required to ensure that cardiopulmonary resuscitation training currently required for
teachers must also include training covering certain seizure-related topics.
(3) DOE will be required to provide data and projections on the number of students who have legal
SB 270 2 settlement within a given school corporation but attend a charter school for every operating
referendum and school safety referendum resolution adopted after May 10, 2024. DOE is already
required to do that for each operating and school safety referendum adopted in Lake, Marion, St.
Joseph, and Vanderburgh counties.
CHE: The bill requires CHE to study and make recommendations on whether:
(1) Ivy Tech Community College should be allowed to award bachelor’s degrees; and
(2) Vincennes University should be allowed to offer additional programs that lead to a bachelor’s
degree.
CHE will submit a report with the study’s findings by October 31, 2024. The bill’s requirements are within
the agency’s routine administrative functions and should be able to be implemented with no additional
appropriations, assuming near customary agency staffing and resource levels.
Sale or Lease of School Buildings: The bill’s impact on the number of buildings available for sale or lease
for $1 is unknown, but if the number of available buildings increases then future expenditures for state
educational institutions (SEIs) may decrease. [SEIs receive state funding through General Fund
appropriations.] Provisions in the bill also allow buildings to be leased to the Indiana School for the Blind
and Visually Impaired (ISBVI), and the Indiana School for the Deaf (ISD).This would have an
undeterminable impact on ISBVI and ISD expenditures dependent on the cost difference to lease the building
relative to what the schools would have had to pay if not for the bill’s provisions.
Additional Information -
(Revised) Independent Hearing Officers: Due process hearings are currently heard by independent hearing
officers contracted by DOE. Of the 114 due process hearings that were requested in FY 2023, 104 hearings
were dismissed, 4 hearings received a decision, and 6 hearings are still pending. Cases that went to hearing
and received a decision cost approximately $12,300 per case and the hearings that were dismissed cost
approximately $1,400 per case. [These costs do not include travel expenses paid at a rate of $50 per hour,
training costs, or state per diem for meals, mileage, and lodging.]
(Revised) Sale or Lease of School Buildings: Current statute requires school corporations to make certain
school buildings available to be purchased or leased for $1 by an SEI or charter school. Certain schools are
exempt from this statute, including school corporations who share certain referendum revenue with charter
schools. This statute is retroactively amended under the bill and as of May 4, 2023, school corporations are
only eligible for this exemption if they proportionally distribute operating or school safety referendum funds
with local charter schools in a method prescribed via statute. The bill also requires all operating and school
safety referendum resolutions approved after May 10, 2024, to distribute referendum funds to local charter
schools in this manner, which would increase the number of school corporations exempt from this statute.
Other provisions in the bill will require school buildings considered underutilized to be made available for
sale or lease for $1 and provide additional exemptions for school corporations that:
(1) Have been designated as a distressed political subdivision within the previous three years; or
(2) Wish to lease a school building to ISBVI or ISD.
Explanation of State Revenues:
Explanation of Local Expenditures: Sale or Lease of School Buildings: School corporations that are
required to sell or lease a school building for $1 to an eligible entity due to this bill’s provisions will have
SB 270 3 reduced costs associated with maintaining and operating a school building. These savings may be offset by
additional administrative costs to school corporations from compiling data to support their claims in an
appeals process in the event that a buildings status is disputed. The fiscal impact to school corporations is
ultimately dependent on local action.
Seizure Training: Certain school employees are required to have seizure training beginning in FY 2025. The
training developed by the Epilepsy Foundation is available at no cost. However, if schools were to decide
to acquire training from another entity, they would have to fund the cost, if any, out of their existing budget.
(Revised) Charter Schools: Future charter school expenditures may decrease if the bill’s provisions increase
the number buildings available to be purchased or leased for $1. Charter schools that elect to participate in
an operating or school safety referendum whose resolution was adopted after May 10, 2024, will experience
a minor offsetting workload increase to contribute a proportionate share of the costs to conduct the
referendum.
Explanation of Local Revenues: (Revised) Referendum Sharing: Under current law, revenue from an
operating or school safety referendum in Lake, Marion, St. Joseph, or Vanderburgh County for which a
resolution was adopted after May 10, 2023, must be proportionally shared with a charter school that
participated in the referendum and enrolled a student who lives in that school district. Virtual charter schools
and adult high schools are prohibited from receiving a distribution. The bill expands this requirement to any
operating or school safety referenda for which a resolution is adopted after May 10, 2024. The fiscal impact
on charter schools and school corporations will be dependent upon which school corporations pass or extend
referenda in the future, ADM shifts between school corporations and charter schools, and the tax rates
imposed.
Sale or Lease of School Buildings: The bill’s impact on school corporations regarding the sale or lease of
certain school buildings is unknown. If the bill’s provisions require school corporations to sell or lease a
building for $1 to a charter school or SEI, the school will experience a revenue decrease dependent upon how
much the school would have otherwise received if it had sold or leased the building at a market rate.
However, provisions in the bill allow schools to lease a building to ISBVI or ISD which could offset any
revenue decrease dependent on how much the school leases the building for.
Additional Information -
(Revised) Referendum Sharing: Using student-level FY 2022 ADM data, LSA estimated what the bill's
impact would have been on existing school operating referenda revenue in 2022 if all the referenda levies
were shared as prescribed in the bill with all eligible charter schools. In 2022, the school corporations located
in a county other than Lake, Marion, St. Joseph or Vanderburgh received $196.4 M in school operating or
school safety referenda revenue. Under the bill, those school corporations would have distributed about $1.6
M to charter schools.
State Agencies Affected: General Assembly; Department of Education; Department of Workforce
Development; Commission for Higher Education; Office of Administrative Law Proceedings; State
educational institutions.
Local Agencies Affected: Public schools.
Information Sources: Department of Education; LSA Education Database.
SB 270 4 Fiscal Analyst: Kelan Fong, 317-232-9592; Austin Spears, 317-234-9454.
SB 270 5