Indiana 2025 Regular Session

Indiana House Bill HB1136 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1
2	2	Introduced Version
3	3	HOUSE BILL No. 1136
4	4	_____
5	5	DIGEST OF INTRODUCED BILL
6	6	Citations Affected: IC 20-23-19.
7	7	Synopsis: School corporation reorganization. Provides that, if more
8	8	than 50% of students who have legal settlement in a school corporation
9	9	were enrolled in a school that is not operated by the school corporation
10	10	on the 2024 fall average daily membership count date, the school
11	11	corporation must be dissolved and all public schools of the school
12	12	corporation must be transitioned to operating as charter schools.
13	13	Establishes a new governing board, requirements, and procedures
14	14	regarding the dissolution and reorganization of the applicable school
15	15	corporations.
16	16	Effective: July 1, 2025.
17	17	Teshka, Thompson, O'Brien
18	18	January 8, 2025, read first time and referred to Committee on Education.
19	19	2025 IN 1136—LS 7161/DI 110 Introduced
20	20	First Regular Session of the 124th General Assembly (2025)
21	21	PRINTING CODE. Amendments: Whenever an existing statute (or a section of the Indiana
22	22	Constitution) is being amended, the text of the existing provision will appear in this style type,
23	23	additions will appear in this style type, and deletions will appear in this style type.
24	24	Additions: Whenever a new statutory provision is being enacted (or a new constitutional
25	25	provision adopted), the text of the new provision will appear in this style type. Also, the
26	26	word NEW will appear in that style type in the introductory clause of each SECTION that adds
27	27	a new provision to the Indiana Code or the Indiana Constitution.
28	28	Conflict reconciliation: Text in a statute in this style type or this style type reconciles conflicts
29	29	between statutes enacted by the 2024 Regular Session of the General Assembly.
30	30	HOUSE BILL No. 1136
31	31	A BILL FOR AN ACT to amend the Indiana Code concerning
32	32	education.
33	33	Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Indiana:
34	34	1 SECTION 1. IC 20-23-19 IS ADDED TO THE INDIANA CODE
35	35	2 AS A NEW CHAPTER TO READ AS FOLLOWS [EFFECTIVE
36	36	3 JULY 1, 2025]:
37	37	4 Chapter 19. Dissolution and Reorganization of a School
38	38	5 Corporation
39	39	6 Sec. 1. The definitions in IC 20-24-1 apply to this chapter.
40	40	7 Sec. 2. This chapter applies to a school corporation in which
41	41	8 more than fifty percent (50%) of students who have legal
42	42	9 settlement in the school corporation were, on the 2024 fall ADM
43	43	10 count date under IC 20-43-4-3, enrolled in a school that is not
44	44	11 operated by the school corporation.
45	45	12 Sec. 3. Notwithstanding any other state law or rule, the
46	46	13 following apply to a school corporation described in section 2 of
47	47	14 this chapter:
48	48	15 (1) The governing body of the school corporation is dissolved
49	49	16 and the governing board established under section 4 of this
50	50	17 chapter has all powers and duties that the governing body of
51	51	2025 IN 1136—LS 7161/DI 110 2
52	52	1 a school corporation has.
53	53	2 (2) All powers, duties, assets, and liabilities of the school
54	54	3 corporation are transferred to the new governing board
55	55	4 established under section 4 of this chapter.
56	56	5 (3) All public schools operated by the school corporation must
57	57	6 transition to operating as charter schools not later than July
58	58	7 1, 2028.
59	59	8 (4) The lowest performing schools of the school corporation
60	60	9 based on the statewide assessment program results must be
61	61	10 the first to transition to operating as charter schools.
62	62	11 (5) The school corporation's central office must cease
63	63	12 operations.
64	64	13 (6) The school corporation may not:
65	65	14 (A) impose any new referendum tax levies; or
66	66	15 (B) extend any existing referendum tax levies.
67	67	16 Sec. 4. For a school corporation described in section 2 of this
68	68	17 chapter, a new governing board is established that consists of the
69	69	18 following seven (7) members:
70	70	19 (1) Four (4) members appointed by the governor.
71	71	20 (2) One (1) member appointed by the mayor of the city or
72	72	21 executive of a town located within the geographic boundaries
73	73	22 of the school corporation that has the largest population.
74	74	23 (3) One (1) member appointed by the president of the fiscal
75	75	24 body for the county (as defined in IC 36-1-2-6).
76	76	25 (4) One (1) member appointed by the executive director of the
77	77	26 Indiana charter school board.
78	78	27 Sec. 5. A governing board established under section 4 of this
79	79	28 chapter shall:
80	80	29 (1) have all the powers, duties, and liabilities of a governing
81	81	30 body of a school corporation;
82	82	31 (2) oversee the dissolution of the existing school corporation,
83	83	32 which must be completely dissolved not later than July 1,
84	84	33 2028;
85	85	34 (3) create a uniform accountability framework for all public
86	86	35 schools located within the geographic boundaries of the
87	87	36 former school corporation that ensures low performing
88	88	37 schools are replaced with higher performing organizers in a
89	89	38 uniform manner and frequency;
90	90	39 (4) coordinate with authorizers to facilitate biannual charter
91	91	40 application cycles;
92	92	41 (5) recruit high performing organizers to operate schools as
93	93	42 the schools operated by a school corporation are transitioned
94	94	2025 IN 1136—LS 7161/DI 110 3
95	95	1 to charter schools;
96	96	2 (6) create the conditions for the organizers described in
97	97	3 subdivision (5) to succeed;
98	98	4 (7) ensure that all public schools located within the geographic
99	99	5 boundaries of the former school corporation participate in
100	100	6 common systems for enrollment and expulsion;
101	101	7 (8) have all levying authority that a school corporation has
102	102	8 under state law and rule; and
103	103	9 (9) create and implement a dissolution plan to:
104	104	10 (A) provide operational support to all public schools
105	105	11 located within the geographic boundaries of the former
106	106	12 school corporation;
107	107	13 (B) carry out subdivisions (1) through (8);
108	108	14 (C) collect and distribute any funds received under section
109	109	15 6 of this chapter, including collecting and distributing
110	110	16 referendum tax levy revenue in a manner that is, to the
111	111	17 extent possible, consistent with the original purposes and
112	112	18 use of the tax referendum levy revenue; and
113	113	19 (D) ensure parity in the distribution of local tax dollars
114	114	20 amongst all public schools within the geographic
115	115	21 boundaries of the former school corporation with full
116	116	22 parity being achieved by July 1, 2028.
117	117	23 Sec. 6. Notwithstanding any other state law or rule, the county
118	118	24 auditor shall distribute any funds collected with regard to the
119	119	25 school corporation to the governing board established under
120	120	26 section 4 of this chapter.
121	121	27 Sec. 7. Within the geographic boundaries of the former school
122	122	28 corporation, an existing charter school continues to operate under
123	123	29 its charter with the current authorizer of the charter school.
124	124	30 Sec. 8. (a) Except as provided under subsection (b), any new
125	125	31 charter school transitioned or established under this chapter must
126	126	32 be authorized by an entity described in IC 20-24-1-2.5(2) through
127	127	33 IC 20-24-1-2.5(5) that is a current authorizer of a charter school
128	128	34 located within the geographic boundaries of the former school
129	129	35 corporation.
130	130	36 (b) If any of the authorizers described in subsection (a) cease to
131	131	37 operate as an authorizer, an entity described in IC 20-24-1-2.5(2)
132	132	38 through IC 20-24-1-2.5(5) may issue a charter for the charter
133	133	39 school in accordance with IC 20-24.
134	134	40 Sec. 9. This chapter shall be liberally construed to effect the
135	135	41 purposes of this chapter.
136	136	42 Sec. 10. Except as otherwise specifically provided by law, to the
137	137	2025 IN 1136—LS 7161/DI 110 4
138	138	1 extent the provisions of this chapter are inconsistent with the
139	139	2 provisions of any other general, special, or local law, the provisions
140	140	3 of this chapter are controlling, and compliance with this chapter
141	141	4 shall be treated as compliance with the conflicting law.
142	142	2025 IN 1136—LS 7161/DI 110