INDIANAPOLIS — On Tuesday, Indianapolis Public Schools (IPS) announced its comprehensive legislative agenda for 2025. It outlines key priorities aimed at strengthening public education and enhancing student outcomes across the state.
"One of the first tasks I was given was to connect with IPS leadership and start asking questions about what is it that we wish to see happen at the state house, what barriers are we seeing for the people who are real boots on the ground educators," said Dr. Rachel Santos, the director of external affairs for IPS.
The IPS priorities for the 2025 125th General Assembly, which begins Jan. 13, focus on education funding reform, student health initiatives, post-secondary accessibility, workforce development, and literacy support. The district is also focused on revising the Complexity Index to better reflect the needs of English Language Learners (ELL) and special education programs.
“Our legislative priorities come at a critical juncture for K-12 education,” said IPS Superintendent Dr. Aleesia Johnson. “As we continue implementation of the Rebuilding Stronger initiative, which is transforming the educational experience for our 31,000 students, we see these priorities as essential steps to support student success not only in IPS but throughout Indianapolis and the state. The 2025 legislative session offers a key opportunity to advance this vision, ensuring that all students have access to the quality education and support needed to succeed.”
Key highlights of the district’s 2025 legislative agenda include:
- Support Early Learning Programs: Expand access to quality Pre-K education by raising income eligibility limits for financial assistance programs and increasing award amounts.
- Enhanced Support for Diverse Student Needs: Update funding formulas to better support students learning English and those with special education needs.
- Student Health Checkups: Require basic health screenings when students enter kindergarten, middle school, and high school to catch health issues early and ensure students are ready to learn.
- College Affordability: Allow Indiana high school graduates, including undocumented students, to pay in-state tuition rates at Indiana colleges, making higher education more accessible.
- Growing the Teacher Pipeline: Expand state job training grants to include teaching certificates and recognize work experience as college credit to help more people become teachers in Indiana.
- Reading Success for All: Give schools more flexibility to help struggling readers by offering additional testing opportunities and adjusting advancement requirements for English learners based on their language progress.
"How we identified them was really what do we feel like we can move, what can we get a broad coalition of support on, and how can we be a collaborative district," said Santos.
Santos says one of their big pushes is for Pre-K funding.
"We believe the current income level is not meeting the needs of the state when it comes to the increase of cost of living and the economy and we do believe this is a rational argument to take to legislators," said Santos.
Parents WRTV spoke with say they're happy to see IPS making these priorities, but they still have questions.
"What specifically are we going to do with these six things in a perfect world," asked Erica Hahn, an IPS parent.
When it comes to diverse student needs, Hahn says the language is confusing. The district describes it as adjusting the funding formula for English language learners and special education programs.
"Doesn’t feel like an intentional word," said Hahn. Especially with a child with special needs, I think we should have funding for special needs but there’s no indication of what does that mean."
The district says the funding formula is outdated.
IPS has had 11 meetings with legislators over the last few months. They'll continue to advocate for their priorities until the session starts in January.
