Supporting Schools Through the Pandemic

Supporting Schools Through the Pandemic

Friday, January 15, 2021

With the 2021 legislative session underway, there are a number of unprecedented topics to tackle in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. One of the biggest is the state's ability to fully fund K-12 education.

Under current law, public schools can only receive 85% of the per-student state funding for any student who gets at least half of their education virtually. Given the current circumstances, this would not be fair to the teachers, students and administrators in our education system who had to transition from in-class to remote learning.

To remedy this, Senate Republicans are supporting Senate Bill 2, which would provide 100% of the state's per-student funding for students at brick-and-mortar public schools who have gone to virtual instruction for part or all of the 2020-2021 academic year, so long as those students weren't already virtually learning prior to COVID-19.

With virtual education becoming the new normal while the COVID-19 pandemic continues to be a barrier to in-person instruction, supporting schools as they make this transition is vital to the success of our Hoosier students.

This bill has passed out of the Senate Committee on Education and Career Development with unanimous support and will be heard in the Senate Committee on Appropriations in the days ahead.

To view this bill and others being considered this legislative session, click here