INDIANAPOLIS —The Indiana State Teachers Association is battling a right-wing state House Republican’s bill to dissolve public school districts where more students are attending charter and private schools or being homeschooled, combined, than attend public schools.
But the measure, HB1136, may not be going anywhere anyway. In an extended interview covering this year’s legislative agenda with NBC Channel 13, Indiana House Speaker Todd Huston, R-Fishers, didn’t even mention it.
Instead, Huston talked about how Indiana state school funding, which accounts for about half of the state budget, follows students, via vouchers, instead of schools.
The school district closure bill, by Rep. Jake Tesha, R-North Liberty, drew flak from Keith Gambill, president of the ISTA, the state’s National Education Association affiliate. Tesha’s bill also drew a critical tweet from Derek Black, a constitutional law professor at the University of Southern California.
But Tesha’s measure is right in line with a nationwide push by the radical right, especially in deep-red states such as Indiana, to defund public schools—and their teachers, who are mostly unionized—in favor of charter and private schools, which resist unions and state standards, too.
A one-paragraph description of Tesha’s bill, posted on the state legislature’s website, says “If more than 50% of students who have legal settlement in a school corporation [district] were enrolled” in non-public schools as of this past fall, “the school corporation must be dissolved and all public schools of the school corporation must be transitioned to operating as charter schools.”
Tesha also would establish a new state board to implement “dissolution and reorganization of the applicable school corporations.”
Tesha issued no statements on introducing his bill when lawmakers convened this month, so there’s no data on how many school districts—and which ones—would be dissolved, or how the charter and private schools, and parents, would handle the sudden influx of displaced kids.
“I see 101 constitutional, policy, & financial problems with this,” Professor Black tweeted. Teachers Association President Gambill saw a lot more.
“Indiana’s public schools are at the heart of our communities, and locally elected school boards play a vital role in ensuring accountability and responsiveness to the needs of students and families. House Bill 1136 would strip away that governance, replacing it with a state-appointed board and eroding the foundation of democracy in public education,” Gambill warned.
“Rather than supporting schools and addressing critical issues like poverty and underfunding, HB1136 would unfairly target districts based on student transfers—an issue mostly rooted in broader socioeconomic challenges beyond the control of schools.
“ISTA stands with the educators, parents and students in these targeted districts. Lawmakers should reject HB1136 and instead focus on policies that strengthen Indiana’s public schools, address staffing shortages and ensure equitable resources for all students.” Gambill pledged the teachers group “remains committed to working collaboratively with legislators and community leaders to create solutions that prioritize the success and well-being of all Hoosier kids.”
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