Legislative Scorecard - Indiana Coalition for Public Education

ICPE Legislative Scorecard

The ICPE Legislative Scorecard was created by the nonpartisan Indiana Coalition of Public Education and is produced in election years. The Scorecard shows how incumbent state legislators voted on bills that were important to Indiana’s public schools. We base the scorecard on bills from recent legislative sessions that:

diverted taxpayers’ money away from public schools,
damaged public control of education, or
either supported or harmed public education

Our Scorecard gives you legislators’ voting records on select public school issues from the past two sessions. This information can help you decide how to vote. The data also provide opportunities for conversation. While a vote may align with ICPE’s position, this scorecard reports only how legislators voted and does not assume their reasons for doing so. Ask your legislator why they voted the way they did. Let them know what your priorities are. When talking to new candidates, ask how they might vote on similar bills that may come before the 2027 legislative session.

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Scorecard Bills

House Vote Sheet

Senate Vote Sheet

How To Use This Scorecard

If you don’t already know, find out what state Senate and House of Representatives districts you live in: http://iga.in.gov/legislative/find-legislators/
Our Scorecard is organized by House and Senate, then alphabetically by last name.
We chose to rate legislators on a small number of bills (detailed below) that had the power to help or hurt Indiana’s public schools.
We do not list new candidates in the Scorecard, because they have no voting record. However, you can review candidates who have chosen to sign our Candidate Pledge.
Sometimes ICPE’s preference is for a bill to receive a YES vote, and sometimes our preference is for legislators to vote NO. We have coded the Scorecard, so the preferred response is in a green box; if legislators did not vote for our preferred response, their response is in a red box.

Download/Print Scorecard PDF

Printing note: use US Letter paper, select Fit, and set Orientation to Auto / Auto Portrait-Landscape.

Scorecard Bills

The following bills from 2025 and 2026 were selected for inclusion in the ICPE Legislative Scorecard.

2025

HB 1002 — Various Education Matters (Rep. Robert Behning)
ICPE Preferred Position: Opposed

This bill allows a school district to be turned into an all-charter district, and charter authorizers are no longer legally responsible for ensuring that a charter school complies with applicable legal standards as determined by the SBOE. It also weakened culturally responsive teaching methods.

HB 1348 — Nonaccredited Nonpublic Schools (Rep. Timothy Wesco)
ICPE Preferred Position: Opposed

This bill weakened the value of public schools. A homeschool diploma now carries the same weight as a high school diploma, regardless of what goes into the attainment of that piece of paper.

HB 1515 — Education and Higher Education Matters (Rep. Robert Behning)
ICPE Preferred Position: Opposed

This bill laid the groundwork for the Indianapolis Public Education Corporation by allowing separate agencies to manage school facilities and transportation outside the control of elected school boards. It also created the Indianapolis Local Education Alliance and authorized similar pilot agencies in three other regions. The ILEA board is majority charter-affiliated and appointed rather than elected.

SB 1 — Local Government Finance (Sen. Travis Holdman, Sen. Chris Garten, Sen. Scott Baldwin)
ICPE Preferred Position: Opposed

This bill enacted significant property tax reductions, with businesses receiving many of the largest tax savings. The measure fulfilled a central campaign promise of Governor Braun. While the state budget (HB 1001) provides traditional public schools with a combined $401.5 million increase in tuition support for fiscal years 2026 and 2027, the fiscal note for SB 1 projects that school corporations will lose approximately $408 million in local property tax revenue during those same years. The impact will vary by district, with some experiencing substantially greater revenue losses than others.

The bill also changes the rules governing school funding referendums. Going forward, school referendums may only be held during general elections in even-numbered years, rather than during the May primary or November election. This limits the flexibility of locally elected school boards to determine the timing that best meets their community’s needs.

SB 287 — School Board Matters (Sen. Gary Byrne, Sen. Chris Garten, Sen. Blake Doriot)
ICPE Preferred Position: Opposed

This bill ushers in more partisan politics and less democracy. School board candidates can now declare a party when running for election. Due to this change, federal workers cannot run for school board because of the federal Hatch Act. The focus on kids will diminish as the focus on party platforms intensifies.

SB 289 — Unlawful Discrimination (Sen. Gary Byrne, Sen. Tyler Johnson)
ICPE Preferred Position: Opposed

This bill eliminates several diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) requirements. It removes the mandate that high schools offer a racial or ethnic studies course, prohibits DEI training as a requirement for educator licensure or employment, and bars schools from requiring DEI training for students.

2026

HB 1266 — Department of Education and Education Matters (Rep. Robert Behning)
ICPE Preferred Position: Opposed

This bill required the Secretary of Education to create a report with recommendations on strategies to support academically and fiscally underperforming schools, including interventions where necessary. It includes language that establishes state intervention measures and adjusts language to allow the transfer of control over school buildings and transportation from elected school boards to appointed centralized boards.

HB 1423 — Indianapolis Public Education Matters (Rep. Robert Behning)
ICPE Preferred Position: Opposed

This bill created the blueprint for loss of local voice on public schools. It follows recommendations from ILEA, a task force created through state legislation in 2025. HEA 1423 forms a new mayor-appointed body to oversee transportation, facilities, and certain financial functions for all public schools within the Indianapolis Public Schools boundary, including charters, stripping significant authority away from the elected IPS school board. It aims to unify systems across district and charter schools.

House Vote Sheet

On mobile, rotate your device horizontally for easier viewing. You can also scroll left and right to see all vote columns.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES			2025						2026
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES			HB1002	HB1348	HB1515	SB001	SB287	SB289	HB1266	HB1423
ICPE Position			Oppose	Oppose	Oppose	Oppose	Oppose	Oppose	Oppose	Oppose
Last Name	District	Party

If a legislator’s row is mostly or entirely green, they generally voted in accordance with ICPE’s preferred position. In this scorecard, that meant voting “N” on the scored bills.

If a legislator’s row is mostly or entirely red, they generally voted against ICPE’s preferred position. In this scorecard, that meant voting “Y” on the scored bills.

E = Excused NV = Not voting

* Mr. Speaker (Rep. Huston) usually is a NV. If he votes, it’s a major position for him.

** Rep. Novak was elected to the Indiana General Assembly by precinct committee members in a Democratic Party caucus on Oct. 18, 2025 in Michigan City. He replaced Rep. Boy, who retired from the legislature on Oct. 17 2025. He served the remainder of her term, which ends in November 2026.