Some days the workings of state government seem more opaque than a muddy river. Other days small nuggets glint in the ever-flowing stream of Indiana’s legislative session. Today is one of those latter days because buried in the text of House Bill 1380 are a couple provisions that will have a major impact on the future of student learning in the Hoosier state. Buckle up. It’s time to get governmental.

What is House Bill 1380?

House Bill 1380 (with the lovely subtitle “Various education matters;” someone get my fan, I’m swooning over here) is a house bill authored by Rep. Robert Behning. Read the digest and you’ll find it does and/or proposes to do a host of things (“Various education matters” pulls its weight, you gotta admit). 

But swimming around in the less than inspiring government-ese are a few lines related to the “student learning recovery grant” and the “student enrichment grant.” I’ll explain what those are in actual practice in a minute. For now, here’s the relevant text of the bill.

“Makes changes to the student learning recovery grant program concerning the following: (1) The purpose for which the program was established with regard to disruption in education caused by the coronavirus disease pandemic and insufficient alternatives. (2) The limitation of the program to only certain state fiscal years. (3) Allowing the department of education (department) to require matching grant amounts. Provides that a student’s Indiana enrichment scholarship account terminates under conditions established by the department (instead of October 1, 2024).”

Why Does This Matter?

Hope I didn’t lose you back there. Saw you in the rearview, dazed and confused. I’ll give you a second to let your eyes uncross. 

Okay, ready? I promise, that paragraph is a big deal for the future of not just Indianapolis kids, but Hoosier kids as a whole. 

What’s the student learning recovery grant program? That’s the original name assigned by the legislature to the competitive grant program run by IDOE in response to pandemic learning disruptions This program is the funding mechanism for Indy Summer Learning Labs. Here’s my explanation of the two biggest points related to the student learning recovery grant. 

• (1) The program was originally designed as a response to the academic disruptions caused by COVID-19. Part of the idea was that the immediate post-COVID years needed a major response. The bill is now saying this program can continue untethered from the justification that it was only a COVID response program. Now it just gets to be a program grounded in general academic need moving forward.
• (2) The second key change in the bill is that funding for Expanding What Works is no longer tied to a specific fiscal year (i.e. one in the past). Funding can come from any fiscal year, meaning it can continue well into the future.

The last bit of the section I quoted from the bill refers to a different program. Generically: the “student enrichment grant.” In practice, Indiana Learns. That’s another program the state invested in immediately following the pandemic. It delivers grant dollars directly to families for use on math and reading tutoring as a means of helping more students succeed academically. 

Originally, funds distributed to families were set to expire in October 2024. Essentially, use it or lose it. Now, that funding cliff has been removed. (Quick aside: since federal pandemics dollars were the original funding source here, it’ll take ongoing advocacy to ensure additional dollars do actually show up in future state budgets.)

Long story short: two essential programs that support Hoosier academics just got extended.

Why Do These Programs Matter?

I’ve asked you to take it on faith that both Indy Summer Learning Labs and Indiana Learns are valuable programs that deserve longevity. Thanks for hanging in there. Now let me prove it.   

Indy Summer Learning Labs

Indy Summer Learning Labs is a five-week, free or low-cost summer learning program designed for students entering grades 1-9. For the past three summers, thousands of Indianapolis students have attended this program (run by The Mind Trust in collaboration with local and site partners), which mixes high-quality academics with enrichment. It’s summer camp with loads of learning. And it’s getting incredible results for the students who need it most. 

According to a recent release from the IDOE, “In 2023, participating students saw a 23 percentage point increase in reading scores and a 22 percentage point increase in math scores.” That follows similar proficiency gains for 2021 and 2022. I may or may not have to tell you, but a program achieving double-digit proficiency gains year after year is a really big deal. These don’t come along every day. 

Key to these major gains are the fact that the program leans into accelerated learning, not remediation as is so often the case with summer programming that tries to include academics. 

It’s been so successful that IDOE, in that same release, announced a new set of Expanding What Works grantees, which will take Indy Summer Learning Lab programming to South Bend, Gary, Salem, and Wabash. This year’s program in Indianapolis runs from June 17 to July 19 (expansion sites in other parts of the state start either June 3 or June 10). All I can say is, sign your kid up starting in March. 

Indiana Learns

“Indiana Learns is a statewide grant program supporting reading and math growth for eligible young Hoosiers.” (That’s from their website, why mess with a good thing?) Students who qualify (they must be in grades 3-8, reside in Indiana, and meet a pretty straightforward set of criteria that show academic need) can receive $1,000 to be used for tutoring in math or reading. If they spend the full amount, they can get an additional $1,000. 

The program officially launched in October 2022. Since then, over 20,000 kids have claimed their grant and over 122,000 tutoring hours have been provided. Did you catch that? In a little over a year, 122,000 hours of tutoring have been delivered to students who could benefit most from that kind of individual academic support.  

Let’s Be a State That Works for Kids

Don’t think too hard about the acronym, but it’s clear that with initiatives like Expanding What Works and this proposed extension for Indiana Learns grant funds, our state is doubling down on proven programs that are getting results for kids. 

I’ve never liked our state slogan (a little too pro-corporate for my taste; why can’t we be a state that vacations?). But it’s programs like these that prove Indiana can be a state that works for kids.