Indiana Statehouse: Letter grades and partisan school boards on agenda

Yes, and: The budget, property tax relief and health care costs — all priority issues heading into session — are hitting snags that likely won't get worked out this week.

Here's what we're watching instead:

🟢 Partisan school boards nearing finish line

Should it pass the House, which could vote as early as Monday, Senate Bill 287 will have passed both chambers — a first for a bill to make Indiana's school board elections partisan.

Yes, but: The version passed by the Senate is substantially different from what the House is considering, so there's no guarantee lawmakers will come to an agreement.

• The Senate would have school board candidates follow the same nomination process as any other political candidate, while the House version skips primaries and still provides a nonpartisan option.

What's next: If the House passes SB 287, the Senate could accept the new version or go to a conference committee and work out a compromise.

🟢 A-F grades coming back

Schools could soon get graded again if House Bill 1498 passes the Senate.

• It's up for floor amendments as early as today, which means it could get a final vote in that chamber later this week.

How it works: The bill would have the State Board of Education remake Indiana's school accountability system for what feels like the umpteenth time.

• It would go back to an A-to-F system, but taking into account more than just test scores.
• The state currently uses an "accountability dashboard" that displays various performance metrics.
• The bill instructs the board to include "other factors" it considers relevant, which would likely include chronic absenteeism rates and third-grade reading proficiency.

⏳ Rethinking religious education time

Senate Bill 255 would allow high school students to miss more classroom time to attend religious instruction during the school day.

Flashback: Last year, lawmakers passed legislation requiring schools to permit students to leave school for two hours each week for religious instruction.

• Sen. Spencer Deery, R-West Lafayette, said that equates to kids missing class 2.5 days a week.

• "That's not good for the schools, the students, that's not good for anybody," he said.

The latest: SB 255 would give high school students more time, essentially letting them replace one elective course with religious instruction provided outside their school — rather than missing half a class each week.

Yes, but: Rep. Bob Behning, chair of the House Education Committee, did not hold a vote on the bill last week saying the committee needed more time to understand it.

• An agenda for this week's education committee hasn't been released yet.

🚬 Cigarette tax on the table

House Bill 1001 is still sitting with the Senate Appropriations Committee, which took public testimony on the state's two-year spending plan last week.

• Senate President Pro Tempore Rodric Bray, R-Martinsville, told reporters his caucus is more open this year to raising the cigarette tax than it has been in the past.

What he's saying: "Perhaps that's partly because there's some challenges that we have," Bray said. "It's going to be a challenging budget year in the best of circumstances, even assuming that the April forecast doesn't get worse and that's not guaranteed because it looks like it could be problematic."

• If the Senate's budget proposal does include an increase in the cigarette tax, he said, the money would likely be dedicated to public health funding.