republic-os/legislation/us/states/in/2020/sb-398.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Various education matters."
description: "Provides that, upon request by certain youth membership organizations (organization), a public school shall provide, at least one time each school year, a day and time, which may be during the school day as approved by the public school, for the representative of the organization to provide information to students on school property. Requires a public school to conduct expanded criminal history checks of representatives of organizations. Requires, not later than November 1, 2022, and not later than November 1 each year thereafter, the department of education (department) to report to the general assembly information regarding the pass rate of students who took the naturalization examination and post the pass rate on its Internet web site. Establishes the high school equivalency pilot program (program) for Richmond Community Schools, MSD Washington Township Schools, and MSD Warren Township Schools. Allows a student who has completed less than 50% of the required number of credits necessary to graduate upon entering their fourth year of high school to participate in the program to earn a high school equivalency. Provides that a student who participates in the program may not be counted in a school's graduation rate. Allows a school corporation to contract with adult education providers to provide services under the program if the adult education providers meet certain requirements. Requires a participating school corporation to pay for the program from its budget or through gifts, donations, bequests, grants, and funds from any other source. Requires the school corporation to hold a public meeting to discuss the source of the funds. Provides that an eligible student enrolled in a school corporation may not be a student in an adult education center or adult high school. Requires participating school corporations to report to the general assembly concerning the program. Urges the legislative council to assign to an appropriate study committee for study during the 2020 interim the topic of whether, and in what form, the state should encourage robotics classes and clubs for students in kindergarten through grade 12. Requires that the department of workforce development ensure that the high school equivalency test is administered under certain conditions and by certain vendors. Makes conforming amendments."
jurisdiction: "us/states/in"
legislature: "Indiana General Assembly"
session: "2020"
identifier: "SB 398"
citation: "Indiana SB 398 (2020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["EMPLOYMENT AGENCIES", "LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL; LEGISLATIVE SERVICES AGENCY", "SCHOOLS", "Academic Achievement", "SCHOOLS", "Officers and Employees (other than teachers)", "SCHOOLS", "Pupils (other than disciplinary matters)", "STUDY COMMITTEES", "HIGHER EDUCATION", "Adult Education"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Dennis Kruse", "Jack Jordan", "Jeff Raatz", "Linda Rogers"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 34
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2020-01-14"
last_action: "2020-03-18"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/5c8760ac-73d9-4531-b61f-f2a435957b9b"
source_url: "http://iga.in.gov/legislative/2020/bills/senate/398"
source_hash: "942deb9fd7699c454e97de652e97647757f7d762a62f47915bf136f43a217277"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-in"]
---

# Indiana SB 398 (2020) — Various education matters.

Provides that, upon request by certain youth membership organizations (organization), a public school shall provide, at least one time each school year, a day and time, which may be during the school day as approved by the public school, for the representative of the organization to provide information to students on school property. Requires a public school to conduct expanded criminal history checks of representatives of organizations. Requires, not later than November 1, 2022, and not later than November 1 each year thereafter, the department of education (department) to report to the general assembly information regarding the pass rate of students who took the naturalization examination and post the pass rate on its Internet web site. Establishes the high school equivalency pilot program (program) for Richmond Community Schools, MSD Washington Township Schools, and MSD Warren Township Schools. Allows a student who has completed less than 50% of the required number of credits necessary to graduate upon entering their fourth year of high school to participate in the program to earn a high school equivalency. Provides that a student who participates in the program may not be counted in a school's graduation rate. Allows a school corporation to contract with adult education providers to provide services under the program if the adult education providers meet certain requirements. Requires a participating school corporation to pay for the program from its budget or through gifts, donations, bequests, grants, and funds from any other source. Requires the school corporation to hold a public meeting to discuss the source of the funds. Provides that an eligible student enrolled in a school corporation may not be a student in an adult education center or adult high school. Requires participating school corporations to report to the general assembly concerning the program. Urges the legislative council to assign to an appropriate study committee for study during the 2020 interim the topic of whether, and in what form, the state should encourage robotics classes and clubs for students in kindergarten through grade 12. Requires that the department of workforce development ensure that the high school equivalency test is administered under certain conditions and by certain vendors. Makes conforming amendments.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **Engrossed Senate Bill (S)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://in-proxy.openstates.org/2020/bills/SB0398/versions/SB0398.04.ENGH)
2. **Enrolled Senate Bill (S)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://in-proxy.openstates.org/2020/bills/SB0398/versions/SB0398.05.ENRH)
3. **Introduced Senate Bill (S)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://in-proxy.openstates.org/2020/bills/SB0398/versions/SB0398.01.INTR)
4. **Senate Bill (H)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://in-proxy.openstates.org/2020/bills/SB0398/versions/SB0398.02.COMS)
5. **Senate Bill (H)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://in-proxy.openstates.org/2020/bills/SB0398/versions/SB0398.03.COMH)

## Votes

- SB 398 - Raatz - 3rd Reading — **49–0** (pass) · upper
- SB 398 - Jordan - 3rd Reading — **80–8** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Dennis Kruse — primary (person)
- Jack Jordan — primary (person)
- Jeff Raatz — primary (person)
- Linda Rogers — primary (person)
- Sheila Klinker — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2020-01-14** Authored by Senator Raatz
- **2020-01-14** First reading: referred to Committee on Education and Career Development `reading-1, referral-committee`
- **2020-01-30** Committee report: amend do pass, adopted `committee-passage`
- **2020-01-30** Senator Rogers added as second author
- **2020-01-30** Senator Kruse added as third author
- **2020-02-03** Second reading: ordered engrossed `reading-2`
- **2020-02-04** Third reading: passed; Roll Call 179: yeas 49, nays 0 `reading-3, passage`
- **2020-02-04** House sponsor: Representative Sullivan
- **2020-02-04** Cosponsors: Representatives Jordan and Klinker
- **2020-02-05** Referred to the House
- **2020-02-11** First reading: referred to Committee on Education `reading-1, referral-committee`
- **2020-02-17** Representative Sullivan removed as sponsor
- **2020-02-17** Representative Jordan added as sponsor
- **2020-02-17** Representative Jordan removed as cosponsor
- **2020-02-25** Committee report: amend do pass, adopted `committee-passage`
- **2020-02-27** Amendment #2 (Thompson) prevailed; Roll Call 231: yeas 62, nays 27 `amendment-passage, amendment-failure`
- **2020-02-27** Second reading: amended, ordered engrossed `reading-2`
- **2020-03-02** Third reading: passed; Roll Call 240: yeas 80, nays 8 `reading-3, passage`
- **2020-03-03** Returned to the Senate with amendments `amendment-failure`
- **2020-03-03** Motion to dissent filed
- **2020-03-03** Senate dissented from House amendments `amendment-failure`
- **2020-03-03** Senate conferees appointed: Raatz and Stoops
- **2020-03-03** Senate advisors appointed: Rogers and Mrvan
- **2020-03-04** House conferees appointed: Jordan and DeLaney
- **2020-03-04** House advisors appointed: Behning, Thompson and Klinker
- **2020-03-10** CCR # 1 filed in the Senate
- **2020-03-11** CCR # 1 filed in the House
- **2020-03-11** Rules Suspended. Conference Committee Report 1: adopted by the Senate; Roll Call 376: yeas 47, nays 1
- **2020-03-11** Rules Suspended. Conference Committee Report 1: adopted by the House; Roll Call 375: yeas 81, nays 0
- **2020-03-12** Signed by the President Pro Tempore
- **2020-03-16** Signed by the Speaker
- **2020-03-18** Signed by the President of the Senate
- **2020-03-18** Signed by the Governor `executive-signature`
- **2020-03-18** Public Law 86

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/5c8760ac-73d9-4531-b61f-f2a435957b9b`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Indiana legislature records).