republic-os/legislation/us/states/in/2023/hb-1638.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Education matters."
description: "Requires the department of education (department) to report to the legislative council findings and recommendations for reducing the amount of redundant data that schools are required to submit to state agencies. Provides that a student presently enrolled in a public high school may retake a virtual course that was previously completed by the student at the same public high school under certain conditions. Provides that if a student elects to retake a virtual course, the retaken course must meet certain criteria. Provides that a student who has retaken a course before July 1, 2023, must receive full credit and a replacement grade for the course under certain conditions. Provides that the department shall require publication of a corrected graduation rate as prescribed by the department (instead of in the next school year's report). Provides that before July 1, 2024, the department may establish or license for use an online platform to provide certain required training programs. Moves up deadlines for recommending and approving streamlined academic standards in order to implement the new standards in the 2023-2024 school year. Provides that the department shall: (1) consider the skills, knowledge, and practices that are necessary to understand and utilize emerging technologies and that may be rendered obsolete by emerging technologies; (2) consider for removal any academic standards that may be obsolete as a result of emerging technologies; and (3) provide support to school corporations regarding the implementation of revised academic standards that have an emerging technologies component. Provides that individuals appointed to an academic standards committee must be racially and geographically diverse. Requires employers to report the employment of students enrolled in work based learning courses to the department of workforce development. Requires a secondary or postsecondary educational institution to ensure that a student's completion of a work based learning course is indicated on the student's transcript. Establishes a science of reading grant. Repeals: (1) the school corporation annual performance report law; (2) the charter school obligation to publish an annual performance report; (3) the performance based awards law; and (4) annual financial reports by school corporations."
jurisdiction: "us/states/in"
legislature: "Indiana General Assembly"
session: "2023"
identifier: "HB 1638"
citation: "Indiana HB 1638 (2023)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["BOARDS AND BOARD MEMBERSHIP", "EDUCATION", "Secretary of Education", "State Department and Boards", "LABOR AND EMPLOYMENT", "State Department and Agencies", "SCHOOLS generally (K-12)", "SCHOOLS", "Academic Achievement", "SCHOOLS", "Curricula", "TECHNOLOGY"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Jeff Raatz", "John Crane", "Robert Behning"]
version_count: 6
action_count: 34
vote_count: 1
first_action: "2023-01-19"
last_action: "2023-05-04"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/d697c097-4407-4b86-b232-5250b62bcafd"
source_url: "http://iga.in.gov/legislative/2023/bills/house/1638"
source_hash: "b29d5164ee04b3163d7fd8105176306aa70ca58dc45990ce6b4560c88fa6c8d1"
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 HB 1638 (2023) — Education matters.

Requires the department of education (department) to report to the legislative council findings and recommendations for reducing the amount of redundant data that schools are required to submit to state agencies. Provides that a student presently enrolled in a public high school may retake a virtual course that was previously completed by the student at the same public high school under certain conditions. Provides that if a student elects to retake a virtual course, the retaken course must meet certain criteria. Provides that a student who has retaken a course before July 1, 2023, must receive full credit and a replacement grade for the course under certain conditions. Provides that the department shall require publication of a corrected graduation rate as prescribed by the department (instead of in the next school year's report). Provides that before July 1, 2024, the department may establish or license for use an online platform to provide certain required training programs. Moves up deadlines for recommending and approving streamlined academic standards in order to implement the new standards in the 2023-2024 school year. Provides that the department shall: (1) consider the skills, knowledge, and practices that are necessary to understand and utilize emerging technologies and that may be rendered obsolete by emerging technologies; (2) consider for removal any academic standards that may be obsolete as a result of emerging technologies; and (3) provide support to school corporations regarding the implementation of revised academic standards that have an emerging technologies component. Provides that individuals appointed to an academic standards committee must be racially and geographically diverse. Requires employers to report the employment of students enrolled in work based learning courses to the department of workforce development. Requires a secondary or postsecondary educational institution to ensure that a student's completion of a work based learning course is indicated on the student's transcript. Establishes a science of reading grant. Repeals: (1) the school corporation annual performance report law; (2) the charter school obligation to publish an annual performance report; (3) the performance based awards law; and (4) annual financial reports by school corporations.

## Version chain

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

1. **Enrolled House Bill (H)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://in-proxy.openstates.org/2023/bills/HB1638/versions/HB1638.06.ENRS)
2. **House Bill (H)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://in-proxy.openstates.org/2023/bills/HB1638/versions/HB1638.02.COMH)
3. **House Bill (H)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://in-proxy.openstates.org/2023/bills/HB1638/versions/HB1638.03.COMH)
4. **House Bill (S)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://in-proxy.openstates.org/2023/bills/HB1638/versions/HB1638.05.COMS)
5. **House Bill (S)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://in-proxy.openstates.org/2023/bills/HB1638/versions/HB1638.04.COMS)
6. **Introduced House Bill (H)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://in-proxy.openstates.org/2023/bills/HB1638/versions/HB1638.01.INTR)

## Votes

- HB 1638 - Raatz - 3rd Reading — **40–10** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Jeff Raatz — primary (person)
- John Crane — primary (person)
- Robert Behning — primary (person)
- Jack Jordan — coauthor (person)
- Linda Rogers — cosponsor (person)
- Michelle Davis — coauthor (person)
- Vernon Smith — coauthor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2023-01-19** Coauthored by Representatives Davis and Smith V
- **2023-01-19** Authored by Representative Behning
- **2023-01-19** First reading: referred to Committee on Education `reading-1, referral-committee`
- **2023-02-16** Committee report: amend do pass, adopted `committee-passage`
- **2023-02-16** Referred to the Committee on Ways and Means pursuant to House Rule 127
- **2023-02-21** Committee report: amend do pass, adopted `committee-passage`
- **2023-02-21** Representative Jordan added as coauthor
- **2023-02-23** Second reading: ordered engrossed `reading-2`
- **2023-02-27** Third reading: passed; Roll Call 247: yeas 94, nays 0 `passage, reading-3, reading-3`
- **2023-02-27** Senate sponsors: Senators Raatz and Crane
- **2023-02-28** Referred to the Senate `referral`
- **2023-03-06** First reading: referred to Committee on Education and Career Development `reading-1, referral-committee`
- **2023-04-06** Committee report: do pass adopted; reassigned to Committee on Appropriations `committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2023-04-13** Committee report: amend do pass, adopted `committee-passage`
- **2023-04-17** Amendment #1 (Hunley) failed; voice vote `amendment-failure, failure`
- **2023-04-17** Second reading: ordered engrossed `reading-2`
- **2023-04-18** Third reading: passed; Roll Call 454: yeas 40, nays 10 `passage, reading-3, reading-3`
- **2023-04-18** Senator Rogers added as cosponsor
- **2023-04-19** Returned to the House with amendments `receipt`
- **2023-04-19** Motion to dissent filed `filing`
- **2023-04-19** House dissented from Senate amendments
- **2023-04-20** House conferees appointed: Behning and Smith V
- **2023-04-20** House advisors appointed: Davis, Teshka and DeLaney
- **2023-04-20** Senate conferees appointed: Raatz and Hunley
- **2023-04-20** Senate advisors appointed: Qaddoura and Crane
- **2023-04-27** CCR # 1 filed in the House `filing`
- **2023-04-27** CCR # 1 filed in the Senate `filing`
- **2023-04-27** Rules Suspended. Conference Committee Report 1: adopted by the House; Roll Call 549: yeas 92, nays 0
- **2023-04-27** Rules Suspended. Conference Committee Report 1: adopted by the Senate; Roll Call 528: yeas 42, nays 8
- **2023-04-28** Signed by the President of the Senate `passage`
- **2023-04-28** Signed by the President Pro Tempore `passage`
- **2023-05-01** Signed by the Speaker `passage`
- **2023-05-04** Signed by the Governor `executive-signature`
- **2023-05-04** Public Law 250 `became-law`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/d697c097-4407-4b86-b232-5250b62bcafd`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Indiana legislature records).