By Amelia Pak-Harvey, Chalkbeat Indiana

Indiana’s literacy rates exceeded pre-pandemic levels for the first time this year as the share of third grade students reaching proficiency on the state reading exam inched up to 88.7%.

The fifth consecutive annual increase in IREAD proficiency rates comes after years of state support and reforms, including an increased number of chances to take the test, mandated literacy training for certain elementary educators, and an infusion of state and philanthropic funds for tutoring and early literacy instruction.

While the latest reading scores released Tuesday are an increase from the 2019 pass rate of 87.3%, the overall proficiency rate is still well short of the goal officials have for 2027, when they hope to have 95% of all Indiana students pass the exam. It falls just below the state’s highest pass rate of 91.4% in 2012-13, the first year of the test.

Unlike in previous years, officials released the IREAD results alongside statewide ILEARN and SAT results for 2026 at the State Board of Education meeting.

Scores improved since last year across nearly all racial and ethnic groups, as well as for students eligible for free or reduced-price meals, for students with disabilities, and for English language learners. The overall pass rate — representing nearly 72,000 of over 81,100 third graders tested — includes students who passed the test in second grade during the 2024-25 school year, and includes students at both public and private schools.

Proficiency rates for Black students increased from 76.1% in 2025 to over 80% in 2026, an 18-percentage-point increase from their pandemic-era low of 62% in 2021.

That figure is well above the 2019 proficiency rate of 74.2%, and within one percentage point of the highest rate for Black students in Indiana’s history, Indiana Secretary of Education Katie Jenner said.

Hispanic students’ proficiency rate jumped nearly eight percentage points to 76.1%, but the figure is still just below the pre-pandemic rate of 78.1% in 2019.

And 84.1% of students receiving free or reduced-price meals reached proficiency this year, compared with 82.6% in 2025.

Proficiency rates for second graders also increased from 48% in 2025, the first year all second graders were required to take the test, to 62% this year. Those students’ scores will be counted toward next year’s IREAD results.

It’s unclear how many third grade students will be retained in the 2026-27 school year. Last year, 3,040 students repeated third grade after failing the exam, out of 84,000 students tested. The department has not released the demographic data of the 3,040 students retained last year.

IREAD increases follow historic investments, new mandates

Students now have up to five chances to pass the test throughout second and third grade, including summer school retest opportunities.

State officials once again reported that schools in the Indiana Literacy Cadre — an initiative that provides instructional coaches to schools to improve reading instruction — posted greater proficiency gains than schools that didn’t participate. The cadre began as an opt-in initiative, but state law requires lower-performing schools — this year, those with a pass rate below 75% for three consecutive years — to participate.

Indiana’s IREAD improvements come after a flurry of policy changes sparked by a nationwide shift on how reading is taught, as well as concern over the pandemic’s effects on literacy.

Many changes started in 2022, when the state announced over $100 million for phonics-based reading instruction, funded largely by the Lilly Endowment. That year, the department launched the Indiana Literacy Cadre, which has since grown from 41 to 770 schools.

The department that year also launched Indiana Learns, a grant program that allowed qualifying families to purchase English and math tutoring from approved providers.

In 2023, the state required school districts to adopt curriculum aligned with the science of reading. And in 2025, the department partnered with the Mind Trust nonprofit to replicate its Indy Summer Learning Labs — which provide summer academic enrichment — at schools across the state for free or at a low cost.

In 2022, second grade students were also allowed for the first time to take the IREAD if schools opted to administer it. By the 2024-25 school year, all second graders were required to take the test.

Second grade students who pass the test are counted in the following year’s IREAD scores and are not required to take the test in third grade.

A state law passed in 2024 also mandates that elementary and special education teachers who teach a content area involving literacy must earn a literacy endorsement, which requires them to undergo training and pass a Praxis content exam.

At Parkside Elementary in Columbus, Principal Chris Smith attributed the jump to a 96.1% pass rate to the staff’s focus on research-based instruction.

He described a student who, as a second grader last year, posted the lowest possible score on the exam. But with consistent data collection and “a lot of direct, explicit, and systematic instruction,” Smith said, the student passed this year.

“Now she loves to read graphic novels for fun, and feels capable as a student in all subject areas,” Smith said. “This is what she said yesterday: ‘It just feels good to be able to read.’”

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Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news organization covering public education, https://www.chalkbeat.org/indiana/2026/08/11/iread-pass-rates-surpass-pre-covid-literacy-levels/

By Amelia Pak-Harvey, Chalkbeat Indiana

A record number of Indiana school districts are asking voters to increase property taxes for various expenses this fall as reforms passed by state lawmakers last year take effect.

At least 38 districts are requesting to place a referendum question on the ballot in November for one of three reasons allowed by state law: to pay for operating expenses, capital needs, or security projects. The majority of districts are requesting an operating referendum, which covers everyday expenses such as transportation and curriculum.

The surge in ballot questions seeking property tax increases reflects the rising financial pressure on school districts due to recent changes in state law. Last year, lawmakers changed state law so that districts may only place referendum questions on the ballot during general elections, which fall in November of even-numbered years, instead of every year. Plus, lawmakers passed a sweeping property tax relief bill that by one estimate would cost school districts millions of dollars in lost revenue.

A final list of all ballot questions won’t be available until at least Aug. 1. But the number of districts listed on the department’s website just a few weeks before the Department of Local Government Finance finalizes the questions already represents a record for districts seeking tax increases in a single election and calendar year.

Half of the 38 districts are requesting to renew their operating referendums, even though their existing voter-approved tax increases do not expire this year. Five others are seeking an operating referendum for the first time, according to an analysis of historical referendums from the Indiana University Center for Evaluation and Education Policy. Many districts cite the recent property tax reform legislation as a major factor in asking voters for more funding.

Several expenses covered by operating dollars, including transportation and utilities, are growing far faster than the rate of inflation, said Indiana School Board Association Executive Director Terry Spradlin.

The 2025 changes, combined with the state’s 2008 property tax reforms — which capped property taxes for homeowners at 1% of gross assessed value —will end up costing school districts across the state about $5 billion in tax revenue over roughly two decades, he said.

“For the 38 districts pursuing the referendum, it’s not really for program expansions — new programs, new expenses,” said Spradlin, who expects about a dozen more districts to file ballot questions ahead of the deadline. “It’s really to maintain status quo.”

So far, just one district is requesting a capital referendum, and one is requesting a safety referendum.

Most Indiana districts have never sought a referendum

Although the number of ballot questions has reached a record high, it is not extraordinary given that two years’ worth of ballot questions are now being squeezed into one, experts say.

Historically, school districts that have successfully passed a referendum have a greater chance of winning another one, said Larry DeBoer, a professor emeritus at Purdue University who has extensively studied tax referendums.

And districts that have tried but failed to pass a ballot question still have a higher success rate on subsequent attempts than districts asking voters for the first time, he said. Of the 38 listed so far on the department’s website, seven have previously floated a referendum that voters have rejected.

“Even if you’ve lost before, your chances of winning this time are better,” DeBoer said. “And I suppose that’s experience.”

Some districts may be asking voters to renew a referendum years before an existing one expires so they have multiple opportunities to try and pass a ballot question, Spradlin said.

Others are seeking a referendum early because their current operating referendum no longer generates enough revenue due to property tax reforms, he said.

The property tax caps first implemented in 2008 — known as “circuit breakers” — have collectively cost school districts statewide over $4 billion in lost revenue since their inception, according to historical figures from the Legislative Services Agency. The latest tax reforms will cost school districts statewide roughly $744 million from 2026 through 2028, according to a state analysis last year.

Still, 88 of the 144 school corporations that have floated a referendum have succeeded in passing one, according to Spradlin.

“It might be (that) the publicity will cause voters to say, ‘I guess this is a normal thing now,’” DeBoer said. “But it’s still the case that more than half the school districts have never tried a referendum. On the whole, it’s not that common.”

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Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news organization covering public education, https://www.chalkbeat.org/indiana/2026/07/17/school-districts-asking-voters-for-tax-increases-reaches-record-high/

By Aleksandra Appleton, Chalkbeat Indiana

Jen Shipley would have never considered public school for her rising third grader, whom she had homeschooled since kindergarten.

In public schools, she said she saw cuts to recess and enrichment, an overreliance on screens, and not enough time to give each student individual attention, she said.

But a 2025 meeting with Indiana Microschool Collaborative CEO George Philhower and Nature’s Gift microschool leader Erin Wolski changed her mind. They painted a picture of a public school located in the woods in Hancock County that would emphasize parental involvement and a flexible schedule, while drawing from Montessori and classical education to allow students to move at their own pace.

Over the next school year, Shipley’s daughter excelled in math where she had been struggling at home. It was hard to leave their full-time homeschooling community, but Shipley said it was worth it.

“I love that she can learn from teachers who love teaching reading and math,” Shipley said. “Sure I could teach my child a science experiment, but not with the same passion behind it.”

Nature’s Gift’s, which just wrapped up its first year, is the Indiana Microschool Collaborative’s first microschool. But the collective plans to open five more sites with spots for hundreds more students across eastern central Indiana. Planned sites in Richmond and New Palestine already have waitlists for admission, a sign that parents’ interest in microschools continues to grow.

The collaborative’s approach is distinctive — and not just for its education model. In fact, the Indiana Microschool Collaborative, or IMC, could be a harbinger of how emerging models for schooling in the state will increasingly blur traditional lines.

It’s a network of microschools, which operate with a degree of independence, but it’s also classified as a single charter school in terms of state funding. And it doesn’t just draw on resources and services from a traditional school district — its CEO, Philhower, is also that district’s superintendent.

Eastern Hancock Schools, a rural district serving around 1,200 students across three schools, provides administrative support to Nature’s Gift through a shared services agreement. However, the charter school is an independent entity and authorized by the Indiana Charter School Board.

Philhower envisions Indiana microschools working collaboratively with their local districts to offer families an alternative to leaving the public school system altogether. For families, this opens up possibilities like learning at home some days and learning in a classroom on others, while districts still earn some revenue from providing facilities or administrative support.

“At a broader level, the goal is not to create separation between schools but to create more connected and flexible public learning opportunities for families,” Philhower said.

Not everyone is so taken with the idea. Some Indiana superintendents have spoken to the collaborative about bringing microschools to their districts, said Jeff Butts, of the Indiana Association of Public School Superintendents. But the collaborative’s Richmond site has been criticized by the superintendent of the local school district, who said losing students to IMC would lead to district funding cuts and staff reductions.

That kind of financial crunch would hit rural districts especially hard, said Cathy Fuentes-Rohwer, president at Indiana Coalition for Public Education.

Then there are broader concerns about whether such arrangements are appropriate or fair. Fuentes-Rohwer questioned how Philhower can promote both the district and the collective and serve both well.

“Charter schools are based on the idea that the public schools are failing to provide something for kids. Your job as a superintendent is to fix that, and provide what’s needed so that every student can be the best that they can be,” Fuentes-Rowher said. “If it’s about smaller class sizes or individualized attention, why is that not provided to all kids at the district?”

Philhower said he believes in school choice, and that all students should get to attend “a school that feels like it was designed for them.”

“Nothing is stopping us from providing that. One benefit to Eastern Hancock is we get to learn from these sites,” he said. “And these sites get to learn from us.”

Funding and operating microschools throughout the state

Indiana’s microschools have operated mostly as small private schools, although in 2023, Purdue Polytechnic High School opened the Lab School, a microschool within a public charter school serving around 20 students

The microschools’ approaches share an emphasis on small environments and personalized instruction. But with small staffs, there are some tradeoffs.

At Nature’s Gift, parents pick up and drop off every day. The school can incorporate some special education goals into small group instruction, but other services for students with an Individualized Education Program might be offered virtually, school leaders said. That format might not be appropriate for every student.

Each IMC site serves between 60 and 100 students, and will have “its own educators and identity that fits the local community,” Philhower said, though there is collaboration with districts “around professional learning, systems, curriculum design, and student experiences.”

Under Indiana law, IMC could be eligible to receive local property tax revenue from multiple districts. Philhower said IMC has not discussed participating in a referendum, and would only participate if its partner districts wanted the school to do so.

For state funding purposes, IMC is one big charter school, Philhower said. That also means the new locations are not subject to an Indiana law that requires charter authorizers to hold public hearings before granting charters to new schools.

That left local education leaders in one county blindsided.

Wayne County superintendents were not included in IMC’s plans to open a microschool on the campus of Indiana University East in Richmond this fall, said Mike McCoy, superintendent of the local district, Centerville-Abington Community Schools.

Philhower said the school works with its authorizer, the Indiana Charter School Board, on hearings. The board did not respond to a request for comment.

In a statement, IU spokesman Mark Bode said IU East shared initial information about the new school in late March, followed by a meeting with the superintendents in April.

If he had been asked for input, McCoy said he would have suggested a model within a district that would allow students to stay with their peers while also taking classes at the university. His district already sends some students to IU East for a teaching pathway and other college courses.

Enrollment in Centerville-Abington, which has about 1,700 students, has fallen in the last several years due in part to local demographic changes, McCoy said.

Philhower said it makes sense for districts with declining enrollments to work with IMC schools instead of merely losing those students. After dipping slightly during the pandemic, enrollment in Philhower’s Eastern Hancock district has recovered to where it stood a decade ago.

But McCoy said a loss of even 10 students to a microschool could force his district to cut a teaching position.

“Schools in Wayne County, we’re working together more than we ever have,” McCoy said. “It’s unfortunate that we’re going to lose students.”

What teaching and learning at a microschool is like

On a recent Friday, Nature’s Gift students boarded an Eastern Hancock school bus for a field trip to the Conner Prairie museum.

The school paid Eastern Hancock schools for the gas and the cost of the driver’s time for the field trip, said Wolski, the school leader. Two Nature’s Gift teachers planned the outing. (Eastern Hancock does not provide daily transportation to and from the school.)

Teachers at Nature’s Gift don’t typically spend the whole day with just one group of students; Wolski is the licensed teacher for the middle school, but might also pull aside a group of five second graders for additional reading instruction, she said.

“I don’t feel like I’m on an island, and my whole career, I felt like I was on an island,” said Wolski, who previously spent 16 years teaching in both general education and special education roles.

Wolski said IMC hopes to add a special education coordinator in the future to be able to offer more services — like identification — in-house, rather than relying on Eastern Hancock.

The group instruction at the school is based on skill level, so it’s easier for students to move at their own pace, Wolski said. A first grader recently joined her math group for third to fifth grade students.

These learning groups might include approximately a dozen students at a time, though the school comes together in larger cohorts to work on Project Lead The Way curriculum.

Some students attend in-person only part-time, and complete the rest of their instruction at home. The flexibility allowed Shipley’s daughter to attend Nature’s Gift in person three days a week, leaving time to attend a wilderness school program while completing schoolwork at home.

“We are always thinking about outside the box ideas,” Wolski said. “When you work closely with parents, you have that partnership, and you can problem solve a lot easier.”

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Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news organization covering public education, https://www.chalkbeat.org/indiana/2026/06/22/microschool-network-expands-to-new-sites/

By Aleksandra Appleton, Chalkbeat Indiana

The Trump administration is giving Indiana new flexibility in how it spends some of its federal education funding.

But the waiver from the U.S. Department of Education is not nearly as expansive as what Indiana requested last year, when it sought a waiver from some provisions of the Every Student Succeeds Act, the main federal law governing K-12 education.

The approved waiver will merge five federal funding streams to the tune of around $50 million over the next four years, according to U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon, who spoke at a news conference with Indiana Secretary of Education Katie Jenner and Indiana Gov. Mike Braun on Tuesday.

This strategy for federal education funding, often referred to as a block grant, is popular among conservatives championing fewer regulations. But others have criticized it, saying it could weaken accountability for the money and ultimately hurt certain students.

Indiana is now the third state after Iowa and Louisiana to receive a “Returning Education to the States” waiver from the Trump administration, which has also sought to close the Education Department. The flexibility the department provided to Iowa was also more modest than what the state originally sought.

McMahon and Jenner said the move will save Indiana an estimated $20 million in compliance costs over four years associated with administering the grants separately.

“As states, we have significant control over education. We set standards, choose our curriculum, and design assessments. When it comes to federal funding, our hands have always been tied, until now,” Jenner said.

The waiver will also allow the state to use its newly approved school accountability model as the sole accountability model for state and federal purposes.

At the state level, the waiver will merge the following funding streams:

• Title I, Part B grants, which cover assessment.
• Title II, Part A grants, which cover professional development.
• Title III, Part A grants, which cover education for English learners.
• Title IV, Part A grants, which cover enrichment.
• Title IV, Part B grants, which cover 21st Century Learning Centers.

The federal funding for these grants will not change under the waiver.

The waiver does not grant all Indiana districts similar flexibility to spend the money they receive from the state, as the state originally requested in its waiver application. Instead, it allows the state to create a pilot program for up to 15% of local education agencies that will allow them to merge Title II, Part A and Title IV, Part A funds.

The waiver also does not address Indiana’s request to redirect School Improvement Grant funding away from schools identified as low-performing. That request would have potentially diverted $25 million in annual federal funding to other schools, like charter schools and microschools.

Education advocates had expressed concern that this move would have hurt students who have to stay at the schools identified as low-performing.

Similarly, critics have also said that merging dedicated federal funding streams for specific student needs into block grants risks losing the guardrails that ensure the funding reaches those students.

Denise Forte, president and CEO of The Education Trust, an advocacy group that tracks the status of state waiver requests, said in a Tuesday statement that the Trump administration “has abandoned” commitments to supporting students and schools and to publicly reporting important education data.

“Instead, the Department of Education will allow Indiana to rewrite its accountability system in a way that will mask student performance and move millions of dollars in dedicated funding away from students who need it most,” Forte said.

Indiana officials on Tuesday rejected such arguments.

“Our funding formulas … direct a certain number of dollars per student to every school. That money will continue to flow,” Jenner said. “Now the money will be able to be deployed exactly how they need it in a timely manner.”

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Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news organization covering public education, https://www.chalkbeat.org/indiana/2026/06/16/trump-administration-grants-federal-funding-and-accountability-waiver/