Indiana’s 124th General Assembly began on December 1, 2025 and concluded February 27,2026.
As an even year, this was a short session. This means any agency or programs requesting government funding must be declared an emergency act. Indiana continues to face an expected budget deficit, so the likelihood of passing bills requiring government spending was greatly reduced.
IAHE Action processed 3,755 documents throughout the session-1,000 fewer documents than the year previous. Our all-volunteer team monitored updates, communicated with legislators, and testified on bills impacting home education, parental rights, homesteading, and property taxes. Four hundred seventy-two bills were continuously tracked during the first half of the session. That number decreased to fewer than 20 bills when legislation crossed chambers. By session end, we were monitoring 17 bills.
Our state-of-the-art software allows us to monitor several metrics, one of which is keyword queries. The top 5 query hits this year were “post-secondary”, “mental health”, “assessment” or “testing”, “charter school”, and “tax credit”.
We continue to work with the Indiana legislature dutifully and respectfully to preserve the parental right to educate our children free of Government interference.
Bills that impacted Indiana homeschoolers and their outcomes:
HB 1032: Redistricting
Authored by: Representative Ben Smaltz
Final Status: Failed
HB 1032 sought to redistrict both state house of representatives and senate districts per the 2020 census data.
HB 1035: Permissible unsupervised activity
Authored by: Representative Jake Teshka
Final Status: Passed
HB 1035 sought to define “independent activity” as it pertains to minor children without the supervision of a parent, guardian, or custodian.
This bill makes it clear that minors are permitted to travel on foot, by bicycle, or public transportation, play out doors, stay at home alone, or remain in a car at rest. It goes on to specify that such a child is not classified as a child in need of services (CHINS) per DCS law.
HB 1106: Various family matters
Authored by: Representative Ethan Manning
Current Status: Failed
Amongst other things, HB 1106 sought to require DCS to collect a medical history on children and families involved in investigations. It would also require that ever guardian and biological parent receive medically history forms and any updates to the child’s health. HB 1106 would also make false reporting a Class A misdemeanor and could lead to a class 6 felony.
HB 1169: College savings tax credit
Authored by: Representative Sheila Klinker
Final Status: Failed
HB 1169 would have increased the 529 contribution amount from $1,500 a year to $2,500 a year.
HB 1288: Local government finance
Authored by: Representative J.D. Prescott
Final Status: Failed
HB 1288, also known as the property tax bill, would have abolished the office of the county assessors. Property taxes would have been abolished, and consumption taxes would have been instituted. County treasurers would have been taxed with sending all consumption and retail tax money to the Treasurer of the State (ToS). Those monies would have been deposited into the State General Fund. All publicly-funded schools would have been required to report monthly enrollment numbers to the State. The State Comptroller would then allocate the amount to be paid to each publicly-funded school, and ToS would pay the publicly-funded schools per month based on the current student counts. If the general fund had a deficit, all property owners would be sent a bill (aka a property bill) no later than April 15th for two distribution dates. (Additional formulas for funding state governments are also included.)
HB 1318: Physical examinations in CHINS investigations
Authored by: Representative Carolyn Jackson
Final Status: Failed
HB 1318 would have allowed DCS to examine a child’s, under the age of 5, head, face, arms, legs, chest, and back for bruises or contusions in the event a report of suspected child abuse is made. It would also have given DCS the ability to immediately remove a child into custody, record all injuries, and give any health screening or imaging without the parent’s consent.
HB 1424: Farm and homestead food sales
Authored by: Representative Hunter Smith
Final Status: Passed
HB 1424 creates certain exemptions for homestead vendors and small farms and creates a new chapter: Regulation of Community Producers. This defines homestead vendor, meat product, produce, and small farm. It also dictates what types of products can be sold on the homestead or small farm’s premises. Product label requirements are also addressed.
SB 52: Grandparent Visitation
Authored by: Senator Brett Clark, Sen. Kyle Walker
Final Status: Sent to Summer Study Committee
SB 52 would have required a parent who has terminated the relationship between child and grandparent to submit documentation to the judge justifying the parent’s decision.
SB 88: Various Education Matters
Authored by: Senator Gary Byrne, Sen. Jeff Raatz, Sen. Spencer Deery
Final Status: Passed
SB 88 requires that all public and charter schools must teach the importance of obtaining at least a high school diploma, acquiring additional training in preparation for the workforce, being employed full-time, and waiting for marriage to begin having children. In addition, SB 88 acknowledges the Classic Learning Test (CLT) as a college admittance test option in the state.
SB 124: Age for compulsory school attendance
Authored by: Senator Greg Taylor
Final Status: Failed
SB 124 would have lowered compulsory age from 7 years of age to 5 years of age by August 1.
SB 201: Protecting children from family violence
Authored by: Senator James Tomes
Final Status: Failed
SB 201 sought to update the definition of domestic or family violence to include “verbal, emotional, economic, litigious, or psychological abuse”, “Isolation”, “threats, including threats to seek child custody or joint custody as a means to coerce an individual to return or punish an individual for leaving”, “controlling behavior”, “monitoring”, “stalking (as defined in IC 35-45-10-1)”, and “a sex offense.” No definitions of these terms was included in the bill. FSSA would have determined the definitions.
SB 263: Child and dependent care tax credit
Authored by: Senator J.D. Ford
Final Status: Failed
SB 263 would have given a refundable child and dependent care tax credit ranging from $200-$1,000 to taxpayers not earning more than 250% of the federal poverty level.