With strong support from the Chamber, House Bill 1635 places guardrails on the use of high school graduation waivers, a practice that grants diplomas to students who have fallen short of state diploma requirements. It’s long been the Chamber’s contention that graduation waivers should be limited and rare. Unfortunately, the data show that waivers have become pervasive in some school communities in recent years with the percentage of students graduating with a waiver amounting to a quarter or more of a given graduating class. Even more troubling is the fact that waiver usage is especially prevalent among low-income and minority students. This is simply unacceptable in a talent-driven economy where education credentials are a critical currency that must be valued by higher education institutions and employers alike. Thankfully, HB 1635 will cap the percentage of waivers permitted moving forward, limiting it to no more than 9% of a graduating class next school year and further tightening waiver usage to no more than 3% of students by 2025. House Bill 1635 also clamps down on the rampant misuse of the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (or ASVAB) to satisfy the state’s graduation pathway requirements. Graduation pathways were intended to provide flexible options for students to earn a diploma that is more closely aligned with their plans and aspirations beyond high school, including enrolling in postsecondary education, pursuing employment or enlisting in the military. As such, earning a minimum proficiency score on the ASVAB was an option designed specifically for those students intending to join the military. However, data show that many schools are administering the ASVAB to all students as a checking-the-box exercise absent any consideration of the student’s chosen pathway. House Bill 1635 requires the State Board of Education to revisit and revise this grad pathway requirement accordingly by July 2023.
Senate Bill 404 was another Chamber-backed bill that removes graduation barriers for students, specifically those with some college but no degree. This legislation will help the more than 138,000 Hoosiers who are currently unable to access their college transcripts because of a debt owed to a prior institution. Transcript holds, which disproportionately impact low-income and minority Hoosiers, often create a frustrating Catch-22: Individuals caught in transcript limbo need a higher paying job to pay off their debt, but such jobs are difficult to attain without the ability to finish their degree or prove to an employer that they have college-level experience. While some states have banned transcript holds altogether, SB 404 takes a middle-ground approach by providing transcript access to individuals who are making a good-faith effort to repay what they owe to their institution. This consumer-friendly policy removes a counterproductive roadblock to credential completion while still giving colleges leverage to settle outstanding debts.
In a related move aligned with the Chamber’s focus on boosting Indiana’s postsecondary attainment ranking, the Indiana Commission for Higher Education’s performance funding formula for public colleges and universities has been updated to include a metric aimed at better retaining Indiana’s college graduates. Data show that Indiana ranks 14th nationally in attracting out-of-state students but only 40th in retaining these graduates. Indiana has long been regarded as a national leader in aligning state higher education funding with key outcomes, including increased college completion rates. The latest iteration of the state’s performance funding formula builds on this foundation by incentivizing institutions to focus on retaining the highly skilled graduates who are essential to meeting Indiana’s economic and workforce development needs. Moreover, this change is consistent with the Chamber’s business-minded philosophy grounded in measuring what matters and rewarding results.
By almost any objective measure, the 2023 Indiana General Assembly proved to be a momentous – and potentially transformative – legislative session on education and workforce issues. While we cannot legislate our way to a strong and vital workforce, aligning state polices and financial incentives to that end cannot be discounted or underestimated. Now comes the difficult but necessary task of effectively implementing what has become state law and sustaining this encouraging momentum in the months and years ahead. It’s a task for which the Chamber is uniquely positioned to be a proactive change agent – and, when necessary, a constructive irritant – to continue propelling Indiana forward.
