BACK TO SCHOOL: New Indiana laws parents should know about

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WPTA) – There are several new Indiana laws in place that could impact students when they return to school this month. These laws went into effect July 1st.

FREE TEXTBOOKS

Public school students will no longer have to pay fees for textbooks after a new state reimbursement fund. The district will be required to cover all textbook fees.

REQUIRED TO REPORT PRONOUNS

Indiana’s name and pronouns law, would require school officials to provide written notification to a child’s parent or guardian within five business days of the child asking to be called a different “pronoun, title, or word,” according to the bill. It also prohibits, from prekindergarten through third grade, instruction on “human sexuality,” something that is not defined in the bill.

ANTI-BULLYING LAW

This new law would require Indiana schools to notify parents of a bullying victim within three days after an incident is first reported, as well as reporting an alleged bully within five business days. The new law also requires schools to report the severity of the bullying and whether the incident or incidents merit transferring the victim or perpetrator to another school within the school district for the victim’s safety.

The bill was named “TB3′s Law,” named after Terry Badge III, an Indiana middle schooler who was a victim of bullying and died by suicide earlier this year.

BOOK BANNING LAW

This law does not go into effect until January 1st.

The law requires school libraries to provide a complaints process for community members. Schools and librarians could also no longer argue, as a legal defense, that the texts in their libraries have “educational” value. The law would still allow them to argue the text has literary, artistic, political or scientific value.

There are more laws regarding education in Indiana, these are just a few.

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