Chalkbeat’s MJ Slaby 2024 Year in ReviewBureau Chief of Chalkbeat Indiana joins Daybreak INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — 2024 has been an exceptionally busy year for education in Indiana, with policy changes that have re-shaped expectations for schools, students, and parents. WISH-TV’s partners at Chalkbeat Indiana have documented all of them, so we invited Bureau Chief MJ Slaby to join Daybreak for a year-end review. Fitting for a Q&A about teaching and learning, we put it in “Final Exam” form. Chapter One: New Cell Phone Rules “Lawmakers passed, essentially, a ban that schools all had to create for any portable wireless device'” Slaby explained. “That includes cell phones during class time. There are some exceptions for emergencies, health issues, that sort of thing. From what we’ve heard from educators and parents, it seems like mixed reviews on if they like it and mixed reviews on how it seems to be going in schools.” Chapter Two: Absenteeism “A bill that was passed requires schools to meet more often with parents of truant elementary students, and then refer them to local prosecutors if students are habitually truant,” Slaby said, referring to students with 10 or more unexcused absences. “We did some reporting earlier this year that showed that before this law went into place, those referrals to the prosecutors were not happening very often. That wasn’t necessarily new thing. So we’ll have to see now if those referrals are going up thanks to this part to this new bill that was passed earlier this year.” Chapter Three: Reading Standards “The science of reading has been a big topic,” she recalled. “This year was a bill that said if students don’t pass IREAD-3, they could be held back. So this is sort of the test year. This is the year where those students will have to see if they don’t pass. What that will mean for the coming school year there?” Chapter Four: Diploma Revamp “(Early in the year) the state had drafts of the new diploma requirements, and there was a lot of controversy – a lot of dislike for them,” Slaby reports about a process that ended up taking nearly the entire year. “They went back, revised them in August, and that latest version with a few minor tweaks was passed earlier this month. And so now it goes to the attorney general and the governor to sign and could start as soon as next school year for students to have those diploma requirements.” Extra Credit: Lawmakers in 2025 “With all with all the legislative stories for this year, I’m expecting uh that trend to continue into 2025,” Slaby predicted, promising full coverage of it all from her team. “We’ll be absolutely watching. Watching the money, watching funding for schools of all types – traditional public schools, charter schools, expansion of vouchers. And this is especially important to schools as the pandemic relief funds start to go away and wrap up. So it’s going to be ‘following the money’ all session long.” Visit wishtv.com/education for more education reporting from WISH-TV and various partners, including Chalkbeat Indiana.