Raatz: Bill To Fully Fund Virtual Students In Public Schools Receives Hearing

Thursday, January 7, 2021 at 9:39 AM

By State Senator Jeff Raatz (R-Richmond), news release

Fully funding virtual students is among the top legislative priorities for Senate Republicans.

State Sen. Jeff Raatz. Photo provided.

(Indianapolis, Ind.) - A bill authored by State Sen. Jeff Raatz (R-Richmond) that would fully fund students attending public schools virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic for the 2020-2021 academic year received a hearing in the Senate Committee on Education and Career Development today.

Under current law, public schools receive 85% of the per-student state funding for any student who gets at least half of their education virtually.

If passed and signed into law, Senate Bill 2 would provide 100% of the state's per-student funding for students at brick-and-mortar public schools who have gone to virtual instruction for part or all of the 2020-2021 academic year, so long as those students weren't already virtually learning prior to COVID-19.

"No one could have predicted the impact COVID-19 would have on our schools when our state's school funding laws were written," Raatz said. "This is intended to be a one-year fix to recognize the hardships caused by COVID-19."

To learn more about SB 2, visit iga.in.gov/legislative/2021/bills/senate/2.

Raatz, Chair of the Senate Committee on Education and Career Development, added that the bill could receive a vote by the committee as early as next week.

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