Education town hall discusses new Indiana diploma requirement bills

In a town hall at the Tippecanoe County Public Library Tuesday evening, state representatives Chris Campbell and Sheila Klinker said the Indiana State Board of Education should revise the state’s proposal for new high school diploma requirements.

The town hall was called in response to House Bills 1002 and 1243 that, according to Campbell, would shift the focus of high school education to the development of a workforce at the expense of college readiness.

“If you go back in history, high school diplomas and education were created to make it a more educated workforce,” Campbell said. “But I think that this one heavily relies on input from the manufacturing industry and doesn’t take into account enough input from colleges.”

According to the proposal, four of the six graduation paths require at least 100 hours of “work-based learning,” with the one with the greatest requirements being 650 hours. This time would be completed with one of the approved intermediaries, employers or labor organizations from the state’s approved list.

But Randy Studt, a German teacher at West Lafayette High School, thinks the new requirements are impractical and would only hurt students.

“There’s no way they’re gonna get this because they can’t get the workplace learning hours and be in debate and do a music group and be in a sport,” he said. “You cannot do any of those other things.”

Katie Reckard, assistant superintendent of Lafayette School Corporation, said kids would have no time for themselves with the new requirements.

“That is our biggest concern because, as Randy said, they’re kids, and they need to be kids,” she said.

In addition to making time management more difficult for students, many college presidents have said the new diplomas would not qualify students for university, according to Klinker.

“That’s a real worry,” she said. “I’ve been on the House Education Committee for over a decade, and I’ve seen education policy change not in a good way. It’s a dangerous path that we’re going down.”

“(Universities) did come out publicly in opposition to those bills, expressing their concern about the lack of rigor that the students would need to be able to have a future, as far as going into a college,” Campbell said.

Even though he objects to the changes’ implications, Studt said he appreciates the state’s attempt at innovation.

“My problem is, I don’t think this has been thought out well enough,” he said. “And we really are at the point now where they’re gonna have to approve this in a couple of months.”

The Indiana House Interim Education Committee will meet Thursday morning in the statehouse House Chamber to further discuss the new graduation requirements. The meeting will be livestreamed on the Indiana General Assembly’s website.