Teachers relieved, still watching, as Senate looks at scaling back ‘divisive’ curriculum bill

Greater Lafayette teachers weigh what House Bill 1134 would mean for their classrooms, not to mention their desire to keep teaching, as measure heads to key Senate hearing Wednesday

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An Indiana bill that would have teachers uploading lesson plans for community review and limiting how they deal with “divisive concepts,” including race, sex and political affiliation, would be stripped of some of its most controversial pieces under an amendment coming before a Senate education committee Wednesday.

Tuesday afternoon, state Sen. Linda Rogers, a Republican from Granger, outlined a proposed amendment that would water down House Bill 1134, calling it a “good faith attempt at compromise that respects the valid concerns of both parents and educators.”

There was a sense of relief Tuesday afternoon among some Greater Lafayette teachers at the prospects of ditching provisions they’ve called state efforts to micromanage their classrooms and to stifle teaching.

For their stories, keep scrolling.

But they’re still watching and weighing what it would mean for their classrooms, as the Senate takes its first crack at a bill educators have said will drive teachers to quit rather than try to comply.

“I wish the House would have started here rather than where we did with the original bill,” Dan Peo, an assistant principal at Wea Ridge Middle School, said Tuesday afternoon. “Even though this amendment makes the bill better, I think many, if not most of us, feel like the damage has been done by this bill being proposed in the first place.”