STATEHOUSE (Feb. 2, 2026) – The Indiana House of Representatives passed State Rep. Bob Behning's (R-Indianapolis) legislation to further reduce regulations on the state's K-12 schools, a House Republican priority effort.
Last year, the governor signed Behning's bill into law that removed outdated and duplicate text in Indiana's education statutes to give schools more control over local decisions. That law decreased Indiana's education regulations by more than 35,000 words. With House Bill 1004 this year, Behning expects thousands of additional words to be removed from code.
"This year's legislation is another bite at the apple in terms of removing restrictive, redundant and unnecessary statutory requirements across state and local education entities," Behning said. "Specifically, it cleans up conflicting definitions, confusing compliance requirements, and unused programs and funds throughout Indiana code. The goal is to really get out of the way and let educators do what they do best and try to reduce the number of regulations that we have."
Behning noted that for this year's bill, all four legislative caucuses, Republican and Democrat, were invited to participate in the effort. He also reached out to several statewide education associations representing educators, administrators, school board members, superintendents, principals and teachers unions, as well as organizations that represent both traditional public schools, public charter schools and non-public schools, for input.
"This has been a collaborative process, and I want to thank everyone who contributed to what's been an unbelievable undertaking in terms of time and effort," Behning said. "I hope that the net effect results in significantly fewer and less demanding regulations so that our schools can focus less on red tape and more on educating our kids."
After hearing from concerned Hoosiers, Behning said the bill was amended to restore two policies: Jake’s Law, which requires Indiana K-2 schools to have automated external defibrillators at extracurricular events, and Hunter’s Law, which provides additional protections for students with diabetes.
HB 1004 now goes to the Senate for consideration. Watch session and committees live, and view legislation at iga.in.gov.
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State Rep. Bob Behning (R-Indianapolis) represents House District 91,
which includes a portion of Marion County.
Click here to download a high-resolution photo.
