A bill pending in the House Education Committee seeks to require camera surveillance of Indiana special education classrooms. Image by Getty Images.

By Casey Smith
Indiana Capital Chronicle

INDIANAPOLIS — Should Indiana’s special education classrooms be equipped with round-the-clock video surveillance?

Parents said the move would help protect kids and keep them informed of behavioral incidents.

District administrators aren’t opposed — but only if the state foots the bill. Educators, meanwhile, have been less receptive and maintain that increased staff training will better ensure student safety.

Discourse swirled around House Bill 1285 on Wednesday in the House Education Committee, though it’s not clear what if any action lawmakers might take next.

Becky Cash, R-Zionsville, during a House Education Committee on Jan. 24, 2024. Photo by Whitney Downard, Indiana Capital Chronicle.

The legislation, authored by Rep. Becky Cash, R-Zionsville, seeks to make several changes to special education practices, including a new requirement for schools to have electronic recording equipment in special education classrooms, sensory rooms, seclusion spaces and time-out areas.

Schools would also be mandated to have at least one trained behavioral interventionist on the grounds at all times who can “respond to instances where de-escalation is needed.” That person would need to be available to quickly assist with student “meltdowns,” for example.

And while the bill additionally creates a grant fund to help schools purchase cameras and meet other proposed requirements, no state money has been earmarked.

Any taxpayer appropriation for the fund would have to be approved by House budget regulators. Fitting new funds in Indiana’s next two-year spending plan is already more challenging this session than in previous years, as state revenues are projected to be much tighter.

Without guaranteed dollars, critics worried the bill would create an unfunded mandate.

Cash Seeks Further Crackdown

According to the bill, schools would be required to store at least 90 days of recorded footage so it can be reviewed at parents’ request.

An unnamed Indianapolis school corporation that estimated such security installation costs at roughly $327,000 last year. That quote did not include expenses that some districts might be burdened with if staff have to be hired and trained to manage the security system.

A legislative fiscal analysis did not estimate the statewide financial impact of the bill but expected digital video camera purchases to increase school expenditures by $2,000 to $10,000 per classroom, depending on the recording equipment installed.

David Marcotte, executive director of the Indiana Urban Schools Association, emphasized that while many member districts already have “numerous cameras” in hallways and common areas, additional cameras “could require additional storage devices or upgraded servers” — which comes at a cost.

He made clear the urban schools association would be supportive if the legislature fully funds the grant program included in the bill.

Caution was also stressed about student privacy.

“Sharing videos of students must be done with caution,” said Cindy Long, representing Indiana Association of School Principals.

Others raised concerns about necessity and cost of editing such videos to ensure only one parent’s student is visible in requested footage.

Jill Lambert, president-elect of the Indiana Council of Administrators of Special Education. Photo from ICASE.

Regarding the behavioral interventionist provision, Long said mandating their presence “in every school could present practical difficulties, while also impacting our funding.”

Cash, who is a parent of several children with disabilities, successfully pitched a related bill last year that bars Indiana schools from temporarily removing a student from instruction — and subsequently placing them in a “time-out” isolation — except as a last resort and in situations where safety is at risk.

Similar language in the 2024 legislation to require cameras in special education classrooms was ultimately stripped out.

Jill Lambert with the Indiana Council of Administrators of Special Education said her group continues to be opposed to classroom surveillance.

Senate Committee Moves Sex Education Bill

Across the hall, the Senate education committee advanced a separate bill that would require any instruction and learning materials used to teach “human sexuality” for grades 4-12 be approved by the school board. The materials would also have to be publicly posted on each school’s website.

Sen. Gary Byrne. R-Byrneville. Photo from Indiana Senate Republicans.

Republican Sen. Gary Byrne of Byrneville, the bill’s author, maintained that his proposal “will just help parents better decide whether they want their child to opt out or not” from sex education instruction.

He resisted attempts by Democrats to more specifically define what does — or does not — constitute sex education in state law.

The introduction of sex education usually starts in the fourth grade, according to state guidelines. But Indiana does not require the course in schools.

Instead, it only mandates that schools teach lessons on HIV and AIDS. Schools that do teach sex education are expected to focus on abstinence.

Even so, Indiana parents already have the right to remove their child from sex education classes.

Currently, school boards also have the authority to review and approve curricular materials. State law requires school corporations to make instructional materials available to parents so they can consent to instruction on human sexuality.

Two amendments were accepted by the committee: one excluding non-public schools, and another updating reference to “sexually transmitted diseases” in the existing sex education statute with “sexually transmitted infections.”

Democrats remained opposed to the overall bill, which passed 9-4 along party lines to the full chamber.

Byrne introduced a similar bill in 2024 that advanced from the Senate but died in the opposite chamber without a committee hearing.