Only 18 percent of Marion County educators are teachers of color, compared to the 66 percent of non-White students. But a federal grant recently awarded to the Beech Grove City Schools district could help increase the number of teachers of color and improve student learning.

Indiana education officials took the next step to revamp school accountability this week.

Providing all Marion County students with equitable access to education has been a challenge for years, and a new report finds that Black and Hispanic students lack access to high-quality education — from birth through higher education — at disproportionate rates.

Indiana saw an explosive number of COVID-19 cases reported in schools as many kicked off the new academic year without requiring masks. But since a peak around Labor Day, Hoosier schools have reported fewer new cases each week.

The newly filed suit claims the Gay-Straight Alliance club at Pendleton Heights High School has been prevented from advertising on the school's radio station and bulletin boards. Court documents also say the school principal has prevented the club from fundraising on school property.

Some Indiana lawmakers are weighing whether schools should have the option to locally license or permit new teachers. It was a main point of conversation during the General Assembly's final education study committee meeting Tuesday.

U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona praised the efforts of educators and focused on the importance of masks to keep schools open as he visited classrooms in northern Indiana Wednesday. The stops in Elkhart and South Bend were part of a multi-state bus tour across the Midwest, highlighting the return to in-person school.

School districts have jumped at the chance to implement new state quarantine guidance that allows asymptomatic students and staff to stay in school if they come in close contact with COVID-19 in the classroom. But education leaders say limited communication from the state has led some public school districts to unknowingly violate the new quarantine policy.

The Indiana State Board of Education is in the process of developing a new school performance data dashboard, after lawmakers approved legislation to create it earlier this year.

In a letter sent to schools Friday, Senate President Pro Tem Rodric Bray (R-Martinsville) and House Speaker Todd Huston (R-Fishers) outlined a plan for lawmakers and the Indiana Department of Education to ensure full funding for students learning in-person during the fall semester.