The 7-year-old program, known as school choice, allows students to use state money to pay for tuition at non-public schools.

Lawmakers in the Senate approved a bill that includes pieces to amp up efforts to connect students with career and work opportunities.

State Superintendent-elect Jennifer McCormick's transition team has begun holding meetings. The 17-member team will help McCormick assemble a leadership cabinet at the Department of Education before she takes office on Jan. 9, 2017.

State Department of Education projections provided Tuesday to a legislative panel show that the state's next ISTEP test is expected to take about nine hours. That would make it some three hours shorter than the test given to Indiana students earlier this year.