# Indiana HB 1540: Chronic absenteeism.

Indiana HB 1540, Chronic absenteeism., is a First Regular Session 124th General Assembly (2025) House bill sponsored by Vernon Smith (Democratic); status failed, last action 2025-01-21 (First reading: referred to Committee on Education) (as of 2026-10-17).

- Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/IN-HB1540-2025
- As of: 2026-10-17
- Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts.

## Facts
- Bill: Indiana HB 1540
- State: Indiana
- Session: First Regular Session 124th General Assembly (2025)
- Title: Chronic absenteeism.
- Status: failed
- Chamber: House
- Introduced: 2025-01-21
- Last action: 2025-01-21, First reading: referred to Committee on Education
- Sponsor: Vernon Smith (Democratic)
- Cosponsors: 0
- Subjects: education
- Touches household money: no
- Economic provisions PRIA read: 0

## Summary

Requires the department of education (department) to: (1) study and make recommendations concerning the categorization of student absences; (2) create a list of best practices to reduce student discipline related to student absenteeism and the number of chronically absent students; (3) develop guidelines and requirements for certain intervention strategies and school attendance improvement plans; (4) submit a report concerning attendance to the legislative council; and (5) develop attendance improvement targets for certain schools. Requires a school to implement an early warning system and assemble a school based team to monitor the system. Provides the duties and obligations of a school attendance coordinator and a child study team. Requires the governing authority of a school to adopt an attendance policy and develop an attendance improvement plan aligned with department guidelines and requirements. Requires a school to collect and document certain information concerning absences.

## Bill overview

No economic impacts identified for this bill.

## Sponsors and cosponsors

- Sponsor: Vernon Smith (Democratic), House

## Actions (2)

- 2025-01-21: First reading: referred to Committee on Education (House)
- 2025-01-21: Authored by Representative Smith V (House)

## Bill text

- Introduced House Bill (H): [PDF](https://api.iga.in.gov/2025/bills/HB1540/versions/HB1540.01.INTR?format=pdf)

## Related bills

- SB 324: Criminal procedures. (signed)
- SB 231: Various corrections matters. (signed)
- SB 80: Code publication. (signed)
- SB 453: Various tax matters. (signed)
- SB 464: Financial institutions and consumer credit. (signed)
- SB 371: Workforce matters. (signed)

## Sources
- [Introduced House Bill (H) (PDF)](https://api.iga.in.gov/2025/bills/HB1540/versions/HB1540.01.INTR?format=pdf)

## Related
- [SB 324: Criminal procedures.](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/IN-SB324-2025)
- [SB 231: Various corrections matters.](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/IN-SB231-2025)
- [SB 80: Code publication.](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/IN-SB80-2025)
- [SB 453: Various tax matters.](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/IN-SB453-2025)
- [SB 464: Financial institutions and consumer credit.](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/IN-SB464-2025)
- [SB 371: Workforce matters.](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/IN-SB371-2025)
- [Indiana bills](https://policyrisk.com/states/indiana/bills)
- [Indiana state hub](https://policyrisk.com/states/indiana)
- [All state legislation](https://policyrisk.com/state-bills)

Source: PRIA, https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/IN-HB1540-2025 (as of 2026-10-17).