Sec. 4. (a) The department shall:

(1) perform the duties required by statute;

(2) implement the policies and procedures established by the state board;

(3) conduct analytical research to assist the state board in determining the state's educational policy;

(4) compile statistics concerning the ethnicity, gender, and disability status of students in Indiana schools, including statistics for all information that the department receives from school corporations on enrollment, number of suspensions, and number of expulsions; and

(5) provide technical assistance to school corporations.

(b) In compiling statistics by gender, ethnicity, and disability status under subsection (a)(4), the department shall also categorize suspensions and expulsions by cause as follows:

(1) Alcohol.

(2) Drugs.

(3) Deadly weapons (other than firearms).

(4) Handguns.

(5) Rifles or shotguns.

(6) Other firearms.

(7) Tobacco.

(8) Attendance.

(9) Destruction of property.

(10) Legal settlement (under IC 20-33-8-17).

(11) Fighting (incident does not rise to the level of battery).

(12) A battery offense included in IC 35-42-2.

(13) Intimidation (IC 35-45-2-1).

(14) Verbal aggression or profanity.

(15) Defiance.

(16) Other.

(c) The department shall provide the state board any data, including fiscal data, as determined by the state board, in a reasonable time frame established by the state board after consultation with the department, necessary to conduct an audit or evaluation of any federal or state supported program principally engaged in the provision of education, including, but not limited to:

(1) early childhood education;

(2) elementary and secondary education;

(3) postsecondary education;

(4) special education;

(5) job training;

(6) career and technical education; and

(7) adult education;

or for the enforcement of or compliance with federal legal requirements related to those education programs as determined by the state board. The state board and the department are considered state educational authorities within the meaning of the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (20 U.S.C. 1232g and 34 CFR Part 99) for the purpose of allowing the free exchange of information between the department and the state board.

(d) The department may, upon request by a new school, assign an identification number for the new school.

(e) The department shall develop guidelines necessary to implement this section.

[Pre-2005 Elementary and Secondary Education Recodification Citation: 20-1-1.1-5.]

As added by P.L.1-2005, SEC.3. Amended by P.L.242-2005, SEC.10; P.L.213-2015, SEC.152; P.L.65-2016, SEC.9; P.L.269-2019, SEC.2.