A bill moving through the Statehouse would restructure Ivy Tech Community College’s governance and sharpen its core mission to emphasize student workforce preparedness.
Senate Bill 254 passed the Senate with broad bipartisan support in late January and now heads to the House after being voted out of the House Education Committee on Wednesday.
Ivy Tech is Indiana’s only statewide community college system. The proposed changes aim to better align the institution's leadership with the state's evolving economic landscape by adding three new areas of expertise for the college’s board of trustees: logistics, information technology, and life sciences.
The bill also allows members of the specific campus board to be employers that operate within the campus service area, rather than just living within it.
The bill realigns the primary purpose of the college, emphasizing Ivy Tech’s mission to be “the workforce engine for the state of Indiana by aligning postsecondary academic curriculum with employer needs and ensuring that all academic degree offerings provide a pathway to direct entry into the workforce.”
Last year, the college reported Indiana must upskill 82,000 workers annually through 2035 to meet growing job demands in key sectors. The study highlights a critical workforce shortage and a decline in skilled talent, particularly in fields such as advanced manufacturing, health care, technology and logistics.
The committee on Wednesday also approved new language that requires Ivy Tech to create an “education to employment research program,” which would inform policymaking on strategies to promote labor market alignment, facilitate talent planning, strengthen workforce training programs and support return-on-investment analysis.
Rep. Bob Behning (R-Indianapolis) said he believes the state needs to do a better job of taking a longitudinal look at how to build a workforce to support initiatives like the LEAP district, a technology hub in Lebanon.
“While we have made significant state investments into that, we really have, I think, could do a much better job of making sure our workforce aligns more closely to the needs of that particular project," Behning said. "And this would help provide that."
If given final approval to the changes by the Senate and signed by the governor, the changes would take effect July 1.
Ivy Tech, Indiana’s only statewide community college system, operates over 40 locations and enrolls more than 58,000 full-time equivalent students throughout its system for the fall of 2025.
Contact Government Reporter Caroline Beck at cbeck@wfyi.org