INDIANAPOLIS — The 2021 Next Level Agenda was recently announced, which is focused on safely navigating out of the pandemic and emerging as a stronger Indiana.
The 2021 Next Level Agenda includes five pillars detailing both legislative and administrative priorities for the year ahead.
• Cultivate a strong and diverse economy through passing a balanced budget and expanding Manufacturing Readiness Grants.
• Maintain and build the state’s infrastructure by finishing projects already underway, and developing the Next Level Connections Broadband Program with legislation to better reach additional areas of the state that are unserved or underserved with higher internet speeds.
• Education, training and workforce development through ensuring that K-12 schools receive 100 percent of their funding for the second half of the school year, as well as increasing K-12 funding in the next biennial budget and at a minimum restore higher education funding cut in the last fiscal year due to the impact of the pandemic.
The governor will continue to prioritize finding long-term sustainable solutions to improve teacher compensation. He will review and consider recommendations of the Next Level Teacher Compensation Report. The 2021 agenda also includes reviewing and reducing unfunded mandates on schools, retaining more higher education graduates in Indiana, and increasing minority teacher recruitment and minority participation in Workforce Ready and Employer Grant programs.
• Public health improvements by protecting pregnant workers by providing more workplace accommodations.
• Deliver great government service by making regulatory and statutory changes prompted by the state’s COVID-19 response, including expanding telemedicine services, making virtual meeting options permanent and providing businesses and schools with coronavirus liability protections. Additionally, the agenda calls for removing barriers for Hoosiers to reinstate their driver’s license.