Hoosier students on the right track.

A vote recount flips candidates and road funding fixes figured from the television studios at WFYI Public Media.

It's Indiana Week in Review for the week ending August 14th, 2026.

Indiana Week in Review is produced by WFYI in association with Indiana Public Broadcasting stations.

Additional support is provided by ParrRichey.

Indiana's middle schoolers are struggling with math and English, but the state's youngest readers are continuing to make gains.

Caroline Beck reports on the latest scores for the states.

I-LEARN and I-READ tests.

Tuesday's results showed that I-READ scores have improved for the fifth year in a row for the state's assessment on grades three through eight on math and English.

It is harder to tell how students are doing.

That's because this year's scores set the new benchmark for I-LEARN.

After the test went through changes and new state academic standards were established.

Indiana Secretary of Education Katie Jenner says now they're working towards improvement.

And our goal will be to take that baseline where we see it today and we will work to improve across the board, just like you've seen us do with reading.

New A to F letter grades are also expected to be given out to schools later this year.

After being on a five year hiatus.

So are the kids doing all right?

It's the first question for our Indiana Week in Review panel.

Democrat Terri Austin, Republican Mike O'Brien.

Laura Merrifield Wilson, political science professor at the University of Indianapolis.

And Ebony Chappel, director of brand and community strategy at Free Press Indiana.

I'm Jill Sheridan, managing editor at WFYI.

So, Terri, is this a significant win for Indiana students and schools?

I think it is.

as a former teacher, I anything we can do to help our kids become strong readers.

And they've lagged recently.

The good news is they're up above pre-pandemic levels.

And the science of reading programs seems to really be taking hold.

it reminds me of how I learned to read, you know, having phonics, spelling, comprehension, all those things.

So I they've set an ambitious goal.

95% is what they're reaching.

They're reaching for for everybody.

And I think if we continue down this path, we'll get there.

The trick is to get the General Assembly not to try to change things again.

Because these changes did come, you know, from the legislature, obviously, and we made changes to, you know, the number of standardized testing.

do you think that that these changes are paying off now?

Are we seeing this or not?

I mean, the legislators had a mystery how this happened.

The legislature it and fund it.

a few years ago, coming out of Covid, Senate Bill one was titled reading Skills.

It was all it was.

And it was entirely what we're seeing, seeing improve now.

And it set that baseline set of processes for, to, to find kids or to identify these kids that were falling behind, get them into remediation programs, get them into the summer school program.

and we're and it's and it's paying off, but it's not, you know, it's not it's not rocket science.

If you just like if you prioritize it and pay for it.

That's what that's what they did.

Now they're obviously pivoting to, you know, math and other areas.

And hopefully we'll see the same the same benefits.

So in year 2 or 3 years from now.

I mean, that says, you know, following the pandemic, when we had such a learning loss, it seemed and obviously we did make moves.

the test scores were delayed this year because of this new, model and this new measure that we're using.

but from what you read, seeing these scores, they're not dramatic, but certainly a lot of people were celebrating this week.

Oh, absolutely.

I think a small increase is still incredible.

And to be able to get back to pre-pandemic levels, it's unfortunate that six years that it's taken us and that's six years of children graduating from high school, beginning kindergarten, and all ages in between.

As a parent, I love the science of reading curriculum.

I think it's absolutely fantastic.

Now, what I hope is that we're still adequately funding these schools.

We've made it harder for school referendums to come about.

we're constantly looking at cutting and saving, and our teachers are doing this not because we're adequately supporting them, but despite that, I think we really need to talk about in order to increase these gains.

And and Mike's absolutely right.

I think math is going to be next, really is a big focus point.

In order to do that, we have to be able to financially support it.

How do you think we should best do that and make sure that we do not slip back?

Absolutely.

I think where you start first are the schools that fell below that 80 and 90% passing.

So if you look at certain townships like Hamilton, southeastern Carmel, Clay, they were performing very, very well.

But then you look at places like where I graduated at Wayne Township, Warren IPS they're in that 70% range, which, you know, all gains are positive.

But we need to really invest in those areas where we see that there still are gaps, because statistics show that lack of literacy skills and the correlation between that and a criminal justice system are deeply tied.

So we have to pay attention to that.

We have to keep investing in our children's futures.

Let me ask you about another metrics.

And you're a former educator to the state, moving back to the A to F grades that we used for many, many years.

And now we're looking to that to assess schools as well.

will that make sense for us?

Well, I was never really a fan of the A through F, because I'm not sure it really tells parents a lot.

You're much better off.

Like they're using the Science of Reading program and the literacy scores.

Breaking it down.

Where are schools strong.

Where they weak?

Where do they need to improve and then help them get there?

but you know, they've had the A through F, they've pulled it back.

Now it's back again.

That's what I mean.

The General Assembly can be very fickle.

And they sometimes create some of these problems quite honestly.

So I'm hoping they'll just let things rest for a while and let people work and try to improve.

It's all about accountability.

That's what the goal is for.

Yeah, it's.

The push and pull on the A to F system has always been what's the input?

What are we measuring?

What is an A grade or a B grade or an F grade telling me?

Because what what are we actually measuring?

It's easy to understand.

Which is like why it's popular.

Right?

right.

Everyone gets it.

You don't.

And we've we've we've scored these schools for forever.

We've just done it.

No way.

No one understands.

And so they tried to do it in a way that.

That makes sense, but I get it.

But what actually is behind that letter is what the real story is.

is what you're getting.

Well, it's time now for viewer feedback.

Every week we pose an unscientific online poll question.

This week's question is the state on the right track with standardized testing methods?

vote yes or no.

The last question posed to viewers is the continued gas tax holiday a top affordability solution for Hoosiers?

30% answering yes and 70% saying no.

If you would like to take part in the poll.

Go to WFYI.org/IWIR and look for the poll.

A new victor has been crowned in the Senate District 23 race.

Ben Thorpe reports Trump back candidate Paula Copenhaver have are pulled ahead of incumbent Spencer Deery in a very tight race for Indiana's District 23.

After the May primaries, the initial count came down to a three vote difference, with incumbent Deery narrowly beating Copenhaver.

But the Indiana recount Commission rejected a number of ballots from both candidates for technicalities that included missing signatures.

That put Copenhaver over the top.

She says she's declaring victory.

My reaction is, I'm ready for the general.

In a statement, Deery said the commission had undermined the will of Indiana's voters.

He said he plans to appeal their decision.

So, Mike, will this recount now hold for district 23?

Do you think I'm.

We're also hearing from Senator Deery about some accusations of impropriety.

But we're going to court and saying it's up to you.

I mean, the the conflict of interest accusation, that's more of a political line, the real issue and which I, I struggle with.

We have processes all these, you know, you know, check all these boxes for votes to be valid.

And I appreciate that.

I do have a problem.

When the voter had nothing to do with this, they didn't they weren't standing there instructing the election worker to make sure they signed off on, on that ballot.

And so that was the that was the reason these are eight, eight votes two for her and six for Deery.

were tossed is because the election worker on the back end didn't properly endorse it.

That's not my problem as a voter.

Right.

So why is my vote getting spiked?

Because and now the outcome has changed because of some.

And this is mostly a volunteer driven process.

Right?

So we're counting on people that are willing to show up for 18 hours on a, on a Tuesday to get it right every time.

rather than the spirit of it.

So we'll see what the court says.

I don't think the law is that rigid.

but we're going to find out.

I mean, they've the attorneys for for Copenhaver don't have to use all the arguments that are available to them.

so we'll see if it holds.

Yeah.

I mean, that is sort of the core of it is that it's not the voters fault.

You know, the clerks are the ones that are responsible for making sure that the ballots were correctly, stamped and signed.

And you know, if that's the case, then do we need to go back to other races and make sure that everything else is in order?

I mean.

Well, so when when the ballots are being cast and, you know, depending on what kind of machines the counties have and they have some leeway, what to pick based on some state standards.

But the real issue is the training of the workers, the election workers, both the folks in the run up on the early voting and then on election day.

And there are a lot of steps.

And when you've got big lines coming through, it's easy to lose track of where you are and whether you're initiating envelopes.

I mean, we really need to take a look at whether or not all of these are absolutely necessary for the voter.

Once the voter has proved that who they are and their identity is solid and they're eligible to vote as a citizen, then being able to just cast their ballot without having all these extra check boxes and things like that based on somebody else's performance should really be, I think, thrown out.

Well, I mean, this saga has really been, something to watch, as you know, we've been back and forth such an extremely close race.

Three votes, before three votes now, accusations that, you know, voters, voted when they should not have for, candidate that was not in their party.

with this now recount and we're hearing some more accusations of, dark money and improper relationships.

what is a voter to make of this, this race and this outcome?

I think, there are a couple of different ideas to take away from this as a voter.

One, talking about the issue of disenfranchisement, which I think Terri and Mike have pointed to, if as a voter, you show up and you're properly accounted for, you have your identification, you're doing all of the number of steps that we make people jump through in order to vote in this state.

You've done that.

And then to get down to the point where we're throwing out ballots, then there's a conversation about mail in ballots and those not, some of those not counting.

I think that there's definitely an issue about voter disenfranchisement.

But the other thing that I think is really compelling about this whole saga is the fact that every vote truly counts.

We have had a lot of voter apathy in this state when it comes to our local and municipal elections and people feeling like, oh, it doesn't matter if you've ever felt like that before, this example right here should prove to you that every single minuscule little vote truly does count at the end of it.

It might not.

Or it might not, or it might not, which is a bigger issue.

And I think that there is a very dangerous precedent being set when we are saying, oh, because I'm not happy with the outcome.

Now, I want to go through and we're going to create another set of rules to then decide that these ballots should be thrown out, I think is very problematic and is something that people should pay attention to.

But I wonder if the margin was a lot larger.

Maybe we wouldn't be in this three here, three there situation.

I don't think we went at all.

And, you know, do you think it disenfranchizes people or do you think, you know what?

Maybe, people are more fired up as, as we, as we go through this process.

I think both of those things certainly could be true.

to to the points Ebony and Terri made or the process doesn't seem to make sense.

If you're missing clerks signatures, that's a problem.

and it is a detail that's important.

We all make mistakes.

And but in this case, and to Mike's point there, you had Deery up by three votes.

Now he's behind by three votes.

You're talking about eight votes.

Every vote does count.

and it should be counted whether or not it has the clerk's signature on the back, if that's truly necessary.

I think we have to ask ourselves, why do we have this process that we have?

What's most important to include in it?

because if that was my vote, I would feel jaded.

I'd feel really upset.

I would I would feel disenfranchized, I would feel fired up.

But I feel really concerned about the process because someone forgot to sign something.

And I make mistakes all the time, right?

But now they're not going to count my vote.

And that would.

Those three votes do determine the outcome of this race.

What do you think?

There's impropriety in the process in this particular process, because of the recount commission and some of the accusations that have been made of, close relationships and so much money coming in, from the outside for this particular, this is your primary Republican Senate state Senate race.

is that a concern?

Well, the real concern for me is the fact that people relied on the fact that they went to vote and they did what they were supposed to, and now their vote is not counting.

Yeah.

Can you imagine being a voter?

And I don't even think they notify the voters and tell them, hey, by the way, we feel your your ballot out.

I mean, and it's probably a good thing that they, they don't because somebody is going to be hopping mad.

And that's what causes disillusionment.

And they do get jaded.

And when it comes to elections and they think why bother.

Yeah, I don't I don't think there's impropriety in this.

I think their calling call the shot they had in front of, Paul Mullins, a great guy, a great lawyer, you know, so I, you know, I have a lot of respect for him.

He's he's going to shoot straight and call the shots as he sees it.

I think he told us it was ridiculous.

While the Chicago Bears say they're still on track for a move across state lines, Michael Gallenberger reports on the latest look at sites in northwest Indiana.

Bears president and CEO Kevin Warren says the team continues to have occasional meetings with Illinois lawmakers, but its sole focus remains and building a stadium and mixed use development in Hammond, Indiana.

We've been working diligently to complete all of the topographical studies, the geographical studies, environmental studies, in addition to assembling the land that's needed.

During a press conference Thursday, Warren said a Lost Marsh site was found to be valuable while due diligence continues on a nearby Wolf Lake terminal site.

So Laura, is Indiana still ahead in this stadium showdown?

It certainly seems so.

There's a lot of things we don't know.

There's no clear timeline for decision.

It's not always clear what Illinois has said or offered or why we keep going back and forth.

But we do know that they've looked at Lost Marsh.

They've looked at Wolf Lake Terminal.

They're completing a study on that in terms of the ecological and environmental impact.

so it seems that we're headed in the right direction.

But I will say it does feel like a will we won't we kind of situation where everyone keeps waiting and we don't yet have a decision.

I mean, she mentions the site, this other site that's now been targeted, that we're hearing about.

I do wonder, you know, what type of environmental remediation needs to be done.

They're saying they're doing their due diligence.

is that going to be a factor moving forward, or is any environmental issue going to be, addressed?

Well, I think there's a there's a couple things that come to my mind when we talk about this.

Indiana has proven itself to be very, very friendly and accommodating to big business and major developments.

So I think that they're going to do whatever it is that they have to do.

The powers that be, to make this attractive to the Chicago Bears.

I do, however, wonder when you talk about environmental issues and also just all of the money that is being poured into the project and who stands to benefit?

I would hope that the leaders in the region are doing whatever it is in their power to make sure that their residents benefit from this progress, should it come our way.

And we are you know, we didn't hear anything A lot of people were thinking that we'd get, you know, a groundbreaking date or something.

Nothing like that.

And in fact you know there is still some talks going on with Illinois, legislators, do you think that that's still fully in play or not?

Terri.

Well, I don't think Illinois is going to give this up without a fight, quite honestly.

And what I read coming from one of the Bears, public relations people, is that on a scale of 1 to 10, this announcement was really a three.

So everybody gets all hyped up and excited over it.

there's still a long way to go, a long way to go.

What do you say, Mike?

You know, obviously when the announcement that they would move to Hammond happened, you know, Indiana, lawmakers and leaders were just so ecstatic.

do you think we're still feeling that level of excitement and everything's still on track?

I think so there were, legislative leaders up in northwest Indiana this week again.

so the relationship is really solid, lifelong Bears fan from the region.

So I'm I'm pumped.

But one thing I do listen to the the rhetoric out of Illinois from Democrats in Illinois, and it is like off the shelf talking points, right?

It's handouts of billionaires and all this, all this nonsense.

We don't structure these deals that way.

And they should pay attention to that because they do benefit the residents of the community.

If you if you took the same approach that Illinois takes to this concept to downtown Indianapolis, we wouldn't have hotel workers, bartenders, waiters and waitresses.

We're all benefiting from the public assets that we've created and we don't hand billions of dollars to billionaires.

We create these assets that create economic opportunity, that that create economic activity, that then pay for themselves and everybody benefits.

Weve got some stadiums that were not fully paid for.

Well, you never pay.

You would never fully pay for them.

because it doesn't make any sense to it's like it's like paying off your house and you can never sell it, you know, sell it to, but you do take that what's spinning off of that and reinvest it.

You build a Hilton hotel like we're doing right now downtown.

You build a 50,000 square foot ballroom so we can so we can get access to the next level of convention business and employ more people.

It's like the engine of downtown Indianapolis.

And so we're we're just replicating that model potentially in this Hammond site.

And it's going to have the same outcome that the if you look 40 years ago, what what downtown Indianapolis was like.

I certainly take.

Great pride was great for him and it's great for the people don't listen to.

Yeah, I mean, it would certainly take a while though, you know, look if you've seen those, those the area that.

They're talk about, we don't do these things like for two years at a time.

We do like for 30 years at a time.

Then we do it again for 30 years at a time.

Right?

I mean, we've had the RCA dome here for 40 years or now, Lucas Oil Stadium.

Of course.

We're about to enter a period where renegotiate that deal for another 30.

Right.

You know, so I mean, we're really good at this here in Indianapolis.

And it has served us very, very well.

It's served the people here very, very well in terms of economic opportunity and, and entertainment and all the things that make the the city the very place to live.

Well, what about the fans, though?

We've heard a lot about the pushback from the Bears fans.

And as a lifelong Bears fan, is that going to have any?

Because the Dallas Cowboys can play an hour outside of Dallas, the Chicago Bears can play, you know, 25ft from the Illinois state line.

And they'll never change the name.

We also heard as well it'll always be the Chicago Bears.

So that's some consolation.

Well, the Indianapolis City County Council this week approved a new vehicle tax to fund road repairs, and Mayor Joe Hogsett quickly vetoed it.

Zak Cassel reports that this week, actually, the council pushed back to ensure a long term road funding support with help from the state.

Before Monday, council Democratic leaders said they didn't have the votes to reverse the mayor's veto, but after some disagreement, they passed the override vote 17 to 7.

The new ordinance uses higher vehicle registration fees to match a state fund to repair and maintain crumbling roads.

In Marion County next year, the combined funding will bring $100 million to the effort.

Democrat Maggie Lewis is council president.

We all recognize that the infrastructure in our community is absolutely horrible.

And again, it required us to.

Take a hard vote in order to secure 50.

Million dollars.

During the meeting, Hogsett also introduced his $1.9 billion proposed 2027 budget.

So, do you think that this road funding match will really help Indiana Indianapolis, sustain infrastructure improvements in the long run?

Let's hope so.

I've shared this sentiment online before, somewhat in jest, but driving on the streets of Indianapolis is indeed psychological work.

It feels that way.

Whether it's the cavernous potholes or projects that you just seem to never end like where is this construction going?

Where we added lane closures, where you wonder, okay, the people that made this decision, did they do it on this day to bother me directly?

It feels that personal.

That is how serious this situation is.

And I agree with Councilor Lewis.

It's deplorable.

Like our streets should not look like this.

So it's a tricky situation because on one hand, we absolutely need the support to, you know, get our infrastructure to get together.

But on the other end, the issue of the funding as far as like what it costs when you go to the BMV to register your vehicle, I'm concerned that we're going to create even more issues for people.

So I wonder if there's something that could be done, perhaps with the county trustee offices where we're helping people with that, not dissimilar to what the prosecutor's office does when you get your license reinstated after it's been suspended and you don't have the funding to be able to do that, some sort of program to be able to help people out.

Because driving here is expensive, BMV fees are expensive, all of that.

But at the same time, these things have to be paid for in some way.

And the state legislature, unfortunately, has put us between a rock and a hard place when it comes to how our roads are funded.

I mean.

We've heard that a lot, Mike, say, you know, the state legislature enabled a 50 million.

The city had to have a 50 million match.

That was all new money.

it felt some people thought like a bit of a of a trap, you know.

do you think the lawmakers, intended it to be?

Yeah.

It falls closer.

I worked in, my group at the city of Indianapolis, but we for and for years have been looking for state support in this.

In the legislature's opinion Speaker Huston in particular was use the tools every other counties use and and then come back to us.

But until you've used the tool that we give everybody and you refuse use, then get lost.

You know go kick rocks.

And so now the city has taken has taken this step.

I fully expect the city to go back to the legislature and look for more, more money.

Indianapolis as a donor community, you know, can we change the formula on lane miles?

We changed the formula.

No, the other thing.

So we're pulling.

Or.

We're putting money in from other places because we're disproportionately impacted by it negatively.

so, yeah, I mean, the legislature said it's not it wasn't a trap.

It was just like, go, here's a tool.

Go use it like everybody else has.

Yeah.

And then come back and we'll we'll see what's next.

Well certainly road funding is a major, major issue for many communities.

It's just not not just Indianapolis here.

We've seen, you know, roads failing this week.

every penny is needed and every community across the state, is road funding going to be a major thing that the lawmakers will have to look to next year?

Oh, they absolutely sure.

Especially now.

We.

Just dug $1 billion hole.

And it's.

Going to take more expensive, you know, until things settle down over in the Middle East.

And we're able to see prices come down, the cost of petroleum, all of that that goes into asphalt, people are going to I mean, not just people trying to fill up their cars, but communities, states are all going to be paying premium dollars for any kind of road construction they do.

It's so important that we're drawing a straight line between when we we're good at this in this state.

I think drawing a straight line between a tax on paying and what it's being used for.

I'm not paying gas taxes for Medicaid.

I'm paying gas taxes for the road I'm driving on when I fill my tank.

Well, I do want to mention as well.

Yeah, I touched on it about historic flooding this week in Indiana.

Everyone, please do say stay safe out there.

And that is Indiana Week in Review for this week.

Our panel has been Democrat Terri Austin, Republican Mike O'Brien, Laura Merrifield Wilson, political science professor at the University of Indianapolis.

And Ebony Chappel, director of brand and community strategy at Free Press Indiana.

You can find Indiana Week in Reviews, podcast and episodes at WFYI.org/IWIR or on the PBS app.

I'm Jill Sheridan, managing editor at WFYI.

Join us next time because a lot can happen in Indiana week.

The views expressed are solely those of the panelists.

Indiana Week in Review is produced by WFYI in association with Indiana Public Broadcasting stations.

Additional support is provided by ParrRichey.