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The Trump administration on Tuesday gave Indiana just a fraction of the freedom the state wanted in loosening restrictions on how federal money is spent on low income and vulnerable students, suggesting other states are unlikely to win sweeping changes.

U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon awarded Indiana a 鈥淩eturning Education to the States鈥� waiver, easing federal regulations on how the Indiana Department of Education can use $13 million in federal Title grants for 鈥渟tate-level activities鈥� including testing, teacher training, and afterschool programs. 

But McMahon, after months of negotiations with Indiana officials, did not grant the much broader request Indiana submitted last summer to waive restrictions on $350 million in Title grants that flow directly to districts and schools.

At issue are the $30 billion federal Title grants – such as Title I to combat poverty and Title III to help English Language Learners – that Congress created in the 1960s to give vulnerable students across the country extra help in school. Conservatives have wanted to scale those grants back for years, with Trump seeking to cut them and combine them into more flexible block grants to schools as far back as 2020.

The outcome in Indiana was similar to what happened in Iowa, where state officials proposed in March, 2025, a broad waiver of restrictions on how money is used by both the state and by individual districts. What started as a in state grants by the time it was approved in January.

The reduced Indiana waiver, combined with the scaled-back waiver in Iowa and a small waiver of requirements in Louisiana, suggest McMahon may not have as much legal authority to cut rules 鈥�  considered red tape and inefficient by some and guardrails to protect the neediest kids by others 鈥� as much as some states and conservatives hoped.

A spokeswoman for the Indiana education department said Congress would have to change the laws covering the Title grants in order for the state鈥檚 request to be granted.

Opponents of the waivers were relieved that McMahon did not waive the rules broadly. 

“I hope that it signals that, at least when it comes to waivers, the department is doing closer to the law than what some may have expected,鈥� said Phillip Lovell, Associate Executive Director of All4Ed, an education think tank that has opposed the waivers. Lovell said the Iowa and Indiana waivers show the Trump administration is 鈥渂eing a bit more moderate than what many of us had feared they would be.鈥� 

Nicholas Munyan-Penney, assistant director of P-12 policy of the EdTrust education nonprofit which has also opposed the waivers, said he was hopeful because Indiana鈥檚 request to include all districts and schools 鈥渓argely did get shot down.鈥�

鈥淢y sense is that they really are trying to be thoughtful about this, and are worried they won’t be able to defend parts going broader,鈥� he said.

But both Lovell and Munyan-Penney had concerns about McMahon approving some waivers of academic testing rules as Indiana reshapes its grading system for schools and districts.

McMahon did not address why Indiana鈥檚 full request was not approved at the . She instead proclaimed that it 鈥渇rees鈥�state and local funds from bureaucratic red tape compliance paperwork, and returns it to its rightful place in the classroom.鈥�

Indiana Governor Mike Braun, a Republican, and state education secretary Katie Jenner also did not address why the full request did not win approval.

Indiana Department of Education spokesperson Courtney Bearsch later downplayed the scaled-back waiver.

鈥淭he only component in the request that was not able to be granted would require an act of Congress to make it possible,鈥� Bearsch said. 鈥淚ndiana is ready and eager to lead those discussions nationally and continue to increase flexibility for states to improve education for our students.鈥�

Last year, McMahon encouraged states and school districts to apply for waivers that cut the 鈥渞ed tape鈥� of federal requirements to prove that each dollar of grants went to the specific group of disadvantaged students.

Indiana鈥檚 application last fall asked to combine multiple grants into a single fund so it could better focus the money on its main goals –  literacy, STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) proficiency and reshaping high school education.

Indiana also wanted to take some other grants to create an 鈥渋nnovation fund鈥� that would act as a school choice grant. The state proposed taking money aimed at improving struggling schools to help other schools nearby, whether charter or traditional district schools, that students could choose instead. Such a fund would 鈥渂etter support a growing ecosystem of effective, innovative school models,鈥� according to Indiana鈥檚 application. 

That proposal is not included in the waiver.

Indiana鈥檚 waiver added, however, a limited pilot program to try out combining Title funds for teacher training, reducing class sizes, mental health and afterschool programs at up to 15 percent of districts.

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