Law / United States / 
Indiana
Indiana Code section 20-26-5-40.5, school Internet use policy, content filter and parental device controls
In force since .
An education rule binding government bodies.
- Criminal exposure
- No
- Private right of action
- No
- Audit expectation
- none
What it requires
- This section binds each school corporation and charter school and places no duty on an online service or an app developer: it is the school's own duty to filter the devices it owns and to give parents controls over them (Ind. Code sec. 20-26-5-40.5).
- Adopt and implement an Internet use policy that prohibits sending, receiving, viewing or downloading materials that are harmful to minors (as described in IC 35-49-2-2) on computers and other technology related devices the school corporation or charter school owns, and that establishes appropriate disciplinary measures against persons violating the policy (subsection (a)).
- Use hardware or install software on those devices to filter or block Internet access to materials that are harmful to minors (subsection (b)).
- Not later than , adopt and implement a policy that enables the parent of a student to increase the strength of the filter, block access to websites or content accessible on those devices, and limit the amount of time the student may use a device, while the student is not in school or engaged in virtual instruction or remote learning, and inform each parent of a student enrolled in the school of that policy (subsection (c)).
- Post the Internet use policy on the school corporation's or charter school's website (subsection (d)).
- A school with a vendor contract on that provides for the filter but cannot provide for the parent controls is exempt from the parent-control policy until the contract expires or is renewed, and that exemption expires (subsection (e)).
These lines are LexLint's reading of the law's text.
Who enforces it
Enforcement body
None stated. The section names no regulator, creates no enforcement power and sets no penalty.
What it reaches
Covered services
None directly: the duties run to school corporations and charter schools, which must filter and block materials harmful to minors on the computers and other devices they own and give a student's parent controls over those devices outside school.
Instrument type
an act of a legislature
What record it asks for
Logging duty
The section requires a school to filter or block access to materials harmful to minors and to adopt policies, and requires no age check, no log and no retention period.
- Kind
- None
- As of
What this law does
Section 40.5 requires each school corporation and charter school to adopt and implement an Internet use policy that prohibits the sending, receiving, viewing or downloading of materials that are harmful to minors on computers and other technology related devices the school corporation or charter school owns.
The section also requires each school corporation and charter school to use hardware or install software on those devices to filter or block Internet access to materials that are harmful to minors.
Except as the section provides for a school with a qualifying vendor contract, each school corporation and charter school must, not later than , adopt and implement a policy that enables the parent of a student to increase the strength of the filter, block access to websites or content, and limit the amount of time the student may use the device while the student is not in school or engaged in virtual instruction or remote learning.
A school that must adopt the parent policy must inform each parent of a student enrolled in the school of that policy. Each school corporation and charter school must post its Internet use policy on its website. A school that had a contract with a vendor on that implements the filter but cannot implement the parent controls is exempt from the parent policy until the contract expires or is renewed, and the exemption expires . The section was added by Public Law 164 of 2021 and was most recently amended by Public Law 74 of 2026.
When LexLint raises it
When your app profile says your app serves K-12 schools.
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