INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — A bill that would require cursive writing in elementary schools has passed the State Senate.

The bill will now go to the House for consideration. If passed and signed into law, House Bill 1066 would, among other things, require each school corporation, charter school and accredited nonpublic elementary school to include cursive writing in its curriculum.

But, if the last nine legislative sessions are indicators of the bill’s future, it may not go any further. Cursive writing legislation has been introduced in all of those legislative sessions and failed to make it to the governor’s desk.

In 2019, State Sen. Jean Leising also noted that within the last year, Illinois, Ohio and Texas had joined the majority of states in requiring the teaching of cursive in elementary school. Also, she said, many private schools in Indiana have continued to teach cursive, creating a disparity between public and private schools.

Arguments in favor of eliminating the teaching of cursive have pointed toward increased communication via keyboards and the small proportions of adults who use cursive for day-to-day writing. It has also been argued that students should have more important skills than cursive writing as part of their Common Core standards.