Indiana’s 2024 legislative session begins Monday, kicking off 10 weeks of work that will end no later than mid-March.

Republican legislative leaders have said they don’t want 2024 to be about big changes. Instead, they point to last year’s work — on issues including public health, mental health, housing and education — and stress that this year should be about small changes to existing initiatives.

And they absolutely don’t want to spend any money this year. That’s typical for a short session. But fiscal leaders doubled down on their insistence that Indiana not reopen its current, two-year state budget after a forecasting error by the state Medicaid program revealed last month that it will need $1 billion more in the current budget cycle than previously expected.

While full agendas will be released in the coming days, we already know that student reading proficiency, chronic absenteeism in schools and increasing child care access will be top priorities in 2024.

Brandon is our Statehouse bureau chief. Contact him at bsmith@ipbs.org or follow him on Twitter at @brandonjsmith5.