Proposed Bills Pertaining to the Indiana DOE, School Boards, and Superintendents - Part 1

This is the first part of a list of bills scheduled to go in front of the General Assembly that are categorized as pertaining to school boards, superintendents, and the Indiana Department of Education.  This list is quite extensive, so I will probably post it in two or three separate segments.  As was the case with the general education bills, some of these have the potential to greatly impact teachers' careers, while others have very little relevance to education at all.  The .pdf versions of the proposed bills can be found on the General Assembly's Website.

SB 0496/HB 1250: Parental Incentives for School Reorganization: Requires that State Department of Education create a school performance scale off which schools are rated in order to determine their effectiveness.  Schools performing in the lowest category for three or more consecutive years may be subject to reorganization if the parents of at least 51% of that school's children petition accordingly.  Once a school has been reorganized, another petition for reorganization may not be passed for at least five years.  If a school building is sold as a result of reorganization, it must be sold to another educational institution, provided they are the highest bidder.  Reorganization can occur in one of three ways:

1. Close the school and transfer the students to a higher-performing school within the same district
2. Reorganize the school as a charter school
3. Provide tuition payments for students wishing to transfer to another school district or non-public school (i.e. vouchers)

This bill is an attempt at providing the parents of students in failing schools with alternatives to  the failing school, and theoretically gives failing schools incentive to improve student performance rates.  Because failing schools would have competition with neighboring school districts and private schools, basic economics would dictate that this plan should prove quite successful.  However, critics also feel that this would not work, as it forces districts to place more emphasis on "teaching to the test" in order to improve ISTEP scores and would take funds out of already-failing schools and place them into voucher programs.  It will be interesting to see what happens with this bill.

HB 1331: School Counselors: Requires the DOE and other appropriate organizations to set a target student/counselor ratio that should be considered when public schools hire counselors, social workers, and psychologists.  Also provides for a set job description for all counselors in the state and requires counselors seeking initial licensure with the state to proof of performance and experience in associated fields.

HB 1249: Higher Education Scholarship: Provides a scholarship to any student graduating from high school prior to 12th grade that can be used to attend any post-secondary institution.  Further, the Department of Education would be required to amend its current policies to make it possible to graduate from high school in less than seven semesters.  I think this would provide a good deal of opportunities to high-achieving students in schools that are not large enough to facilitate college-preparatory courses for high school seniors.  I am not convinced that this bill would be effective for all students, since college-prep courses taught in high school are often of a higher caliber than those taught at some colleges and universities.  Also, from my experience, there are a lot of valuable growing-up experiences that occur in students' senior years, and I wonder if there could be developmental repercussions that come as a result of incentivizing students' early graduations?  Governor Daniels highly promoted this in his State of the State Address, and it will be interesting to see how far this bill makes it.

HB 1296: College Credit for High School Classes: Requires that state educational institutions accept dual credit courses for college credit, provided that the courses are a part of a state library of dual credit courses and that the student successfully passes the course.  This is the policy for almost all public universities in the state, and I honestly thought this was already the law.  But since it apparently is not, it would not be a bad idea to see this pass.  It provides high school seniors with the opportunity to take college-level classes while still in high school.  From personal experience, I can tell you that the 10 hours of IVY Tech dual credit classes that I had transferred to IU provided me with a great deal of college prep.

SB 0538: Bullying Prevention: This bill provides for a number of different mandates with the goal of preventing bullying in public schools:

• Requires the DOE to publish a number of anti-bullying models and plans for use by school districts
• Requires the DOE to incentivize school districts that encourage students to participate in extracurricular activities that promote anti-bullying measures
• Requires school districts to report the number of bullying incidents in their annual district reports
• School board safety plans must be drafted with parental collaboration in order to address bullying prevention
• The Advisory Board of the Division of Professional Standards has the right to set standards for professional development for teachers and administrators in the realm of bullying prevention
• Extends the definition to include electronic or digital harassment
• The DOE would hold the right to audit bullying records from school districts at any time

General Education Bills in the General Assembly

This is a list of the general education bills that are scheduled to be heard by the General Assembly at some point during the 2011 legislative session.  Bills listed as "SB" originate in the Senate, while bills listed as "HB" originate in the House.  Each bill will have a summary of the bill's text followed by my commentary on some of the bills italicized in blue.  I will highlight the important aspects of lengthier bills.  You can see all these bills in .pdf format on The Senate's website. 

• SB 0001: Teacher Evaluations and Licensing: This was referenced in the governor's State of the State Address.  It appears to be one of the most important education bills in the 2011 session, as it will directly impact the futures of Hoosier teachers.  I will follow this bill very closely.  This bill is quite large and entails several different components:
• Eliminates the advisory board of the Division of Professional Standards in the Indiana Department of Education
• Requires at least 50% of the teachers in a charter school must be licensed by the State Board of Education
• The Department of Education must revoke the license of any licensed school employee that is convicted of a felony or comparable offense in another state
• Teachers must undergo a yearly performance evaluation where his or her effectiveness is rated on a scale of "highly effective," "effective," "improvement necessary," or "ineffective."
• Teachers falling in the "improvement necessary" or "ineffective" categories are prohibited from receiving a raise for the following academic year.
• SB 0371: Penalties Imposed by Public Access Counselor: Creates an education fund to train and educate public officials on their responsibilities under Indiana's public access laws.  Would also create the position of a Public Access Counselor who would be authorized to assess civil penalties against any official or agency in violation of those laws.  Any penalties collected would be deposited into the education fund.  I really don't see how this has anything to do with education, except perhaps for the fact that the proceeds collected from these penalties would provide additional education funding.  It was listed on the General Assembly's website under "education," but I probably won't follow this bill very closely.
• SB 0428: Lottery Proceeds for Reggio Emilia Schools: This bill would establish a fund from which Early Childhood programs adhering to the Reggio Emilia philosophy would be allowed to apply for grants.  This is interesting because the state wants to use lottery proceeds to promote a fairly new early childhood educational philosophy in public and private schools.  Bloggers and advocates in the Reggio Emilia community think that the state is taking quite a bit of initiative in proposing this bill.  Click on the link above to learn more about the Reggio Emilia philosophy.
• SB 0446: Use of Public School Property by Charter Schools: This bill would allow charter schools to have access to unused school buildings owned by public school systems in order to conduct their own classes for Hoosier students.  The governor also referenced this request in his State of the State Address.  This bill would make it easier for charter schools to conduct business in Indiana.
• HB 1416: Credit Time for Approved Correspondence Courses: Requires that any correspondence courses taken for high school credit by inmates incarcerated by the Indiana Department of Correction must be pre-approved by the Department of Correction prior to being taught in prisons. 

Governor Daniels's State of the State Address

Our call for major change in our system of education... is rooted in a love for our schools, for those who run them, and for those who teach in them... It is rooted most deeply in a love for the children whose very lives and futures depend on the quality of learning they either do or do not acquire while in our schools... Nothing matters more than that.  Nothing compares to that.

-Governor Mitch Daniels (R)-IN

     To start examining the potential for the Indiana General Assembly for 2011, we must first look at Governor Mitch Daniels's State of the State Address.  Delivered on January 11, 2011, this yearly address allows the governor to discuss the successes of the previous year and highlight his desires for 2011, including his goals for the General Assembly.  This 33-minute video is definitely worth your time, especially if you are a Hoosier.  The first three minutes are just applause, and if you are just interested in the education part, skip to 16:24. 
     Education reform is clearly a central goal for Governor Daniels in 2011, as he spent virtually the entire second half of his speech discussing it.  He discussed how international students, from Japan to Slovakia, have higher academic performance rates than Hoosier students.  Daniels explained that poor schools slow economic development, because corporations do not want to locate in an area where its employees will have to send their children to poorly-performing schools.  He also notes that teacher quality is twenty-times more important than any other factor in determining student success.  In his speech, he listed several different goals for the General Assembly:

• Teachers should earn tenure by proving their ability to help kids learn - and not simply through seniority.
• The Indiana Department of Education and General Assembly should place more control in the hands of local school boards and not in the hands of the state or unions.
• Students who complete high school one year early should be permitted to apply the funding that would have been used on their fourth year of high school toward the tuition of a post-secondary institution.
• Competing public schools that have more applicants than seats available should be required to use a lottery or other system involving random selection for choosing the students they accept into their school.
• Charter schools should have the right to utilize vacant public school buildings if they are in need of room for expansion.
• Parents should be allowed to choose where to send their children to school - even if it means allowing the use of their child's state funding in a non-government school.

Governor Daniels has some pretty high aspirations for education reform in 2011.  Let's see what the General Assembly does to accomplish these goals.  More importantly, let's see what bills actually pass through the General Assembly to accomplish these goals.

Welcome!

Greetings,

Welcome to my blog!  Here, I will highlight and track the progress of the different bills on education reform that will be discussed by the Indiana General Assembly during the 2011 legislative session.  This year, the session must end by April 29th, so the General Assembly only has 4 months to draft, review, and pass bills on education reform in order to improve the learning experiences of Indiana students.  That's not a lot of time, so let's hope that they are able to make some progress this year.