Proposed Bills Pertaining to the Indiana DOE, School Boards, and Superintendents - Part 3

HB 1429: Textbooks and Other Curricular Material: Expands the definitions of "textbook" and "curricular materials" to include applicable hardware, software, and other digital materials.  Removes the State Board of Education's authority to publish a list of approved textbooks, instead requiring individual districts to decide which textbooks their teachers will use.  However, the Board of Education must review a series of textbooks and publish reviews evaluating the level to which different textbooks correspond with Indiana curriculum standards.  This is interesting because this bill reinforces the value that Indiana places on local control regarding education-related decisions.  This bill appears to strike a good balance between state and local control in deciding which texts can be used by Indiana students, with the DOE evaluating different texts, but still leaving the final decision with individual districts.

HB 1369: Pay to Performance Program for School Administrators: Requires the DOE and individual districts to collaborate in setting goals for standardized testing, retention and graduation rates, fiscal performance, and administrator professional development.  Creates a performance incentive grant for districts that are able to meet these guidelines and provides for a reduction in funding for districts that are unable to meet these guidelines.  I think the thought process behind this bill is strong, as districts should be required to not only maintain high standards of academic achievement, but also maintain a high level of fiscal responsibility and professional development.  However, I feel that punishing districts not meeting these goals by reducing funding will simply not work.  Doing this only makes the learning atmosphere in already poor districts even worse than before.  I would agree with this bill if they would find some other way to hold failing districts accountable for their actions.

HB 1118: K-12 School Building Plans: Requires that districts use standardized plans and specifications in construction projects, but also provides an appeals process that districts can use if they feel that a different series of plans constructs buildings in an equally-efficient manner as the standardized plans.

SB 0408: Education Concerning Child Abuse: Requires the DOE to collaborate with organizations specializing in child sexual abuse to develop educational materials and response and reporting policies regarding child sexual abuse.

HB 1521: Fee for Disposible Carryout Bags: Requires that retailers providing disposible carryout bags to customers collect a ten-cent fee for each bag a customer uses.  Additionally, these retailers are required to provide reusable bags for customers to purchase should they wish.  25% of the revenue from these fees would be appropriated to the Green Industries Fund of the Indiana Economic Development Corporation while 75% of this revenue would be appropriated to the DOE to be used in for any lawful purpose.  On a non-educational note, I am a big fan of this bill for the work it does to improve the status of our environment and amount of trash produced by Hoosiers.  However, this is another bill that has little to do with education other than to appropriate more money to the DOE.  On the other hand, this bill does seem to wisely appropriate the funds from this fee.

HB 1283: Minority Procurement: Makes changes to Indiana's laws concerning minority and women's business practices in that it includes state educational institutions and construction managers within the bounds of these laws and encourages the use of qualified minority and women's businesses in the state's small business preferences.

HB 1580: School Improvement Plan: In schools run by the Department of Correction, the School for the Blind and Visually Impaired, and the School for the deaf, employees' associations are required to demonstrate support for any professional development program before that plan can be approved by the DOE.  This bill demonstrates the value placed in teachers' unions, or "employees' associations," by the General Assembly and extends this value to state-operated schools.

SB 0482/HB 1340: Adult Education: Introduces several different requirements of the DOE regarding the use and appropriation of federal funds for vocational education:

• Requires the DOE to coordinate secondary vocational and technical education on a regional and statewide basis and accordingly produce budget requests for state and federal funds for these purposes
• Removes the State Workforce Innovation Council and Department of Workforce Development's jurisdictions over secondary technical education.
• Assigns the State Workforce Innovation Council jurisdiction over administring the general education diploma (GED)
• Removes the DOE's jurisdiction over administering the GED
• Assigns responsibility for adult post-secondary technical education to the State Workforce Innovation Council and the Department of Workforce Development and allows them to accordingly produce budget requests for state and federal funds for these purposes
• Does away with the Commission for Career and Technical Education
• Removes responsibility for post-secondary technical education from the Commission for Higher Education

The difference between secondary and post-secondary technical education must be highlighted in order to understand this bill.  Essentially, this bill wants to place the power over secondary, or high school, technical education into the hands of the DOE.  Further, they want to take the responsibility of administring the GED out of the hands of the DOE.  Finally, they want to place responsibility over post-secondary, or college-level, technical education into the hands of the Department of Workforce Development.  It should also be noted that this bill seems to be moving faster than most bills in the General Assembly, as the House version came out of committee and was heard by the entire House on 1/25/11.  However, the Senate version is still in committee.  Overall, I feel that this bill does a good job of appropriately assigning responsibility for different aspects of technical education to the appropriate departments.  However, I do disagree with taking the GED out of the hands of the DOE, because the GED is supposed to be an equivalent to the high school diploma, and I feel that the DOE is much more qualified than the State Workforce Innovation Council to determine whether or not the requirements of a high school diploma are met.

HB 1190: Ballots and Voting Systems: Requires that school board vacancies be listed under a non-partisan title on ballots.  Removes the requirement that sample ballots be identical to actual ballots and requires that sample ballots be altered so marks on a sample ballot cannot be counted as actual votes.  Also provides county election boards with the option to place unique ballot numbers on individual ballots, removing a previous requirement for this.  While this bill really does not have that much to do with education, I feel it is a wise decision to emphasize that school board positions be non-partisan, because school boards should reflect a representation of the communities they represent and should not be subjected to partisan politics like other public offices.  Also, this bill was completely passed in the House on 1/31/11 and has progressed to the Senate.

HB 1268: Combat to College Program: Provides for several requirements regarding the treatment of veterans by state post-secondary institutions:

• A centralized location for admission, registration, and financial aid services must be formed for veteran students
• Reasonable accomidations must be made for students who are disabled American veterans, particularly in a school's fitness facilities
• Programs must be created specifically for providing academic guidance for veteran students
• Counseling services must be provided for veteran students suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
• Job search programs tailored to veteran students must be provided
• State educational institutions must create a program coordinator for veterans' affairs
• State educational institutions must establish a hiring preference for veteran students
• State educational institutions must provide credit for military training if the American Council of Education recommends that post-secondary credit be provided for such training.