Indiana Legislature Summary

Steve Hinnefeld at School Matters has this to say about the latest session of the Indiana legislature...

Recapping the legislative session – sometimes inaction is OK

As for what lawmakers didn’t do, the following measures were apparently given serious consideration but died a merciful death:

• Allowing school boards to mandate the teaching of “creation science”
• Prescribing standards for the singing of the National Anthem at school events
• Barring schools from starting fall classes before Labor Day
• Ordering a return to a single-class high school basketball tournament
• Requiring schools to teach cursive writing as part of the curriculum

Other education bills that passed — according to information from Terry Spradlin of Indiana University’s Center for Evaluation and Education Policy — included:

• HEA 1134 – Prohibits school districts from charging fees for transporting students to and from schools. This was prompted by a spat between Franklin Township Schools, which instituted a bus fee because of budgetary problems, and Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller, who said such a fee was illegal.
• HEA 1189 – Adds a spring-semester enrollment “count day” in February to determine how much money schools get from the state. Under the current system, enrollment is counted only once, in September, and school funding is fixed regardless of how many students transfer in or out.
• HEA 1205 – Requires school districts to publicize the details of proposed superintendent contracts and conduct public hearings before approving the contracts.
• SEA 268 – Establishes an advisory committee on early childhood education. Senate Democrats say this could prove a first step toward establishing a state-funded pre-kindergarten program – Indiana is currently one of a handful of states that don’t have one. But as with full-day kindergarten, it’s likely to take years.

Click HERE to read the entire summary.