Legislative Update, Feb. 17
02/17/2017
The first half of the General Assembly is nearing and bills are moving quickly. The critical bills seem to always come near the end, and this year is no different.
Be sure join us this Monday, President's Day, for the Celebration for Public Education at the Statehouse in Indianapolis. ISTA will host the event alongside a coalition of public school advocacy groups.
Below are the top education-related bills on our radar this week. For updates from the Statehouse, read our posts on Twitter at @ISTAmembers.
HB 1001 (Rep. Timothy Brown, R - Crawfordsville) Biennial Budget and School Funding
House Republicans offered their version of the budget/formula- now calling for a 1.1 percent statewide average increase in 2018 and 1.7 percent in 2019.
ISTA testified that legislators can do better and urged lawmakers to find a way to prioritize their community-based public schools so that all public school students have an equal opportunity to reach academic standards.
This new version appears to reduce dollars attributable to complexity (poverty) by about $137 million in the first year, then straight-lined in the second-which has the effect of doubling the loss over two years. Likely, the explanation will be that they moved those monies into the K-12 foundation funding to help all kids.
However, complexity dollars recognize that kids are not all the same, that communities do not enjoy all of the same opportunities, and that poverty does negatively impact learning. Transferred money from the complexity line item should not be viewed as new money-they are re-arranging existing funds. This is problematic.
Close to half of the community school districts would see a cut in regular education funding from the prior year in 2018. This is not sustainable for these districts, some of which have seen real cuts over several years.
The funding formula, by school corporation, has been made available on the General Assembly website.
Here are some positive points to share:
- A significant bump in funding to English Language Learner programs, going from $200 per student to $300 in 2018 and $350 in 2019.
- A 2 percent increase in the most severe category for special education funding in the first year.
- Academic Honors funding would receive increases as well.
- The 13th check for retirees is funded.
However, a significant change in the House budget strips $84 million in teacher performance bonus money over the two-year period ($40 million each year under the bonus program and $2 million each year for bonuses to teachers who would not otherwise receive one due to working in a D or F school).
Make no mistake - ISTA is not a believer that paying teachers by stipend should be the model. The implementation of these bonuses has not been consistent, or fair. However, the $84 million was set aside specifically to augment teacher compensation, address teacher needs and lessen the teacher shortage. Those goals are being abandoned and the funds are ostensibly being re-allocated for any or all of the following new priorities:
- Virtual charter schools receiving 100 percent of the per-student funding that brick and mortar schools receive, increased from the current 90 percent.
- A 20 percent increase for grants to innovative network charter schools.
- A new $5 million grant program to encourage traditional school districts to consolidate.
- A new $3 million for career pathways.
- A 4 percent increase to a few adult charter schools.
- Another $26 million over the biennium in new money for vouchers.
- A reserve of $41 million to fund new charters.
- A new entitlement for private schools (accredited or not) to receive state grants to employ their own school resource officers.
- Providing an initial 31 percent larger limit on the tax credits available to taxpayers who contribute money to fund private school tuition subsidies.
These are the trade-offs being made with the available money. There is much work yet to be done. The funding for HB 1004 (pre-K pilot and voucher expansion; see below) is included in HB 1001 as well.
Status: Heard and amended in House Ways and Means on Thursday. It will be eligible for 2nd reading action next Tuesday.
HB 1004 (Rep. Behning, R - Indianapolis) Pre-K and Voucher Expansion
HB 1004 is a bill aimed at moderately expanding access to pre-K education, but would also and unnecessarily create a pipeline of new students into the state's already costly private school voucher program by allowing them to automatically become eligible for a voucher.
The bill would also increase the current income eligibility requirements for Indiana's preschool program from 100 percent of poverty to 150 percent of poverty, mirroring the K - 12 voucher baseline guidelines and to subsidize through tax dollars more families with higher incomes. The bill would then provide for automatic K - 12 voucher eligibility if the family has an income of at least 200 percent of poverty.
Status: The bill passed out of committee along party lines. Multiple amendments were offered on the House floor to remove the voucher component, and there were some objections on both sides not only regarding the voucher language, but also the willingness to extend the pilot to only 10 counties rather than statewide. However, the bill still passed the House 61-34. The bill has been sent to the Senate for consideration.
Note: The Senate version of Pre-K does not include the controversial voucher component and passed Senate Education Committee 8-3.
HB 1007 (Rep. Cook, R - Cicero) Education Course Access Program
HB 1007 is another American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) model bill that would create a course-by-course voucher to attend online courses, paid for by the student's public school corporation.
For-profit online, or virtual charter schools, have a disastrous record of failing students and avoiding accountability, not just in Indiana, but around the country. ISTA opposes any further diversions of funds from local community public schools to fund these experiments.
Status: The bill was amended in committee to reduce the upfront tuition amount to providers from 80 percent to 50 percent with the other 50 percent sent upon completion of the course. The amendment also gives the school corporation the opportunity to deny a student's participation in the course access program based on certain reasons. Two amendments failed, the first limiting the program to small and rural schools and the second requiring that course providers be a nonprofit entity. The bill passed committee 8-4 and was heard on 2nd reading in the House on Thursday with only a technical amendment passing. The bill will be voted on next week on 3rd reading.
HB 1009 (Rep. Cook, R - Cicero) School Financial Management
One of the bill's goals is to get more dollars into the classroom, but in some cases could end up having the opposite effect. HB 1009 would roll together the various property tax funds (capital projects, transportation, school bus replacement, art association, historical society and playground funds) and creates a new operations fund. It also creates an education fund to exclusively cover student instruction and learning expenditures.
The intent of HB 1009 is to provide flexibility in funding, get more money to the classroom and ensure transparency. However, ISTA believes additional safeguards are needed to ensure the intent matches the implementation.
ISTA worked with House members on several amendments to achieve the stated goals of this bill and a floor amendment requiring the school board to sign off on transfers being made between funds was helpful. ISTA will now work with the Senate.
Status: The bill passed out of committee 12-0 and Ways and Means 20-1. The bill passed the House 92-3.
HB 1384 (Rep. Behning) High School Graduation/Removal of Accountability for Voucher Schools
This bill originally was about the calculation of graduation rates. As of Thursday, it became something much more.
Under an amendment offered by Chairman Behning (R - Indianapolis), failing private voucher schools would be able to continue to receive taxpayer vouchers even after years of failure. Under current law, if a private voucher school has two consecutive years of a grade of D or F, it loses its right to receive vouchers. Under this amendment, the state board of education can annually grant a waiver or a delay of that accountability sanction.
Therefore, the new standard for private schools is not really student test score performance as it is for every other school, but rather whether "a majority of students demonstrated academic improvement" from the prior year. Rep. Behning has added an emergency clause to this bill.
A double standard, to be sure. ISTA opposes this bill as amended.
Status: This amendment passed 9-4 on a party line vote. The bill is still in committee and will be voted on Monday morning.
HB 1463 (Rep. Carbaugh) Teacher's Defined Contribution Plan
The bill would set up a voluntary Defined Contribution (DC) plan for Teacher Retirement Fund members. A new hire in a school corporation may elect to become a member of the DC-only plan. A member who does not elect to participate in the DC-only plan defaults to the current defined benefit/annuity hybrid plan.
A member has 36 months upon employment to change his or her mind with regard to the election of the plan and after that, the decision is irrevocable.
ISTA opposes DC plans due to extensive research that shows members lose significant retirement benefits with these 401(k)-type plans.
Status: The bill was heard in House Labor and Pensions and has not yet been voted on but could be eligible next Tuesday.
HB 1537 (Rep. Gutwein, R - Francesville) Thirteenth Check
This bill would provide a 13th check in 2017 for certain retired members of the Indiana state teachers' retirement fund and other public employee retirement plans.
ISTA testified in support of this bill, but stressed the real need for a true cost-of-living (COLA) increase. A true COLA, attached to the member's pension, has not passed since 2009.
Status: The bill passed in House Pensions committee 11-0, then passed out of House Ways and Means 21-0, passed off the 2nd reading calendar and is now eligible for its 3rd reading vote in the House next week.
SB 34 (Sen. Merritt) School Employee Background Checks
This bill would require that a school corporation, charter or nonpublic school conduct an expanded criminal background check and CPS index check for an employee who is likely to have ongoing direct contact with children during employment. Increases the background check to every five years.
A school may update the checks required for employees who are employed as of July 1, 2017, and have ongoing direct contact. The scope may not extend longer than five years by performing 1/5 of the checks each year. The checks must begin with employees having the most outdated check.
Status: ISTA certainly supports ensuring safety for Hoosier students, but worked on amending the bill to require the school corporation to pay instead of putting yet another cost on the backs of educators. The amendment failed in the Senate. The bill passed the Senate 49-1.
SB 179 (Sen. Buck, R - Kokomo) & HB 1005 (Speaker Bosma, R-Indianapolis) Appointed Superintendent of Public Instruction
SB 179: After January 12, 2021, the state superintendent of public instruction would be appointed by the governor, rather than elected by voters. The bill originally had an effective date of 2025 but was amended.
HB 1005, also addressing appointment of state superintendent, is moving after passing the House Education Committee and the 2nd reading calendar. It is markedly similar to the Senate bill, but would change the name of the official from state superintendent of public instruction to secretary of education.
Both bills remove the requirement that a nominee be a resident of Indiana for at least two years.
ISTA opposes both bills as ISTA resolutions call for the state superintendent to be elected. Also, from a policy perspective, removing the direct voice of voters from having their say in education policy is wrong-headed.
Status: SB 179 passed out of committee 6-3 and moved to the Senate floor for further amendment next week. An amendment to require the decision on a voter ballot was not called, which would have put the matter into the hands of Hoosier voters. The bill is currently scheduled for 3rd reading on the Senate floor.
SB 248 (Sen. Raatz - Centerville) Consolidation of School Corporations
SB 248 began as a bill to consolidate administrative functions between school districts and to make clear that debt service levy obligations prior to the consolidation remain with the original subunit district. The bill included specific provisions that limited the consolidation to administrative functions among the joining districts and it stipulated exactly what functions could be consolidated. It defaulted to a promise that the name of a school and its attendance unit would not change for 10 years. However, the bill was amended in the Senate Education Committee on Wednesday which reframed the bill.
Under current law, consolidation can occur basically in two ways: (1) arising from voter petition; or (2) via an agreement through joint resolutions between the districts. In either case, the existing debt between the districts becomes debt for the newly consolidated district.
In SB 248, as now amended, the bill creates a process to get to consolidation that includes language allowing the subunits to retain their school name or attendance areas. It also sets up language to permit the consolidation to apply to administrative functions only.
Unlike the original bill, which stipulated what administrative functions would be subject to this consolidation, the amended version allows for a complete consolidation. It also stipulates that debts or obligations paid by a district's debt service levy prior to the consolidation, remain with that subunit of taxpayers. In this version, there appear to be fewer protections against eliminating positions that directly impact student learning.
Status: The bill passed out of the Senate Education Committee, as amended, 7-3. It is eligible for a 2nd reading vote next Monday.
SB 407 (Rep. Houchin, R - Salem) Education Matters
This bill would impact a variety of issues, including teacher evaluations, ESSA and labor union matters. ISTA opposed the bill, as one of the provisions was anti-union.
ISTA urges members to thank the five senators who voted against this bill this week, but as of today, it has been rescheduled for further action. Please tell those Senators to stick with their no vote this upcoming week.
Status: The bill failed in committee by a vote of 5-5. Chairman Dennis Kruse (R-Auburn) then indicated that "the bill was defeated with a 5-5 vote so the bill would not proceed out of this committee." At the end of the hearing, in the list of bills to be considered for this upcoming week, did not include it in the announcement of bills. However, under the newly published Senate committee calendar, the bill has reappeared as an amend and vote only item. ISTA continues to oppose it.
SB 534 (Sen. Raatz, R-Richmond) Special Education Accounts
This bill would establish the Indiana Special Education Scholarship Account Program, a further expansion of school choice in Indiana, beyond the state's controversial private school voucher program. The legislation is part of the ALEC model bill portfolio.
Under the bill, students who have been identified as having a disability, which requires special education services would qualify for an education savings account (ESA). Unlike Indiana's current school voucher program, the student's family would receive 100 percent of the funding that their local public district would receive from the state, versus up to 90 percent for a school voucher.
Families would use the ESA funds to pay outside providers, such as tutors or private schools for special education services.
Status: ISTA opposed the bill. Sen. Kruse heard the bill in committee but declared that he would not move it further, rendering it dead in the Senate. ISTA urges members to thank Senator Kruse for his leadership in corralling this bill.
LOOKING AHEAD TO NEXT WEEK
MONDAY
House Education - Mon., Feb. 20, 8:30 a.m. ET, Rm. 156-C
HB 1384 - Graduation Rates/Voucher Accountability
HB 1449 - Teacher Induction Pilot
HB 1383 - Elementary School Teachers
BH 1024 - Prayer in Schools
Ways and Means -Mon., Feb. 20, 10:00 a.m. ET, Room 404
HB 1008 - Workforce Development
Senate Civil Law - Mon., Feb. 20, 9:30 a.m. ET, Room 130
SB 61 - School Resource Officers (Amend and Vote Only)
TUESDAY
House Education - Tues., Feb. 21, 8:30 a.m. ET, Room 156-B
HB 1024 - Prayer in Schools (Amend and Vote Only)
House Pensions & Labor - As of today, no Tuesday hearing has been scheduled.
WEDNESDAY
Senate Education - Wed., Feb. 22, 1:30 p.m. ET, Senate Chamber
SB 407 - Education Matters (Amend and Vote Only)
SB 498 - Teacher Compensation; Master's Degree "Fix" (Amend and Vote Only)
SB 250 - Report on Student Progress Toward Graduation
SR 17 - Urges the DOE to Support Teachers Who Teach a Diverse Curriculum