Legislative Update, March 31
03/31/2017
Committees were busy again this week as they moved bills before the deadline to finish their work. All bills must pass their respective chambers by next Thursday.
We have several action items on our advocacy site. Please take a moment this weekend to contact your representatives and senators.
If you haven't yet, register to attend the April 12 Day of Action, the last of the 2017 legislative session.
Below are the top education-related bills ISTA is tracking, which saw action in the General Assembly this week. For daily updates from the Statehouse, read our posts on Twitter at @ISTAmembers.
SB 407 (Rep. Houchin, R - Salem) Education Matters
SB 407 is a divisive, anti-teachers' association bill that would force the Indiana Education Employment Relations Board (IEERB) between educators and associations. Under law, IEERB is supposed to be neutral and only take on an adversarial role in some cases.
Read more about SB 407 on ISTA's blog.
ISTA maintains if educators and legislators want to work on real issues that help students, these petty attacks must stop.
Take Action: Ask Gov. Holcomb to veto SB 407.
Status: The House passed SB 407 on Monday 60-38. ISTA would like to thank the 38 representatives who voted no on this antagonistic bill. The bill awaits the governor's approval or veto.
HB 1001 (Rep. Brown, R - Crawfordsville) Biennial Budget/School Funding Formula
This is the state's biennial budget, which also contains the state school funding formula.
The Senate Appropriations Committee finalized what is likely the Senate's version of the state budget. It contains the school funding formula and other funding language important to schools and educators. While analysis of the school formula run is currently being conducted, ISTA appreciates the increased overall statewide funding levels and other measures in the bill, except for how schools will receive Career and Technical Education (CTE) funding.
Read about the details of the Senate's budget on ISTA's blog.
Status: The bill passed the Senate Appropriations Committee 11-0 and will move to the full Senate next week.
HB 1003 (Rep. Behning, R - Indianapolis) Student Assessments
This bill would extend the replacement of ISTEP until June 30, 2018, when a new statewide test, known as Indiana's Learning Evaluation Assessment Readiness Network (ILEARN), will take its place. The purpose of ILEARN is to develop an assessment that is student centered and provides timely and meaningful information to stakeholders on grade proficiency level and growth toward college and career readiness standards.
Unfortunately, the bill continues to base teacher evaluations and school accountability grades on standardized test scores - a concept several legislators are realizing is the wrong direction for teacher evaluations. The bill also does not go far enough to reduce student testing time or provide a meaningful assessment for teachers to improve instructional practices in the classroom or to tailor instruction.
Members of the Senate Education Committee echoed these concerns, and it remains to be seen whether second-reading amendments will be offered to make some positive change.
Status: Passed Senate Education Committee 7-4 and will move to the full Senate next week.
HB 1004 (Rep. Behning, R - Indianapolis) Pre-K Expansion
HB 1004 would expand the state's pre-K education pilot program to any eligible provider in the state. The bill conservatively increases spending on the pilot program, totaling $16 million. However, $1 million of that is set aside for a virtual pre-K program. This funding was included in the Senate version of HB 1001.
Status: HB 1004 passed the Senate 38-11. The bill now goes back to the House to accept the Senate's changes, or move the bill to a conference committee.
HB 1005 (Rep. Bosma, R - Indianapolis) Appointed Superintendent of Public Instruction
HB 1005 would eliminate the election of the superintendent of public instruction from state law and would replace the state superintendent with a secretary of education, who would be appointed by the governor.
Initially, it was unclear if HB 1005 could even be considered in the Senate due to Senate rules preventing the hearing of a similar bill that was once defeated on the floor of the Senate during the same session. However, Senate Pro Tem David Long announced last week that HB 1005 would be heard in the Senate Rules Committee on Monday, and that the bill would be substantially different from the already defeated SB 179. The differences included changing the effective date to 2025 (from 2021) and requiring the appointee to be an Indiana resident.
Status: The bill passed Senate Rules Committee 8-4. It was heard on 2nd reading in the Senate where two amendments failed that would have required the appointed secretary of education to have a background in public education. A final vote is expected next week.
HB 1007 (Rep. Cook, R - Cicero) Education Course Access Program
HB 1007 is an American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) model bill that would create a course-by-course voucher program to enable students to pay for online courses, funded through the allotment of funds attributable to a student's public school district's education program. In effect, the operation of this bill would force school districts to contract out educational services at a student's request.
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 fund diversions from local community public schools to fund these experiments. School districts already make arrangements for students when authentic needs arise relative to course offerings. This bill is part of a national agenda promoting the privatization of public education.
Status: The bill passed in the Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday, 8-3 and now goes to the Senate next week.
HB 1008 (Rep. Huston, R - Fishers) Workforce Development
HB 1008 is the House version of Career and Technical Education (CTE) reforms. ISTA had not opposed HB 1008 in the House. Changes made to the bill by the Senate give the bill a more aggressive approach to CTE funding changes, but does maintain CTE funding within the Indiana Department of Education. The amended version would reduce the number of CTE funding categories from the current nine to three, but stakeholders have yet to see a formula run on the consequences of a change like this. The amended version would also remove the original HB 1008 credit and non-credit CTE opportunities. The core provisions of the Senate version of HB 1008 are now also housed in the Senate version of the budget bill (HB 1001).
ISTA preferred the House passed version of HB 1008 and is looking for a more measured approach to CTE funding changes.
Status: The bill passed in the Senate 49-0. It now goes back to the House to accept the Senate's changes or to a conference committee.
HB 1383 (Rep. Behning, R - Indianapolis) Elementary school teachers
HB 1383 would initially have required every elementary school teacher licensed after 2021 to secure specialization in a specific content area and would have eliminated the elementary generalist license.
Facing opposition to the bill, Rep. Behning amended the bill that took some small steps back.
The amendment would have directed the state Board of Education to establish "one or more elementary school teacher content area licenses that must, at a minimum, include a content area license that includes math and science."
The amendment wasn't sufficient to warrant support for the bill.
Status: The Senate Education Committee defeated the bill 6-5. The bill is now dead, although it could reappear later in the session under another bill since it was passed in the House.
HB 1384 (Rep. Behning, R - Indianapolis) High School Graduation/Removal of Accountability for Voucher Schools
This bill originally focused on the calculation of graduation rates, but an amendment was added in committee that would enable D and F private, voucher schools to skirt the existing accountability standards. Under current law, if a private voucher school has two consecutive years as a D or F school, it loses its right to receive vouchers. Under this amendment, the State Board of Education would be allowed to annually grant a waiver or a delay of that accountability sanction, if, "a majority of students demonstrated academic improvement," from the prior year. The new private school standard of demonstrating academic improvement is not the same thing as standardized test scores, which drives accountability for public schools.
ISTA opposes this bill as amended.
Take Action: Tell legislators to oppose keeping kids in failing private voucher schools.
Status: The bill passed the Senate Education Committee 7-4. It now goes to the full Senate for consideration and amendment.
HB 1386 (Rep. Behning, R - Indianapolis) Competency based education
HB 1386 would have established a competency based education pilot program. The program concept is a system under which a student advances to higher levels of learning at the time the student demonstrates competency in concepts and skills regardless of grade level, place or pace. Students would have progressed by meeting benchmarks through assessments. The program would have provided grants to schools for designing and implementing models.
Testimony from ISTA and others highlighted that these types of programs are already occurring in schools around the state. It was also pointed out that there was no funding provided for the pilot program.
The bill was heard in the Senate Education Committee on Wednesday where these same concerns were echoed by some Senate Education Committee members Wednesday.
Status: The Senate Education Committee defeated the bill 8-3. The bill is now dead, although it could reappear later in the session under another bill since it was passed in the House.
HB 1463 (Rep. Carbaugh, R - Fort Wayne) Teacher's Defined Contribution Plan
HB 1463 would setup a voluntary defined contribution (DC) plan for newly-hired teachers. A member who does not elect to participate in the DC-only plan defaults to the current defined benefit/annuity (DB) hybrid plan.
ISTA opposes DC plans because members would lose significant retirement benefits, per extensive research. A career teacher who elects this DC plan could expect to receive a fraction of benefits expected under the DB hybrid plan.
HB 1463 was heard in the Senate Pension and Labor Committee last week where it was amended, mostly for the worse. PERF and TRF members would now no longer have 36 months to opt out of the DC plan. Instead, their initial decision on which plan they choose is irrevocable. A full career teacher opting into this new DC-only plan will likely see a retirement benefit from the state that is little more than one-half of what that teacher would receive had he/she chosen the long-standing DB hybrid plan.
ISTA does not support offering Hoosier teachers a retirement plan that simply won't provide a post-employment benefit on which they can live.
Status: The bill narrowly passed the Senate 26-24. ISTA would like to thank the 24 senators who voted "no." If your senator voted "no," please offer thanks as well. The bill now goes back to the House to accept the Senate's changes (removing the 3-year window to change one's mind), or move the bill to a conference committee.
LOOKING AHEAD TO NEXT WEEK
Standing committees have finished their work for the 2016 session. Next week, the work on bills in their second chamber will conclude.