INDIANAPOLIS — As he presses the case for charter schools on a national level, U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan is visiting Indianapolis today to visit the Charles A. Tindley Academy along with Gov. Mitch Daniels.
The Charles A. Tindley Academy is one of 62 charter schools in Indiana. But that number could grow if education reforms that Daniels is pushing during the current session of the Indiana General Assembly become law.
Some of Daniels' proposals mirror what Duncan has advocated on the national level.
Here's a look at where the education reforms that Daniels and State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Bennett have pushed are in the legislative process.
New charter schools
If there was any doubt that expanding Indiana's number of charter schools is at the top of Daniels' agenda, he erased it in January when he invited children and parents who are on waiting lists to attend charters to his State of the State address.
Before opening, new charters must first receive authorization. Right now, they can be authorized only by current school districts, public universities and the mayor of Indianapolis.
House Bill 1002 aims to expand that list by adding private colleges and, most importantly, a new Indiana Charter School Board, with members appointed by the governor, the Indiana Department of Education and state lawmakers.
The idea is that the new board would ease the path to opening new charters.
The measure passed the House earlier this year, and passed the Senate on Tuesday. The options now include having the two sides iron out some differences in a joint conference committee, or the House just adopting the Senate's version and sending it on to the governor's desk to be signed into law.
"Right now, thousands of Hoosier children sit on charter school waiting lists. This legislation ensures these students will soon have greater access to more high quality schools that meet their individual needs," Bennett said.
Voucher program
Among state lawmakers, at least, the most controversial education reform proposal would allow the families of students in public schools to use some the tax dollars tied to their enrollment instead to pay for private school tuition.
House Bill 1003, which contains the vouchers plan, has won passage in the House and cleared the Senate Education and Career Development Committee on Wednesday.
The votes have come along party lines, and some Republicans have cast "no" votes, as well. But with the GOP's 60-40 House majority and its 37-13 Senate advantage, those opponents have not had the numbers required to derail the measure.
The crux of the bill is those who qualify for free and reduced lunch would be able to get vouchers worth, in most cases, $4,500 per year to shift from a public school into a private school. Those who earn an amount up to about $60,000 for a family of four would be eligible for a smaller voucher.
The program would be capped at 7,500 students the first year and 15,000 the second year, with no cap after that.
Teacher contracts
Teachers' unions could still negotiate wages and benefits with their school corporations but could not write education policy or hiring and firing practices into the contract under Senate Bill 575.
After vouchers, the collective bargaining restrictions have been this session's most controversial education reform proposal.
Bennett has said it would serve to "clear out the underbrush" in contracts. He was referring to provisions that the Indiana State Teachers Association argues are in place for reasons that make sense on the local level but not at the state level.
The bill has passed the Senate, and it awaits a vote in the House that could come as soon as today.
Teacher evaluations
It's less than a real "merit pay" system, but lawmakers are advancing a measure that would link teachers' evaluations and to some extent their salaries to the performance of their students.
Under Senate Bill 1, school corporations would be required to pick a data measurement tool whether it's standardized tests, beginning- to end-of-year growth data or something developed locally and use that to sort teachers into one of four categories of quality.
Those in the bottom two categories would be ineligible for raises or experience-based incremental pay bumps.
The bill has cleared the Senate, and has also passed the House Education Committee. It is awaiting a vote in the full House. Because some changes were made in committee, it would then have to go through the conference committee process.
Early graduation
After years of chats with high school students, Daniels said he learned that one option that might appeal to some is graduating from high school a year early.
So this year, he has argued that they ought to be able to do so, and then use some of the money the state would have spent on their senior years as a college scholarship instead.
That idea is in Senate Bill 497, which has now cleared both the Senate and the House. The two chambers will hammer out their differences in a conference committee.
The only real question left to answer is just how much the scholarships should be worth. The Senate version of the bill sets that amount at $3,500. The House version looks like it would be around $4,200 per year.
As long as the House and Senate bridge that gap, the bill is poised to win final passage. It passed both chambers along party lines.