INDIANAPOLIS — The Indiana House worked late Monday night on a measure that would ease the path for charter schools to get the state's green light.
It was plowing through 63 amendments — 62 proposed by Democrats and one by Republicans — lawmakers had filed for House Bill 1002, which also allows charters to move into unused public school buildings and receive some funding for transportation.
The debate began Monday evening after Democrats postponed House action for four hours so they could discuss behind closed doors a series of changes the bill's author, Speaker Brian Bosma of Indianapolis, was proposing in the one Republican amendment.
Bosma's changes include allowing charters and the public school districts they are within to work together to provide transportation for students.
In absence of such an agreement, charters would get a portion of the property tax dollars collected for transportation in that district.
They also would change a provision that would have allowed charters to buy unused public school buildings for $1.
Instead, under Bosma's amendment, charters could lease buildings that have gone more than a year without being used for $1 each year for a 10-year period, and then renew that with another 10-year lease.
In order to buy a building, charters would have to negotiate deals with school districts that own those buildings.
Those changes were approved on a 66-27 vote, with Republicans providing most of the yes votes. Rep. Gail Riecken, D-Evansville, voted yes as well.
Then, the House started considering Democratic changes.
Rep. Kreg Battles, D-Vincennes, offered an amendment that would cap the size of all classes from kindergarten through sixth grade at 24 students.
"This is the only amendment we've had all day that talked directly about kids and putting kids first," he said.
The amendment, like most others that Democrats offered, was defeated along party lines.
Other Democratic amendments aimed to beef up oversight and give the state more authority to shut down charters that produce poor test results.
"There have been no consequences for charter schools. Zero. Zip," said Rep. Terri Austin, D-Anderson.
Bosma said his bill actually accomplishes that goal already. It subjects charters to the same accountability standards that now apply to public schools, he said.
If a school consistently fails, Bosma said, his bill gives the state's board of education four options: "Require a turnaround plan, transfer charter to another sponsoring entity, revoke the charter or close the school."
The bill's only Democratic co-author, Rep. Mary Ann Sullivan of Indianapolis, offered an amendment. She sought to drop private colleges from the list of entities that would have the power to authorize charters.
That amendment, too, was defeated largely along party lines.
Bosma's bill is a key component of Gov. Mitch Daniels' education reform agenda.
It will be one of several hot topics this evening when public school teachers gather at the Statehouse to protest that agenda.
Members of the Indiana State Teachers Association and the Indiana Federation of Teachers — the two statewide teachers unions — are rallying at 5 p.m. EST inside the Statehouse.
They also oppose another portion of Daniels' agenda, contained now in Senate Bill 1, that would have school districts use data on the performance of students as a part of the process of evaluating the quality of teachers.
Teachers have argued that such a move would fail to take into account the varying challenges that each student and each classroom offers.