INDIANAPOLIS — Charter schools, merit pay for teachers and private-school vouchers are among the big items on the education reform list in front of the Indiana Legislature this session, but that’s not all.
Among the dozens of education-related bills filed before last week’s bill-filing deadline are proposals to cut college costs in half, mandate kindergarten education for all Hoosier children, and grant $50 tax credits for employers who give workers time off to attend a parent-teacher conference.
Legislators say the combination of Republican control of the Statehouse and Gov. Mitch Daniels’ major push for education reform has created a climate for conversation about all things education-related — even ideas that may never see the legislative light of day.
“The feeling is we’re finally in a position to effect change, so let’s do some good,” said Rep. Wes Culver, R-Goshen, who filed a wide-ranging bill targeting state-funded colleges and universities.
But one man’s “good” can be another man’s “damage.”
Sen. Tim Skinner, D-Terre Haute, who sits on the Senate education committee, said teachers in the classroom are reeling from “wave after wave after wave of sweeping change” that has already taken place in public education. Both teachers and students are suffering because of it, he said.
The logistics of managing the education-reform conversation isn’t easy. A House education committee hearing Wednesday on charter schools ran long past its expected end time as a lineup of speakers challenged the notion that Indiana’s public schools need to be fixed.
“We shouldn’t begin these education reform discussions saying the public schools have failed,” said Vic Smith, a retired educator and member of the newly formed advocacy group, Coalition for Public Education.
Of the multitude of education bills that have been filed in both the House and Senate, some are narrowly focused.
A bill filed by Rep. Bill Friend, R-Macy, for example, would require the Indiana Department of Education to develop a “farm to school” plan that would incorporate locally produced food into schools’ breakfast and lunch menus.
Culver’s bill, on the other hand, is more far-reaching, which makes it, he admits, much less likely to succeed in the current legislative session.
His bill is targeted at reducing college costs by half. In it, he proposes that by 2015, all public high schools would offer two years’ worth of college-level courses. That would mean a high school senior could graduate and enter a university as a junior in college.
His bill also calls for state universities to significantly improve their on-time graduation rates to reduce the number of full-time students in their fifth year of college.
And, under his bill, all state university professors would have to teach at least two classes every semester, and all college-level instructors would have to speak understandable English.
In the fiscal impact statement, which accompanies every bill filed, the Legislative Services Agency estimates that state universities could lose millions of dollars in state funding if the bill was passed.
That doesn’t bother Culver. “It’s not the universities’ money to begin with,” Culver said. “It’s Indiana taxpayers’ dollars.”
Culver said his bill, along with many others, may not get a hearing this session because they’ll be crowded out by the reform proposals on Daniels’ wish list.
He understands that, too. “This is how you get the conversation started,” said Culver of his ambitious bill. “When enough people talk about it, that gets the attention of their legislators.”
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