Diploma rules, funding gap leading Indiana legislative agenda

Those are among the bills viewed as high priority items by legislators and representatives of education organizations.

Another bill, one being watched by the Indiana State Teachers Association, would create an early warning system for school districts headed toward financial distress.

While key Republican legislators believe it’s necessary step, ISTA believes the bill goes too far; once a district is identified as potentially distressed, it would create a mechanism to cut teaching jobs and disband local teacher associations, according to ISTA representatives.

PRIORITIES

Among the priorities are bills to fix a school funding shortfall, said Joel Hand, lobbyist with the Indiana Coalition for Public Education.

Bills have been introduced in both the House and Senate “to backfill a gap in funding created by there being more students enrolled in K-12 public schools than what was anticipated,” he said.

The funding gap is estimated at $16 million and occurred because about 6,300 more students attended public schools than expected this year, according to Indiana Public Media. There could be a shortfall in 2018-19 as well.

House Bill 1001 would permit the Indiana State Budget Agency to transfer money from the state tuition reserve fund to the state general fund to cover the shortfall — up to $25 million for fiscal year 2018 and up to $50 million for fiscal year 2019. The amount is greater for the second year because of the potential for even greater enrollment growth.

Other legislation expected to advance would create one diploma, with three distinctions: Core 40, Core 40 academic honors or Core 40 technical honors. Both the House and Senate have bills, with some key differences.

Currently, Indiana law establishes four different diplomas, which has created problems at the federal level.

In the future, the federal government won’t recognize the general diploma in calculating graduation rates, which would mean about a 12-percentage point drop in graduation rates statewide, said Republican State Sen. Dennis Kruse, Auburn, who authored Senate Bill 177. He chairs the education and career development committee.

State Rep. Bob Behning, Indianapolis, a Republican who chairs the house education committee, has authored a similar bill, House Bill 1426, with some key differences. Under the senate bill, individuals could opt into Core 40, academic honors or technical honors. In the House version, students would automatically be in Core 40 and would have to opt out, which is how it is now, Behning said.

House Bill 1426 has other components. It would instruct the Indiana State Board of Education to look at alternatives to Algebra 2 for the Core 40 curriculum, such as applied or integrated math. Such a change would enable more students to succeed in Core 40, Behning said. Often, Algebra 2 is the stumbling block. It also gives the state board authority to look at science alternatives.

The bill also addresses changes in diploma requirements adopted by the state Board of Education last month, based on recommendations of a pathways panel. It provides that “a nationally recognized college entrance exam shall be administered as part of the statewide assessment program for high school students” and “eliminates the requirement of end-ofcourse assessments to be administered as part of the statewide assessment program.”

Yet another priority bill, which has the support of Gov. Eric Holcomb, would require public and charter schools to offer high school students a computer science course as a one-semester elective at least once each school year by 2021. In addition, all schools would have to include computer science in the curriculum for students in grades K-12.

The senate bill, authored by Sen. Jeff Raatz, R-Centerville, and Kruse, establishes the Next Level Computer Science Grant Program and the Next Level Computer Science Fund to award grants for professional development to train teachers in computer science.

The Indiana State Teachers Association’s immediate priorities include fixing the funding shortfall facing schools; a bill related to financially distressed districts; and another bill related to trauma-informed student care, said ISTA president Teresa Meredith.

ISTA is particularly concerned about House Bill 1315 dealing with financially distressed schools. It arose out of financial problems in Gary and Muncie school districts, which resulted in a state take-over, Meredith said.

The bill would establish indicators to analyze a district’s financial health, and it would create a “watch list” of districts that show fiscal distress. But the bill also has some harsh consequences.

Among them, the Distressed Unit Appeal Board could revoke or suspend a superintendent’s license if a district remained on the watch list for four consecutive years. The bill also could affect the authority of school boards.