Latest news with #Bill287
Axios
25-04-2025
- Politics
- Axios
Indiana Statehouse: Where key education bills ended
The last days of the legislative session are a sprint where dozens of bills are passed, sometimes with substantive, never-before-seen additions, making it hard to keep track of everything that happens in those final 48 hours. Zoom in: Here are five key K-12 education issues Indiana lawmakers tackled. 📚 Ethnic studies course requirement Indiana high schools will no longer have to offer an ethnic studies course. Driving the news: The requirement, in place since 2017, was repealed as part of a last-minute change to House Bill 1002, an education deregulation bill. Sen. Jeff Raatz, R-Martinsville, said the ethnic studies elective was removed at the request of the Indiana Department of Education to comply with federal prohibitions on "race-based discrimination." What they're saying:"They're concerned about losing $1 billion that comes to Indiana for education," Raatz said. "We cannot forgo that." A spokesperson for Indiana's education department did not immediately respond to Axios' request for comment. The other side: Sen. Greg Taylor, D-Indianapolis, who helped author the 2017 legislation that created the ethnic studies course requirement, was incensed by the last-minute change and said he was not told about it. Taylor said the mandate, which just required schools to offer the course, did not require teaching about any particular ethnic group. Context: According to department materials, the course "provides a framework to broaden students' perspectives concerning historical and contemporary lived experiences and cultural practices of ethnic and racial groups in the United States." Academic standards for the course included learning about historical and contemporary contributions of racial or ethnic groups, cultural practices, the histories and origins of various ethnic and racial groups and cultural self- awareness. One of the standards reads: "Students evaluate how society's responses to different social identities lead to access and/or barriers for ethnic and racial groups in relation to various societal institutions, including but not limited to education, healthcare, government and industry." 🗳️ Partisan school boards State lawmakers narrowly voted to make Indiana's school board elections partisan. State of play: House and Senate Republicans were divided on how best to establish partisan school boards. The Senate wanted to move school boards, which had been nonpartisan, to the same primary process as other elected offices. Meanwhile, the House passed a version of the bill that allowed candidates to indicate a party affiliation (or abstain) on the general election ballot. Between the lines: The issue split the Republican supermajority. On the final day of the legislative session, the Senate voted to accept the House version — but just barely. Senate Bill 287 passed 26-24. Several expressed concerns that the move will turn people away from running during a time when some communities already have trouble finding enough school board candidates. 🏫 The Indianapolis Local Education Alliance A nine-person board tasked with conducting an assessment of all public school buildings in the Indianapolis Public Schools district boundaries will be created. While the language was stripped from Senate Bill 373 in the final days of the legislative session, it was added late Thursday to House Bill 1515. How it works: Mayor Joe Hogsett and Superintendent Aleesia Johnson are on the board and they get four and two appointments to it, respectively. The IPS board president gets an appointment, too. Called the Indianapolis Local Education Alliance, the group must hold its first meeting before July 1. By the end of the year, it must develop a plan for how to manage all facilities within those boundaries — those belonging to IPS and charter schools — under a new governing body and provide transportation to them. Recommendations should include a governance structure for a collaborative school system and school consolidation. 📝 A-F grades for school accountability They're baaaaaack. Why it matters: Besides the deja vu this will give veteran educators, the A-F grade labels will be applied to schools statewide starting next year. What's new: These aren't (exactly) the same letter grades. The state board of education is encouraged to consider factors beyond state standardized test scores. Between the lines: The over-reliance on those test scores was one of the criticisms of the earlier iterations of school letter grades. The other side: Rep. Vernon Smith, D-Gary, said he was concerned about going back to an accountability system that labeled some schools as "failing." 🤑 Universal vouchers It looked like Republicans' plan to expand the state's private school voucher system to all Hoosier families was in trouble when the revenue forecast revised down projections for the next two years by $2 billion. Yes, but: Where there's a will, there's a way. The budget bill delays the expansion for a year, but removes the family income cap starting in the 2026-27 school year. It's estimated that it'll cost the state an additional $94 million. What they're saying:"We are providing all parents with a choice," said House Speaker Todd Huston, R-Fishers, an advocate of universal vouchers. The other side: Critics questioned why Indiana was opting to pay for private school tuition for the wealthiest Hoosiers when the budget is so tight that the state cut access to child care subsidies and pre-kindergarten vouchers for low-income families. Those programs had been available to families living at or below 150% of the federal poverty level, but that was cut to 135% in the budget.
Yahoo
01-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Indiana partisan school board bill passes House
The Indiana House passed a bill Monday that would make school board races partisan, but it will be sent back to the Senate for consideration because it was amended in the House. Senate Bill 287, authored by Sen. Gary Byrne, R-Byrneville, Sen. Chris Garten, R-Charlestown, and Sen. Blake Doriot, R-Goshen, would change the school board election process to that of other elections, which would include a primary and general election. The school board candidates would have to declare a party. In the House Elections and Apportionment committee last week, the bill was amended to reflect House Bill 1230, authored by Rep. J.D. Prescott, R-Union City. Prescott's amendment removed the primary process from the bill and stated that in the general election a school board candidate can choose to be listed as a Republican, Democrat, independent or nonpartisan. Prescott, who serves on the House Elections and Apportionment committee, said the amended bill outlines the process for addressing a school board vacancy. If the board member who leaves the board was a Republican or Democrat, then a caucus should be held to replace that member, but Independent or nonpartisan candidates can be replaced by the sitting school board members, he said. Prescott's amendment maintained the original bill's requirement that school board members be paid up to 10% of the lowest starting salary of a teacher employed in the district, which would shift the current $2,000 payment. When the House initially heard the bill, Prescott amended the bill further to state that if a school board candidate chooses to be nonpartisan, there will be a blank space next to their name where party affiliation would be listed. School board members oversee the district's budget, hire personnel, and approve curriculum, Prescott said. 'By disclosing to the voters the party affiliation of school board candidates, this information will help voters decide which candidate best aligns with their values,' Prescott said. 'This change would also help drive up voter turnout on school board elections.' State Rep. Chuck Moseley, D-Portage, said he previously served 9 years on a school board, and during that time he and the other members kept politics out of governing the district. 'We had a responsibility to the parents of those kids that we wouldn't interject our political thoughts and ideology into school board decision(s) because, quite frankly, it didn't matter whether mom and dad was a Republican or whether mom and dad was a Democrat, we were supposed to be there to make the best decisions for the tax dollars that they invested in their kids' education,' Moseley said. Moseley said infusing politics into schools 'is simply foolish.' 'This bill directly inserts politics into our education system. In no way, shape or form should it matter if someone's a Democrat or Republican, or anything in between, when it comes to the integrity of educating our students of our state. School board members should be elected on merit, expertise and their commitment to our students — not their allegiance to a political party,' Moseley said. State Rep. Vernon Smith, D-Gary, said research on partisan school boards has found that school districts see an increase in teacher turnover, less experienced teachers, and a negative impact on non-white school board candidates. 'Partisan school boards insert more division into our community. Voters will be encouraged to choose a candidate based on a letter next to their name instead of their platform. I want my local school board to be focused on our children, not on a party agenda,' Smith said. State Rep. Tonya Pfaff, D-Terre Haute, said the bill would go against the federal Hatch Act, which prohibits federal government, as well as some state and local government employees from running in a partisan election. 'Our school boards should be focused on student success, not party politics,' Pfaff said. State Rep. Kyle Miller, D-Fort Wayne, said the bill will create 'lazy voters' and 'lazy candidates.' Prescott said the school board candidate's political affiliation should be 'the starting point not the ending point' and voters should continue to do their research on candidates. State Rep. Sheila Klinker, D-Lafayette, said she was a teacher for nearly 35 years, and she never knew the political leanings of the school board members in her district. Since the bill was proposed, Klinker said she's heard from her constituents and determined that it 'is not popular.' 'I think we are making a big mistake. It may be discouraging people who do not want their politics to be known. We are discouraging some of our folks from running for office on a school board,' Klinker said. State Rep. Kyle Pierce, R-Anderson, said Prescott 'has done a great job to find a middle ground' because the bill allows a candidate to declare with a major party or as an Independent or nonpartisan. The bill would align school board elections closer to elections for coroner or surveyor, who have to declare a party, Pierce said. 'Politics shouldn't be this dirty word,' Pierce said. 'The reality is it is just moving the school boards into position with everything else. State Rep. Hunter Smith, R-Zionsville, said he supports the bill and 'Indiana's parents.' Smith said he's heard from school officials that they 'can find no curricula void of slanted cultural endorsements and ideologies.' 'Over the past decade, Hoosiers have stepped out of the reductive illusion that our political viewpoints are adjacent to but not reflective of our values. If we are honest, we must recognize that our political convictions are reflective of our values,' Smith said. Rep. Jim Lucas, R-Seymour, said K-12 education receives about 50% of the state's budget and addresses 'serious issues.' Lucas then began listing inaccurate characterizations of the Democratic party but was stopped for speaking out of order. 'This should be probably the easiest vote we take this year, by far,' Lucas said. 'I think it's important that we know who is running for our school boards, making decisions for our children that have been extremely controversial and brought to the forefront.' The House voted 54-40, with 14 Republicans joining all present 26 Democrats to vote against the bill. State Representatives Julie Olthoff, R-Crown Point and Hal Slager, R-Schererville, voted against the bill. House Speaker Todd Huston, R-Fishers, who rarely casts a vote on legislation, voted in favor of the bill. After the vote, Indiana School Boards Association Executive Director Terry Spradlin said in a statement that the organization has fought against the state moving forward with partisan school board elections. With the legislature's approval, Spradlin said the organization 'will encourage school board members to leave politics at the board room door by working collaboratively' to address the needs of students. 'School board members should also conduct themselves in a manner that models effective board governance practices regardless of party affiliation,' Spradlin said. Indiana Democratic Party Chairwoman Karen Tallian, a former State Senator from Ogden Dunes, said in a statement that legislators received many calls and heard hours of testimony against the bill, but the Republican supermajority 'pushed through this bad bill anyway.' 'Hoosier school board members include community servants and local leaders. They do not wish to be involved in the same partisan politics that consume Washington and Indianapolis,' Tallian said. 'There were no Democratic votes for this dangerous proposal. Even many Republicans voted against this bill in both the House and Senate. Hoosier Democrats understand that our school boards should be focused on improving education and opportunity for our Hoosier kids — not national politics,' Tallian said. akukulka@
